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Old 06-03-2017, 01:48 PM   #1
sjs94704
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Default Any suggestions for the right VST for me?

Hi, All:

I think my needs are simple. I am a singer. I am NOT attempting to be ultra professional sounding. Very simply, I am on full-time disability and as such I have LOTS of time on my hands. I love to sing, so I got Reaper to help me do that.

I belong to a website (karafun.com) that offers 27,000 songs to pick from.

With Reaper, what I am doing at the moment is recording the music on track 1. I then have tracks 2 and 3. On track 2 is my voice as it is out of my mouth. On track 3 I am putting all my sound effects (VST's) that are applied to the vocal track.

Like most singers, the BIGGEST issue is latency. I am also interested in applying some reverberation to my effects channel.

In a nutshell, I think that the VST's that come with Reaper will do just fine. I think the only thing I need is a VST that can handle the latency issue I am on a very limited budget.

I would be grateful for any suggestions that anyone might have of a VST that I should use that is really good at handling the latency issue. I can then apply the reverb VST in reaper to accomplish my goal that hopefully does not cost a fortune!

Thanks,

-Steven
Downtown Berkeley, CA
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Old 06-03-2017, 03:36 PM   #2
Nizhny Tagil
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First of all, why are you using 4 tracks if you are only recording your voice?
I would suggest to import the backing track into one track, then record your voice on a second track and applying your effects directly on the latter.

I'm not sure I understand what your problem is with latency and VSTs.
If I understand, you have a high latency when listening to your singing with a reverb plugin on it?
In that case, the ReaVerbate plugin that comes with Reaper doesn't add latency, but the other one, ReaVerb, adds a lot of latency, so I would suggest to use the former.

If you just mean that you have high latency when listening to what you're singing, that's not only related to VSTs. VSTs can add latency, but only some will. For the most part, it depends on your computer and audio interface.

If you could be more specific, maybe other users could be more helpful.

Last edited by Nizhny Tagil; 06-03-2017 at 03:59 PM.
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Old 06-03-2017, 04:58 PM   #3
jerome_oneil
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What do you have on track 3? And what is your latency if you simply monitor one track with your vocals an no other effects? With a single live audio feed, your latency should be at a minimum.

There is no VST that will eliminate latency. Just the opposite. Every VST will add some latency.
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Old 06-04-2017, 09:01 AM   #4
ashcat_lt
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil View Post
Every VST will add some latency.
Well no. It's really only the ones that have to because they work on a window of multiple samples and/or try to look into the future. Most plugins really don't do that. They try to process the next block of samples in the time it takes to play the last block, and the latency is your block size no matter how many plugs you add.
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Old 06-04-2017, 11:19 AM   #5
slipstick
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But the OP seems to be looking for something to REDUCE latency. And that's not going to be a VST it's going to be down to using the correct interface/drivers and getting the block sizes set correctly.

I'm not sure I've never known latency to be "the BIGGEST issue" for most singers so can we be sure what we're talking about? What exactly is the effect of this latency you're dealing with? When and how do you notice it?

Then we can add on what audio interface you are using and what drivers. And what is Reaper reporting for latency etc. What does it say in the top right of the Reaper screen e.g. the old laptop I'm typing on currently reports "256spls ~10/19ms WASAPI" which is not bad considering it's not what I use for recording, just for playing about.

Steve
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Old 06-04-2017, 11:58 AM   #6
G-Sun
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- What's your audio interface?
- What buffer size do you use?
- How low can you go before artifacts?
- Does your interface come with a software mixer for monitoring? With effects?

For the record: I use monitoring through Reaper for half of my tracking -when project is small enough. And I have a top notch audio interface (Rme Hdsp 9632)
Most usual is not monitoring through Reaper.
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Old 06-04-2017, 01:32 PM   #7
vdubreeze
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Check the manual for how to adjust settings (buffer, etc) for best latency. If you're using an interface device as opposed to going straight in with a USB mic you'll need to check how the device defaults as well and there is likely it's own software which enables you to monitor in the best way.

Also read up a bit on the monitoring modes of Reaper tracks and the modes of any device software running for that device's routing. Reaper's buffer defaults to somewhere in the middle of the range. Enough buffer so that any computer can be up and running, but at this setting there is detectable latency. A larger buffer enables your computer to handle more but increases latency, a smaller one can reduce it to imperceivable range but your computer may start stuttering. You can lower it until your CPU starts hiccuping and then bring it back up a bit, and that may lessen the lessen the latency enough depending on your computer.

I generally am always monitoring my input when I record, not the signal as it's coming back at it's destination. So regardless of the buffer I don't experience a latency issue. If I were recording straight away at the default I would. Tell us more about your set up and we can give a better answer.
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