MIDI controller not working/bad lag [SOLVED]

[Huntarius]

My Digital Piano is selected as the midi input in Cakewalk, but it's not working. I tried every solution I could find online (including deleting duplicate midi devices in device manager, restarting/reinstalling literally everything related, and trying different audio drivers like AISO).

For some reason it still works if I open a VST on it's own outside of Cakewalk, but there is horrible lag that makes it impossible to play fast without getting really messed up. The lag is probably a separate issue, since it's present in all other DAW software I've tried (including Protools), along with all computers/cables I've tried.

I don't even know, I'm a musician not a tech wizard. Just want to record song unga bunga. Every single time I've ever tried to use recording software it never works like it should lol, about to throw my computer out the window...

Any ideas?

Edited July 24, 2023 by Huntarius
Updated to solved status

[Promidi]

You need to set up a MIDI track that has the Digital Piano as its input.
Then you need to route that MIDI track to a VST synth.
Then you need to route the audio track associated to that synth to a Bus (preferably the master bus)
That bus needs to be routed to your output device

Hopefully you have a USB audio interface that comes with its own native ASIO drivers.

In Cakewalk, what VST synth are you routing the MIDI from the Digital Piano to? 

What audio interface are you using? 

[Byron Dickens]

 

 

 

 

 

[msmcleod]

It's not clear exactly what you want to achieve, so I'll outline a few scenarios:

If you just want to record your piano, and play it back through the piano speakers:

1. Ensure both the Piano MIDI inputs and outputs are checked within Preferences->MIDI->Devices
2. Within Preferences->MIDI->Playback and Recording,  uncheck "Always Echo Current MIDI Track".  This is important, because otherwise you'll get MIDI feedback.
3. Create a new MIDI track, setting both the inputs and outputs to your Piano ensuring echo is OFF  (it should be if you've unchecked the setting in step 2).

If you want to also record audio and/or play other software instruments:

1. Do all the steps above
2. Take the audio outputs of your Piano, and plug them into the audio inputs of your audio interface.  Leave echo on on this track.
3. Create an audio track,  setting the inputs to whatever audio inputs you have your piano plugged into.
4. For recording other instruments, you'll need to manually turn MIDI echo on to hear them.
5. When you've finished your song, and want to mix-down to a stereo file:
     5.1.  Arm the piano audio track for recording, and solo it.
     5.2.  Press Record and let the whole song play through.
     5.3 . Mute the MIDI track your piano part is on.
     5.4.  Do your export.

If you don't want to use your internal piano sound, but just use your piano as a controller for a software piano VSTi (or other synths)

1.  Ensure both the Piano MIDI inputs is checked, and the Piano MIDI output is unchecked within Preferences->MIDI->Devices
2.  Within Preferences->MIDI->Playback and Recording,  ensure "Always Echo Current MIDI Track" is checked
3.  Insert a piano VST as a simple instrument track.
4.  For export, just export as normal. There's no need to mess around with your piano track, as all of the sound is being generated inside Cakewalk.

As a side note... even if you're ONLY recording MIDI (and by MIDI I mean pure MIDI, and no VST synths), it's always best practice to have at least one Audio track.  This ensures that the audio engine is engaged, and Cakewalk can get its timing from it.

[Byron Dickens]

Are you using the proper driver from Yamaha?

49 minutes ago, Huntarius said:

I don't have an audio interface, and I've used WASAPI and AISO

Bingo.

If you are recording only one track of piano, WASAPI should be ok but as soon as you want to record more than one track you have to have a proper audio interface with a proper ASIO driver from the manufacturer.

Whatever alleged "ASIO" driver you used with your onboard sound chip is complete garbage.

Did you watch John's videos? He explains all this very clearly.

[Promidi]

On 7/19/2023 at 2:46 AM, Huntarius said:

Exactly, hence why Istarted looking at audio interfaces. I just purchased a Focusrite Scarlett Solo, and I'll update this thread with how it ends up working. I'm hoping it will solve the lag issue.

I am confident that your Focusrite Scarlett Solo will solve the latency issue (as long as you use the Focusrite supplied driver).

When you were using onboard audio, what you were really experiencing was “audio” latency, not “MIDI” latency.

I have a configuration as per my signature and I do not have any perceivable delay between key hit on the PCR-800 and sound from any given soft synth.

[Huntarius]

Awesome, I'll have to try all of these!

What's weird is Cakewalk has worked just fine in the past with my piano, with no tweaking on my part. I don't know why it keeps breaking for me when I never touch anything that would break it. I'll see what happens and post the results.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Huntarius

[Huntarius]

Update: I found that windows had created duplicate drivers for my digital piano. I deleted them, plugged the piano back in, and it worked. Now it registers in Cakewalk when I play.

No solution has worked yet for the MIDI latency, so I still can't record properly. I'll update again if I find a fix.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Huntarius

[Byron Dickens]

What audio interface do you have and what driver mode are you using?

Also, what digital piano do you have and how is it connected?

Edited July 14, 2023 by Byron Dickens

[Huntarius]

15 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

What audio interface do you have and what driver mode are you using?

Also, what digital piano do you have and how is it connected?

I should have included that: I don't have an audio interface, and I've used WASAPI and AISO.  The piano is a Yamaha P-125, and it's connected with a MIDI USB cable.

[Huntarius]

On 7/14/2023 at 9:29 AM, Byron Dickens said:

Are you using the proper driver from Yamaha?

Bingo.

If you are recording only one track of piano, WASAPI should be ok but as soon as you want to record more than one track you have to have a proper audio interface with a proper ASIO driver from the manufacturer.

Whatever alleged "ASIO" driver you used with your onboard sound chip is complete garbage.

Did you watch John's videos? He explains all this very clearly.

Exactly, hence why Istarted looking at audio interfaces. I just purchased a Focusrite Scarlett Solo, and I'll update this thread with how it ends up working. I'm hoping it will solve the lag issue.

[Huntarius]

The interface works beautifully, solved the latency!

To sum up, the fixes to my issues were:

1: Duplicate drivers for my digital piano - went to device manager to delete them. To prevent it from happening again the digital piano should be plugged into the same USB slot every time.

2: MIDI latency due to built in Windows drivers. Don't sleep on Audio interfaces like I did

Thank you everyone who helped out!

Edited July 24, 2023 by Huntarius