No matter how precise I am audio always sounds ahead!!!

[John Connor]

Hi all, glad to be here, I am having issues while recording.

No matter how precise I am while recording guitar the audio always sounds ahead of time. 

I got the metronome set and I play in time with it but when I play what I play (I am playing along a backing track) it sounds as if I play early and sounds off.

I am using the Behringer Uphoria UM2 as well as the built-in TH3 VTS.

Also, I am using ASIO driver.

Here are my settings.

[John Bradley]

You can verify that CW and your audio interface are handling the synchronization corrrectly by having CW send a metronome out, and then record that signal by either connecting the your interface's outs to your ins, or simply aiming a microphone at your speakers. (In the latter case, don't monitor the recording, or you'll get feedback!)

The clicks in the recording should be 'right on' (like, within 1ms) of the vertical grid lines.

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Assuming that checks out, it's a (human) mechanical problem - 40ms is getting pretty long between when you hit a key/string and when you hear the result. That's going to screw with your timing. It might be something you can get better at with practice, or it might not. I've got a 30ms round trip when I track, which is still too long for comfor. I just accept the fact that my recorded guitar tracks are going to be roughly 30ms ahead of the beat, possibly because of the round-trip, possibly because my timing just sucks. After I record, I just nudge the clip over to the right by 30ms.

 

[John Connor]

Do not understand your answer about CW sending a metronome out. I am a  rookie when it comes to record.

[John Bradley]

Open a new blank project.

Create an audio track, set the input to one of the channels on your interface, and plug a microphone into it.

Arm the track for recording, but do not enable Input Echo.

In the Control Bar, next to the big Time display, make sure "Metronome during Record" is turned on.

Aim the mic at your speakers, hit 'record' up in the transport and let it run for a couple of bars. You should hear a metronome clicking, and you should see pulses appear in the track that you're recording to.

In the Track pane, select View | Display | Vertical Grid Lines | In Front of Clips. Set the Snap value to 1/4 to get vertical lines every quarter note.

It should look like this:

Zoomed in:

 

If you turn off snap, and switch the time ruler to Milliseconds, you can measure the distance between the line and the start of the pulse. (Turn on Aim Assist and Aim Assist Time.)  All of those options are available by right-clicking the time ruler.

In the above example, the metronome pulse begins about 1ms after the gridline, which is inaudibly different from "absolutely dead-on". It takes some time for sound to go through the amplifier, the speaker, the air, the microphone, and back to the interface's input.  Physical objects (speakers, air, mic diaphragms) don't move instantaneously. 

--

The point is, if you do this test and get similar results, it's your playing and/or the inability to cope with the fairly long round-trip time, not anything intrinsically wrong with your system.

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by John Bradley

[JonD]

You don't say if you tried to set the buffer size lower (for less latency).  What happens if you move the slider more to the left?

[slartabartfast]

19 hours ago, John Connor said:

No matter how precise I am while recording guitar the audio always sounds ahead of time. 

A delay in recording what you play (latency) could be due to buffer or processing issues, but you are saying that the recorded notes are ahead of where they should be. Since in the real world a sound cannot be recorded before it is played, the only common cause for that is that your system is applying delay compensation incorrectly. Usually that happens because a plugin that has its own buffer to allow it to do the processing sends a message to Cakewalk that it needs to adjust the time so that the delay introduced by that buffer is NOT recorded as the note being recorded late. 

Try bypassing any effects to see if this solves the problem.

https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Recording.22.html

If not you may need to manually set the offset.

Edited July 16, 2020 by slartabartfast

[John Connor]

7 hours ago, JonD said:

You don't say if you tried to set the buffer size lower (for less latency).  What happens if you move the slider more to the left?

I have tried both ways in the ASIO panel. All the way to the left and all the way to the right. Still ahead of time.