Sonar LiveSynth Pro

[Buddy]

I am sort of new to the world of MIDI. I understand the concept for
the most part and know how it works. I am able to record from my
keyboard to my computer using MIDI. Now what I want to do is run it
through the LiveSynth Pro DXi when recording. The only way I know of
to do it right now is that in my track settings in the output I have
to have Microsoft Wavetable Synth selected in order to hear my MIDI.
These only allow for me to choose some really crappy sounding
instruments. So I record, great. Now I switch the output to the
LiveSynth Pro and choose an instrument and it plays beautifully
through there. But I am thinking that in the long run, this is a bad
setup because its more hassle and i'm not getting the sound that I
need when recording. It cramps the creativity flow of the song up by
not actually hearing the instrument your going to use in the final
product. Can anyone give me a suggestion of how I can play the
keyboard and hear the LiveSynth Pro at the same time? Is there a way
to channel it through there? I have a Hercules GameTheater XP sound
card, the external one. It's been nice so far I guess.

Thanks,

Buddy

[Ricky W. Hunt]

"Buddy" > wrote in message
om...
> Can anyone give me a suggestion of how I can play the
> keyboard and hear the LiveSynth Pro at the same time?

Sure. If you have a low enough latency drivers. You'll need either WDM or
ASIO drivers to get low enough latency to play in real time. Are these
drivers available for your soundcard? If so, it should just be a matter of
loading up Livesynth in the Synth Rack, loading the soundfonts you want into
Livesynth, and pointing the output of the MIDI track you are recording to
Livesynth.. Using the Synth Rack is easiest because it makes all the
"connections" for you (the MIDI and audio tracks needed to play in real
time). Just let it set it up and do your recording in the MIDI track that
the Synth Rack created for you.

[Buddy]

"Ricky W. Hunt" > wrote in message news:<HqZEb.408145$Dw6.1264105@attbi_s02>...
> "Buddy" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Can anyone give me a suggestion of how I can play the
> > keyboard and hear the LiveSynth Pro at the same time?
>
> Sure. If you have a low enough latency drivers. You'll need either WDM or
> ASIO drivers to get low enough latency to play in real time. Are these
> drivers available for your soundcard? If so, it should just be a matter of
> loading up Livesynth in the Synth Rack, loading the soundfonts you want into
> Livesynth, and pointing the output of the MIDI track you are recording to
> Livesynth.. Using the Synth Rack is easiest because it makes all the
> "connections" for you (the MIDI and audio tracks needed to play in real
> time). Just let it set it up and do your recording in the MIDI track that
> the Synth Rack created for you.

Hey there, thanks for the reply. I gave the stuff you said a try. I
have the synth rack which is right on. It works like it should
however when i press the keys on the keyboard I hear them too.....only
later. I have quite a bit of lag going on which leads me to the
drivers question. I was checking on the drivers for my soundcard on
the companies website and others. On the website I couldnt find
anything that said WDM or ASIO. In a google search, I found someone
who wanted to check the quality of the WDM drivers. I'm not keen on
the specs and stuff of sound drivers or even what WDM or ASIO really
are or where they come into play. I have a pretty high quality
soundcard that I would think would have WDM. How can I know for
certain? Is there a way I can reduce the latency to almost perfect?
I would of course like to play with the music. Thanks.

Buddy

[Ricky W. Hunt]

"Buddy" > wrote in message
om...
>
> Hey there, thanks for the reply. I gave the stuff you said a try. I
> have the synth rack which is right on. It works like it should
> however when i press the keys on the keyboard I hear them too.....only
> later. I have quite a bit of lag going on which leads me to the
> drivers question.

Yes. This is the "latency" I was talking about. WDM or ASIO drivers are the
only ones "fast" enough (for lack of a better word) to let you play in
real-time. Also, you need to slide the Latency Slider in Sonar to it's
fastest setting. Look in the Options/Audio/General menu in Sonar. Under
"Mixing Latency" you'll see the "effective latency" and the Buffer Size. You
want this set as low as possible (all the way to the left). Your computer
may choke or drop out if it's too slow to play real-time. You'll need no
more than 10ms (much less hopefully like 2ms) to play in real-time with no
discernable delay. You'll also be able to tell what drivers you are using
here. Go to the Advanced tab to see. There's a myriad of things that can be
changed/tweaked such as number and size of buffers to get the fastest
response but is much too complex to go into here. Try Cakewalks forums and
the cakewalk.audio NG on Usenet for more help.