Audio interface records off sync, help !

[RichS]

Was it an internal click track both times? Meaning, did you run a click track through the same interface / preamp / DI box that your guitar runs through?

Or is it recorded internally within the program itself?

There is a latency issue going on there with your interface, it's almost like the initial guitar track is being played back to you slower than what it actually is, or you are hearing it played back slower. therefore making the current recorded track delayed.

 

[Tom-D]

Yes, I ran the click track from Reaper and Ive setup the connections accordingly to the instruction on the wiki page. The output went into the input. And Tone Port recorded the click track coming from Reaper. Its in sync with the click track, again, the internal one from Reaper, during playback and visually on the waveform and with each grid in the project. Its also aligned properly when you pick the insert->click source option. Its when actual recording of an instrument is taking place we have a mess. For example midi tracks with added VSTs are always in sync or midis with drum samples put over them. But when I want to record a guitar, vocal, bass, whatever goes in - its a mess. I bought this unit in 2009 and it worked flawlessly for like a year and a half. This latency issue is bugging me for over a year now.
Yes, I kinda understand what youre saying here. But if the click tracks were ok and it seems that the manual latency offset helped, why its still shit ?

 

[RichS]

How about some audio samples so we can hear what you are hearing?

 

[Tom-D]

OK, will record sth tomorrow and post.

 

[Skinny Viking]

^That just looks like normal human playing to me. It's never going to be dead perfect everytime!

unless I'm playing it

 

[Tom-D]

OK, here's the mp3 file:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/7v6ngu

I inserted the click source and played to it. As you can hear, its a mess. Sounds like a recording made by a drunk.

 

[Pickasso]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned much here is record monitoring. How are you monitoring your guitar playing along with the clicks & previous tracks?

Consider a test where you have zero latency to monitor your guitar playing. Use a distortion pedal, amp, whatever, but don't listen to the signal that goes thru the interface to the computer and back as a test, just monitor the playback tracks.
See if anything changes.

 

[Tom-D]

Could you rephrase that ? I have no idea what you just wrote. "How are you monitoring your guitar playing along with the clicks & previous tracks?". About the 2nd part: I had an engl preamp plugged in the line input and it also was off sync.

 

[RichS]

OK, here's the mp3 file:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/7v6ngu

I inserted the click source and played to it. As you can hear, its a mess. Sounds like a recording made by a drunk.

It does run off the click, not as bad as I thought it would though.

What drivers are you using? Have you tried Asio4All? I know they have helped people with issues like this in the past.

 

[Pickasso]

Could you rephrase that ? I have no idea what you just wrote. "How are you monitoring your guitar playing along with the clicks & previous tracks?".

I'll try to explain, basically how do you hear yourself play ?
Reaper is open. You press record, playback begins. You play a riff or chords, attempting to play precisely to the click.
While this is happening you might:
A) Have a track with record monitoring activated in Reaper with ampsims & fx to hear your playing. (in-guitar/interface/computer/reaper/fx out-computer/interface/headphones or speakers)
B) Use the engl preamp to monitor your playing, but signal goes thru computer and back. (in- guitar/interface/computer out-computer/interface/headphones or speakers)
C) other

My suggestion is to try a test where there is no round trip through the computer for your playing. That would remove the round trip latency delay from the equation. Set it up so you can hear the already recorded tracks or the clicks, but bypass the interface for monitoring your playing. Example- amp, distortion, pedal or just the guitar acoustically itself just for a test. Can't hurt to try it.

Some audio interfaces have a zero latency feature (doubt it with UX2, though). This is a setting where your input bypasses the computer connection and goes directly to the output, so there is no latency delay. For me (not a very good player) it really helped to monitor this way. Suddenly now when I play it's almost always on time the first take. Those 10-30 ms of latency from the computer round trip can possibly be a problem. Anyway, the guitar signal is split: 1 cord is the D.I. signal fed to the computer, 1 cord goes through a distortion pedal to the zero latency output. It sounds crappy tonewise, but recording is easier and predictable- what I play is what plays back.

 

[Tom-D]

@RichS

I tried asio4all and WDM with no luck. Actually the tracks react in almost the same way (lateny wise) on each of these drivers.

@Pickasso

Yes, this is how I record:
A) Have a track with record monitoring activated in Reaper with ampsims & fx to hear your playing. (in-guitar/interface/computer/reaper/fx out-computer/interface/headphones or speakers)

I dont use Gearbox or other standalone programs. I don't have an amp to monitor outside, sold the engl some time ago.

 

[RichS]

I don't know man, if it's not a latency issue I have no idea what it is. Maybe you should contact Reaper or the manufactuer of your interface.

I did a little searching with Google this morning and found a thread on the Line 6 forums. There was a guy having kinda the same issues, it was suggested that AMD Proccessors can lose sync. Might wanna look into that as well.

 

[Tom-D]

Yes, actually it was my post. The line 6 guys could'nt help. I will check that thing with the electricity. I will post the results. Thanks guys.

 

[neptunian]

There's one more thing you can do to narrow down where the fault is.

- Plug the guitar into the interface, or into the preamp -> interface.
- Disable input monitoring (both in software and direct monitoring on interface) and make sure just the click track is coming through headphones.
- Hold the headphone speaker closely against the guitar pickup and record for several minutes.

Then visually check the alignment between the original and "re-guitarted" click tracks. If every click is off by the exact same amount (like 10ms) then that's regular latency. Then the weird fluctuating timing you've been hearing is just a natural product of imperfect playing. But if it's off by varying amounts, then your suspicions were right and it really is something in hardware/software/electricity.

 

[Tom-D]

I think Im doing sth wrong because that track with the headphones put in front of the guitar pickups is barely recording anything. Even in max zoom its barely visible, no chance of seeing if its aligned or not. And I raised the volume of the track on max.
And my studio monitor went out 2 days ago. I was sleeping (everything was turned off including the power strip). Suddenly there was like a clicky noise that woke me up. The next day the speaker had to be repaired (for the 3rd time) because it had no power whatsoever. Sometimes there are also sudden bursts of very loud, distorted short noises (like a second or so) coming from both monitors. These are active Alesis 620's.