latency troubles with a midi drum controller and Waveform

[Mark Swanson]

I have an M-Audio "trigger Finger" that I like to use to tap out drum patterns. I can run it as a Midi device and record its output on a midi track, just as it is meant to do...and I use EZDrummer as a plug-in for the sounds. I have also used Collective and other sources but I always have the same problem....
Latency.
When you are playing along with a metronome or an existing track, any latency at all on the drum track makes things very hard to do, in fact I just cannot do it. It's impossible to stay on time or create any kind of "feel" at all.
In searching for a solution, I could get a cheap drum machine or sound module and run the Trigger Finger to it before it gets to my computer. If I monitor the sound from there things work fine, since the latency comes after it goes through Waveform.
One idea that just came to me, and I am asking here if there is a way to do this: Can I run EZDrummer as a stand-alone program and listen to its output from there, BEFORE the Midi signal goes into Waveform for recording? I haven't tried this yet and I do not know if it's possible. Will I need to use a Rack to set this up, and how should I set it up?

[fromwithin]

Is it MIDI latency or audio latency? Are you using ASIO and what is your audio buffer size set to?

[Mark Swanson]

Well, I use a Behringer UMC1820 interface, and the Trigger Finger runs through that right now. I am using the ASIO driver that comes with the interface. Inside EZDrummer, it tells me that I have the buffer at 256, and the output latency is 104.5ms and the buffer latency is 5.8ms
When I use the trigger finger to record midi it seems to record the midi notes with good timing. It's just that the sounds I hear played back while recording are delayed so badly, it doesn't work to actually try to PLAY the damn thing. So I think I am dealing with audio latency.
The Trigger Finger is supposed to connect directly to the computer through USB, without passing through the interface and I haven't got that configured at this time...it is a bit of a puzzle right this moment.
Right now, connected this way and running EZDrummer all by itself with no Waveform at all, the latency is bad, about the same as it is when I run it within Waveform.

[fromwithin]

It's an audio latency problem. 104.5ms is a really terrible. That should really be down to 10ms or less.

You could have a driver problem, your UMC1820 could be a bit off, or you just might not have it setup correctly.

You can see if the problem is caused by something else on your computer by using LatencyMon.

http://www.resplendence.com/download/LatencyMon.exe

[Mark Swanson]

Well thank you. I know my latency is terrible! I don't know why either, and it seems like it is across my whole system, I have just dealt with it before. I suspect my interface. That program seems to be helpful, too bad I can't figure out what it means! here is a screen shot, all I was running was EZDrummer, not Waveform at all.

[Mark Swanson]

Here is a shot taken while running Waveform. The latency seems high.

[Mark Swanson]

I am running the UMC ASIO driver and my buffer is set to 512 in Waveform.

[fromwithin]

The LatencyMon values are okay. That big number you're seeing in the second one is the highest reported delay from a page fault occurring, which is usually caused by the virtual memory manager paging memory between the disk and RAM. It probably only happened once.

You should be fine with that 512 buffer size in Waveform. 512 should give you around 11ms. Do you have latency issues with any other VST?

[Mark Swanson]

I have latency while recording anything, quite bad. I have to monitor whatever I am recording through a mixer before it goes into my interface. If I try and monitor through my interface, the latency is terrible. I was getting by that way, but this whole discussion came on when I was trying to use that drum controller. It honestly doesn't seem right, and I have heard that is a problem with this model interface.

[Mark Swanson]

Thanks for your help so far. I think that the original 104.5ms latency reading was wrong, but I can say that I have way too much. Is there a way to measure how much latency I am getting with that program you suggested?
I connected the trigger Finger to another computer running waveform and EZDrummer and a cheap M-Audio interface...it worked much better, quite well. now I will connect that computer to the 1820 interface and see what I get. Maybe the bad computer has a bad USB hub in it.

[Peter Widdicombe]

I have an older version of the Mackie ProFX12 with USB built in, and had constant latency issues. I wound up getting a Behringer UCA222 for another purpose and tried it (also using ASIO4ALL), and found my latency is now negligible.