delayed instrument audio during recording

[michael Grace]

when I playback the audio is fine and I can see it in the timeline. However when I record there is a approx. 5 to 10sec delay from playing and hearing the audio tll suddenly I hear it and it shows up on screen. I'm using Cakewalk on my pc. It's like there is no signal getting to the DAW for several secs and then it starts in wherever I am.

[tecknot]

Hi michael and welcome to the Cakewalk forums.

What you are describing is known as "latency".  Hopefully, you can remedy latency by adjusting your buffers.  However, it would be helpful to us if you would give us a breakdown of your DAW (PC specs, sound card/interface, driver mode, etc.) in order to narrow down the culprit.

Kind regards,

tecknot

[Terry Kelley]

But 10 seconds of latency?

[John Vere]

Yes in the wrong driver mode with on board audio this is normal. I was just doing something on my laptop and using on board.  It took at least that long for me to hear the metronome in a blank project in MME mode. I had forgotten I had switched to MME for testing something else. WASAPI shared it was Ok. 
 

To the op. Really the best recommendation for anyone wishing to record audio is to purchase a proper ASIO Audio Interface. Problem solved.   
Nothing else will offer smooth sailing in Cakewalk or any DAW. 
You can use on board audio for playback and midi and using loops. But not recording audio with out latency. 

Edited August 20, 2021 by John Vere

[Byron Dickens]

18 minutes ago, John Vere said:

Really the best recommendation for anyone wishing to record audio is to purchase a proper ASIO Audio Interface. Problem solved.

+1000