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I recently tried out UVI workstation (MIDI based virtual instrument software) and was impressed enough that I went out and bought a mid-priced (but with great feel) 88-key e-piano, MIDI to USB cable, and an additional suite of sounds from UVI. (you don't get full editing capabilities with the sample sounds, which is mainly what I'm after)
So, after getting it all setup and working, I notice that I can't get the attack/punch that I'm expecting. The problem seems to be latency. I tried it on 3 pretty fast PCs to rule out a crappy sound card as an issue. The results are all similar...about a tenth of a second from pressing a key until the speaker gets the signal. It's actually very similar to the reason I quit playing my bass guitar through the line in jack. It worked great until I moved to a new rig with Win7. After failing to get that to work, I was forced to find a place for a half-stack in my home office. It works, but I miss the ability to use headphones. 
Sorry, I've gotten off topic, so back to it. Unfortunately, it seems that typical PC sound cards are just not up to the task of delivering sound in near real-time. Google has found something that might work but before I spend anymore on this venture, I thought maybe one of you has maybe done this before and can offer advice. What I am looking at now is this[^], a USB connected external sound card (they call them 'audio devices') that also has MIDI I/O...the idea being that this device was made for this purpose and should give acceptable results. However, nowhere in the specifications do they provide a measurement of latency. Anybody here have experience with one of these?
Hope I haven't bored you too much! Have a great weekend everybody! ![Beer | [beer]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/beer.gif)
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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If you are using an on board sound card you can get workable latencies by installing asioforall wdm wrapper(free) and using asio mode instead of the windows default wmd or wasaipi way which are paltry.
If you get a real sound card someday you should use the manufacturer's asio drivers and not the asioforall wdm wrapper though.
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Genius man! I had tried ASIO4all on a previous system with the same soundcard in an attempt to reduce latency on the line in. It didn't work then, so I dismissed it for this case. Based on your advice, I downloaded the latest version, installed, selected it as the output device in UVI workstation, and latency is way reduced...to a tolerable level anyway! Thanks! Now, I'm like a kid in a candy store!
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Hmmm, Bass Guitar through the line in, I only tried it once noisy & an impedance mismatch made it sound like I was playing a banjo. At that point I gave up trying use a PC for audio input. The midi delay you speak of has got less than back in the day (when Dave Bronze play a Roland Midi Bass with the Art Of Noise, and had to relearn proper time when the tour ended). Awkward. When I was at Uni one of the courses I chose was 'Studio Technology' we had to do a whole assignment on Midi. Basically the latency has fallen over the years from really noticable to as it stands now, which is not too bad if you keep the signals midi and only convert it when you go for output. Short answer try it, you might find it OK. One ofthe reasons 'they' are cagey about the delay is it is getting less each major revision and 'they' don't want to have to do the documentation every five mins.
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Thanks for the reply! ASIO4All drivers fixed the latency problem. (thanks Ron) I was able to play bass through the line-in just fine up to 2009 when I made the jump from Win2K t0 Win7. It probably only worked OK since the bass has active pickups.
BTW, Nice story about Dave Bronze! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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There is a driver called virtualmidisynth that may help you.
You configure it with a sound font and can set the latency down to 10 milliseconds.
MIDI used to work great in Windows. Alas, it is now a second class citizen.
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Thanks, I'll check it out!
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Pah! She's no Joey Barton[^]!
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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Man! You wouldn't want to be following the truck taking that to the tip! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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The sh*t is wiped clean, so I don't see the problem 
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It isn't "seeing" that I'd want to avoid!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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If you think I placed the * in sh*t you are wrong, even Codeproject uses whispers before it's flushed down in the Lounge
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I should apologize, I'll never eat Mexican again
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I'd hate to be there when this hits the fan!
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Gads, I swear I could smell the stench just looking at the picture.
Marc
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I don't need to say anything at all.
Who of you are watching the match? The hype says it all, when India and Pakistan are playing against each other in the field of cricket.
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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It's heavily hyped in India and Pakistan - like the Eurovision song contest is here...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: like the Eurovision song contest is here...
You had to remind me didn't you.
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You might find more watchers in the GI topics forum?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Yeah, just, couldn't control the hype. 
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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Except...outside India and Pakistan, there hasn't been any.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Having OriginalGriff of CodeProject, know the match and the hype it has in IndoPak, is enough to know that there is a lot of hype.
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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