Audman71
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- Jan 19, 2016
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Hello!
I have recently seen some articles online talking about resolving latency as an issue with monitoring while recording audio, but not very much is talking about latency between a daw, virtual instrument, and midi keyboard controller. I just completed an experiment where I successfully reduced latency on my midi keyboard controller with my computer to negligible levels while having a buffer size of 2048 samples, so I thought I'd throw my two cents into the pot.
In this experiment, I used the following:
ASIO4All Driver (version 2.13)
M-Audio KeyRig 25, Axiom 61 for confirmation
Presonus AudioBox USB 96
Denon AVR-X3100W Receiver
Presonus Studio One Professional and Sonar Platinum for confirmation (though theoretically virtually any daw could work)
MIDI cable
USB cables
TRS cables
HDMI cable
RCA cables with adapters to TRS
PC
Ground Loop Protector (To reduce PC noise)
JBL LSR 308's
Of course, you can adapt and translate what you need for your situation if you choose to try this experiment.
Here's how I connected the dots in chronological order:
Axiom 61 >> PC via USB (For power ONLY, currently I don't have access to the power supply)
Audiobox USB 96 >> PC via USB
PC >> Denon AVR-X3100W via HDMI
Denon AV-X3100W ZONE 2 L/R preout>> Audiobox USB 96 Input L/R via RCA Cables with adapters to TRS on the end with the Audiobox USB 96
KeyRig 25 (and later Axiom 61) >> Audiobox USB 96 MIDI in via MIDI cable
Audiobox USB 96 Main Out L/R >> Ground Loop Protector
Ground Loop Protector >> JBL LSR 308
After making these connections, I make sure the main zone on the reciever is turned off and ZONE 2 is set to the PC input on the receiver. I also make sure the audio from the HDMI source (PC) is converted to PCM before going out the ZONE 2 preouts. Then I set the mixer knob for playing inputs or outputs all the way to the left on the Audiobox USB 96 so it only played what came through the inputs. I strongly suggest if you choose to follow my experiment by using the Audiobox USB 96 you leave the volume knobs for input gain at the 50% mark, or you'll get distortion. Use the Main Out volume knob instead if it is too quiet. Then I set the DAW settings so the ASIO driver is set to ASIO4All v2. Finally I disabled the Audiobox in's and out's in the Windows Sound Settings, and I changed the settings in that driver's control panel so the only output was to the Denon.
Essentially I'm running the Audibox USB 96 as a semi-standalone card, feeding my PC audio through it via another card, aka my Denon receiver, and feeding midi through the card into the PC to be used by the DAW (This worked particularly well in Presonus Studio One) By doing this, I was able to open one of my DAWs, load a virtual instrument,and no matter the buffer size, play notes and have them play back through the speakers virtually free of latency, so it would seem (Although having a sample rate of 192khz helped a bit with latency as well)
Any thoughts?
Thank you for reading!
-Audman71
I have recently seen some articles online talking about resolving latency as an issue with monitoring while recording audio, but not very much is talking about latency between a daw, virtual instrument, and midi keyboard controller. I just completed an experiment where I successfully reduced latency on my midi keyboard controller with my computer to negligible levels while having a buffer size of 2048 samples, so I thought I'd throw my two cents into the pot.
In this experiment, I used the following:
ASIO4All Driver (version 2.13)
M-Audio KeyRig 25, Axiom 61 for confirmation
Presonus AudioBox USB 96
Denon AVR-X3100W Receiver
Presonus Studio One Professional and Sonar Platinum for confirmation (though theoretically virtually any daw could work)
MIDI cable
USB cables
TRS cables
HDMI cable
RCA cables with adapters to TRS
PC
Ground Loop Protector (To reduce PC noise)
JBL LSR 308's
Of course, you can adapt and translate what you need for your situation if you choose to try this experiment.
Here's how I connected the dots in chronological order:
Axiom 61 >> PC via USB (For power ONLY, currently I don't have access to the power supply)
Audiobox USB 96 >> PC via USB
PC >> Denon AVR-X3100W via HDMI
Denon AV-X3100W ZONE 2 L/R preout>> Audiobox USB 96 Input L/R via RCA Cables with adapters to TRS on the end with the Audiobox USB 96
KeyRig 25 (and later Axiom 61) >> Audiobox USB 96 MIDI in via MIDI cable
Audiobox USB 96 Main Out L/R >> Ground Loop Protector
Ground Loop Protector >> JBL LSR 308
After making these connections, I make sure the main zone on the reciever is turned off and ZONE 2 is set to the PC input on the receiver. I also make sure the audio from the HDMI source (PC) is converted to PCM before going out the ZONE 2 preouts. Then I set the mixer knob for playing inputs or outputs all the way to the left on the Audiobox USB 96 so it only played what came through the inputs. I strongly suggest if you choose to follow my experiment by using the Audiobox USB 96 you leave the volume knobs for input gain at the 50% mark, or you'll get distortion. Use the Main Out volume knob instead if it is too quiet. Then I set the DAW settings so the ASIO driver is set to ASIO4All v2. Finally I disabled the Audiobox in's and out's in the Windows Sound Settings, and I changed the settings in that driver's control panel so the only output was to the Denon.
Essentially I'm running the Audibox USB 96 as a semi-standalone card, feeding my PC audio through it via another card, aka my Denon receiver, and feeding midi through the card into the PC to be used by the DAW (This worked particularly well in Presonus Studio One) By doing this, I was able to open one of my DAWs, load a virtual instrument,and no matter the buffer size, play notes and have them play back through the speakers virtually free of latency, so it would seem (Although having a sample rate of 192khz helped a bit with latency as well)
Any thoughts?
Thank you for reading!
-Audman71
Last edited:
