sleepwalk

Oh okay, what you guys are saying now is more reassuring. I think someone said earlier in the thread that they didn't think a good interface would improve things much. Of course I am hoping it will! There is a used RME Babyface on eBay for $280. Good deal, right? The Audient id14 is also interesting. The Focusrites look like a popular cheaper option. Do you guys know much about the Zoom UAC-2? Supposed to be very low latency, but I'm seeing reports of it failing on people. Any others out there that people like?

I did do some optimization on the settings, it was from a page on the Focusrite site https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10 I didn't look at the Cantabile guide yet but I'm guessing they cover the same tweaks. I would not consider that normal. 30 ms is high and definitely in the range that I think most would notice. The cables are not the issue, midi involves the transfer of a small number of bits which USB can handle just fine. Similarly virtually all audio interfaces are USB 2 and perform well with low latency. The issue lies with drivers, hardware, or settings on your machine. There are a number of good guides on how to configure a PC for best audio performance. . For example are you running max power mode? There is a good guide available on the Cantabile site see this link Glitch Free

Thanks for all the well-thought-out replies in this thread, a lot of good info here. I downloaded Cantabile Lite to see if it would run my vstis any smoother than Ableton. It seemed a little better, a little less latency. But then I noticed, when I play a piano sound, with the pedal down, after a while, I'm getting a lot of pops and crackles. I thought with my new super-computer this kind of thing would be a non-issue. I will still try to find a good audio interface to see if this can be improved. Maybe the laptop is better as a tool for recording, mixing and editing, but not so much for a live keyboard player. Maybe I should just get a sweet Nord for playing killer keys sounds. I thought a lot of people on here gigged with laptops, and had good experiences. Am I wrong about that? I thought in 2019 this would be easy for a laptop. It just seems weird, they make these awesome sounds, but then I can't just play them, and go off live with them. Didn't people do that with Receptor? I think my laptop has more power than a Receptor, doesn't it?

I am using an Audient ID14: https://www.thomann.de/gb/audient_id14.htm?ref=intl&shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6IjIiLCJsYW5ndWFnZSI6ImVuIn0%3D Very low latency, excellent sound quality. The BurrBrown converters are significantly better compared to it's competition in it's price range. Much cheaper than the RME Babyface which I also owned. There is no perceptible difference in latency or sound to the RME. JMTC Thank you for the recommendation. I'll take a look at that one.

I did a couple more tests: Recorded into Zoom multitrack recorder: Direct audio from Roland sound module vs. SM58 on keystrike audio = Roland audio average 16 ms behind Direct audio from laptop vs SM58 on keystrike audio = Laptop audio average 30 ms behind This means on the Roland it's about 16 ms latency which is MIDI latency plus whatever additional processing time. ? Not sure why the difference between the laptop and the Roland was 14 ms in this test, when it was 6-7 ms in the other test. Different test method with different factors I guess? Either way, would these numbers be considered normal? I just have a generic MIDI to USB cable going into the laptop. Is there a better way? Is there MIDI to USB-C? What interface can I use to improve this latency?

So while you were replying, I was running this very test. I ran the audio out from the Roland and the audio out from the laptop both to my Zoom R16 (digital multitrack recorder). Then I loaded the files into Ableton and looked at them. The difference averages about 6 ms (laptop lagging behind). I just did organ single note hits. The difference was sometimes 5 ms, sometimes 7 ms. The average was around 6 ms. There is also MIDI latency to consider, but I am not going to bother with that. If the laptop can respond with the same feel as a sound module I would be pleased. Maybe I am just one of those people that notices the latency more than others? Or am I overthinking it? If I didn't know that there was latency, would I still feel it? I mean, all my little test does is confirm what the ASIO4ALL was telling me. People say that 6-7 ms is not noticeable.....but some people swear that they notice it. So how low can we get it? Zoom says says theirs can do 2.2 seconds. Is that legit? Maybe I would not notice it then.

I followed these instructions, and the best I can do in Ableton Live testing with VB3 (with buffer offset at 0, and ASIO Buffer Size at 104 samples) is 6.71 ms overall latency. This is with ASIO4ALL at sample rate 44100. Is 6.71 considered good? Because for me, this is not really acceptable for any real live playing. I have the midi keyboard running a second midi out into a Roland XV-2020 sound module at the same time (playing an organ sound), and I have a set of headphones on each, the Roland, and the laptop. I go back and forth with the headphones of each, and the feel is noticeably more precise on the Roland. For any kind of fast run on the keyboard with the organ sound, I can basically hear the VB3 sound playing after I hit the key. At least it feels that way in comparison to the Roland. Would a good USB interface improve on this? I was under the impression that the technology was at a point where it had reached a standard where a usb laptop is playable in a live setting. I can say that it would be okay for synth pads or something like that, but that would be about all. I have a USB-C input on my laptop. Is there an interface that can utilize the greater speed of USB-C to lower the latency even more? What about an external SSD? Would that help? Right now I am running everything off the single SSD. As I said I am monitoring through headphones so my distance from speakers is not a factor. I bought the laptop from Best Buy on a Black Friday deal. Do I need to return it and get a thunderbolt laptop instead, or will I be able to work with this one? Everything I had read lead me to believe that the USB technology had improved so much that latency was no longer an issue. Thanks to all those replying, any advice is appreciated!

Hi folks, I'm back at the keyboard corner, because this is the best place there is to ask the question I have. I just got a new laptop! It's a 17 inch Lenovo with the I7-9750H processor, 16 GB ram, and a 1TB SSD drive. It has USB and USB3, but it does not have Thunderbolt. I am excited to use it to play some of my favorite vst instruments, such as, Piano in Blue, VB3, Scarbee, various analog synth emulations, various Kontakt libraries, etc.. I have been trying it with ASIO4ALL but there is some latency. In Ableton Live it says 6.65 seconds round trip, something like that, but I don't think I'm really getting it that low...I can feel the latency, no question... So yes, I need an audio interface! I am trying to keep it under $300. If it only has 1 or 2 inputs that is okay. I'm not really going to be recording with it, I have other gear for that. So far I am thinking of an RME Babyface (used), Zoom UAC-2, or maybe one of the Scarlett interfaces? I am trying to get LOWWWW latency -- I don't want to feel any lagging between when I hit the key and the sound comes out, at all....is that possible? Is it possible for it to feel as responsive as a hardware keyboard? Because that is what I want. One other question: I have a midi to usb cable that I connect directly to my laptop. Does it make an difference using an interface with a MIDI in? Would that help in regard to latency? Or is all the latency we hear a result of audio processing? Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks -Jon