+1 tag for Google Plus

Sunday 1 January 2012

My Lag Problem with EastWest Virtual Instruments on FL Studio

I've just managed to fix a horrible lag issue when working with EastWest virtual instruments. 


After I fixed it, I created a video documenting the problem and how I solved it.


In the video I was using instruments from EastWest Quantum Leap Goliath. For all the work I've done on the piece to date, I was tolerating a 4 - 5 seconds freeze-up on the software whenever I do any record, playback or song position jump. It always happens. I've tried to reduce the number of tracks using EW virtual instruments, but the lag remained all the same.


I was thinking of posting the problem on the FLipside Forum, but then I gave it one last try, tweaking with the audio buffer settings. 


It worked, thank God! :)


Here's the video on Vimeo.com



A little background: I am using a Dell I7 XPS L502X, running Windows 7 64-bit and FL Studio. I am also using the Korg Nanokey2 (usb controller), and my audio hardware is the onboard Realtek audio chip on Dell's motherboard.


To fix the problem, I went into the audio options and tweaked the buffer values. I did 20ms on the buffer, and about 40% offset value, and it worked for me. Buffer values differ from machine to machine, so different computers would have their own optimal setting for these values.


Now it's like a dream come true. I am feeling so unreal, getting instantaneous response when clicking on the play and recording buttons. I am still recovering from my previous impression that EastWest instruments are processor intensive, slow and unresponsive. It was so bad, I am now taking a bit of time to recover and rid myself of that impression.


In the video I showed myself playing around with the values, and the audible results of over- and under- cranking the values. Hope it helps people with the same problem.

4 comments:

  1. Hey man, thank you for this! I was close to desperation and you fixed my problem with Goliath and FLStudio for all times! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Simon, i am really happy that my post was able to help you out! If you have a website with your songs send me a link and I'll be happy to listen to your songs! Cheers!

      Delete
  2. I know this post is incredibly old, and maybe you'll never get around to checking such ancient comments; however I just had to let you know you absolutely saved my butt. I've been having issues with this lag for some time now and I was tearing my hair out trying to figure it out. I can't believe I overlooked the offset, oh man, thank you so very much! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for much for the tutorial! I also found out that if you use the ASIO driver instead of DirectSound, it basically eliminated all playback latency since ASIO allows PLAY to directly access your sound card. Just set the buffer in ASIO to fairly low, and it worked like a miracle!

    ReplyDelete