Adjusting your timing for a accuracy of less then 1ms

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First, make sure you have applied all (or at least the most important) suggestions on the Win95 performance tips page. If not, go here.

 

  1. Start the ASIO Multimedia Setup program.
  2. Change your input and output buffers to 3 (you might want to jot down what they were originally before making changes)
  3. Hit the Detect Buffer Size button, then hit OK
  4. Start VST
  5. Select Synchronization from the Options menu
  6. Change your Pre-Roll to 2000
  7. Make sure your PPQN is set to 384, then hit OK
  8. Select System from the Audio menu
  9. Set your File Cache Scheme to  Tape Recorder / Audio Sequencer
  10. Set your Monitoring to Global Disable
  11. Set your Priority to Low, then hit OK
  12. Make a new folder for this test song and save it there
  13. Set your Audio Files Folder to the folder of this song
  14. Edit a WAV file of a single quick drum sound with another WAV editor (such as WaveLab or SoundForge) so that the sound starts on the 1st sample of the WAV
  15. Save the WAV file in your new test song folder
  16. Go to the Audio Pool and import your WAV drum sound
  17. Drag the selection from the Audio Pool to the Arrange window at line it up perfectly at bar 3
  18. Check the Q-Point and Over Quantize to be sure it's tight
  19. Find a similar drum sound on your synth and turn of all reverb's and/or delay's for that sound
  20. Step record that drum sound right at the beginning of bar 3
  21. Pan the synth all the way to the left
  22. Pan the WAV all the way to the right
  23. Select a new track to record with audio track and make it stereo
  24. Open the Audio Monitor window and hit the "in" button/s for the new stereo track
  25. Adjust your external mixer to send both your synth on the left, and your WAV on the right, to the input of your soundcard
  26. Place the left locator on bar 2
  27. Place the right locator on bar 4
  28. Hit the Loop button
  29. Hit play and adjust the input levels
  30. Hit stop and hit the punch in button
  31. Go to the beginning of the song and hit play
  32. Hit Stop after you have played past bar 4
  33. You should now have a recording of your MIDI and Audio (MIDI on the left, and Audio on the right). Open the new WAV file in another audio editor (such as WaveLab or SoundForge) and measure the distance between your MIDI and Audio, both in milliseconds and in samples. Write it on a piece of paper and don't lose it.
  34. Now go back to VST, select System from the Audio menu and adjust your MIDI to Audio delay according to the distance between your MIDI and Audio (in samples). You can use a minus symbol if needed. If all is well, your delay between MIDI and Audio should be under 1ms (hopefully no more then a few samples apart). You can now proceed with adjusting your input delay/pre-delay.
  35. Select your new recording, as well as your original WAV drum sound, and Hit  Ctrl+E
  36. Measure the distance between your recording (the right side) and your original WAV drum sound
  37. Save the song and close VST
  38. Open the ASIO Multimedia Setup program
  39. Adjust the offset of your input according to the distance between your WAV drum sound and your recording of it

Once you have completed this both your input and outputs should be perfectly in sync (under 1ms) to your MIDI.

You can now proceed in lowering your Pre-Roll to a usable point (depending on your setup), and raising your audio buffers in the ASIO Multimedia Setup program to a usable point (depending on your setup).

Note: You might not want to set your Pre-Roll below 250

Note: Start by putting your audio buffers back to their original state.

If you experience MIDI timing problems even without audio playback you should raise the value of your Pre-Roll. It's a good idea to have a Pre-Roll of at least the same ms delay as your System Latency.

Note: Your System Latency will change with different audio buffer settings (selectable in the ASIO Multimedia Setup program). You will find your System Latency in the Audio System Setup window found in the Audio menu.

If you experience occasional audio drop out's, increase the number of audio buffers in the ASIO Multimedia Setup program.

If you experience occasional audio glitches that shift out of time from your MIDI arrangement, decrease the number of audio buffers in the ASIO Multimedia Setup program.

If you are still experiencing problems, try different combinations in the Global Settings section in the ASIO Multimedia Setup program.

And if you are yet still having problems you probably have either:

  1. Not enough RAM
  2. A slow processor
  3. A slow disk drive
  4. Bad driver/s
  5. A soundcard that doesn't support Sample Position
  6. A bad setup

Their are many other possibilities as well.

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