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I'm using Real Band to record a clarinet track over an MP3.
When I'm recording my performance, everything sounds fine, but when I play it back, my clarinet track lags by what seems like 20 milliseconds.
I'm using a Windows 10 computer with an external Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro USB "card" that uses an MME driver. (ASIO not supported.)
I've tried different recording resolutions, but that doesn't seem to help.
Can anyone think of any other approach to fixing this latency problem, other than switching to a more sophisticated card that uses ASIO?
Your suggestions are welcome.
Steve
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I think you've correctly identified the problem and the better solution.
You should be able to time-shift your clarinet track (or the other track) to match up. I don't know RealBand so I can't help with instructions.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Early in the clarinet track, highlight the region that the audio track is lagging by. Once that's done, right-click and select "Cut". In the menu that pops up, make sure the "Close gap" is selected.
Doing the above will eliminate the lag difference and move the track into alignment.
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Matt nailed it. You identified the problem correctly and you gave yourself the solution.
Trying to move things to compensate is a bad way to do it. Once you get a "real card running ASIO" you will have to go back to everything and rework them all.
Laptops are totally capable of doing a good job recording audio and midi, but they don't come with teh hardware to do that. The soundcard in most laptops is the cheapest thing they can find. And it uses MME only. Computer stores will try to sell you a SoundBlaster, claiming it's an upgrade and for a gamer, it is. For us in the music world, it is not.
SoundBlaster cards are designed to play MP3's and provide the sound to videos and games....and that's about all they are good for. Anyone serious about recording should look for a better interface that will allow ASIO in it's native form and not just some proprietary codec wrapper. MME is not designed to do what we need it to do. Wrapping it with a codec isn't the answer. Go shopping for your sound card/interface at a music store, not a computer store.
Focusrite is a good option to consider since they have interfaces that all use ASIO and have good audio preamps for mics as well as phantom power.
USB connected interface is a good way to go.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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In the Audio Prefs section there is a setting for Recording Offset in ms.
This may offer a temporary fix, but as mentioned a nice interface would make a lot of difference in many ways.
While in that same Prefs window test your 'softsynth latency' adjust button also; it probably needs adjustment too.
Generally things should just work right if you using all audio, but I guess that's why that Recording Offset setting is there. I've never had to use it. You're recording a clarinet as an audio track, right? Just to be clear.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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There is the ASIO4All solution that is worth investigating. Some of the sound blaster line had legitimate audio specs. I won a few KVRaudio contests using a sound blaster card. The ASIO4All 'wraps' the MME driver and give you latency buffer size controls. It might be all you need.
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There is the ASIO4All solution that is worth investigating. Some of the sound blaster line had legitimate audio specs. I won a few KVRaudio contests using a sound blaster card. The ASIO4All 'wraps' the MME driver and give you latency buffer size controls. It might be all you need. Indeed, the SB cards get a bad wrap.... (pun intended) in many of the audio forums.... Yes they do have specs that are legit. But..... and I'll leave it at that. And yes, it is possible that using ASIO4ALL (A4A) will get you into high cotton. I've personally never been able to get A4A to work even slightly with my computers in the past. I've had other people say that it was the magic cure that fixed all their problems. Try it.... it's a free program and if it works, you just saved a hundred dollars or more on an interface for now. Eventually though, you will still want to get a decent interface for a host of other reasons besides the latency issues.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 03/13/17 02:46 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Herb, the only thing I have used ASIO4All successfully on are the built in sound cards in various laptops I've owned. For noodling when not at home.
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Herb, the only thing I have used ASIO4All successfully on are the built in sound cards in various laptops I've owned. For noodling when not at home. I tried to use it on a Dell for the same reason. BB seems to run just fine but when I would take it over to RB, that's where the latency was unworkable. A4A never touched that stuff. BB was all I could use, so I used it to compose and get ideas down while out of town. I'd finish the other steps later at home.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I have successfully used ASIO4ALL for a portable Akai synthstation 25 on USB, with VSTi in my DAW, using the in-built sound-card with headphones for playback.
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Normally Craigslist has several USB audio/midi interfaces for major metro areas, but I only found a couple of them. Check out the Facebook marketplace for your area as well. Whatever you get, I would buy an interface that runs on USB2.
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There is a Tascam US-1641 for $175. Look around to see if the drivers work well for your operating system, and if so, it's a killer unit for that price.
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