I am using in Cubase Elements 13 Halion Sonic VST but there is a delay when I play through my Nord Piano 5. Can’t set buffer lower than 10 ms and see in Asio Driver input 40ms and output 20ms which I can’t change. See attachments for more information. Anybody advise how to reduce midi lstency?
Hi,
It’s not a MIDI Latency. Please, use an ASIO Driver. If your Audio Device doesn’t have one, use ASIO4ALL.
Thank you Martin and I downloaded Asio4All driver and did installation on my laptop. I can set buffer size to 128 (not lower due to distortion of sound). And can see latency time is about 5 ms. But when I play my midi Nord Lead Piano 5 keyboard there is still delay in Cubase HelionSonic. Any more advise?
Hi,
Just to make sure, it’s not related to the HW, could you try the on-screen keyboard, please?
Also check.
In “Studio Setup” under “MIDI Port Setup”, make sure the “Use System Timestamp for “Windows MIDI” inputs” is checked.
Leaving this unchecked can sometimes cause a noticeable delay in Windows.
Thank you both. When I use Cubase keys it looks like there is no delay and difficult to hear but I think there is no delay. But there is a minor delay via Nord Piano 5 keyboard it is minor but irritating. The other trick in timestamp midi and checked the box but still minor delay…….
I wouldn’t know what to suggest from here.
Where is the Nord’s USB driver?
According to the Nord 5 User Manual:
Set the DAW or sequencer to use the Nord Piano 5 USB MIDI driver, if connected through USB, or are you using the 5 Din someway?
I am using USB midi from Nord Piano 5 to USB input Laptop. Cubase recognize automatically the Piano 5 which I can select in Cubase.
Hi robdegraaf.
Your input and output latency with ASIO4ALL should be more than enough to smooth things out. The fact that it hasn’t indicates an issue elsewhere.
Does your Laptop meet Cubase’s system requirements?
Hi, thank you and maybe that might be the reason.
Laptop is from 2018. Acer Aspire 515-51G. See attachment for specs.
The specs do seem to be under the recommended threshold, at half Steinberg’s recommendation.
Could be a good idea to upgrade, to at least the minimum or better if possible.
Yes indeed and thanks for the recommendations. I will use this Laptop for the future only for streaming Qobuz through Audivana App for my stereo audio setup which works fine. And go for a new PC or Laptop for Cubase with remote bigger screen. I know there is a lot in the market. Do you have good experience with PC or Laptop for Cubase Elements?
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A stationary computer will always give you more bang for the buck than a laptop. So unless you absolutely have to have a laptop, I would recommend the best tower pc (or Mac if that’s your flavor) you can comfortably afford.
Some, myself included, purchase their computers from companies that build them specifically for DAW use.
Hi,
Could you test your system by using LatencyMon utility, please?
Hi,
Please, follow the instructions.
Followed instructions from latency mon but without positive results.
Decided to use this laptop for something different (like before: Qobuz via Audirvāna app for stereo amplifier).
Today I ordered new DAW computer with Steinberg interface UR22C and Cubase Elements at www.i4studio.nl and looking forward to receive new setup.
Thank you both again for the support!
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I’ve been using Cubase Pro 13 with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for remote work and a Scarlett 18i20 in the studio and was running into the same latency problem with any keyboard I hooked up to Cubase 13 through a USB midi connection and think I found the solution.
First: The key is to disable ALL audio processors and effects while recording midi tracks. This includes all effects, compressors, reverbs, mastering plugins (like iZotope) and so on. Once I did this, I was able to play along and noticed NO latency! Well, almost none… The Focusrite 2i2 does have an input latency of 8.5 ms, but anything under 10 ms is perfectly acceptable. My test recordings came out perfectly, even with my iRig Mini keyboard. The easiest way to turn these on and off is using the MixControl. When you are through recording your midi tracks, you can enable all the effects that you had to turn off.
Second: Activate the ASIO Latency Compensation option on the midi track. You can add this to midi tracks by 1) right clicking on the track and 2) selecting Track Control Settings and 3) dragging ASIO Latency Compensation from the Hidden Control box to Visible Controls. This adds a little Clock Button to the track controls under Input/Output Channels.
To be honest, I don’t notice ant difference using the ASIO Latency Compensation, but it there for a reason. However, I did notices a HUGE improvement when I disabled the audio processors and effects!!!
Again, the easiest way is to disable them in the MixConsole.
Hope this helps! 
Thank you for your advise!
You’re welcome! Here’s something else I just learned about Cubase 13…
In the Mixer window, click on the small gear, in the upper right corner to open the Setup Window Layout. Go to the bottom and select Channel Latency. This will display the latency of any plug ins or processors you’re using on your mixer on every channel. On the right snapshot below, you can see Ozone 10 was causing 74.4ms of delay, but my Focusrite compressor and Roomworks SE were adding none (in theory).
If you select the larger gear in the upper right corner of the Mixer window, you get a dropdown box. Select Constrain Delay Compensation and Cubase 13 will temporarily turn off all processors that are above a certain threshold and once you’ve finished recording, you can easily turn them back on. In my case, Cubase 13 didn’t turn off any of my inserts, but I did see cases where certain built in dynamic Maximizers did cause latency and were turned off.
Hope this helps!
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