Drums keep firing on their own?

[TamaBeast]

I'm pretty sure it's the buffer size. BFD3 is heavy on resources and an onboard sound card is going to struggle seriously at a buffer size of 128 or less. Also, the problem seems to worsen with instruments that have more samples (bass drum > toms > snare. I bet the hi hat is bad too). As Dmitri says, try AD or raise the buffer size.

Thank you guys for getting back to me. What do you think would be a good buffer size to begin with then and gradually move up? I'm just wondering where you would start is all, not looking for the perfect answer, just a suggestion.

I've tried BFD support and I've been nothing less than disappointed. It's almost as if they don't read the email and send you a canned message back blaming everything else; computer, module, relative humidity of Tampa Bay, price of eggs and so on. (yeah, a little carried away but I made the point.)

Also, other than using an on board sound card in the laptop what would you suggest? I'm open to anything to get this working correctly; anything!!!!

[ignotus]

I'd try with buffer size 512 and then work my way down. The higher the number the more latency, but 512 will be lighter on the sound card and the latency will be barely noticeable. If it works ok, start decreasing the number and testing until it starts misbehaving; then raise it one step again. That's going to be as good as it gets with the onboard sound card.

An alternative that most recommend (if using a laptop) is to buy an external usb audio interface. There are many to choose from and someone else could probably make a recommendation (I own a cheap Roland usb interface but turns out the onboard card achieves lower latency - that's my limited experience), but you're looking at investing at least 100 €/$.

Also, I'd still download the demo of Addictive Drums to see if things work ok with it. It's much lighter on resources than BFD3 and if it works then you know for sure the problem is with BFD3 and the buffer settings.

[airflamesred]

Focusrite 2i2

[TamaBeast]

Focusrite 2i2

Thanks... I looked this up and read the information though some of it is unclear. What would be the correct way in which to hook this up to bypass the onboard soundcard? Would it simply be USB out to the box and the out to my PA system? Do I need to use their software? Do I need to disable my onboard soundcard? Any advice to expedite would be great. I'll have one in two days or so and I'm going to get right on it... Like, not go to work and stay home playing drums all day get on it!!! Any direction would be GREAT.

Also, does the "sample rate" of 44100 in BFD affect the latency? Is there another sample rate I should select?

[TamaBeast]

Focusrite 2i2

Any advice for the above question?

[CarpathianBreed]

You will have to disable the onboard soundcard. If it´s not disabled it can cause some conflicts on audio. If you have a MAC I don´t have any idea how this is done and even if it´s necessary. But on Windows, you go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware monitor. Look up the audio section and disable the onboard audio driver. Do not remove it, just disable. By removing it it will probably be found by the system after a restart and it will install the drivers again.

The sample rate for my understanding can be a little heavy on the system. Although on 44.1kHz and 48kHz comparison it might not be too significant. But to think about processing 44100 samples per second, it must be less stressing than handling say, 192000 samples per second.

But that depends on the soundcard quality. I´ve had good ones and I´ve had bad ones. Some have good DSP processing so they do some some of the work

Start with the buffers up and go down and when you start getting crackling or audio dropouts you know you´ve gone too far. At that point it can be a good idea to look at the things you can shave off from your soft synth. I for example often see for example in a drum program that it´s easy to keep the sample count lower when you disable the included ambience and set up another good ambience plugin for global ambience. So also think what else you can do/turn off to keep the processing lighter, not only the audio buffer size.

Then there´s always all the little programs running in the background that you don´t need and those stress RAM and CPU and don´t let it focus on the audio task. I don´t know what´s your setup in detail so I leave it at that. Anyway, without a soundcard specially designed for audio production you don´t get far without issues like latency.

K

[TamaBeast]

K aka CarpathianBreed,

Thank you for that instruction, I found it to be very helpful and it gave me some direction in what to do when I receive the 2i2. I am still a bit confused on the actual hookup of the 2i2. I'm thinking it goes like this however, if I'm wrong, please let me know.
1. Megadrum via usb to computer
2. Computer via usb to 2i2
3. 2i2 line out to PA system
Is this correct? If anyone knows please let me know. The only other part that confuses me is that the 2i2 input on the front is XLR or 1/4 so I don't know if I need a usb to 1/4" or usb to XLR cable to come out of the computer and into the 2i2 which changes number 2 in the list above. Again, any direction would be GREAT... Thanks all.

[ignotus]

K aka CarpathianBreed,

Thank you for that instruction, I found it to be very helpful and it gave me some direction in what to do when I receive the 2i2. I am still a bit confused on the actual hookup of the 2i2. I'm thinking it goes like this however, if I'm wrong, please let me know.
1. Megadrum via usb to computer
2. Computer via usb to 2i2
3. 2i2 line out to PA system
Is this correct? If anyone knows please let me know. The only other part that confuses me is that the 2i2 input on the front is XLR or 1/4 so I don't know if I need a usb to 1/4" or usb to XLR cable to come out of the computer and into the 2i2 which changes number 2 in the list above. Again, any direction would be GREAT... Thanks all.

Don't worry, 1, 2 and 3 are correct. The XLR/jacks at the front are for analogue audio input from a mic or a guitar. The computer usb connects to the usb port at the back of the 2i2.

[airflamesred]

As above from Ignotus and CarpathianBreed. With regards to the sample rate, I just keep it at 44100. I can't honestly tell the difference.
I've had no issues with the lowest buffer settings (1ms aparently) though that will depend on your specs.

[TamaBeast]

I received the focusrite 2i2 and installed to my laptop. I disabled the laptop soundcard. I opened up MDM and ensured the in/out was set to Megadrum MIDI. I opened BFD3 options and made sure the sound card setting was for the 2i2. Ready for the kicker...

I only have latency on the snare... just like prior to installing the 2i2. All the other drums transmit voices with no latency and, they sound much better coming through the PA system. However, the latency on the snare is 1 full second off, at least and sometimes more. I changed the trigger, same effect, changed the drum entirely to a pintech 10" pad, same effect and, the pintech pad works perfectly with my Yamaha module.

Could it be possible something is awry with the input on the MDM for the snare? Any idea's on why I have this latency on the snare only? Thanks for all the help guys, truly appreciated.