Music lag on Windows Vista

[Ghoul]

Hi,

I am trying to record a mix straight onto my PC via Audacity. I have a Numark DM950 Mixer with turntables and have the master output lead connected to the microphone socket.

My operating system is Vista Home Basic.

When playing a record there is a delay from the turntables to the pc, I want hear what I am recording so I can mix other tunes in. Is there a way round this, so there is no Lag or Latency, or any advise in how I can prevent this?

Cheers

[kozikowski]

Lag and Latency are different. Audacity 1.3 can only tune out Latency. Lag is built into your computer.

There is a tutorial about this and I'm looking for it. You can look, too. It's in Tips-Tutorials-Documentation at the top of this page.

Ideally, you plug headphones into the mixer and not the computer. The computer playback goes back to the mixer and that produces a custom mix for your headphones different from the mix that goes to the computer, assuming you want to do overdubbing and multi-track -- although you didn't say so.

Some of the newer microphones have headphone monitoring and mixing built-in. This microphone amplifier has headphone monitoring and mixing built-in.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... =20#p81588

You may never get computer headphone monitoring to match real time.

Koz

[kozikowski]

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Multi ... _Recording
Koz

[Ghoul]

Thanks Koz,

I meant to say that I want to hear the music coming from the speakers, whilst listening to the other tune, as in 'Software Playthrough'.

Thanks for your help on this.

[kozikowski]

I don't know where the "other tune" is coming from, but you can get the computer to play back your own show to you by settings in the Windows Control Panels

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... _Windows_7

In earlier Windows, you could select your input signal in the playback panel and the computer would play your show back to you with no delay. That would not play an existing file at the same time for mixing, however.

Here's a thing on general recording.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recording_Tips

The Windows elves will be along shortly.

As a side issue, do you know that you're getting a stereo show into your computer?

master output lead connected to the microphone socket.

Typically, the Microphone connection on a Windows machine is mono, not stereo, and it's very easily overloaded and distorted. It's meant for a microphone with a very tiny sound signal.

Koz

[Ghoul]

Sorry, just read my last post and seemed a bit vague.

What I mean is instead of doing a DJ mix (two turntables for vinyls and a mixer) through a stereo or hi-fi, I want to go through a PC. Is this possible using a phono lead from my mixer to the mircrophone port. I have a microphone port at the back of my PC and one at the front, next to a headphone port.

I apologise if this sounds confusing.