Latency Struggles with MIDI Keyboard for a beginner Cakewalk user

[Mark Liu]

As many you have probably experienced at some point, I'm having seemingly unexplainable latency from my MIDI keyboard :(

I'm new to music software, producing, etc. Recently purchased an Alesis MIDI keyboard thinking it would be fun to tinker with composing some orchestral tunes, so I Googled around for the best free DAW which pointed me in the direction of Cakewalk. But at the first interaction, just playing around with the basic piano, the latency issue came up and it is proving too complicated for me to get my head around.

I've tried what I think is all possible combinations of settings, using WASAPI or ASIO4ALL, at different settings for all the common tweaks, stuff like 44.1 or 48k, 16 or 24bit, things I don't actually understand but seem to make a difference with other people. No noticeable change, for the better or worse... What really confuses me is that others have proven that they can get essentially zero latency on far older computers with practically the same set up.

I'm using a mid tier Surface Pro (6 I think), and everything is updated. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Was quite excited to begin my journey to learning about music producing, so it's frustrating to not even be able to make a start.

 

Thanks in advance!

[scook]

1 hour ago, Mark Liu said:

just playing around with the basic piano

Which one: TTS-1, SI Electric Piano or the MS GS Wavetable Synth? If the latter, try one of the plug-ins? The MS GS Wavetable Synth is not a low latency device. In fact, it may be a good idea to disable it in preferences.

 

1 hour ago, Mark Liu said:

I've tried what I think is all possible combinations of settings, using WASAPI or ASIO4ALL, at different settings for all the common tweaks, stuff like 44.1 or 48k, 16 or 24bit, things I don't actually understand but seem to make a difference with other people. No noticeable change, for the better or worse... What really confuses me is that others have proven that they can get essentially zero latency on far older computers with practically the same set up.

Of all the "common tweaks" the only one that makes a difference to latency is the driver buffer setting. Sample rate can affect latency but there is practically no difference between 44 and 48 (doubling sample rate halves latency at the same buffer setting). Bit depth does not matter. Switching driver modes may make a difference because different drivers may work better with smaller buffers.

Having a purpose build audio interface with a manufacturer supplied ASIO driver performs better than the sound chip in the PC. The driver makes the difference. That said, PC chip may be enough for simple projects.

The other source of latency is plug-in delay compensation. If bypassing all plug-ins makes a difference, then one or more plug-ins in the project are contributing to the latency problem. To bypass all plug-ins toggle the FX button in the Mix module. While reading about the FX button review the PDC button function as well.

 

[David Baay]

+1 to everything Steve said, except I think he meant to label that last link 'PDC button'.  ;^)

 The latency is primarily on the audio side of the process, and the onboard GS Wavetable Synth will have ~50ms of extra latency vs. a soft synth like TTS-1. I recommend uninstalling ASIO4ALL, and using WASAPI Exclusive mode which should allow you to get the buffer all the way down to 3ms for a simple project (Preferences > Audio > Driver Settings > Buffer Size). 

 

[scook]

1 minute ago, David Baay said:

I think he meant to label that last link 'PDC button'

fixed

[Mark Liu]

11 hours ago, scook said:

Which one: TTS-1, SI Electric Piano or the MS GS Wavetable Synth? If the latter, try one of the plug-ins? The MS GS Wavetable Synth is not a low latency device. In fact, it may be a good idea to disable it in preferences.

Thanks for the advice! Is this referring to the MIDI > Devices > Outputs? That might be it's been set to the MS GS Wavetable Synth. I can see the TTS-1 and SI Electric Piano in the Insert > Soft Synth menu and have them show up as an instrument (it's already slightly less latency on those), but I don't know how to get it to show up as an option in the MIDI outputs - again sorry if that is all wrong, complete beginner here!

[scook]

33 minutes ago, Mark Liu said:

MIDI > Devices > Outputs

Defines hardware outputs only. This includes the MS GS Wavetable Synth because it resides outside the DAW in the PC hardware.

When the DAW does not have any MIDI devices defined in preferences, opening MIDI files will be automatically setup to play with TTS-1. This and the better performance of TTS-1 over the MS GS Wavetable Synth is why I recommend deselecting it from output devices.

TTS-1 and SI Electric Piano are software plug-ins that run inside the DAW. They will never show up as MIDI hardware devices. You have already found one of several methods to add these plug-ins to a project - Insert > Soft Synth another is the add track menu. (see the "To create Instrument track" section about midway down the page).

Plug-ins may be added as needed to a project and once the project is saved, the plug-ins will be there when the project is re-opened.

It is possible to create a project template containing the synths already setup if you wish. For now, it may be a good idea to add them as needed to get familiar with the process.

 

[Michael Warren]

I had the same problem posted. A forum user suggested I exit Cakewalk, rename the aud.ini file, restart Cakewalk. It rebuilt the aud.ini file and that solved my problem. Why? I don’t know, but it worked for me.