Gotta Sync it Up.

Can you help me purchase an audio interface for my computer?

Lately, I've been having a lot of problems when recording to my computer with syncing audio tracks,. When I play it back, they always go out of sync due to some latency when trying to record to my computer. I don't have an audio interface, so I record directly to the line-in on my on-board sound card. I am wondering if that is the reason why my recordings are not syncing up. I'm interested in getting an audio interface and I was wondering if MeFi's musicians had any advice. I am generally using all analog/non-midi equipment, though I do have an axiom 49. I have always connected that via USB, while connecting the rest of my stuff through a Tascam mixer which then goes directly into my line-in. Any advice would be appreciated.

posted by orville sash (9 comments total)

I've been for a while now using an M-Audio FastTrack USB as an audio interface, and I've found that it works pretty well as a cheapo solution—like you, I basically push everything through a small mixer (and then into the FastTrack rather than straight line-in), and that works well enough, especially since I basically never record more than one source at a time and so don't need to manage more than a stereo source (and usually mono).

The FastTrack is kind of hacky for stereo sourcing, though, so if you intend to record like paired mics or stereo mixdowns off the Tascam on a regular basis I'd advise you to look for something that explicitly supports two separate channels through the interface.

All that said, my latency issues seem to have been software-specific in part—Adobe Audition has given me problems where Garageband has not, on that front. The USB interface reduced latency considerably but did not eliminate it, and I compensated for this in Audition by setting some software latency-correction that makes the problem go away but through the hacky method of actually performing a tiny shift in the placement of a newly recorded track to compensate. Some day I need to try harder to find an elegant rather than hacky solution for that.

What software and hardware platform are you on?
posted by cortex at 9:26 AM on July 22, 2009

I'm using Windows XP Sp3 P4 w/1GB RAM and Audacity. I am doing all my recording mono - no stereo sourcing, so that shouldn't be a problem. I've tried shifting the performance slightly so that it lines up with the last recorded track, but I can't seem to get them to line up well enough, so I usually end up one verse or one chorus or even one phrase at a time so that I can then manually move them into place after the recording. Which is a nightmare.

Thanks for your advice. I'm going to get something soon, but I'd love to get something that will solve all my problems. If I need to, I'll probably just buy a new rig around Christmas time, and maybe I'll get something a little more turbocharged.
posted by orville sash at 2:30 PM on July 22, 2009

Which direction are things skewed? If you're overdubbing, is the newest track ahead of or behind your older tracks?
posted by nosila at 8:04 PM on July 22, 2009

Well, as I understand it an audio interface is essentially an external soundcard, optimised for music production. Your on-board soundcard is probably not optimised for music production, so yes, you'll get latency. This article from SoundonSound explains what's going on with latency pretty well.

I use an Edirol UA3D (no longer available I think) and it takes care of the latency just fine. One of these would definitely help you out. Or you could look at the M-Audio alternative. Anyway, there are plenty of options.

If you are recording by yourself one instrument at a time you don't need to go crazy - a simpler device like the Edirol will work just fine. Band recording though will require something with more inputs.
posted by awfurby at 1:05 AM on July 23, 2009

Another thing (and this is increasingly not an issue you have to actually mess with as software matures and driver support gets more robust and ubiquitous, but it's still something to be aware of): you want to be sure you're using ASIO drivers for whatever your sound interface is, as that will make a big difference in latency.

Many sound devices will have ASIO support, and as far as I know (which is not very far at all, full disclosure...) Audacity supports ASIO just fine too, but it's possible for a sound device to be using a vanilla driver that's not nearly as optimized for low-latency audio communication and that could be an issue.

If you're buying something new, probably not a problem as, again, newer stuff has this shit pretty much figured out compared to ten years ago on Windows 98 or whatever. But it may be worth looking into whatever documentation Audacity (or google) has about ASIO support if this is new info to you; that may offer you some guidance both in terms of what to buy and in what you can do if anything to further improve your current situation via driver management.
posted by cortex at 7:40 AM on July 23, 2009

Using ASIO4ALL really helped performance on my non-studio computer. Using that will help minimize the the playback/record latency you experience even with your native board.

Before the software I use (Cakewalk Sonar) added automatic latency compensation I had a trick for determining exactly how far I needed to shift overdubbed tracks. I would take an audio sample with a sharp attack (like a snare drum) and plug the output of the sound card back into an input (turn off all monitoring to avoid massive feedback). Then I would record the sound to a new track and measure how far behind the new recorded track from the original. Then I would just need to remember to shift every overdubbed track over that amount. As long as I didn't change buffer settings I only needed to do the measurement once.

As for an audio interface nearly anything using USB or Firewire will be an improvement. Not only will it have dedicated drivers but it will also just sound better as it is isolated from all the electrical activity on the motherboard.

Might I recommend the Zoom H4. It is a portable recorder and can also work as an interface. Built in mics and effects are decent and the four track capabilities are really useful. There is also the H2 which I have not used but AFAIK just loses the 4-track capabilities. Downside is there is a bit of a learning curve to get over.
posted by dagosto at 9:36 AM on July 23, 2009

Latency should not matter if you are always recording external sound sources and not trying to track with Computer Effects.

that is to say, most good/professional programs these days when setup properly have automatic Latency Correction.

It just doesn't matter if you have latency when recording if you are Monitoring externally. are you sure there isn't a Soundcard Calibration you can do in Audacity to fix this?
posted by mary8nne at 2:25 AM on July 24, 2009

if you google search for Audacity and Latency Compensation you will a lot of tips on how to correct for this. - You don't actually NEED a new soundcard once you have it setup correctly
posted by mary8nne at 2:29 AM on July 24, 2009

Using ASIO4ALL really helped performance on my non-studio computer.

yes - this is something you need
posted by pyramid termite at 8:28 PM on July 24, 2009