Korg M3 - firewire or usb to minimize latency

cowtothesky · Post by **cowtothesky** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:44 am

Hi,
I'm upgrading to a mac and looking at using my M3 as a controller playing VI's. I am worried about the latency. On my slow PC, I have about a half second latency using usb. I'm hoping that this won't be much of an issue with a quad core i-7 mac.

My question: Is it worth getting the exb-fw or am I ok w/ the usb when using the M3 as a controller for computer recording? I will be using Kontakt and Digital Performer, running a variety of virtual instruments.

Also - does anyone use the sliders for volume adjustments when using virtual instruments? Would love to know how others configure their M3 when used this way.

Shakil · Post by **Shakil** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 4:33 pm

USB is fine for using M3 as a MIDI controller.

M3 has nice feature of using the sliders to control external synths. When you press the EXT button left to the sliders, all sliders and switches control according the map select for control surface. There is large number of maps provide, and you can change them easily from one to another.

cowtothesky · Post by **cowtothesky** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:46 am

Cool. When I get my new computer all set up, I am going to give the sliders a try. Hopefully, my latency won't be an issue with usb on mac. I'm hyper-latency-sensitive!

Rob Sherratt · Post by **Rob Sherratt** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 1:57 am

For VI's using the M3 Editor VSTi plug in, MIDI over USB works great.

When you want to record audio, best way is a module or digital mixer that accepts analog audio connections with the M3. I tried using EXB-Firewire and gave up due to lotsa technical problems with the Korg driver. But I get excellent results with my Yamaha N8 interfaced via the Yamaha Steinberg drivers to my Windows XP PC where I run Cubase 5.

Unfortunately Korg do not have a version of the M3 VSTi that works reliably with Cubase 5 on Windows 7. I hope one day ...

Best regards,
Rob

Shakil · Post by **Shakil** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:37 am

Agreed with Rob.... I also use a digital mixer with computer interface... I use Roland M-16DX. I record via the optical out from M3... route the analog audio into my Fantom-G audio inputs and Fantom-G's audio into computer via USB...

This gives me option to record audio either on DAW or on Fantom-G...... love the set up.