Recording piano with no interface...

[haolekook]

I am recording multiple tracks of piano. Mixcraft 7. I am not using an audio interface. I am using a USB type B cable from the Casio Privia PX-150 directly into my laptop, USB type A. My issue is latency, I guess. Track one is not in "sync" with the track I am recording. I am using headphones plugged into the laptop via 3.5mm cable. I can hear track one in the headphones, but the "signal", being the track two piano sound I am trying to record, comes out of the headphones a little after I hit the key on the keyboard. I hope I am making this clear. Any help would be appreciated. Piano is attached as a midi device. Thank you.

Added info: I watched a vid that helped, sort of. The person said to set the track for asio instead of wave rt. So, yay, that got rid of the lag between pressing a piano key and hearing it in the headphones. My problem now is that headphones no longer work. The only way I am getting sound now is from the laptops built-in speaker. Obviously subpar. Any thoughts?

[CactusMusicBC]

ASIO is only used with Audio Interfaces.DO not use it for built in sound cards. Some Real Tech sound cards have an ASIO driver that you will see all Daw developers will warn you not to use. it rarely works. It does not pass the Steinberg test.

In the past some people would recommend Asio4all which is not really ASIO but WDM in a wrapper. It is now redundant.

Windows now has a better driver than the outdated WDM and MME modes. WASAPI shared and WASAPI exclusive. Exclusive mode is just that and only your Daw can make sound while you use it. Exclusive mode give your Daw direct access to the audio driver and will reduce the latency with performance closer to what you get with ASIO.

Audio Interfaces that use an ASIO driver are still pretty much the only way to go with recording Audio but for midi only set ups you might be fine.

Don't forget that even USB Midi has latency. The time from striking a key to triggering a VST instrument can be from 3 to even 10 ms depending on the Midi driver you are using. Companies like Korg, Roland and Yamaha supply a midi driver. Go to the Casio web site and see if there a midi driver available.That can shave a few ms off the midi delay.

And it is best to optimize your computer for audio run this test to check if you have potential issues. https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

[CactusMusicBC]

Here is what I recommend how you set up your audio settings, note the checked box in Exclusive mode

Screenshot (134).png (66.39 KiB) Viewed 646 times

[cactus-head]

...I am using headphones plugged into the laptop via 3.5mm cable.

Added info: I watched a vid that helped, sort of. The person said to set the track for asio instead of wave rt. So, yay, that got rid of the lag between pressing a piano key and hearing it in the headphones. My problem now is that headphones no longer work. The only way I am getting sound now is from the laptops built-in speaker. Obviously subpar. Any thoughts?

Sounds like Track 1 is the MIDI from the keyboard playing back the acoustica piano and Track 2 is your hardware audio. The lag is the difference between the MIDI and the audio I'm guessing. That lag was corrected by using an ASIO driver; but now all sound is coming out of the speakers instead of the headphones. Is that right?

Strange that it wouldn't make it to your headphones. Are you talking about at the time of recording you no longer hear the input in headphones? The hardware routes the sound if the headphone is plugged into the headphone jack unless the speakers and the headphones are listed as separate devices in Windows.

My first guess would be the headphones aren't plugged in all the way or were accidentally plugged into the input. What driver are you using for ASIO?

There is one other weirdness with newer computers, they often combine the input and ouput into one jack which may also cause a problem. You may need a splitter or you have to be careful how far you put the headphone jack into the unified port.