Hello again,
I have my Win7 machine working using the Line-In for recording. I use MME drivers and Win7 deliver the sound of whatever I plug in, but, there is a delay or lag. It is impossible to record when my guitar or vocal is delayed. I can't sing or play in sync with the other tracks. Without any software open I can hear the delay just playing through the line-in coming out of the speakers. I use Bose 2 speaker set for PC or headphones..
I searched the Internet and found many people have this problem but no solutions. Musicians and DJs.
Many people here are using Win7 machines and must be recording without this problem. Any advice would be a life saver. Just when I got myself ready, I hit this wall. I recorded this way using XP without a hitch. I thought it was just my machine till I searched for a fix. So far I haven't found a fix that works.
With all the Win7 PCs there has to be a way to make this work. I need to know how others use Win7 and are recording without this problem. I always had great results with XP and reading posts about a lag or delay would make me feel blessed that I never had this problem. Switching to my new PC and Win7 now has me stumped.
Should I give up on line-in and get a audio interface? Will that resolve this issue?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Wayne,
The one time I tried recording on my win7x64 lappy i noticed the same thing. I never pursue it as I typically use my XP lappy with ASIO for recording.
I guess this is what I get for saying how much I like Win7 and my new PC...lol
I've been practicng since last Christmas and I finally got some of my chops back. (guitar)
Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the software.
Help!!
Wayne,
Hi John,
I'd gladly go back to XP, but we lost our PCs in a flood last Fall. We lost most everything.
Wayne,
This is only an issue if you are monitoring the played signal.
What I do is turn off the monitoring of my guitar while I'm recording so the only thing coming through my studio monitors is whatever I'm playing along with.
I listen to my guitar part through another source. For example, if I am micing the amp as I play, I can already hear my guitar AND the backing tracks being played together.
If, after recording, the tracks are not aligned, its easy enough to slide the recorded track into position.
What you are experiencing is called latency. You will get this with MME drivers. As John has said you need to use ASIO drivers. With a little more information like what soundcard are you using, are you 32 or 64 bit, what software are you trying to record with, etc. we can better answer your questions and help you with your driver selection.
Hi Pat,
So the Lag is in the monitoring from the PC's speakers. When you record it records pretty much without this delay. If I am recording direct from my guitar amp, I should use my mixer and monitor the mixer along with the PC playing the backing tracks alone.
I don't think I'll need another speaker. The Bose speaker I have have an 1/8th inch input for the PC and also a pair of RCA input jacks for another device. They both work at the same time. I will try this.
So there might be a slight lag in what I record anyway. But I can shift this over? Nice, Thanks for the info. I suspected it mostly had to do with the monitoring of the PC speakers. So I just uncheck the "listen to this" box and get a couple more cables for the mixer..
Thanks again, Wayne,
Hi Mario,
I'm using Win7 64bit. It has onboard sound. It says "Conexant HD Audio." The PC is an i5 with 8gb RAM and a 1tb HD. The lag happens without any software running. If I were to switch to ASIO Drivers, what ASIO Drivers should I try?
I never got ASIO working with my XP machines, but I never needed ASIO so I never tried them again. With my old XP machines, MME always worked fine.
I suppose if ASIO is faster it will only be faster for recording, since the delay or lag is there without any programs open.
I'm just using Realband and PTPA 12. And BIAB 2009.
Wayne,
Hi, Wayne -
You might want to try ASIO4ALL; I've found it works pretty well with my laptop's soundcard (not the same as yours, though).
That should reduce the latency you are experiencing.
The latency is not with your speakers, but with the time it takes your sound card to process the sound from the input to the output in the soundcard. Of course, you hear the result through your speakers, but you would have the same thing if you were using headphones.
Thanks John,
I'll check them out. Are you using Win7 64?
I guess I along with many never had any problems with XP.
I have very simple recording needs. I just record 1 or 2 audio tracks over a few MIDI tracks.
Wayne,
I'm using Win7 64 and have been for quite awhile. I find that once you re-orient yourself from XP, it's a very stable OS.
I've been using Win7 64 since last October. I love it. Very stable. Does your laptop have a line-in jack or are you using an ext. audio interface? My wife has a new Win7 64 Laptop. It has no Line-In, just a mic input.
I'm using the desktop because it has a line-in and we use it for all our PC and Entertainment needs. We have no cable TV. We stream everything in HD to our TV. It's great. The last thing I want to do is mess up my regular sound system on this PC because we use it many hours a day watching TV and Movies off the Internet.
I checked ASIO-for-all and found mixed opinions on it. A few people said they lost their regular sound. If this PC was to lose any of its MultiMedia, my wife would kill me.
I found comments saying it saved them and others that said it wrecked their system. I'm a little nervous about this. They say ASIO For All installs and uninstalls without disturbing anything else. But I found a number of people who said they lost their normal audio and had to reinstall everything. Kind of scary. If only I had another PC.
And what version? Some prefer different versions. One works with 32 and others work with 64?
Sorry if I sound helpless. I'm not. It's just that I haven't had to look under the hood so to speak with Win7 so far. It has worked so well.
Funny thing is, that the last time I had to call Tech Support, they told me stop using ASIO and stick with MME. Of course that was a few years ago using XP.
Wayne,
RB & BIAB are very, very iffy using ASIO.I'm fortunate that a friend wrote ASIO drivers for old AC97 cards and made some specific mods to overcome the RB/BIAB issues.In your case I'd do as Pat stated or like I do minus the ASIO.Get a small Behringer mixer.Hook your powered speakers to it.Have computer out into the mixer.Plug guitar into the mixer.Have the AUX send of the mixer into the line in of the soundcard. No more latency. Or get an audio interface that has direct input monitoring.
PLEASE DON'T TRY AND SOLVE THIS BY GOING TO ASIO.
For line-in and MIDI in, I use an M-Audio Fasttrack Pro. It has it's own ASIO driver. If I'm just working with audio on the computer (not recording), I use ASIO4ALL with the built in sound chip. Works great on my PC. Occasionally have to restart the application to get it to recognize it, but otherwise no problems.
Quote:
PLEASE DON'T TRY AND SOLVE THIS BY GOING TO ASIO.
I'm not.
John, I went through a big mess a few years ago with ASIO on my old Core 2 Duo with XP. That was when PG Tech said USE MME with my 2009 software.
I have a great sounding Alesis Multimix Mixer with Effects. It sounds better than the old Mackies I once had. I'm going to hook up the mixer to the PC's line-in. I can monitor it along with the PC sounds. The Bose speakers have 2 pair of inputs that work at the same time. So I can monitor from 2 sources with 1 set of speakers. One will be the PC and the other will be the mixer.
Reading the comments on ASIO and remembering my problems with BIAB and Realband made me decide to not mess with ASIO. Everything works on this PC. All I have to do is what you are saying. Just reroute a couple of things.I don't know what it is with ASIO, but I can't get it to work for me. I have a Fender Mustang I amp and I installed the Fender ASIO driver and I couldn't get any sound from any PG software. To remove the driver I had to restore to an ealier date. That was enough for me. Even under the best conditions going back to a restore point always makes me NERVOUS, till I see the message saying it all went well.
Thank you all. I just need a couple of more cables and I'll be in business. I really want to record again since I'm now playing. New amp now too. I changed from my Tele to my Strat. I'm dying to hear what I sound like and share it with you all. I'm the old dog without the new tricks.
It's been a long time and a tough year. But we're OK. We came through this last flood much better than the one in 2006. The one they called "The once in a hundred year flood." Well it took just 5 years for another. Such is life. We thank God for everything. I thank him for not having to mow another lawn ever again...lol
Wayne,
Quote:
It's been a long time and a tough year. But we're OK. We came through this last flood much better than the one in 2006. The one they called "The once in a hundred year flood." Well it took just 5 years for another.
if we can trust the experts, you should be good for the next 195 years
;-)
Quote:
if we can trust the experts, you should be good for the next 195 years
;-)
If we trust reality, we're good till, 2016, tops. I make a few jokes, but it's a sad situation.
Wayne,
P.S We live in a second floor apartment now. Very nice. :-)
John (and Wayne) -
ASIO may or may not work, but trying it takes a few minutes and doesn't cost you anything. If it still doesn't work, then there are other external solutions, but they cost. I would always try the free and easy first before I started investing. Every laptop is different. For mine, ASIO has worked pretty well.
What you really need is to discover how to use the built in soundcard's Record Mixer for Direct Monitoring, rather than the Playback Mixer, which will necessarily have to include the computer throughput time.
Some solve the problem by purchasing an aftermarket sound device that includes Direct Monitoring feature in its own Control Panel, such as the M-Audio devices do. That might be your best bet as a USB sound device for recording means that you could only direct your recording softwares to use that, leaving the OS still driving the onboard sound for use with the TV, etc.
--Mac
So are you saying that using something like "M-Audio Fast Track Pro", would bypass the computer's connections?
It would make a direct connection to my PG software and I would have my input and out directly through this device?
Would connecting it using USB require special drivers? If this is what you mean by a USB sound device? It looks pretty good. Nice and neat and to the point, if it works as advertised with Win7 64. I could use this on any machine then, like their Mobile Pro. Only in my house. It would be useful when I get a Laptop.
I hope I'm getting this right.
The thing is, I only use PG Music software. I gave up on Cakewalk and Cubase years ago. I loved them all when I just used MIDI. But now I've only been using PTPA for audio recording. I don't need or wnat anything else. Of course I always use BIAB. I'm still into MIDI for my backing tracks. I've been a guitarist for over 35 years and all I want is to record my guitar. Electric and Acoustic. Meaning it has to work with PG sofware, period. Other wise I can just get a seperate stand alone recorder with an SD card. Pump in the BIAB and plug my guitar and mic in. Copy the files back to the PC to finish them. I need to keep a record of my progress at this point. I need to document my playing in case I lose it again.
Thanks Mac,
Wayne,
Todays internal cards are really pretty poor in the recording side of things but quite good on the playback. Your best bet is to get one of the GOOD USB interfaces. I know a lot of folks here do you the MAudio stuff. FastTrack or FastTrack Pro and are very happy. Direct monitoring is normal.Very low/no latency
Hi Wayne,
If you get a USB interface that supports hardware monitoring (and has its own ASIO driver), that would be a great solution, and the Fast Track that some folks are recommending does tend to work pretty well in Win7 64.
In the meantime, if you'd like a hand getting started with ASIO4ALL, feel free to call our tech line (1-866-983-2474). It'll only take a few minutes, and won't mess anything up on your computer.
We did sometimes have trouble getting ASIO4ALL working back in 2009, but not anymore.
Thanks
Kent
PG Music
I use the TASCAM US144 MKII with my Win7/64 and BIAB 2102. Is anyone else using it? I haven't done any recording since I built my new Desktop a month ago, but I don't expect to have any problems... For $149.00 I thought this TASCAM is pretty solid.
Have you used the Tascam with Win7? If and when you do could you please tell us how it worked out?
I've checking out a few usb interfaces and they all get mixed reviews. The bardest problem reading reviews is when I read a good one and they say they are using XP, not Win7 64.
Some reviews on the Tascam say it has weak out put for monitoring. Low volume for headphone and weak preamps. I don't realy care unless it's really bad. I'm going to using a mixer with it anyway.
Thanks a lot, Good luck with your new system.
Wayne,
Yes, I am using it with Win 7/64. And I am using a Mixer with it too. I have zero problems with it. They've got all the latest drivers on their website too.
Thanks for your reply. I'm glad to hear you have no problems. I need something I can use to record my guitar with MIDI tracks. The latency of the line-in makes recording impossible. This was never a problem when I used XP.
I make my backing tracks with BIAB and then I record myself playing guitar. If this unit works well with Win7 64, I can monitor my input without the delay Win7 has, since I always plug in direct. I always liked Tascam products also.
Wayne,
Well Wayne I have good news, bad news and advice. In the interest of helping you I went back to my Win7x64 computer to see if I could find a setting responsible. The good/ad news is I couldn't make it have latency no matter what i changed. It recorded fine.
I was not monitoring what I played though. Not sure if I know how on this thing. I'll be back in a minute.
If you're going to do any serious recording though you should get an interface.
Yea now I remember. You can't have the "listen to this device" in reference to the mic checked or you get the latency. No way to stop it.
I figured out how to fix it. I'll be back with steps. Want to get this right for you.
This is convoluted but it's how it's done.
1.control panel
2.sound
3.record
4. properties
5.Listen
6. UNCHECK "listen to this device" counter intuitive I know
7.Click OK
8.Playback
9. Speakers
10. Properties
11.You'll see a MIC volume bar. Unmute the mic and turn it up all the way.
Click OK all the way back.
It'll work just like in XP.This is how you DIRECT MONITOR in Win7
Thanks John and Everyone,
I am recording without any latency.
It seems the latency or delay is only in the monitoring or listening to the line-in.
The input going into the PC, which is what is recorded has no latency at all.
I unchecked the listen to this device again and ran my mixer into the line-in as usual. I plugged my amp direct into my mixer. As luck would have it, my Bose speakers have 2 sets of inputs. So I plugged the headphone out of the mixer into the Bose speakers to monitor the mixer (my guitar) with the MIDI playback.
After I recorded my first take, I played it back and there was no latency at all.
Now I'm left with one simple problem. My old XP machine had Audio Conversion build in. I can save these recordings to WMA or Wave, but I can't convert them to MP3 or change the volume or bit rate.
Any suggestion for a good MP3 audio converter program let me know. I know there must be free ones out there but I'll pay for shareware or a reasonable priced program if I can convert them into good sounding MP3s. Also if it could raise and lower the volume.
When I get a couple of quick test demos I'll post them. As soon as I find a way to convert to MP3.
Thank you all so much for all the time, work and research you all did. I was right at the end of my rope when John made me go back and setup the Windows Audio again. Then I just monitored my mixer. Amazing the delay in playback from Win7. But the input that gets recorded was right on the money. I played very syncopated lines to make sure it was on the beat and it was dead on.
Sincerely, Wayne,
The setup I told you now lets you plug your guitar directly into the input of the computer and headphones in the out and playback & play at the same time while hearing the guitar with no latency. Did you catch that Wayne?
What I'm saying is forget everything that was said up to that last post I made. IT CAN BE DONE IN WIN7 the same as XP.No mixer needed.
Quote:
Any suggestion for a good MP3 audio converter program let me know. I know there must be free ones out there
Audacity is free and very good. Here's a link:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
to save as an MP3 you will probably also need the LAME encoder, found here:
http://lame-mp3-encoder.soft32.com/free-download?gclid=CMSg36uExbACFYqb7QodsEdvXA
Quote:
This is convoluted but it's how it's done.
1.control panel
2.sound
3.record
4. properties
5.Listen
6. UNCHECK "listen to this device" counter intuitive I know
7.Click OK
8.Playback
9. Speakers
10. Properties
11.You'll see a MIC volume bar. Unmute the mic and turn it up all the way.
Click OK all the way back.
It'll work just like in XP.This is how you DIRECT MONITOR in Win7
Thanks for this. I got this fix off the Internet before and thought I had the fix. But not on my machine.
Leaving the "Listen to this device" unchecked and going to the playback, speakers and properties, I find 2 sliders, one for Mic and the other for Rear Input. Unmuting them and sliding the levels up all the way does nothing on for the line-in. The Mic works fine this way. The only way to get sound from the line-in (rear input) is to check the "Listen to this device" with all the latency. I saw screen shots of some machine that don't have anything but a Mic slider in the speaker properties, even though they have Line-inputs. It seems this works on some machines and not on others. I seem to have one that this fix does nothing.
I tried this on my wife's laptop using a mic and it works fine. Her Laptop only has a mic input but it had the same delay. This fix worked on her laptop with the Mic as well. I understand what you're saying. It just doesn't fix it on all Win7 64 PCs.
I'm just thrilled that there is no latency recording.
Thanks again, Wayne,
Thanks Pat.
I forgot all about Audacity. I haven't needed it for so many years.
This is just what I need.
Wayne,
Quote:
Quote:
This is convoluted but it's how it's done.
1.control panel
2.sound
3.record
4. properties
5.Listen
6. UNCHECK "listen to this device" counter intuitive I know
7.Click OK
8.Playback
9. Speakers
10. Properties
11.You'll see a MIC volume bar. Unmute the mic and turn it up all the way.
Click OK all the way back.
It'll work just like in XP.This is how you DIRECT MONITOR in Win7
Thanks for this. I got this fix off the Internet before and thought I had the fix. But not on my machine.
Leaving the "Listen to this device" unchecked and going to the playback, speakers and properties, I find 2 sliders, one for Mic and the other for Rear Input. Unmuting them and sliding the levels up all the way does nothing on for the line-in. The Mic works fine this way. The only way to get sound from the line-in (rear input) is to check the "Listen to this device" with all the latency. I saw screen shots of some machine that don't have anything but a Mic slider in the speaker properties, even though they have Line-inputs. It seems this works on some machines and not on others. I seem to have one that this fix does nothing.
I tried this on my wife's laptop using a mic and it works fine. Her Laptop only has a mic input but it had the same delay. This fix worked on her laptop with the Mic as well. I understand what you're saying. It just doesn't fix it on all Win7 64 PCs.
I'm just thrilled that there is no latency recording.
Thanks again, Wayne,
Works great on my Win7x64. Oh well!Realtek card BTW
It's a good fix. When it works it solves the problem. I was just out and went to a friends computer store. We discussed this and he tried it on 3 of his desktops. The fix worked on his i3 machines. We got to the i5 and no change or should I say no sound or delayed. He was grateful for the fix. He has gamers that come back really not happy that they can't use the line-in. They want the surround sound. So they just plug the speakers in direct or they go with headphones. But they are not happy campers.
I guess if you're shooting stuff up you want the gunshots to be insync. I don't know about gaming, but he said it was very important to them.
Again thanks for all you time and help.
I recorded something quick last night to check it. It on the User's Showcase. It's "Mustang". It's just a jam thing to see hoe my amp records. Kind of dull, but nice tone from my Strat. First time with my new amp.
Wayne,