Need help recording vocals with Ableton Live

Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:38 pm

Hi, i'm new to the forums but i've been having some trouble and i'm hoping someone here can help me out. i've been trying to record vocals in ableton live (which i'm still a newbie to) over a beat which i previously created using Reason. I'm using a tascam us-122 which my microphone is plugged into. In Ableton i've selected the tascam unit as my input device, and my computer speakers as the output (i actually plug in the headphones obviously, so i dont re-record the beat as it's playing). I've been able to get a signal and hear what is entering the mic, through ableton.. but my problem is that everything is slightly delayed. So i get my beat playing and everything is all hooked up and i go to add some vocals, and i get a delay making it very hard because i'm not hearing anything i'm saying for another .5 to 1 second. I've tried going through the lessons in ableton for adjusting the latency thinking that would solve my problem.. but it only made a very very slight difference. Basically i need to know how i can hear myself in real time as i'm laying down a vocal track. suggestions??

Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:43 pm

ASIO latency problems? Or is the Tascam for some reason running on MME drivers. Oh, wait. Are your speakers/cans plugged into the PC soundcard or the Tascam outputs?
If it's the PC soundcard, GAHHH! That's your problem there.

The specs of your PC would help here - CPU, the Tascam will be USB, yes? Are you recording with plugins, being sent to the headphones?

You could sing as is and move the vocal tracks back a little in the sequencer view.

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:43 pm

Im having a similar problem. I just moved over from Reason and started to use Ableton 6.0 for recording audio through my MBox2. Only problem is there is major latency when I run directly into laptop, and with the MBox I can't get a proper signal.

I'd like to record my keyboard stereo out.

Do I need another audio interface to record in? The Mic In on my laptop probably isn't the best quality I know, but still there is latency and distortion?
Any advice? Mad

Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:42 am

Specs! These questions are nigh on impossible to answer without more info. Latency can be affected by quite a lot of factors, and it's entirely possible that you're suffering from two very distinct problems, even though they exhibit the same symptoms. Anything that affects your system resources can have an impact on latency. More info will mean that we donb't have to play text tennis to get to a solution.

Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:28 am

Well for starters Im on a PC using Window XP. Protools LE 6.0 and Ableton Live 6.0.
What is the easiest way to record an instrument signal and loop it inside Ableton. I have an MBox2, but Im not sure if its capable of being used as an audio interface for Ableton. I saw a couple from M-Audio, but I figured I'd use the Mbox2 since I already own one. I can record easily with it using Protools but its almost like it doesn't recognize the Digidesign hardware. I plug in my input but sound only comes from the monitor out from my interface not the PC. I got half the sound coming out of the PC (beats) and my keyboard (recording in) coming out of my headphones on Mbox2. Very hard to record.

Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 9:28 am

Ditch the PC sound card for your audio apps. Plug in a decent set of monitor into your Mbox and change the audio engine in LIve to Digi's Driver or Digi's ASIO. You should then have all of your sounds coming out of the Mbox. Your system sounds should still come out of the pc speakers.

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