ASIO latency problem

pluto2

Hi!

I'm using the kx drivers on an audigy2 card in Sonar 3. It's working alright, currently using 10ms latency for the ASIO drivers.
The problem is that quite a few softsynths break up with the typical asio buffer underrun crack noise when using 10ms latency AND
using 20ms latency is way too much for me, isn't pleasent playing realtime instruments at 20 ms. Is there any thing I can do about this
or is it just "the way it is"? Why can't I get a 100% clean sound at 10ms, is it the kxdrivers that aren't "good enough", the soundcard or
the computer/processor itself. Would I be able to have a lower latency on a high end card compared to a audigy2 with kx drivers?

What kind of latencys are you sucessfully using out there on what card(s)? I really need to be on 10 ms, 20ms surely isn't nice, you get out of sync so to speak.

regards,
Kristian

dj_stick

hmm i have run my computer as low as 5 working… what are your CPU and memory specs? and frontside bus?

pluto2

I've got an Intel 2,4ghz cpu, 1gb memory, windows xp, front side bus, hmm god question, 533/400mhz FSB I belive, and I do agree that it's weird, I expected more than bearly 10ms which chops. Not ALL synths chop at 10ms but as soon as there's a lil cpu usage like 30-40% or so the chops begin. Any ideas what can be done about it? Running sonar btw and it'a an Audigy 2 card

dj_stick

how many devices do you have on the PCI bus, any sata, raid, networking?

pluto2

I got networking, sata and raid, great huh sata is NOT necessary don't use it, raid is absolute must, but I am not recording to harddrives I am playing vsti's, networking necessary as well.

dj_stick

hmm… i myself have sata as my boto drive(but i think that bypasses the PCI bus) and i have a wireless NIC aswell as dual lan ports(Again i think bypassing the PCI bus)
try disabling SATA, or if there is such a program to monitor PCI bus usage try that

pluto2

I don't have much running at all... can it be a temperature monitor, It might access pci or even some sort of ISA mess, not much running except for that just a few small apps but of coursse could try close them all and see what happens

dj_stick

yes close as many applications running as possible… also optimise you computer for background services

pluto2

background processes, never heard that one before but I'll give it a try, just gonna install a vst here first thanks for the help, hopefully it will work!

dj_stick

control panel, system, advanced, performace - settings, advanced, processor scheduling - background services

pluto2

thanks, trying it out now!

pluto2

Hi! Tried closing all programs and change to background processes, no real change, perhaps a very very small improvement but bearly noticable. What can I do about the PCI bus users? turned out I had a scsi card in the computer too I had forgot was there. Is it enough to inactivate these devices like SCSI and SATA? or do I need a complete uninstallation and/or a change in the bios?

dj_stick

ASIO is a background service and by changing the scheduling you should get a lower useable latency

pluto2

oh, well not a big change for me, seems something else is hogging the cpu. I'm using a piano piece with steinbergs the grand and a reverb to test since this combo uses a good 20-30% cpu, and even with everything closed and priority set to background processes I hear quite some cracks at 5ms and a few here and there at 10ms

dj_stick

20ms is generally fine for me, most hardware synths run at 10ms… are you playing realtime ie w/ midi keyboard?

pluto2

this "test sequence" is a recorded midi file ran through a vst but usually I play in realtime with a keyboard and 20ms is just too much delay I notice the delay way too much, gets hard to play synced. Also tried now to inactivate scsi and sata with NO change at all, same problem!

dj_stick

hmm i guess there isn't a workaround unfortunately… you should be able to record the midi data fine at 10 or 5ms, just the audio play back won't sound great until you increase the latency…
try recording midi at the lowest latency, and then increasing the latency and recording the synth's sounds then (if you are recording the soudns that is)

pluto2

I guess that would work but would introduce too much switching back and forth for me. In the audio options dialog in sonar I noticed that all asio channels are selected to be enabled. does sonar OPEN all of them, or just enable them for use? that might be a problem if it really opens them all. except for that I can't get to think about something else. Dont know how to fix this, if it's the driver, the soundcard or the general computer etc etc

pluto2

Hi again! Tried out disabling parts not used of the driver in sonar, no use. also tried disabling and inactivating what isn't necessary and there is no use, still same problem, no other ideas what could be done? I'd really need to be able ot stay at 10ms, one of my new projects uses the kontakt sampleplayer with a few channels and it cracks like hell, yuck!

dj_stick

try using another sampler, battery, sampletank etc to see if it is a kontakt bug… kontakt has some issues when i use it but i can;t quite remember what they are (the first major one for me is not even showing up as a VSTi for me)

pluto2

yeah kontakt is one buggy sampler that I know already, and though it chops more than the average vst there are several others that is pretty much just as good at it, it seems that all or at least most vst's start to chop when they reach a cpu usage of say 30-35% then they all start sounding bad. weird thing is too that if I lower to 5ms the chops aren't getting all that MUCH worse, a bit worse but not what you would expect, I have a feeling that there's something like a bottle neck somewhere, if I could just figure out what it is. ps: battery has never chopped but since it bearly use cpu at all that isn't strange, sampletank has done it a little bt but only uynder heavy load. always realated to heavy load it seems

pluto2

Hi! Found it! If I inactivate my network card which share the same irq as my sound card things run much smoother I am even able to go down to 5ms with no problems... BUUUUT, my network card is a built in one nad it's a good one too, 1gb card, but since it's built in I can't switch position and no matter what I do or where I'd put my soundcard it'd still share an irq with some other device, on most even two devices like usb, display etc etc, usb is needed in, my midi interface uses usb, any ideas how I'd fix it, only thing I can think of is turning off onboard network and put a network card in a free pci slot which wouldn't share irq but I'd prefer to NOT do that since the built in really is good.

pluto2

haha strange what some twiddling around can do. Turned out that I've always had a network driver installed that was quite old, I updated it and wham, pretty much as good as having the network driver disabled. I know run at 5ms with pretty much no pops at all, the kontakt player however, STILLS POPS ANB CHOPS, is that a piece of junk or what, strangly enough it eats even MORE cpu now too, that thing is wicked, 6 voices and it's using 40-50% cpu and chops like I dunno what, piece of crap, steinberg the grand works brilliantly at 5ms without chops so it's got to be that kontakt player that stinks, yuck! thanks for all assistance you sure helped getting me into the right direction! my hat off for you :P

TravelRec.

Hi!

Congratulation for fixing your problems! As for sampling you could try RMF from LinPlug - it´s a free vsti!

Greetings!

TravelRec.

pluto2

thanks for the advice gonna look into it, the best sampler I got right now is friggin live synth pro with sf2's that stinks, need something else, well except sampletank thanks again!

Bodomchild

If I'll Try To Position My PCI Cards On The Board...? Will That Help My Latency Problem? (Under 21ms It Crackles Badly...)

dj_stick

it may - wh