- Forums
- Superior Line
- Superior Drummer 3 Help
- Help with TD-17KVX and SD3!
Help with TD-17KVX and SD3!
Superior Drummer 3 Help
-
Posted January 24, 2025 at 01:03 #3361844
machine_74ParticipantI purchased a TD-17KVX about two years ago and have been playing with the stock kits, and found most of them lacking. I pretty much default to Acoustic just to get my fix in.
Then I downloaded a Zeppelin pack and saved it as a preset, and it’s “okay” but I want more, aka Metallica, AC/DC etc. Then I found Superior Drummer.
I waited for a sale and picked the software up a couple months ago, installed the whole thing and worked though the connectivity issues to ultimately download a preset someone made of Van Halen specifically for SD3.
Despite my best efforts, I get terrible delays when playing and I can’t reduce it no matter what I try.
- Roland TD 17KVX with Midi Local Control set to off, USB set to Vendor
- Windows 11 laptop hooked up via USB cable to Roland. Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz, 16 GB RAM
- SD3 with Roland TD-17 kit preset loaded
- Headphones connected to Roland module. I read some previous posts that suggested plugging the headphones into the laptop, and changing the audio out in SD3. I do get audio from SD3 but only if the USB cable is not hooked up to the kit.
I’ve been told to try a new high speed USB cable, try the ASIO4ALL plugin, get an amp….and that my laptop should be plenty. I still get 5.6ms of latency and it sounds terrible
I’m left with a kit with not-so-great built ins, and a non-optimized $300 program.
I’d very much appreciate any help anyone can provide; I feel like I need a drum tech to come over and fix my setup, but I’ll keep plugging away.
Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.3.7
Operating system: Windows 11 -
CreatorTopic
Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 45 total)
-
Replied January 24, 2025 at 01:42 #3361850
Ryanrrr
ParticipantTheres a guy called Martin whos pretty well known on all the groups and fourms under the name of becuase.drum.geek – search him on facebook, as he does online set up via zoom I think, not sure what he charges.
But personally, you would hugely benefit from buying an RME babyface audio interface. It will outsource all the audio processing from your computer to it and will be able to handle the audio mucher easier at much faster speeds (compared to both the roland module and computer).
Maybe buy one from an online retailer (who offers a 30 day return windows) to test it. If it works keep it, if it doesnt send it back.
so the chain would be:
roland module > laptop to play sd3 > rme babyface audio interface, which is where you would plug your headphones into
Dw its worth the struggle in the end lol – sd3 is awesome
- This post was modified 3 months, 4 weeks ago by Ryanrrr.
1
Thanked by: machine_74Replied January 24, 2025 at 01:59 #3361855machine_74ParticipantTheres a guy called Martin whos pretty well known on all the groups and fourms under the name of becuase.drum.geek – search him on facebook, as he does online set up via zoom I think, not sure what he charges.
But personally, you would hugely benefit from buying an RME babyface audio interface. It will outsource all the audio processing from your computer to it and will be able to handle the audio mucher easier at much faster speeds (compared to both the roland module and computer).
Maybe buy one from an online retailer (who offers a 30 day return windows) to test it. If it works keep it, if it doesnt send it back.
so the chain would be:
roland module > laptop to play sd3 > rme babyface audio interface, which is where you would plug your headphones into
Dw its worth the struggle in the end lol – sd3 is awesome
- This post was modified 3 months, 4 weeks ago by Ryanrrr.
Thank you, I’ll give that forum a shot. I feel like I’m close to figuring it out.
Took a look at that Babyface unit–$1k! Hoping for a cheaper alternative/setting/fix.
Replied January 24, 2025 at 04:18 #3361875
drumjack52ParticipantI’d try Sweetwater for an interface – they’re good people to deal with. But really 5.6 ms isn’t all that bad. ASIO4ALL isn’t a good driver and should only be used if you don’t have the proper drivers for whatever audio interface you have which apparently you don’t have. Built-in interfaces in a computer aren’t all that great anyways for serious work.
Jack
aka musicman691 on other forums
Superior Drummer 3.4.0
Area 33 1.0.0
Death and Darkness 1.0.1
PT 2021.6
OSX 10.13.6
3.46 GHz hex core 2012 MacPro 48 gig ramReplied January 24, 2025 at 05:38 #3361885
ShootieParticipantMartin is good. This is tough, “CPU @ 1.80GHz”. Not sure how you can survive, maybe with an audio interface as suggested. I don’t think you need a $1000 one. All you need is an interface, like the cheapest 2i2 from focusrite. If it doesn’t fix it, I would assume it’s your processor. Echoing Jack. You may see it say somewhere that you have 5.6ms of latency, I doubt you would be here if that were true. It has to be more if you can’t play to it. “sounds terrible”, so I guess there’s more than latency issues?
I own a RME 802 $$$… and I backline a Roland at work with a $100 interface that is 20 years old. No issues. The processor needs to work. Jack uses a 3.46 (from his sig) and mine is i9 3.0. Here’s where my assumptions come from.
I’d go through the effort of borrowing a laptop with a near 3.0 GHz and go through the extra effort of installing SD3 just to test. It may be an expensive journey replacing everything except your computer only to learn it’s the computer. After you get a computer, check the latency, then get an interface if you need to improve it from there. Even though it’s an i7, but “1.80”, i hope that’s a typo.
Hopefully someone has experience with a computer powered such as your will correct me if I’m wrong. All assumptions here.
Best of luck.
EZD3 Tutorials | EZBass Tutorials | Toontrack themed FB Group | Toontrack themed Discord Group
Replied January 24, 2025 at 13:39 #3361943Korken
ParticipantHello,
…I don’t think you need a $1000 one. All you need is an interface, like the cheapest 2i2 from focusrite…
Just complementing: But machine_74 should take into account that, even if a cheap interface should do the work (if PC is not the issue), it should have its own drivers. Some interfaces, for example the ones from IK Multimedia, don’t have own drivers and they must be operated with asio4all or similar.
Replied January 24, 2025 at 14:01 #3361949drumjack52ParticipantI looked up latency figures for RME interfaces which are some of the best around and there’s a typical 5.6 ms latency. An onboard interface won’t get anywheres near that figure. Keep in mind that latency depends on how many buffers you’re running. To the OP: are you running SD3 in a daw or standalone? What else do you have running on your computer when using SD3? And there’s not only audio latency but MIDI latency as well. Not much you can do to compensate for the latter.
Another site to look for for Windows optimizations is Black Viper. Don’t know if he’s still around or not.
I would love to have 5.6 ms of actual latency but I’ve learned to compensate in my head for that. Charlie Watts had to do that because when the Stones first started out on stage he didn’t have monitors of his own. Now I’m no CW but I do pretty well.
Jack
aka musicman691 on other forums
Superior Drummer 3.4.0
Area 33 1.0.0
Death and Darkness 1.0.1
PT 2021.6
OSX 10.13.6
3.46 GHz hex core 2012 MacPro 48 gig ramReplied January 24, 2025 at 14:31 #3361982ParticipantGuessing you have decreased the buffer size setting on the software down as far as you can go without the sound popping or cracking? Aim for 64 or 32 if its an option.
Motu M2 interfaces are also beasts for low latency, but much cheaper than RME.
But as Shootie said, might be the laptops low processing speeds.
Btw some DAWs only shows latency speed of latency out, or in. And some show both. So the 5.6ms of latency you mentioned might only be one of these. Cant imagine its both, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. 5.6ms of latency for an all round trip is excellent
- This post was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by Ryanrrr.
Replied January 24, 2025 at 15:37 #3362094drumjack52ParticipantInput latency won’t matter because the OP isn’t shuttling audio from his drum brain only MIDI so it’s just output latency to worry about. Like I said there’s also MIDI latency that comes into play but that’s generally not user adjustable.
Jack
aka musicman691 on other forums
Superior Drummer 3.4.0
Area 33 1.0.0
Death and Darkness 1.0.1
PT 2021.6
OSX 10.13.6
3.46 GHz hex core 2012 MacPro 48 gig ramReplied January 24, 2025 at 16:14 #3362174machine_74ParticipantThanks for all the advice. No that wasn’t a typo, that’s my laptop’s processor 🙂 I wasn’t planning on replacing it this tax season as I have another desktop to replace for the kids, but….it might be worth testing on a different machine. I have some at work I could borrow and then wipe after I test, should my SD3 licensing allow.
Replied January 24, 2025 at 17:45 #3362325drumjack52ParticipantThanks for all the advice. No that wasn’t a typo, that’s my laptop’s processor 🙂 I wasn’t planning on replacing it this tax season as I have another desktop to replace for the kids, but….it might be worth testing on a different machine. I have some at work I could borrow and then wipe after I test, should my SD3 licensing allow.
That’s a start but unless you have a separate audio interface it won’t help all that much. You’re going to need a separate interface with proper drivers to get things close to where they should be. Where did you see that 5.6ms latency figure? And again – are you running SD3 in standalone or in daw software. Also what exactly do you mean by ‘sounds terrible’? Audio quality? Or what? Onboard audio I/O is only good for system sounds and that’s about it. They’re built to the lowest possible quality especially in a laptop. What make and model please.
There’s so much extra crud running in an off-the-shelf computer it ain’t funny. All that will eat cpu power like crazy. Try turning off as much stuff as possible – stuff like any wireless services to begin with.
Jack
aka musicman691 on other forums
Superior Drummer 3.4.0
Area 33 1.0.0
Death and Darkness 1.0.1
PT 2021.6
OSX 10.13.6
3.46 GHz hex core 2012 MacPro 48 gig ramReplied January 24, 2025 at 18:32 #3362390machine_74ParticipantYeah, I’ve had this machine for a while but I work in IT, so I know what to keep and what to uninstall. I don’t use a DAW< I run it as a standalone app with nothing else running on it.
I got the 5.6ms latency figure from the Roland module itself. It’s reporting that number.
2018 HP Spectre x360 Convertible 15-bl1xx
Replied January 24, 2025 at 18:35 #3362393
MuellercraftParticipantAre you trying to record, or just play?
I have the TD17KVX driving SD3 into Logic Pro. (You’re right that the stock kits in the Roland are not in the same class as SD3.) I run the Roland brain directly into my computer which is a fully loaded Mac Studio Ultra. Lots of computing power helps. Even so, I use Logic’s ‘low latency mode’ when recording MIDI to the DAW. There is still a very slight latency, but it’s not a big obstacle. As I recall when I set it up the SD3 preset for the TD17 MIDI needed a slight amount of tweaking. I can’t remember exactly what I changed, unfortunately, but I think it had to do with cymbal triggering. Sensitivity and so forth can obviously be adjusted. None of that should affect raw latency, though.
I’m guessing that your problem is either an underpowered computer or something in the latency settings. Finding and adjusting the latency settings is much cheaper than replacing the computer. But rest assured that the TDK17KVX and SD3 can and do work together very well when configured appropriately.
Muellercraft
SD3 3.3.6
Mac Studio Ultra (M1)
Apollo Twin X
Logic Pro 11.1.2
OSX 14.6.1
Roland TDK17KVX
Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.3.6
Operating system: macOS Sonoma (14)Muellercraft
Composer, performer, producer
Black & Whyte Studio
Muellercraft.comSD3, Rooms of Hansa, Indiependent, Roland TD-17 KVX, Mac Studio M1 Ultra, UA Apollo Twin X, HEDD Type 20 monitors
Replied January 24, 2025 at 18:43 #3362401drumjack52ParticipantYeah, I’ve had this machine for a while but I work in IT, so I know what to keep and what to uninstall. I don’t use a DAW< I run it as a standalone app with nothing else running on it.
I got the 5.6ms latency figure from the Roland module itself. It’s reporting that number.
2018 HP Spectre x360 Convertible 15-bl1xx
What are you using as an audio interface? I sincerely doubt that you’re getting 5.6 ms latency as even the best interfaces barely get that low. And again I ask – what do you mean by ‘sounds terrible’?
I looked at the manual for your e-kit and am confused – how are you getting audio from SD3 if the MIDI USB cable isn’t connected to your computer? You need that connection to be able to trigger sounds in SD3 that’s on your computer. You need the headset to be connected to your computer to hear SD3 sounds. You’re not using the Bluetooth ability of the Roland are you?
Jack
aka musicman691 on other forums
Superior Drummer 3.4.0
Area 33 1.0.0
Death and Darkness 1.0.1
PT 2021.6
OSX 10.13.6
3.46 GHz hex core 2012 MacPro 48 gig ram- This post was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by drumjack52.
Replied January 24, 2025 at 18:44 #3362403ShootieParticipantIf you haven’t stated it yet. EZDrummer Menu > Settings > Audio/Midi > buffer size. Everyone is assuming you’ve tweaked this area already.
EZD3 Tutorials | EZBass Tutorials | Toontrack themed FB Group | Toontrack themed Discord Group
Replied January 24, 2025 at 18:49 #3362411machine_74ParticipantWhen I say it sounds terrible, there’s some residual echoing and the sounds come out deleyed. When I strike the pads of cymbals there’s a noticable delay, and it’s unplayable with that kind of feedback.
Also Shootie–I’m using SD3, not EZD3.
I’m finding that when I look at the output settings it’s letting me choose a delay value and it won’t go below 5.6ms.
So all in all, suggestion is to tweak the buffer size in the software and module, so I’ll have to revisit how to do that.
I’m not using an audio module. I have my kit hooked up to my laptop via USB, standalone SD3 installed on my laptop.
AuthorRepliesViewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 45 total)Forward Forum Post
DON'T
MISS OUTGet all the latest on new releases,
updates and offers directly to your inbox.[tt-popup-newsletter-form]Note: By clicking the 'I WANT IN' button, you will not be creating a Toontrack user account. You will only sign up to get our newsletters, offers and promotions to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time from a link at the bottom of each email. If you want to learn more about our privacy policy, please find detailed information here.