Timing driving me Mad - Pls Help

Question

Hi all
I recently did a huge upgrade to my studio, From logic 8 and pro-tools on a Macbook Pro with an MBox 2 pro, to Logic 9 on an 8 Core MacPro (8GB Ram) with a focusrite Saffire 56.
Am having some huge problems I never noticed before (having said that on my old system with Logic I only worked with midi really, most audio stuff was done in Protools)
Anyway, here is a run down of the problem - It's driving me nuts:
Working on a track with Midi drums laid down and processed with a combination of BFD and Battery.
Then on top through the Saffire we put, Bass, 6 guitar tracks, and 5 vocal tracks, added plugins etc to the tracks as we went along.
I'm having huge problems in getting them to play together in time - tempo is fine but on playback they don;t start at the same time as the drums - if that makes sense, it's as if there is a delay for the system to write what I play to file.
When recording all monitoring was done through the Saffire so no delay/Latency heard, all was well, as I really analysed the track I found I had to set the delay on each track in the inspector to -1/32 =120 for the audio files to sync up with the drums. It was fairly consistent across the tracks, although setting it is a bit of a pain when comping as the settings change, also when you cut up the audio it changes as well, so you have to keep re-setting it.
I have the system set to 32 samples (the lowest - and no errors etc) and PDC set to SW instrument and audio when recording, but have tried with off as well no different.
I tried to work out the recording delay by playing a loop sending it out through the Saffire and back in and recording it then working out the time difference - I came up with 38 Samples that the recorded signal was delayed from the original. So in the Recording delay to -38 samples - it made a difference with the track I recorded on the loop - but didn't seem to work on any other input in my song and I had to set the track delay to -1/32 to get it to sync.
It's really frustrating to work like this, can anyone advise what I'm doing wrong, I'm sure it's user error.
thanks in Advance.
Sparky

Answer 1

SparkyG wrote:
Hi all
I recently did a huge upgrade to my studio, From logic 8 and pro-tools on a Macbook Pro with an MBox 2 pro, to Logic 9 on an 8 Core MacPro (8GB Ram) with a focusrite Saffire 56.
Am having some huge problems I never noticed before (having said that on my old system with Logic I only worked with midi really, most audio stuff was done in Protools)
Anyway, here is a run down of the problem - It's driving me nuts:
Working on a track with Midi drums laid down and processed with a combination of BFD and Battery.
Then on top through the Saffire we put, Bass, 6 guitar tracks, and 5 vocal tracks, added plugins etc to the tracks as we went along.
I'm having huge problems in getting them to play together in time - tempo is fine but on playback they don;t start at the same time as the drums - if that makes sense, it's as if there is a delay for the system to write what I play to file.
When recording all monitoring was done through the Saffire so no delay/Latency heard, all was well.
Monitoring done through the Saffire?
Do you mean directly through the Saffire, or through Saffire/Logic using Logic effects. If you're using Saffire's pass thru (Direct) monitoring you can raise Logic's sample buffer as it will give Logic more breathing room to work. Remember, sample buffer latency does not cause delay or offsets and does not need to be set at the lowest value unless you're monitoring through Logic, using Logic effects.
Anyway, this sounds more like a plugin delay compensation problem to me.
1. Do you have any effects on the master bus?
2. Try using Logic's "Low Latency Mode" during recording. It's activated by a button on the transport, if it's not there right click on the transport and add it.
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