Hi,

A friend of mine is trying to ditch all his analogue gear and move
everything on to PC, so he has bought an M-Audio soundcard, Cubase SX
(version 1 unfortunately...) and the above Samson c01u mic (which
connects through the USB).

The problem is latency with the mic - is this a limitation with the USB
connection? I have messed about with the software, but can't seem to
get it down (though i did manage to get it working at all which was an
improvement on him!)

Thanks for any advice on this he is annoying the $hit out of me about
it!

Blair (digital 8 track and happy thank you)

Seems its just inherent lag in monitoring - not lag using the mic at
all - please disregard this , my mate is a numpty :-D
wrote:
Hi,

A friend of mine is trying to ditch all his analogue gear and move
everything on to PC, so he has bought an M-Audio soundcard, Cubase SX
(version 1 unfortunately...) and the above Samson c01u mic (which
connects through the USB).

The problem is latency with the mic - is this a limitation with the USB
connection? I have messed about with the software, but can't seem to
get it down (though i did manage to get it working at all which was an
improvement on him!)

Thanks for any advice on this he is annoying the $hit out of me about
it!

Blair (digital 8 track and happy thank you)

wrote:
Seems its just inherent lag in monitoring - not lag using the mic at
all - please disregard this , my mate is a numpty :-D

That's where the problem is. The audio goes from the mic, through the
USB port, to the driver, to the DAW program, out through whatever
driver the system is using for the monitoring device, through the D/A
converter, and finally out to where you can hear it. With an analog
mixer or mic preamp (or audio interface) that has a headphone output,
you can monitor the mic through a direct, no latency, analog path. But
it's more stuff.

If your friend is trying to listen to himself through headphones while
he's talking or singing into the mic, he's not a numpty, he has a real
problem.

wrote:

The problem is latency with the mic - is this a limitation with the USB
connection?

USB is pretty fast, but everything digital has latency, and it's more
than anyone ever realizes, and rears its ugly head when you actually
want to monitor what you're recording. It's the software, including the
drivers, that causes the delays. Some drivers are better than others,
and low latency is a feature of ASIO drivers, but USB mics are meant
for talk-only and the simplest possible setup, so they don't have the
more advanced features that make "pro" gear workable.

It's the price you pay for simplicity and convenience these days.