Latency, Samplers etc ??

[Soumitra]

Ok I am a total newbie in this area so this question may just sound too simple to the experts.

I have a Casio CTK 680 keyboard which also works as a MIDI keyboard. I am plugging this into my Creative Sound Blaster card through its joystick port and the setup works fine.

Once I figured this bit out I realised that I wanted to get some good sounds so I downloaded IK Multimedia's Miloslav PhilHarmonic, which I think is a Sampler (am I right here ?).

Now I realised that when I play through my keyboard there is a lag in the sound coming out the speakers, which I believe is latency.


Now I was told that I need to change my sound card to fix the latency issue. This is where my doubt comes in:

1. Should I get a PCI based sound card which assures zero latency ?
or
2. Get an external sound interface like PreSonus etc (I've just read about these on the net, dont really understand them too well).


Now, I believe that method #1 will definitely fix the latency issue but am not sure if #2 will. I mean, the time delay happens inside the computer, right ? So if I use an external sound interface, the signal will still need to go into the computer and then the sampling software and then through the output and all this can still delay the sound.

Basically, I am not sure how exactly method #2 will (and if it will) affect latency.

Can someone please help me on this ? Maybe you would like to direct me to some resource that I can check on the net for this.

Thanks

Soumitra

[richiebee]

Just to be pedantic, no sound card, external or internal will assure, or even offer zero latency. They will however give you low latency, and some give you direct monitoring possibilities that give you virtually zero latency on an external input, by bypassing your computer and sending that input direct to the output on the card. This will not however happen with something that originates inside your computer - ie, samplers, synthesizers etc.

It is definitely worth getting a pro-level audio card - external or internal shouldn't matter too much, both should be able to give you low enough latency to make playing live feasible. Miroslav is a sample playback library. I would think it has some features to maximize performance - your hard drive will be a bottle neck, so it might have an efficient way to handle loading huge samples. I'm not really familar with the IK sample playback engine so can't really offer anythign specific. The manual should tell you how to tweak it.

[Soumitra]

Originally Posted by richiebee

Just to be pedantic, no sound card, external or internal will assure, or even offer zero latency. They will however give you low latency, and some give you direct monitoring possibilities that give you virtually zero latency on an external input, by bypassing your computer and sending that input direct to the output on the card. This will not however happen with something that originates inside your computer - ie, samplers, synthesizers etc.

It is definitely worth getting a pro-level audio card - external or internal shouldn't matter too much, both should be able to give you low enough latency to make playing live feasible. Miroslav is a sample playback library. I would think it has some features to maximize performance - your hard drive will be a bottle neck, so it might have an efficient way to handle loading huge samples. I'm not really familar with the IK sample playback engine so can't really offer anythign specific. The manual should tell you how to tweak it.

Ok. I think I have understood what you are suggesting. 1. I should definitely upgrade from the soundblaster, and here I can be sure that either of external or internal will give me decent latency 2. For best results I will have to tweak further from within the sampler software Let me check the manual for any such tweaks. Actually, I am not planning to record any professional stuff through the MIDI keyboard, at least not right now. My main instrument is the guitar (with vocals) and I just wanted to be able to sequence some backing tracks for my shows. The instruments that come bundled with my sound card aren't sounding good enough so I figured out that I need a proper sampling software. I've got MIDI tracks (from the net) of Comfortably Numb and I wanted to see if I could create something decent using the sampler.

[brandondrury]

Now I realised that when I play through my keyboard there is a lag in the sound coming out the speakers, which I believe is latency.

This is correct.

1. Should I get a PCI based sound card which assures zero latency ?
or
2. Get an external sound interface like PreSonus etc (I've just read about these on the net, dont really understand them too well).

As Richiebee pointed out, zero latency is impossible. However, near-zero latency is very common an real deal audio interfaces.

Now, I believe that method #1 will definitely fix the latency issue but am not sure if #2 will. I mean, the time delay happens inside the computer, right ? So if I use an external sound interface, the signal will still need to go into the computer and then the sampling software and then through the output and all this can still delay the sound.

Basically, I am not sure how exactly method #2 will (and if it will) affect latency.

Whether you get a PCI, USB, or Firewire audio interface is irrelevant in terms of latency. Electricity flows through wires at practically infinite speed. So it really doesn't matter if you are using the Firewire cable or the little metal grooves on the PCI card, you are still connecting to a computer in a similar fashion.

With that said, audio interfaces designed for home recording are low latency.

Why Do I Need An Audio Interface Designed For Home Recording? | Home Recording Blog

[richiebee]

Originally Posted by Soumitra

1. I should definitely upgrade from the soundblaster, and here I can be sure that either of external or internal will give me decent latency

Correct. You need to make sure you buy a device that was designed for pro-audio applications, not games. M-Audio have some good stuff on a budget. That ACTUAL latency you get may also be determined by the performance of your computer. RAM, processing power and hard drive performance are all significant in the performance you get.

2. For best results I will have to tweak further from within the sampler software

Yes. You may need to.

The instruments that come bundled with my sound card aren't sounding good enough so I figured out that I need a proper sampling software. I've got MIDI tracks (from the net) of Comfortably Numb and I wanted to see if I could create something decent using the sampler.

Home grown MIDI files aren't typically of particularly high quality (though there are exceptions), so even with good sounds it might take some work to get it sounding decent. I did a quick demo a while ago using a MIDI file I got off the internet - What is MIDI?

Also, I don't know that Miroslav would cover the instrumentation you need for a Pink Floyd song. Miroslav is specifically a philharmonic orchestra. I guess using the IK sample engine you could load other instruments.

[Cabong]

I use to have the setup you describe. Unless you're planning to run 4-5 vsti at the same time, in which case you'll prolly always end up with significant latency, I suggest trying to upgrade your ASIO drivers. I did that with my soundblaster and the difference was stunning.

Google "download asio driver".