Harmony

Perfect, thanks.

Hmm, makes sense. I'm really curious as to why I get the opposite behavior. Obviously it may have to do with our differing soundcards and their drivers (what soundcard are you using btw?), but do you get a similar AISO vs WDM comparison using a single computer running SONAR? Is there some other variable I'm missing?

Right, but unfortunately Casio has stopped putting MIDI ports on their low to mid-ranged keyboards, including the WK-8000, so he'd be forced to use the usb port. As you mentioned, I guess their target market doesn't really include too many people who have or would want to buy a midi interface.

Yes, the Casio can function as a midi controller using the usb port.

You probably won't get less than 1 ms, but at the same time (assuming you're a human) I'll bet you can't detect anything less than 4ms. Have fun with whatever you end up getting!

I can't back it up with anything other than personal experience, but WDM has absolutely always outperformed AISO for my setups, ranging from win98 + Cakewalk Pro Audio + SBLive to my current WinXP + Sonar6 + FastTrack Pro. I can get ~2.9ms latency with WDM but nothing less than 5.something with my soundcard's AISO drivers. If you think I'm setting something up wrong Ty, I'd honestly like to know. Google WDM vs AISO and there are more than a few people out there who have had the same positive experience with WDM. I'm pretty sure that the 30ms latency is compensated for by the sequencer and thus does not affect the MIDI controller latency, as is the concern for Antipode. Also, although it's a personal preference thing, with AISO drivers Sonar does not allow me to adjust the buffer (effectively the latency) from with the program. Thus, when I want to use large VSTs or whatever, I have to close Sonar, adjust the buffer size in my soundcard's control panel, then reopen Sonar. Hassle. In the end it really doesn't matter very much at all and the only strong preference I have is for what works. My advice: Try WDM. Take the 5 seconds necessary to switch to AISO and try it too. Use whichever one was faster/more stable/most compatible with your setup.

RAM primarily affects the latency indirectly. Your soundcard and its drivers are the big factors, so choose wisely. Although I'm not exactly sure why, AISO drivers are often preferred. However WDM drivers (which most Windows compatible cards support) can be just as good or better. I've never heard of that particular soundcard, but you should be able to find AISO drivers for it, or use generic drivers like AISO4ALL (which is actually a WDM driver in disguise). Then, depending on how many instruments you want to load simultaneously, you should easily be able to get less than 10ms latency. Fast enough?

Let's see...90 Waves plugins at conservatively about $200 a pop = $18000 . And you saw it for only $7000? Quick, buy it! That's a free $11000 sitting there for the taking!!!

I'm running an e6600 with 430W power supply and I've have no probs so far (integrated graphics card though). I've also have no problems with Kingston's 'budget' RAM . A little while ago, 4GB (DDR2 667MHz) went for $120 at newegg. EDIT: zircon's right about the 4GB or RAM not truly being useful to the 32bit OS, but the addition RAM can be allocated to an onboard video card so that ALL of the rest of the 3GB that windows will recognize will be used for programs. Of course this only goes for folks like me who are too cheap or strapped for cash to get a dedicated video card

I've got no prob with the soundblaster as an audio card, although for music making there are better ones available for the same amount of money, but try clicking your link and you'll understand why Dafydd didn't think your audio card would work as well as you think

lol. I'm gonna have to use that term sometime.

Oooh, unfortunately (if the specs I'm seeing are correct) that mobo doesn't support the newer intel CPUs or newer faster RAM. So, like zircon said, a new PC is probably the best solution. WDM drivers are an alternative to AISO drivers. Depending on your system, one may work better than the other. AISO has never worked faster than WDM for me, but again it all depends. In SONAR there is an option to select between the two if your soundcard offers both. Not sure how to do it in Cubase, but maybe someone else 'round these parts could help you do that.

Isn't a 16th note at 120bpm 31.25ms, making 8ms latency at 120bpm around a 64th note off? Maybe I forgot to carry a two or something.And yeah, I agree with Kanthos that the latency really only is an issue if you're trying to record audio or midi commands from a controller.

Yeah, RAM would be my first choice since it's cheap and you're on the low end of a comfortable amount. Secondly would be an audio interface upgrade. You said yours is firewire, but which one do you actually have? You should be able to get way better than 13.5ms, at least half of that, assuming I'm not missing something. If you're using AISO drivers, try switching to WMD. If you're using WMD, try switching to AISO. For reference, if I want to push my little usb 1.1 interface, I can get 2.7ms (WMD, not AISO) and I can comfortably work at 5.1ms.

O...M...G "The Level" brings back SO many memories. The breakdown section could be a remix all by itself!!! NEEDS MOAR REMIXAGE DAMMIT

Happy B-Day. Hope someone buys you a $350 hat!

I have no idea why anyone would think w00t "sums up" 2007. What was so w00t about it? that I can see.

Welcome Mykal!! Try here and here to get started. ... It's pronounced "A Married Megaphone" right?

LOL, bustededdded

Very nice updates, especially the system icons. Looking at all of the SNES icons that makes it that much easier to verify how popular and awesome that system was and still is =P Also, with just about everything being linked in each field, it really integrates content from the entire site nicely. Issue: The mix count for each song is not displaying for me. e.g. in the 'songs' tab of http://www.ocremix.org/game/sonic-the-hedgehog-gen/ the mix count is blank.

As long as the keyboard you mom gets you is midi capable, touch sensitive and has enough keys, you should be fine. With that, assuming you have a usb port on your computer, you'll be fine for hooking up whatever she buys. A better soundcard might be agood way to spend the money you save by not buying the keyboard yourself That or a sequencer like FL Studio.

The S-30 should have MIDI in/out/thru ports. I haven't used it but at least the specs look nice. Aftertouch, a bunch of assiagnable sliders, 4 availible zones. If you only want to use software synthesizers on you computer, you'll only need to midi out port. If you want to use the S-30's onboard sounds for recording into the computer, you can either use just the audio output ports and connect them to your soundcard, or the both the midi in and the audio ports (recommended) so that you can sequence/save/edit your music in a software sequencer. Also since the S-30 has no usb, you'll have to make sure that your soundcard does. If not, either upgrade it or just by a midi-to-usb converter.

Cool piece. I’ve gotta gripe though that I think the percussion samples sound a little plain, esp the hi-hats. That said, the sequencing easily makes up for that. The glitchy shaker sound at 2:00 and the stuttered open hats are fun little additions. The various leads are awesome, especially when they get layered with the bells, like at 1:19. The break at 2:03 is on point, and probably my favorite part. You’ve gotta picture me doing a little robot dance to get the full effect of how much I love that part The energetic driving vibe through 3:20 is absolutely hypnotic...much love for that too. 4:05-end sounds like it belongs to a different song to me. It’s cool in it’s own way for sure, but it just jolts me out of what I felt was a great enough vibe in the first section; I think that initial vibe easily could have carried the song to the end on its own. Anyway, I have woken up with this tune in my head a coupla times now and it’s a hard one to get out! Great work.

It's always going to come down to your budget and your preferences. All of those PSRs are just iterations on the same theme with a few different bells and whistles depending on the model. From what I've heard they are great for the money but I'd really take a look at what you want to do with them. If you're looking to play without a computer, then the PSRs are ok since they offer onboard sounds. That makes the keyboard easy to setup and work with, good for general practicing, and very portable. The problem is that if you will be hooking the keyboard up to a computer, you can easily find free sounds online that are better than what the PSRs will give you. Thus, you might end up never using any of the onboard sounds. So my advice is to go with a PSR in your budget that meets the criteria that suzu laid out if you're planning on playing without a comp much of the time. If you'll be playing with the comp, I think you'll be very happy with a midi controller like the m-audio keystation61 ($161), oxygen61 ($169), or oxygen49 ($140). Keep in mind thought that to use those controllers they must be hooked up to a computer or some other sound producing device. The PSRs can be used with and without a comp.

Yes, NS7 is a drumkit. Congrats on producing your first sounds! So DeathBySpoon, is that next reaper tutorial coming anytime soon or will this thread count as "part 2: soundfonts and sfz"