Getting a delay while monitoring guitar playing ( 0404 )

Posted on

Member Since: Jul 05, 2008

Hi all,

This is my first post. I had a look for the solution to this but couldn't find anything useful (maybe someone can point me in the right direction if I missed it).

Anyway: I have an E-Mu 0404 (PCI) in my PC. I'm hooking up my guitar and digital output from my Boss GT6 into the SPDIF input of the 0404. I've added the SPDIF input strip in PatchMix. The signal shows up fine in the mixer, and I can hear the audio. However, the sound is delayed by about 1/4 of a second from when I hit a note and when I hear it. This is regardless of any recording software (because I'm not running it yet). I figured that I should try to get rid of this false delay before adding a DAW into the equation, but a friend said I might need to use a DAW to correctly set my ASIO latency. So I ran Cubase SX3 and entered the ASIO setup tool.

Under "VST Audiobay", it was configured to use the "EMU Multimedia Driver" and had a latency of about 300ms+ for input and output. So I set it to use the "E-MU ASIO", which dropped the in/out latency numbers to 50 and 51ms respectively, but there is no difference in the delay :(
Other info:
"Release ASIO driver in background" is not checked.
Under "Expert":
Audio Priority is "High"
Preload about is 2 seconds
"Lower latency" is checked
"Multi processing" is unchecked/greyed out
"Adjust for record latency" is checked
"Record placement offset" is 0

Under "E-MU ASIO", the clock source is "Internal". When I click "Control Panel", it shows a little menu that allows setting the ASIO Buffer Latency in milliseconds. It was set to 50ms. I changed it to 2ms (I know it might sound bad, but I wanted to see if I could get rid of the delay and then wind it back to sound ok), but it made NO difference at all.

I really want to figure this out as a friend and I are getting lots of song ideas, and this is hampering our progress :(

Even if the fix is something I need to set in Cubase, I think I should be able to play guitar into the PC without the delay (ie I don't think the fix should depend on having a DAW running). Could someone please make some suggestions?

I've also tried using a distortion pedal instead of the GT6, but the delay was the same, so it's not the culprit.

Thanks in advance!
Ben.

[ Back to Top ]


Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jul 05, 2008 09:51 pm

No, the external pieces are not the guilty party. It is the 0404 or the PC itself being under powered or having too many programs running in the background.

When running ASIO you do need to shut down the application and restart it for changes to take effect, so simply changing them on the fly will not work until the program is restarted.

And yes, running a DAW can help if it has latency compensation built into it, which SX3 should if I remember correctly. So , yes the fix can depend on running the software.

If I am not mistaken the 0404 should be capable of direct hardware monitoring. I suggest using that if the PC and 0404 combination cannot get your latency down.

Although the E-Mu units are not the greatest they should by all means be capable of getting the latency down to 15ms or so depending on the PC as I stated.

What are your PC specs, that might help sort this out a bit?

Member
Since: Jul 05, 2008


Jul 06, 2008 02:03 am

Hi Noize2u. Thanks for answering so quickly! Well....... I just had the weirdest thing happen. I tried again about 20 minutes ago, having changed no settings (maybe I just restarted Cubase), and now there's no delay :D hahaha Weird. I'm not running Cubase yet either, and the latency is still set to 50ms... sounds fine.

Anyway, when I hit record (in Cubase) on a "Record enabled" and "Write enabled" track (stereo or mono, makes no difference), it doesn't record any audio.

Under "VST System Link" there's no options available for "ASIO Input". Maybe this question should be posted in another section now, if it's software only... And under "VST Inputs" there is nothing displayed at all.

How would I go about correcting this? The Cubase manual doesn't say what to do if you can't see any options there.

BTW, my PC specs are:
Win XP SP 2.
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2Ghz)
1Gb RAM (dunno what sort...)
2x Western Digital 500Gb AAKS HDDs
GeForce 6800GT video card
umm anything else relevent?

Thanks in advance!
Ben.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jul 06, 2008 04:17 pm

NA, its OK we can keep it in this thread.

There should be a deeper menu to select drivers in the audio option's or preferences. Once those driver's are selected for use then they will be available in the mains and track area's.

I'm not a Cubase user but most app's are the same in the way they handle finding and using audio driver's.

It may actually have a different naming convention as well and not show it as the E-Mu 0404. I know Seinberg has a strange way of naming or re naming the drivers for ths audio and midi inputs. Are there any selection's available in the menu at all?

Member
Since: Jul 05, 2008


Jul 06, 2008 05:35 pm

You're right, under the Audiobay menu item, there is a more 'in depth' (ie have to drill down one level) option to select drivers and what-not. That's what I was messing about with previously.

But nope - on in the input tab itself, there's nothing to select at all :( The Output tab looks fine though. Hmmmm. I'll keep trying. The manual doesn't help much on this, I guess they reckon if Cubase can see it for output, it would see it for input (but you'd still expect a troubleshooting section IMO).

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jul 06, 2008 06:50 pm

Maybe have a look at the E-Mu site as well as it may contain something on setting it up for specific applications. I know all my interfaces have section's dealing with set ups for specific recording application's.

But ya, if it is showing up and working with the outputs then it should as well be working for the inputs as the driver's work in tandem as a set.

Member
Since: Jul 05, 2008


Jul 14, 2008 05:34 am

Grrr still can't figure this out. Adobe Audition also doesn't record anything. Any Patchmix users know what setup/routing I need? I looked on the E-Mu forums and in the manual and couldn't see any software specific settings/suggestions.

Related Forum Topics:



If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.