In this article we’re going to talk all about audio latency, audio lag, and how to fix MIDI delay in FL Studio 20.
Audio latency is a problem within the audio world, and it really isn’t going anywhere soon. If you don’t have a mixer, there’s no way to 100% avoid audio latency, but with proper settings, you can minimize it.
But, I must say, the Focusrite Scarlett’s (2nd Generation) audio interfaces have really stepped it up from their last generation.
Okay, so first, let’s look at how to fix your audio latency in FL Studio 20.
Select an ASIO Driver
You must make sure you select some type of ASIO driver.
Usually, you’ll want to go with the ASIO driver that comes with your audio interface, but not always. It all comes down to how these ASIO drivers are coded.
How do you know how their coded? Just by trying them out.
If you select your audio interface’s ASIO driver, and you’re starting to get underruns (pops, clicks, and glitches), even at the highest buffer setting (2048 with triple buffer on), then you’ll want to try another ASIO driver.
In the case of FL Studio, maybe you’ll want to select FL Studio ASIO, or the ASIO4ALL v2 driver:
At the end of the day, it really comes down to two things:
- Your computer’s specs/performance
- Your ASIO driver
ASIO Driver Settings
Let’s cover the settings you’ll want to set up in FL Studio for best performance and to avoid audio latency.
FL Studio’s manual on audio settings tells us that the optimum setting is 440-880 samples (10-12ms).
And the thing is, ya, it will perform great, and you’ll get really low latency (barely any delay when recording microphones or playing your MIDI keyboard/device.)
But once your track gets busy, it’s hard for your computer to keep up with this low of a buffer setting.
So how you adjust your buffer size is by hitting F10 -> Audio -> Show ASIO Panel:
In this image, I show you a couple things you can try to improve your FL Studio performance.
Again, the biggest factor is your CPU. Learn more about building the best custom computer for FL Studio.
FL Studio tells us that the single core speed is most important in selecting a CPU.
When you’re first starting your project, you’ll find you can use a really low buffer size, like 512, for example. This will have barely noticeable delay.
But once your track count starts to grow, it’s hard for your CPU to keep up with this 512 buffer size.
So you’ll have to bump it up to let’s say 1024, or 2048! And now, latency will be noticeable!
So here’s what you can try for performance:
- First select an ASIO driver
- If experiencing under-runs (clicks, pops, glitches, etc.) – Increase your buffer size (to 1024, or 2048)
- If still experiencing under-runs, you can select the Triple buffer setting.
- If you’re track is at a point where recording is just unbareable, you have two options:
- Export the song to an .MP3, open a new project, and record at low latency.
- Purchase a mixer, send the audio out of FL Studio into the mixer, monitor and record yourself in the mixer, and then send that recorded vocal back into FL Studio.
I have a detailed video + write-up about using a mixer to avoid audio latency 100%.
