Hi, thoguth i'd post this here if any other musicians write and record music on their Laptops.

I recently acquired Cakewalk Sonar. I am having some latency issues whilst adding other tracks. Apparently my sound card just can't handle such recording programs. Any advice on a good sound card and affordable? how does it all work installing an ew sound card?

Ummm. Yea.

if you get an mbox, (you can get em cheap on ebay or craigslist) its its own soundcard, so it can carry that burden your laptop cant. then you can have pro tools for 100$ or so. if you're on a PC laptop, you probably won't be able to use third party extensions, but pro tools is really good to have.

Yeah, mbox or most anything by m-audio is a pretty good bet. I had a FireWire 410 that I liked. Plus they usually bundle some good software with the soundcard. As for programs, I love Ableton Live.

IM guessing ill probably stick with Cakewalk Sonar but i definitely need to take care of the sound card issue.

So how does the m box work? right now im just recording via a microphone into the laptop. .. micing the acoustic, amp, and using it for vocals.

Do you know how i can adjust the latency settings on my current soundcard?

mbox is a separate unit with a preamp already in it. it will help you with latency issues, because there is a knob to mix the stuff already on the computer with the direct signal of the mic going in. it's preamp is really good for what you pay. You can also run direct 1/4 cables along with XLR cables.

I keep thinking I have a ridiculous amount of offensively nice equipment, until I go on Gearslutz and read what those people have.

Do you have any suggestions for a nice/cheap audio interface with soundcard that i should get? I don't need anything top of the line, at all. Just something that latency won't be an issue and i can record some songs and mix them in Cakewalk sonar

I use Cakewalk and run into this shit all the time. How do you have the timing set? I think it defaults to internal. There should be a toggle labeled Int one the main screen. I set mine to Aud and it's helped.
Also, in the options - audio drop down, choose advanced and deselect Use Wave Out For Position Timing, if you haven't already done so.
These are the only things I can think of at the present. Good luck.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DIGIDESIGN-MBOX-1-M ... 7C294%3A50

and download waves plugins. you won't be disappointed.

I've been happy with my E-MU 0404.

Have you installed the ASIO sound driver? It's the recommended sound driver for just about every recording program and available from free from this website: http://www.asio4all.com/

I am planning to invest a bunch of money in recording equipment when I go back to the states and I've found a lot of useful info on this forum: http://www.futureproducers.com. Most people on the board are hip-hop based, but there is plenty of useful info for anyone who wants to record their own tracks/ make their own studio. I'm sure you can find some old threads about resolving latency issues there, as it seems to be a common problem.

Hope that helps

I don't really have any tips on cheap purchases. I've never run into any latency problems. I have heard good things about the aforementioned MBox 1 (don't get the 2), for cheap recording. Although I didn't care for the wall wart or the nonstandard I/O's, I had a chance to play with an E-MU 0404 and it was okay for the price.

I would note that no recording program actually has any better recording ability or quality than any other...mostly, it's just a matter of which one you end up most comfortable with. But once you choose one, you should look around for free plugins. There are some compression, EQ, reverb, and other plugins that are freeware and sound better than $150 hardware units...some of them are even based on the Waves Plugins algorithms...and it isnt' stealing to download them.

I'd be curious what mic you're using.

I did download that ASIO driver and thought i installed it but I could not find the driver anywhere on my computer!
I have a cheap mic..... Sony FV220

Wow. If you have the money, you could kill the latency issue and significantly improve your sound quality by getting a used AT2020 and the aforementioned Mbox 1.

Yea i know. i originally just got cheap equipment cause i wasn't sure how much I would get into recording by yself. Since I stopped playing with bands...im sure as hell getting into it more so Ill be upgrading over the next few months here.

The asiofree4all helped the latency issue though.

i'm actually thinking of getting a some sort of recording equipment myself (cheap as possible....) does anyone know of any that allow me to record two inputs (say vox + guitar) simultaneously but to different tracks?

mbox

heh. looks like i missed out on that deal then.

another question though, most reviews i've read say mbox1 is better than 2. however most also say mbox1 comes only with a usb1.1 cable?

mbox 1 has a better preamp than the 2, and has a live monitor so you can hear what goes in without latency. with this fuction you don't need a faster cable. the mbox pro which i have has firewire, so they don't have the live monitor feature, and latency is not an issue unless you're running a lot of instruments and plug ins that require a lot of processing such as native instruments or BFD which both use huge libraries, which could be over 120 gigs.