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Garageband and audio latency

S

sixstrings

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
8
0
Why is there latency while recording in garageband. I have all the input and outputs of the systm pref. as they should be. I tried just recording over a click track playing quarter notes and was really hard to stay on tempo. I was recording my guitar over the internal garageband click. Even after I throw some drum loops up I have the same temp latency problem.:mad:
 
it takes time to convert audio to 1's and 0's, and time to convert them back so you can hear it. it's not GB, it's the nature of the beast.

for no latency monitoring, you have to tap the analog signal before it hits the converters. some gear offers extra analog outs, some people use mixers, some people use half-normalled patchbays, some people use y-cables.

but if you wait for the round trip, you will do exactly that: wait.
 
what is I use more memory to gagrareband

zimv20 said:
it takes time to convert audio to 1's and 0's, and time to convert them back so you can hear it. it's not GB, it's the nature of the beast.

for no latency monitoring, you have to tap the analog signal before it hits the converters. some gear offers extra analog outs, some people use mixers, some people use half-normalled patchbays, some people use y-cables.

but if you wait for the round trip, you will do exactly that: wait.
Click to expand...

I was running on 9.2 and a user was able to ad more ram usage to the program. But in 10.4.10 when clicking on the icon it doesn't give the ability to increase ram or memory to that application. would that help at all with a latency problems?
 
It would be useful to know what setup you are using to record? What model Mac do you own? What (if any) audio interface are you using? Any extra info all goes to help us to help you with your problem :)
 
Yes, you have to tell us more about your setup. Most nice firewire interfaces have low latency to avoid (err minimize) problems like this.

Setting up your Mac for audio work can help, too. (Disable spotlight, disable dashboard, disable system update check, etc.) So nothing is running in the background.
 
post #2 exlpained it best. No way around the latency unless you are monitoring the signal you're recording before it becomes digital.

The easiest way to do this is to

1. Get a small mixer. Behringer makes a few under $60.
2. Take the stereo output of your mac and feed it into channels 1 and 2 of your mixer.
3. Plug in your guitar, mic, or line level input that you want to record into ch. 1 of the mixer. Keep the panning on this channel at center and then take one of the stereo outs of the mixer and feed it to the audio in of your mac. Be sure to let the mac or your DAW know that your input is now line level.
4. Now, in your DAW (in your case, garage band) mute the track you are recording to so that all that's coming to ch. 2 and 3 of your mixer are the tracks already recorded as well as the click.
5. Lastly, and most importantly, plug in your head phones to the mixer. Adjust the level of your input(ch. 1) and the output of the computer (ch. 2 & 3) to your liking and you're done.
 
MAW said:
post #2 exlpained it best. No way around the latency unless you are monitoring the signal you're recording before it becomes digital.

The easiest way to do this is to

1. Get a small mixer. Behringer makes a few under $60.
2. Take the stereo output of your mac and feed it into channels 1 and 2 of your mixer.
3. Plug in your guitar, mic, or line level input that you want to record into ch. 1 of the mixer. Keep the panning on this channel at center and then take one of the stereo outs of the mixer and feed it to the audio in of your mac. Be sure to let the mac or your DAW know that your input is now line level.
4. Now, in your DAW (in your case, garage band) mute the track you are recording to so that all that's coming to ch. 2 and 3 of your mixer are the tracks already recorded as well as the click.
5. Lastly, and most importantly, plug in your head phones to the mixer. Adjust the level of your input(ch. 1) and the output of the computer (ch. 2 & 3) to your liking and you're done.
Click to expand...

Should work if the latency was only noticeable in the recording process (very distracting). But if the delay remained on the audio track that was laid down, this method won't help unless you decide to reposition the track to make up for the delay. I suffered from latency when using a USB interface (awful Edirol UA-25), but now that I'm working with a Firewire interface I have had no problems at all. Most decent audio interfaces provide you with a monitor of your inputs anyway. Recording using the audio line-in port of your Mac will cause added latency. As I say, it is difficult to tell where your problem lies unless we know slightly more about the setup you are using. :)
 
use to use motu 828

juxtaposer said:
Should work if the latency was only noticeable in the recording process (very distracting). But if the delay remained on the audio track that was laid down, this method won't help unless you decide to reposition the track to make up for the delay. I suffered from latency when using a USB interface (awful Edirol UA-25), but now that I'm working with a Firewire interface I have had no problems at all. Most decent audio interfaces provide you with a monitor of your inputs anyway. Recording using the audio line-in port of your Mac will cause added latency. As I say, it is difficult to tell where your problem lies unless we know slightly more about the setup you are using. :)
Click to expand...

Okay great responces to my question. Now here is the problem with my motu 828 (firewire). I think the power supply is dying. When I power it up it will
turn on all the leds and just sit there. Since I just got my iMac running on 10.4.10 I don't want to even try using it. And, going back, when I was using my G4 it started to freak out on the firewire [firewirerap] before the 828 cacked.
My question is how do I use a volt meter to check the voltages on the inside on the unit? Can I put the termanial of the volt meter on opposite sides of the fuse
clamp?
And what should the the voltage be?
I'm broke so I really need to do this on my own.
 
[QUOTE="1

The easiest way to do this is to

1. Get a small mixer. Behringer makes a few under $60.
2. Take the stereo output of your mac and feed it into channels 1 and 2 of your mixer.
3. Plug in your guitar, mic, or line level input that you want to record into ch. 1 of the mixer. Keep the panning on this channel at center and then take one of the stereo outs of the mixer and feed it to the audio in of your mac. Be sure to let the mac or your DAW know that your input is now line level.
4. Now, in your DAW (in your case, garage band) mute the track you are recording to so that all that's coming to ch. 2 and 3 of your mixer are the tracks already recorded as well as the click.
5. Lastly, and most importantly, plug in your head phones to the mixer. Adjust the level of your input(ch. 1) and the output of the computer (ch. 2 & 3) to your liking and you're done.
[/QUOTE]

I am trying this with Cubase and my interface ( has 8 analog inputs and 8 digital input, 8 analog output and 8 digital output)
In step 3: I have iMac late 2013 and there is NO Audio in! is there a workaround?
You say "Be sure to let the mac or your DAW know that your input is now line level." how, please?

Also in Step 4: what is supposed to be connected to Ch 3 of my audio interface?
 
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