Delay before recording

[jkoseattle]

I don't think anything has changed in my system. Now suddenly any time I switch away to a different application, when I come back to CW, I get maybe 5-10 seconds delay when hitting R to record, where the cursor spins, then recording proceeds normally. After that, as long as CW stays the active application, when I hit R to record it starts right up like it's supposed to. Then after I go away and come back, the delay and spinning cursor returns. What might be causing this?

Edited November 10, 2022 by jkoseattle

[reginaldStjohn]

This is probably due to the interaction of your audio interface, the driver mode you are using, and maybe some windows update.  Double check, and post here as well, what driver is being used by your device (ASIO, or a Windows supplied one ), what driver mode you have selected in Cakewalk, that your windows settings match your project settings, if using WASAPI or WASAPI shared.

[jkoseattle]

Thanks for the reply. I am using a Focusrite Scarlett and the drivers say Focusrite USB ASIO, and in Cakewalk the Driver Mode is also ASIO.

The only thing I can think is that I switched to the newer Surface Dock, but I thought that was just a throughput device. What else might be in play?

[msmcleod]

In my experience three things can cause a delay in playback:

1.  Lookahead plugins   - any plugin that has to look ahead will cause a delay in playback, as it has to effectively start playing for the lookahead before the audio is actually heard.  Linear Phase EQ's are the most common culprits.

2. The "Always Open All Devices" and "Allow Arm Changes During Playback/Record" settings 

"Always Open All Devices" causes all audio devices to be initialized when the engine is started/restarted.  Checking this will make arming a track almost instantaneous, but at the price of doing all the work up front any time the engine restarts. You can mitigate this to some extent by disabling any audio inputs/outputs you're not using. Alternatively, just uncheck it and accept there will be up to around a second's delay when you arm a track.

"Allow Arm Changes During Playback/Record" will set up recording buffers for all tracks at the start of playback, so that arming a track during playback is instantaneous.  Depending on the number of tracks, this can take time. 

3.  "Suspend Audio Engine When Cakewalk is Not in Focus"  - this will stop the audio engine when you tab away from Cakewalk, and restart it when Cakewalk regains focus.  This can be especially slow if "Always Open All Devices" is checked.