Question Audio delay running guitar to PC

[nbtd245]

Running my guitar to my PC as such:

Digitech RP80 > Behringer Eurorack UB502 > PC line-in

Other possibly relevant information about my PC:

Windows 10 Pro
AMD FX-8350 8 core processor
Gigabyte 970A-DS3P motherboard
16GB RAM

I haven't recorded in a while but I finally upgraded and have a PC that can handle it. I hooked everything up the way I used to and there's about a half second audio delay. It was actually worse than ~0.5sec initially but then I followed this guide:

Fixing Realtek audio driver lag on Windows 10

The quality of recent Realtek sound controller and audio drivers has taken a nosedive in recent years, and the automatically installed drivers on Windows 10 have introduced a significant delay in t…

neosmart.net

It's definitely better but distracting enough that I can't play to it or record over it. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[Ralston18]

What recording software are you using on your PC?

Doublecheck the recommended hardware specs for your recording software.

The specs are often listed as minimal, recommended, and best. You do not want minimal. You do want as much recommended and best as you can afford and fit into your system.

Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor to observe your system's performance.

First while not recording and then while recording. Look for some resource that gets bottlenecked and the half second audio delays begin.

Could also be some background app that is running: May be a backup, AV scan, software "phoning home", or something else diverting computer resources.

Or it could just be some misconfiguration within the recording software.

 

[nbtd245]

I definitely don't think it's a performance issue. The delay isn't in the recording, it's in the real time audio of my guitar coming through the line-in. It may even be shorter than a half second but it's so distracting it completely throws me off. I did look at my system performance and memory was at 33% and that was with Firefox and Counter Strike: Source running at the same time. Also I use Audacity which is a very minimalist program for recording. And to be clear again, the delay begins immediately. I plug in my guitar and strum and it's off right away.

 

[Kvlt Doom]

Damnit! I had the same problem once years ago & was able to fix it though I can't recall how, despite racking my brain for several minutes.

The only things that come to mind are to make sure that the setting to "monitor the input signal through this device" (or whatever the hell it's called) in Windows Audio Settings & Audacity are not enabled at the same time. That might be the cause of that delay, assuming there isn't any other latency along the signal chain. You want to monitor the audio through Audacity, if I remember correctly, rather than the Windows Audio settings.
If that doesn't fix the 0.5 second latency issue, do the reverse of the above & test again. So enable input monitoring in Windows Audio & not in Audacity of the opposite doesn't do it.
Either way, if memory serves, monitoring back the input through two sources causes major latency.

To be perfectly honest, though, it's been years since I recorded guitar through my PC (despite several upgrades to more powerful & capable machines) however Audacity was my DAW of choice even when I had Cubase installed, though I found that latency wasn't as annoying as lack of tone & thus decided to mic my guitar amp instead. No latency & no monitoring back the sound since I could hear the amp which was all live & organic. A Peavey 6505 sounds best as is in my opinion.... But I understand if that isn't something you're able to accommodate.

I'm not even using WinBlows any longer (Kubuntu now, but there's things I admit I miss) so couldn't be certain where that setting in Windows Audio is exactly.
I am confident that it's under the "Recording" tab though.

A quick read of both the RP80 & UB502 doesn't tell much. I assume you are panning the signals to mirror each other regarding the Line Out (Right or Left) from the RP80 & the mixer but if not I don't think that would cause latency.
Good luck, dude. I hope you get it sorted. If not, maybe upgrade to a multi effects unit with USB output for recording.