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kurt01

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22311

August 13th, 2006 21:00

MIDI Problems

I have a new Inspiron E1505.  I got it to learn to play the keyboard (piano) using a MIDI keyboard and MIDI keyboard learning software.
I have  Yamaha DGX300 keyboard.  I purchased the EMedia Piano & Keyboard method software and a Yamaha UX16 USB-MIDI interface.
The problem is there is a delay from the time you play a key on the keyboard and the time the note plays on the laptop.
 
Here is the solution from the EMedia support page, (emediamusic.com):
 

There is a delay between pressing MIDI keyboard keys and hearing the sound from your computer

This delay appears to be caused by sound cards that use software synthesizers in the Windows operating systems. It can be resolved by using a sound card that has a hardware synthesizer (in other words, there is a chip on the sound card that does the synthesizing). If you have a hardware synthesizer that is not being automatically used, you can enable it in the program by selecting the Options/MIDI Settings panel from within Piano & Keyboard Method. On the MIDI Settings screen, in the list "MIDI Device for Sound Output" select the hardware synthesizer that your system uses.

 

The above solution is all they have on the site for a correction to my problem.  When I do what they say to do, my only choice is "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth".

Does anybody have any ideas before I return the software as unusable?  Does this mean I will have this problem with any MIDI software I purchase in the future?

Does Dell have a soundcard that has a hardware synthesizer built in that I can install in my Inspiron E1505?

Jim Coates

4 Operator

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13.6K Posts

August 14th, 2006 12:00

The delay is called latency and it occurs in any computer sound system, whether midi or audio, because it takes time for the computer to process the sound. Software synths are even worse, taking up to a half second of additional time. Latency is not noticeable when playing back midi & audio, mainly just when doing what you want to do, to use the computer as a real-time synthesizer, because there is a significant delay between the time you press a key and the time you hear the sound. You can't just use the keyboard's own synth & speaker system to create the sounds immediately?

I don't know of any add-on usb consumer soundcards that don't use a software synth. The Soundblaster pci cards that go into desktop computers still have hardware (wavetable) synths. But even if you have a hardware synth on a soundcard there are other factors that create latency, mainly whether or not the card has ASIO drivers which produce the lowest latency.

I don't think there is a consumer level solution for you, but I'd advise you to call Sweetwater, a pro-audio company that specializes in music technology. Tell them what you have and what you want to do and they will know if there is a product that will give acceptable results. If they know of an answer you can use it as a basis for further research. 1-800-222-4700.

Jim

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