Delay from ME-90 into UAFX Enigmatic

[dlwhitehurst]

I have an issue where I purchased a Boss ME-90 for effects both session and live work. I am in love with the UAFX Enigmatic for amp modeling so I set the Boss ME-90 to line-out and sent the stereo sends into the UAFX Enigmatic pedal and used the UAFX outs into my M-Audio interface. There is extreme delay in the signal. I cut all effects in the Boss ME-90 but the delay won't go away. I know the Boss line-outs work perfectly because I can turn on the amp modeling in the device and send stereo into "FRFR" cabs with no issue. The Boss thing is new but does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? I put the UAFX amp on the ME-90 outs because I want to use it as a pedal board. And, I won't use the Boss modeling. The Dumble simulated amp is all I need. Help lol. I hope that I didn't waste my money on this Boss ME-90. I like what is has to offer and I just started playing again and didn't want to have to buy all the pedals and fix up a board again. Why the delay?

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I have an issue where I purchased a Boss ME-90 for effects both session and live work. I am in love with the UAFX Enigmatic for amp modeling so I set the Boss ME-90 to line-out and sent the stereo sends into the UAFX Enigmatic pedal and used the UAFX outs into my M-Audio interface. There is extreme delay in the signal. I cut all effects in the Boss ME-90 but the delay won't go away. I know the Boss line-outs work perfectly because I can turn on the amp modeling in the device and send stereo into ""FRFR"" cabs with no issue. The Boss thing is new but does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? I put the UAFX amp on the ME-90 outs because I want to use it as a pedal board. And, I won't use the Boss modeling. The Dumble simulated amp is all I need. Help lol. I hope that I didn't waste my money on this Boss ME-90. I like what is has to offer and I just started playing again and didn't want to have to buy all the pedals and fix up a board again. Why the delay?

Turn on direct monitoring in your audio interface; turn off monitoring in your DAW.

 

[dlwhitehurst]

Turn on direct monitoring in your audio interface; turn off monitoring in your DAW.

I want to thank you for your response. Do you mind discussing this a bit more? I have a headphone out on the M-Audio interface. You are saying to monitor my playing using that, correct? And what's best practice for listening to the other tracks and playing your part? Currently, I'm learning a LOT about gain staging and noise reduction so I'm paying very close attention to having my guitar parts under-db say between -12 to -18db on initial take. But, then making sure that the signal in the interface is just below clipping as to trigger the analog to digital conversion properly. I absolutely can't stand playing (as the guitarist and not the producer) my part when the sound I'm hearing is weak and unexciting. What's the overall best practice here for doing my take, monitoring my playing, but still being able to hear the foundational mix?

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I want to thank you for your response. Do you mind discussing this a bit more? I have a headphone out on the M-Audio interface. You are saying to monitor my playing using that, correct? And what's best practice for listening to the other tracks and playing your part? Currently, I'm learning a LOT about gain staging and noise reduction so I'm paying very close attention to having my guitar parts under-db say between -12 to -18db on initial take. But, then making sure that the signal in the interface is just below clipping as to trigger the analog to digital conversion properly. I absolutely can't stand playing (as the guitarist and not the producer) my part when the sound I'm hearing is weak and unexciting. What's the overall best practice here for doing my take, monitoring my playing, but still being able to hear the foundational mix?

No, you can hear your guitar signal through that headphone jack in two ways. One is called “direct monitoring”. This typically can be turned on and off on all interfaces I am aware of. In this instance, the audio interface, in addition to sending your guitar signal to your DAW for recording, also sends the signal straight to the output jacks of the interface so that you can hear this signal as it is when it hits the interface with latency added for the round-trip process of getting the signal into the computer and back out. You want this feature on so that you are monitoring the signal from your guitar rig BEFORE it gets sent off to the computer.

Currently you are instead monitoring the guitar as it comes out of your DAW, which is why there is latency/delay. The guitar signal is getting converted from analog to digital, passed off to your computer, routed and processed in there, sent back to the interface and then converted back to analog before you hear it, all of which takes time. I suggest you turn monitoring of the guitar track OFF in the DAW when using direct monitoring because if you don’t, you will hear a sort of slap delay effect because you will hear both the direct monitor signal that has no latency and then the signal coming back from your DAW with latency added.

In terms of volume level, doing it this way is also helpful - many interfaces have a control that allows you to adjust the relative volume of the direct monitor signal (your guitar in this instance) and the volume to that of the audio coming back from your computer (everything else coming from your DAW in this instance). Even if your interface doesn’t have this, all you have to do is turn down the master volume output of your computer until you get to a balance you like.

 

[dlwhitehurst]

One more reply and I'll be done lol. I just unplugged the M-Audio Fasttrack Pro and looked at the front panel. I don't understand something because 1) the Output potentiometer was set at ZERO! 2) button set to MONO 3) Mix panned all the left. And, ... I've been using input channels 1 and 2 with their potentiometers at 1/4 volume. E.g. channel 1 is always my guitar and channel 2 is always my bass. I've been recording in Logic with severe latency issues. Then I checked out LUNA and love that but didn't see any latency issues with LUNA until I got the new Boss ME-90 pedal board. I was using the UAFX Dumble box on my desk and just guitar in and out to the Interface. I'm really confused now that I think about the analog to digital transformation and the fact that my interface has had it's output on ZERO for quite some time now. I'm pulling the M-Audio manual PDF now and going to do some reading. I'm an IT architect that want's to play guitar again so he records at home and dreams lol.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

One more reply and I'll be done lol. I just unplugged the M-Audio Fasttrack Pro and looked at the front panel. I don't understand something because 1) the Output potentiometer was set at ZERO! 2) button set to MONO 3) Mix panned all the left. And, ... I've been using input channels 1 and 2 with their potentiometers at 1/4 volume. E.g. channel 1 is always my guitar and channel 2 is always my bass. I've been recording in Logic with severe latency issues. Then I checked out LUNA and love that but didn't see any latency issues with LUNA until I got the new Boss ME-90 pedal board. I was using the UAFX Dumble box on my desk and just guitar in and out to the Interface. I'm really confused now that I think about the analog to digital transformation and the fact that my interface has had it's output on ZERO for quite some time now. I'm pulling the M-Audio manual PDF now and going to do some reading. I'm an IT architect that want's to play guitar again so he records at home and dreams lol.

Boss fear, if anything, is known for very low latency performance. I don’t think the ME-90 is the culprit. In the input/output settings of every DAW you can set the buffer size - this is there to give the DAW enough time to process everything without hiccups, so the bigger it is, the more latency you will have in that DAW. The goal is to set it as low as possible without the DAW glitching out for failure to process everything in time. I would check that setting. The more you have going on in the DAW session, the bigger the buffer will need to be.

 

[dlwhitehurst]

Ok last reply here and thank you! I have Logic on an old macbook pro, actually pretty strong machine. I now am using an 8GB mac mini and I'm heavy plugin-handed. I think that started things. Now I'm on LUNA (mac mini) and like it but again, I'll have the same issue probably with plugins. I started liking all the API console plugins and I'm using a tape simulator on everything. I'll kill this mac mini for sure. Thanks, I'll experiment with the buffer and mess with my FastTrack Pro this weekend. The M-Audio drivers (old not supported) don't even work on the new mac mini. I know now what to pay attention to so thanks again for your help.