FM3 Audio Out of Sync in DAW

[mcro2430]

Yep, I didn't want to have to bring something else around but I may have to resort to this when I want to go portable. It's unusable in pro tools. Not even a workaround.

I've used a lot of usb audio devices and the FM3 is the first and only device I've used with this latency. I was told on my other thread I was doing it wrong (monitoring the track and not the input), which may be technically true, but doesn't change the fact that the issue is unique to this device out of the dozen I've used.

The Focusrite Scarlett Solo is cheap-ish and works great if you need something to bridge that gap.

 

[orion32773]

I've used a lot of usb audio devices and the FM3 is the first and only device I've used with this latency. I was told on my other thread I was doing it wrong (monitoring the track and not the input), which may be technically true, but doesn't change the fact that the issue is unique to this device out of the dozen I've used.

The Focusrite Scarlett Solo is cheap-ish and works great if you need something to bridge that gap.

Yes, the issue isn't monitoring and some of the answers are focusing on that. We aren't talking about monitoring latency which can be controlled via the buffer settings (1024, 512, 256, etc). This is real lag after recording when playing the track back. While this can be adjusted in some DAWs (I've only had limited success in Logic) this is not the case for other apps. I've tried multiple laptops running logic, garageband, and pro tools.

 

[GlennO]

Pro tools has just a check box so you can't adjust it and from all the research I am seeing it really only starts doing it's job when you introduce plugin that cause delays so it calculates that and will adjust accordingly. At the moment I can only get Logic working since "recording delay" is available. Bummer...I'm just not that great at Logic and even more frustrating that my HX stomp, which, honestly I only bought while waiting for the FM3 has zero issues. I'm not smart enough to say why but my brain is hurting from the last few days of troubleshooting and I haven't seen any replies from Fractal on my ticket. Hoping they will chime in soon but this may just not be a priority issue for them at the moment

You're looking in the wrong place . You're turning ADC on and off. That's unrelated to your problem. You need to adjust the I/O offset. Either that or use the track delay offset to fix the problem.

 

[orion32773]

You're looking in the wrong place . You're turning ADC on and off. That's unrelated to your problem. You need to adjust the I/O offset. Either that or use the track delay offset to fix the problem.

Yes I know...which has nothing to do with it. I have gone to i/o and tried to adjust the hardware insert as well and is hasnt done anything. I thought it fixed it for a moment and then I went to another laptop and tried it and heard no change. I've also looked at track delay offset (maybe refresh my memory where that's at) which I thought was under the mix window fader. Doesnt seem to affect anything and having to do that on every track is tedious and strange. I'm open to more suggestions or corrections.

 

[GlennO]

I can't explain why it only worked on one computer, but not another. In any case, unless you're saying the FM3 has an unexpectedly large latency (what is your measured round-trip latency?), the solution necessarily lies in your DAW, not in your class-compliant USB audio device. In other words, only the DAW can compensate for latency.

 

[orion32773]

It’s not working on the original one either. It was for a moment. Still doesn’t explain why all my other interfaces have zero issues. I’ve never had to adjust any of these settings. Hx stomp, axe fx 3, x32 mixer, even a cheap focusrite usb interface. Monitoring latency is one thing and not what I’m talking about. It’s the recorded track and it printing out of sync.

 

[GlennO]

Any class-compliant USB interface will need I/O compensation in the DAW for playback to work properly. However, many people don't bother and just live with the misalignment. The amount of the misalignment depends on the device's latency. That's why I suggested the problem might be an unexpected amount of latency in your FM3. The simple way to answer whether that's the problem is to measure it. What is your measured round-trip latency for the FM3? What is the measured round-trip latency for one of your other devices?

 

[orion32773]

Logic is easy to figure that out but I will need to look up how to measure that in pro tools. Will let you know. Thanks for the help! Matt P is also getting with one of the engineers to ask them as well. It seems to be more pronounced in the FM 3

 

[MicroMort]

I thought I was going crazy with my axeIII but figured out I just had to nudge everything I recorded 20-30ms to the left. I’m using windows 10, reaper, and a decent computer with 32gb ram. I would imagine maybe the FM3 is the same way? Annoying but not a problem once I finally figured out that the issue wasn’t me...

 

[orion32773]

Well, I say Logic is easy but apparently I have no idea what I am doing. I can see what it's reporting but I've also seen some geeky videos to measure it more accurately which seems maybe overkill. Here are a few screenshots from the FM3, Axe 3, and a little Scarlett Solo I had laying around which has zero issues when tracking. It's dead on to my ears, but the FM3 not so much.

 

[orion32773]

I thought I was going crazy with my axeIII but figured out I just had to nudge everything I recorded 20-30ms to the left. I’m using windows 10, reaper, and a decent computer with 32gb ram. I would imagine maybe the FM3 is the same way? Annoying but not a problem once I finally figured out that the issue wasn’t me...

Yes, I can do the same but would like to figure out how to offset this automatically within the software. Logic is easy, but pro tools I can't seem to figure out where and how to do it. Whatever I find as far as tutorials, isnt very clear to me and isnt working.

 

[GlennO]

Well, I say Logic is easy but apparently I have no idea what I am doing. I can see what it's reporting but I've also seen some geeky videos to measure it more accurately which seems maybe overkill. Here are a few screenshots from the FM3, Axe 3, and a little Scarlett Solo I had laying around which has zero issues when tracking. It's dead on to my ears, but the FM3 not so much.

You show zero for all 3 devices, but it should never be zero for a class-compliant usb interface. In any case, it's best to measure it yourself and then verify the delay amount with the waveform editor. I know that sounds geeky, but you're discussing a geeky issue here . Many people just turn down their buffer size, record against their drum track, and never notice there's an alignment discrepancy of a few milliseconds.

 

[orion32773]

I reset it to zero on purpose. This was just to show you round trip latency. I did the waveform comparison and adjusted accordingly. I was only showing you comparison between 3 interfaces. -2600 was about where I ended up for the FM3. Focusrite was fine with no delay and so is my HX stomp when I use it as an interface. And...if I put down a drum track, the resulting audio file I would record with the FM3 would be way off and behind the beat. Not just a few milliseconds. I get the recording delay (I would still like to figure out Pro Tools' equivalent setting...I can't figure out how to do it) but I think we have a hardware issue here. The FM3 is off too much from other interfaces and yes, while I believe we should be doing offsets in our DAWs and it exists there for a reason, I have never experienced this in pro tools or logic where I had to research so much. In logic I have never tocuhed the hardware delay. I have tracked for several years, in my little humble studio, and haven't touched any settings for delays. My meter is decent, hence me freaking out about this one lol. I do appreciate your help, though. As far as buffer size, I really don't have too much of a need to go really low because I am always using some sort of hardware modeler and direct monitoring through that. Never through the DAW...unless in the off chance I need to track through a software plug in. So, in the end I will have to disagree with your statement "Any class-compliant USB interface will need I/O compensation in the DAW for playback to work properly." In my case, I have never had to adjust anything. That isnt meant to be short, just replying to that statement. If all this is exhausting you, I totally understand. My brain is tired from obsessing with it for several days. I am hoping to hear something positive back from Matt after an engineer chimes in. Sorry if I am repeating myself in my responses.

 

[orion32773]

In pro tools I figured out this part (offset set to -2600) but it's a manual process....the H/W insert delay is puzzling and I can't make it work which would be automatic and would work hand in hand with the delay compensation turned on.

 

[MrBalHal]

Hello Guys,
Just recently got an FM3 and I have the exact same issue in both Pro Tools and Reaper (Win10). Was there any permanent solution for this?
Thanks.

 

[Az_Spirit_Crusher]

Hello Guys,
Just recently got an FM3 and I have the exact same issue in both Pro Tools and Reaper (Win10). Was there any permanent solution for this?
Thanks.

Apparently this issue has not been solved yet. I was trying to record e-acoustic guitar couple of days ago (with a simple preset, only IR and some basic EQ) and... well, the recording offset was real. I believe you can get around this if you send your signal from the unit output to your audio interface, which is hooked to your computer. The vast majority of audio interfaces (even Axe-FX 2 did this) make DAWs automatically adjust offset during work so you hear exactly in time what you recorded and it really speeds up work for like 200%.

I am just sad that Axe-FX 2 had zero problem with this and FM3 has.