Lag with my MIDI keyboard (Ableton Live)

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Lag with my MIDI keyboard (Ableton Live)
Posted on: 13.02.2012 by Kasi Marget
Hi,

I'm learning production, and I face a problem that really blocks my creativity.
There is a latency between the moment when I hit the key and when I can hear the note.
It makes it really hard to play a synth or whatever on the beat that's going, and I have to go back and edit all the notes that I recorded, it's annoying as hell.

It only happens in Ableton Live, because for example if I run Massive in standalone version, it's fine, and response time is perfect.

I've been told it's related to the latency of the soundcard, but mine is like 256ms so it's not a big deal ?
It can also be related to my PC being not powerful enough, but the charge seems low, and my CPU is an i5 2500k @ 3.3Ghz (gaming is the first purpose of this computer).

My MIDI keyboard is a Novation 49 SL MkII, hooked via USB, and my soundcard is a M-Audio Fast Track.


I don't get it, it must be related to Live or something but I would really appreciate if you could help me on this one.
Thanks.
Kasi Marget
13.02.2012
Hi,

I'm learning production, and I face a problem that really blocks my creativity.
There is a latency between the moment when I hit the key and when I can hear the note.
It makes it really hard to play a synth or whatever on the beat that's going, and I have to go back and edit all the notes that I recorded, it's annoying as hell.

It only happens in Ableton Live, because for example if I run Massive in standalone version, it's fine, and response time is perfect.

I've been told it's related to the latency of the soundcard, but mine is like 256ms so it's not a big deal ?
It can also be related to my PC being not powerful enough, but the charge seems low, and my CPU is an i5 2500k @ 3.3Ghz (gaming is the first purpose of this computer).

My MIDI keyboard is a Novation 49 SL MkII, hooked via USB, and my soundcard is a M-Audio Fast Track.


I don't get it, it must be related to Live or something but I would really appreciate if you could help me on this one.
Thanks.
Kasi Marget
18.02.2012
Ok now it's seems to work nicely, it was a stupid mistake, the driver selected in Live wasn't ASIO.
And I was talking about the latency in my soundcard panel when i said '256'.

Last question : The latency shown in Live is 28ms, should I leave it here or use the "Driver mistakes compensation" (or something like this, i translated), and put it to -28 so my overall latency is 0 ?
Nedra Fresneda
18.02.2012
Use ASIO drivers, you should be able to run at least under 20ms with those specs while leaving some headroom. Just to give you an idea, I had around 14ms of latency with a Celeron powered lappy with a regularly sized project some years back.
Kasi Marget
17.02.2012
Ok i'm late, didn't see someone replied.

The thing is, the latency is overall, whether i'm on Live or on a standalone version of a VST.

And I only get this latency issue when i'm in Live, therefore I assume the problem comes from Live. I'll try to dig a bit more, maybe I forgot something.
Fausto Jeanlouis
16.02.2012
256ms is very noticeable latency. I assume you're running Windows. Make sure you have the ASIO drivers for your Fast Track installed and configure Ableton to use them. The ASIO control panel will allow you to decrease the latency. Aim for somewhere south of 20ms.

Also, record quantization will help keep things in line when you're playing in parts so you don't need to edit anything but major mistakes.

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