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Latency solutions....

19 February, 2008 - 16:49 — tater

i have one of those cooling pads for laptops that also has a 4 usb hub on the side. and im running my usb audio interface, my akai mpd24 and my midi controller keyboard at the same time. the audio interface and the usb link from the cooling pad/hub are using the 2 ports on my laptop and the mpd and keyboard are using 2 of the hub ports. there seems to be a slight latency in the mpd and keyboard when im playing something or triggering it in my software (ableton live with reason rewired thru it). my usb interface is a m-audio mobile preamp usb.

if anyone has a solution or a better interface recommendation, that would just make my day!!!!

thanks

‹ MPC 2000xl Trouble how do i get my akai mpd 24 to do this in ableton... ›

19 February, 2008 - 19:58 — Amittai
Amittai's picture

Yo tater,

Have you tried adjusting the playback buffer size in Ableton? The setting should be in the menu for your i/o devices. A lower buffer size is good for midi input and recording and it will probably fix the latency problem. A higher buffer size is better for mixing and general playback.

If you're considering other interfaces, MOTU's firewire interfaces are supposed to be the best... I've never had one, but they lead the industry for firewire interfaces. The down side is MOTU is still Mac only, so if your using Windows I don't think you can use MOTU.

Another great option is a Digidesign interface. If you buy any Digidesign interface you get Protools software for free! And you can use the interface with your other programs too. The cheaper ones (cheap but great quality) are the MBox 2 series... As low as $250 I think.

G'luck bro!

20 February, 2008 - 00:57 — tater
tater's picture

thanks for the tip, ill check it out next time. it might also be from the fact that i am using the cooling pad's hub for the 2 usb devices. i wonder if the latency is coming from having to wire device multiple times......

20 February, 2008 - 09:46 — illusivemind
illusivemind's picture

If you can try testing them directly from the laptop or failing that a dedicated usb hub (a device that's just deisnged to be a hub) and see if there is any change.

You can overload the usb buffer if you have too many devices connected but I doubt that's happening here. The nature of the usb connection is always going to be second best to firewire, or pci latency wise.
________________
-just a thought-

20 February, 2008 - 17:04 — Amittai
Amittai's picture

My MPD24 and my M Audio midi keyboard are both going into a powered usb hub... No latency problems though. Does your hub have a power supply? That might help.

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