Adjusting Latency Settings

[rhopkins]

Hi guys,

So I got the Cross Pack and U46MK2 last week. So far very happy.

However, after installing the latest U46MK2 driver (v3.0) and Cross DJ software 1.5 from the download section I noticed that I was getting some cracking in the sound. The instructions say to increase the latency if this happened, so I went to do this but noticed that this is now modified by the external Control Panel application, accessible from Preferences.

My PC is quite a few years old, but found I had no problems with Cross 1.4 and setting the buffer size to about 10 seconds. But now the most I can set is 6.5 seconds, and the slider is kind of greyed out, unavailable to set manually.

I'm using two 12" time code vinyl. The signal is 100%. As I say, I get a bit of cracking every now and again, but my main problem is that the pitch of the playing track at the time jumps up when I load in the next track for cueing.

Is there any way I can change the latency settings manually? What manages the way the settings can be changed - the new driver or the newer version of Cross?

I'm on a different laptop at the moment and will post a Configuration Report later.

[Blackbrook]

Hello,

there is an ESI control panel in your task bar (lower right, beneath the clock). If you open it there is a menu on the top in which you can adjust the latency. Please change the latency while Cross is closed. After adjusting open Cross and check if the latency in Cross changed too.

Updating from 1.4 to 1.5 means that some new features were added i.e. effects. These effects need a bit more power as you have already encountered. You are free to use 1.4 if you do not want to use the effects and want to play with a low latency. This is what I am doing

Greetings,

Steve

[rhopkins]

Hello,

there is an ESI control panel in your task bar (lower right, beneath the clock). If you open it there is a menu on the top in which you can adjust the latency. Please change the latency while Cross is closed. After adjusting open Cross and check if the latency in Cross changed too.

Updating from 1.4 to 1.5 means that some new features were added i.e. effects. These effects need a bit more power as you have already encountered. You are free to use 1.4 if you do not want to use the effects and want to play with a low latency. This is what I am doing

Greetings,

Steve

Hi Steve,

I was hoping to be able to use the new effects feature, and I'd found the contol panel. I increased the settings as high as I could but as I said previously, after going back into Cross I notice the buffer size is only 6.5 seconds. Do you have recommended settings that I could use to increase this higher?

I realise it's my problem if I have a low spec PC, but is there anyway I can increase this further? Also, any reason why the manual selection was taken away in 1.5?

[Blackbrook]

I was hoping to be able to use the new effects feature, and I'd found the contol panel. I increased the settings as high as I could but as I said previously, after going back into Cross I notice the buffer size is only 6.5 seconds.

Sorry, I did not read/realise this. This is of course a strange behaviour! It is driver related as far as I can remember. With an older driver I was able to change the buffer size in Cross but with the new driver I can - as you - only adjust it in the contorl panel with the exception that a change in the panel means a change in Cross for me :-( Sorry, I have no clue. Lets wait until Support@Mixvibes reads this (monday, when the office opens)

Do you have recommended settings that I could use to increase this higher?

Try with the highest latency possible and decrease it in steps while mixing till you get distortions or drop outs. If so increase the buffer again and test if the distortions and drops out are gone. This is your best buffer size now.

I realise it's my problem if I have a low spec PC, but is there anyway I can increase this further? Also, any reason why the manual selection was taken away in 1.5?

You can adjust your computer for audio software.

http://www.audioforums.com/resources/wi ... ation.html

It is a link for the optimization with Win XP but a lot of works with Win7, too! Please try it and also search the net for different optimizations with audio software. This will help you to play with a low latency!

Cheers,

Steve

[rhopkins]

I was hoping to be able to use the new effects feature, and I'd found the contol panel. I increased the settings as high as I could but as I said previously, after going back into Cross I notice the buffer size is only 6.5 seconds.

Sorry, I did not read/realise this. This is of course a strange behaviour! It is driver related as far as I can remember. With an older driver I was able to change the buffer size in Cross but with the new driver I can - as you - only adjust it in the contorl panel with the exception that a change in the panel means a change in Cross for me :-( Sorry, I have no clue. Lets wait until Support@Mixvibes reads this (monday, when the office opens)

Do you have recommended settings that I could use to increase this higher?

Try with the highest latency possible and decrease it in steps while mixing till you get distortions or drop outs. If so increase the buffer again and test if the distortions and drops out are gone. This is your best buffer size now.

I realise it's my problem if I have a low spec PC, but is there anyway I can increase this further? Also, any reason why the manual selection was taken away in 1.5?

You can adjust your computer for audio software.

http://www.audioforums.com/resources/wi ... ation.html

It is a link for the optimization with Win XP but a lot of works with Win7, too! Please try it and also search the net for different optimizations with audio software. This will help you to play with a low latency!

Cheers,

Steve

Thanks Steve, big help and I'll certainly give that link a try.

I should point out that if I lower latency settings in the control panel it does change the settings in Cross, just that with the highest latency settings the buffer size is 6.5, when with Cross 1.4 I could change it manually and set the buffer size to 10 to stop any audio problems I had.

Look forward to seeing what support advise here as well. I'll report back with my findings.

[Jim B]

As well as Steve's tip you could also try this little program

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

It is designed for gamers, but it works great with DJ software. Once installed and running it will turn off all the services and processes with in Windows that you don't actually need whilst DJ'ing. This will free up a lot of resources that eat into your CPU work load.

After you have done your session then just stop the program and it will re-activate all the services it disabled.

I used it with Vista and it was great!

[Support@MixVibes]

Could it be possible that the driver you have selected into Cross is not the one you're tweaking with the panel ?

[rhopkins]

Could it be possible that the driver you have selected into Cross is not the one you're tweaking with the panel ?

As I say, the changes I make in the Control Panel do take affect in Cross, it's just that the highest I can set the buffer size is 6.5 when I'd like to be able to set this higher. You used to be able to do this manually - I just wondered if there was anything else I could do to achieve this? I have the UMX46mkII asio device selected in Cross.

The GameBooster program and those optimising tips did seem to help quite a bit last night, but still had a couple of occasions where the playing tracks' pitch would jump a couple of % and fall back down to what it was set to whilst I was cueing the next track.

[Support@MixVibes]

I had to remove all versions of Cross and restart from scratch :
- installing 1.3.2 with its bundled drivers 'MixVibes ASIO U46MK2'
I was able to set latency from 64 to 2040samples
- upgrading to 1.4, the drivers is still 'MixVibes ASIO U46MK2'
and I'm still able to set latency from 64 to 2040samples
- upgrading to 1.5 give the same result as 1.4 upgrade.

but with the MV3.0 'MIXVIBES U46MK2 ASIO' it never worked in any version, I had to set the latency into the audio panel (Cross closed) and I could set the latency from 48 to 288 samples.

So if you want to set the latency inside Cross remove the drivers you installed after and stick with the bundled ones.

[rhopkins]

I had to remove all versions of Cross and restart from scratch :
- installing 1.3.2 with its bundled drivers 'MixVibes ASIO U46MK2'
I was able to set latency from 64 to 2040samples
- upgrading to 1.4, the drivers is still 'MixVibes ASIO U46MK2'
and I'm still able to set latency from 64 to 2040samples
- upgrading to 1.5 give the same result as 1.4 upgrade.

but with the MV3.0 'MIXVIBES U46MK2 ASIO' it never worked in any version, I had to set the latency into the audio panel (Cross closed) and I could set the latency from 48 to 288 samples.

So if you want to set the latency inside Cross remove the drivers you installed after and stick with the bundled ones.

Ok, will give that a try. Am I losing any functionality with using the older drivers?