auto detect/latency issue help please?

[lharless]

i've never used this feature before. and the help bubbles dont explain which inputs and putputs, exactly, that im supposed to use. is this the feature that will adjust so that i can not hear the latency as much while doing overdubs?

im trying to get my latency down to an unnoticeable level so that when i overdub, the artist wont notice any delays or latency while trying to track the overdub.

i have my onyx 1640 hooked up to my computer via firewire. i have two mics in the first two channels. when i click on the arrow for track one (using Tracktion one by the way), i can see the auto detect feature. i try running this while i don't have the onyx plugged in and it works fine with just my sound card, and it adjusts accordingly. i don't actually understand what its doing really though... but it detects the test signal.

but when i have the onyx plugged in, i doesnt detect the test signal and i get a notice saying so in a little bubble above the button.

what does auto detect do and will it help with matency? will it help me to not have as much noticeable latency? becuase when i try to overdub at this point, i get a weird phasey delay that is definitely not going to cut it for overdubbing.

no plugins are being used, only the dry recorded signals. i did two test channels, speaking into two mics at once, on channels one and two. then i overdub a third mic on channel three, and i hear the phasey weirdness. it's like the third voice is a little behind and it creates a phase kind of effect. almost like a little delay. it's annoying as crap. is this common? can i remove this problem?

i've been discussing it in another thread ("dear sirs and madams") in the forum, but i thought i'd create a new topic for this becuase it may be a different thing altogether.

---------
on the onyx:

mics into ch 1 and 2.

overdub on ch 3

outs to monitors is through the xlr outputs to my alesis monitors. should i come out of another output to my monitors? am i using the wrong outputs for monitoring my recording? i can hear the phasey delay in the cans too. no difference, same effect.

on the onyx, control room/phones source section:


main mix button(activated)
tape (no)
sub 1234 (no)
firewire button (activated)
assign to main mix button (activated when i want to hear through the speakers. otherwise i use the phones (which i usually ae set to a reasonable level, about half way up)
everything else in that section of the board is set to the off position (to the right of the section, but not hte firewire section, of course.

on the back of the mixer at the outputs and everything

i have the outputs coming out of the XLR outs to my monitors.

i have the firewire going into my computer into a 4pin connector (firewire card built into the laptop.) trim set at half way, at the detent.

USB hard drive, 120g, 7200rpm.

ill have to check wether or not, that my temp folder is on the external hard drive or not, i think this may have a little to do with the speed with which tracktion can keep up with the recording. i don't know if it has anything to do with latency. i don't understand how latency works or how to adjust anything whatsoever to do with it.

so, i think i have everything hooked up right. i just don't understand how to set the latency and get it to an unnoticeable level.

could somebody please help me?

[natenajar]

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I havne't been able to get end on end monitoring to come through at a decent latency, but with your setup you can get around this. First things first, connect your monitors to the control room outs, not the main outs. Next, route the firewire return to the main mix, plug a main output into a channel strip and select that channel input on tracktion. Now run the autodetect and it will detect the amount of delay required to sync your overdub tracks to the original tracks. You only need to do this once and then set all your inputs on tracktion to this delay setting. Now leave your monitors connected to the control room outs and disconnect the main out from the channel strip. You're ready to record! When you overdub, listen to the prerecorded tracks through the firewire return but don't try to listen to the new material through the return (disable end on end on the track input). Instead, in the CR matrix select main mix as well as firewire so you can monitor the channel input. Now you'll hear the new source as well as the prerecorded source. When you are done recording, the overdub will now come through the firwire return in perfect sync with the rest of the tracks. The key here is to monitor your new sources coming in to the board, nnot out of the DAW as we used to do with analog tape machines.

Nate
www.natenajar.com (http://www.natenajar.com)