Hi,
I'm a good guitarist...switching from analog to digital. My computer is great...XP Pro....my soundcard is a Creative USB deelio with an 1/8 inch jack. It is not PCI although I could certainly install a PCI interfaced card if I need to. Also there is Realtek Audio 97 built directly into the motherboard.
Here's the problem. I don't like my buzzy amp when I am playing along with songs. I have like 20 songs I love that I just wanna play guitar along with the song until each guitar part and solo is note perfect. Sounds simple right? Software is not a problem...I have more software than God. This is a hardware issue.
I don't want to blow $500 "discovering the answer" so I need your help. Currently all I can do is play along with my buzzy amp.
Last night I tried plugging my guitar directly into my Soundcard....It worked except the latency is ferocious. Obviously I don't know what the hell I'm doing. When I pluck a string...sound comes out like a full second later. That just won't work....When I pluck a string...I need to hear it right away....without 1 milisecond of delay....how do I accomplish that trick. Is there a gizmo out there under $300 that will get me to the promised land?
Some of the software I have has the AISO drivers and has little sliders to manually lower the latency.....but it simply did not work at all...Ima thinkin I need a piece of hardware to make sure when I hit a string my ear and the motherboard get the audio signal instantaneously.
Thanx, Kristin.
I don't know if you can acheive a 0ms latency on a PC, no matter the hardware you use.
But I can tell you that I have a Soundblaster Live PCI card and I plug my guitar directly into it and use ASIO drivers and have a 5.2ms latency, virtually not noticable.
I record myself playing over backing tracks and the latency is not a problem at all.
But then again, I'm not looking for perfection and I do notice, very rarely though, some delay on my playing. Not really sure if it is me or the latency. It might still be a problem if you're looking for PRO like results.
I'm using KxProject drivers for the Soundblaster cards, I don't know if it would work with your USB card.
There is also the ASIOforALL drivers that you can use.
I don't have the URL for them right now but a quick GOOGLE search will direct you in the right direction.
Good luck!
When I play-along (not recording) with backing tracks (on the PC harddisk) I normally use Windows Mediaplayer (11) or Winamp(5.3.2) .
I am using a low cost Soundblaster (PCI) soundcard or an integrated soundcard function on the motherboard.
Neither of them is giving me any latency(delay) problems between the backing track and my guitar sound (or between the "acoustic" guitar sound and the PC played back guitar sound).
The guitar is connected via an analog mixer to the line-in ports on the soundcards.
The output sound ( backing track and guitar) is comming from the soundcards output port. I use PC monitor speakers or headphones when I play.
For this "playalong" case you normally not need any ASIO drivers as input sound is not recorded, just played back.
Kristin, I would test the integrated soundcard and see if you get the same delay between input /output.
Kalle
Tanglewood TW28STE (Shadow P7 EQ) acoustic
Yamaha RGX 320FZ electric guitar/Egnater Tweaker 15 amp.
Yamaha RBX 270 bass/Laney DB 150 amp.
http://www.soundclick.com/kalleinsweden
