Logic: Avoiding Processing Delays

With the Arrange and Sample Edit windows open at the same time, it's easy to see when the sample waveform and bar line align.

There are various places in a Logic-based studio where processing delays occur, and these can really mess with the groove of your tracks, so here we show you how to keep everything properly lined up. Also, there's the usual sackful of user tips and a clever way for v5 users to mimic one of the most useful features in v6.

Solid timing has always allegedly been one of Logic's best features, not only between audio and MIDI, but also between various different audio cards running on one system. This is particularly important because, uniquely amongst the MIDI + Audio sequencers, Logic allows many different audio cards to coexist in the same project (not normally permitted with just a straight ASIO driver setup) via a selection of dedicated drivers for specific manufacturers' hardware. However, even when only one audio card is being used, MIDI-to-audio timing will still be important to you if you run MIDI hardware 'live' alongside audio tracks. Having audio coming from two or three different places requires an awareness of the timing of these different sources, as even a difference of a few milliseconds can cause poor 'feel' with drum tracks or even phase problems if audio tracks such as drum overheads are spread over multiple audio cards.

Fortunately, solving timing errors in Logic is usually quite simple. However identifying what the delays actually are for your hardware is more tricky, and it is this that we'll investigate here.

Measuring MIDI Playback Latency

With only one audio card in your system, it is reasonably safe to say that the sync between the different tracks running on that card should be solid, although different parts can sometimes wander — stopping and starting again usually resolves this. Having the one main card as a reference point, in my case an Emagic Audiowerk 2, you can see how your MIDI devices line up with the audio coming from the card.

In order to start the line-up process, it is advisable to use something that is simple and measurable, so a MIDI click is the best option in this case. As alluded to in Martin Walker's PC Musician article on MIDI latency in SOS September 2002, there will be a latency associated with the time taken for a synth to respond, however, it is important to know if there is any further latency associated with running alongside audio tracks.

Set the MIDI click to run whilst simultaneously recording it onto an audio track on your reference soundcard. You will probably find that if you look at the audio file of the click in the sample editor that it does indeed fall behind the beat slightly. This could be due to the latency associated with your MIDI setup, or latency actually in the recording process, which we'll look at in more detail in a moment. Either way, if you end up recording your MIDI parts as audio for a final mixdown, then they should really be lined up with your other audio, which will start on the beat.

Rather than moving anchor points for each audio part, a negative Delay parameter should be obtainable which can then be applied to all of the audio parts recorded from MIDI devices. To do this, open the sample editor whilst looking at the audio part in the Arrange window at the highest resolution (see screenshot above). Then move the part in the Arrange window by individual clicks — hold Ctrl and Shift (Alt and Shift on the PC) whilst moving. This will allow you to adjust the position of the part until the start of the audio is near enough at the start of the bar in the sample edit window. An exact match will usually be unobtainable, as the Arrange window isn't sample accurate, but rather accurate to 3840 ticks per bar like the MIDI resolution. However, this will still be enough to make a noticeable difference to the tightness of your mixes. It is best to have the audio starting just after the beginning of the bar when an exact match can't be obtained, so that you can cut the audio at bar and beat divisions without problems.

Now that the part is realigned, just click and hold the part in the Arrange window and look at the Info Line in the bottom left of the screen. This will tell you how many clicks behind the bar you now are. Apply a negative Delay from the Parameter box to all MIDI parts recorded to audio and everything will be in line. If you finally want to make all of the delays 'real' then you can use Normalise Sequence Parameters from the Functions menu's Sequence Parameter submenu. Within my own set up I found a delay of 4.2ms for my JV1080, which, according to Martin Walker's own figure of 4.4ms for that synth, is about right. Because the latency varies from sound module to sound module, it will probably be worth checking each unit in turn using the procedure above.

Recording & Playback Delays

With the Audiowerk as a reference card in the previous procedure, no provision was made for any delay incurred by the drivers in the recording process. However the figures obtained in my own investigation suggest that no delay was present. If you are using an ASIO driver on the other hand, like I do for the Korg 1212 running alongside my Audiowerk, delays can indeed be added in the recording process. If you don't have a reference point such as an Audiowerk, then extracting the recording delay from any MIDI delay might be tricky. Having said this, any delay is unwanted so the same measurement process given above can be used and the delay compensated for.

The ASIO Buffer Delay values in the Audio Hardware & Drivers settings can help line up recording and playback when you've got more than one audio card in your system.

Within my own setup with the 1212 and the Audiowerk, I could try one against the other. You can do this as well if you have several audio cards running together. Using the same procedure as before, you can record onto both cards simultaneously. This will probably show, as I found, that one card is out of sync with the other in the recording process — a figure of 32.3ms for my cards, which is quite substantial. Without compensating for any MIDI delay or latency, it is worth making sure that the recordings on both the cards line up. This can be done with the Delay value in the Parameters box as before, but it is worth noting that there is a function to do this from within the Audio Hardware & Drivers page using the ASIO Buffer Delay In option. Just adjust the parameter and repeat the measuring procedure until the audio is closer to where it should be. As this setting is less than sample accurate, it would still be worth recording parts with vital phase relationships (several mics on one instrument for example) on the same card, rather than on two separate cards at the same time.

Having established that the audio streams can be delayed on recording, then it is a reasonable assumption to make that there is a playback delay as well. To establish this, just record streams from all sources into one device, which can even be on another machine. Make sure that the audio is all lined up in the sequencer first, then any delay that is found in the recordings will be due to playback delays. Again, for ASIO this can partly be compensated for in the Audio Hardware & Drivers page.

Stitch In Time

Running several cards together is often a way of gaining extra inputs and outputs, whilst running MIDI live can often free up vital audio tracks. However ensuring that all of the audio sources are in sync is vital if a tight and cohesive mix is to be obtained. Using the procedures outlined here will allow you to achieve just that by finding out and compensating for the delays inherent in your own audio setup.