This did not happen with my previous setup, which was listening to playback on the laptop speakers and monitoring what I was playing with a separate amp, the output of which was plugged into the computer. But when I stop and listen back the new track is about 100ms behind the mix I was listening to while recording. While recording everything sounds perfect. Direct monitoring with headphones plugged into the interface. Didn't change any settings other than selecting the appropriate input and output devices. Recently started using a Focusrite Scarlett after previously plugging directly into the mic input of my laptop running Audacity on Windows 10. The clocks (oscillators) in two different devices will never match exactly, but when there's a bad drift problem, it's usually a regular consumer soundcard.TLDR: After an interface upgrade I have no audible lag while recording into Audacity but the new track is about 100ms late relative to previously recorded tracks when I listen back. If the tracks are drifting out-of-sync and get worse toward the end of the song, that's usually caused by recording with one device (an external interface or a USB mic) while playing to a backing-track through another devide(such as your regular soundcard). The BEST solution for latency is to get an interface with zero-latency hardware monitoring (where the "live" monitor signal doesn't go through the computer.)
![audacity recording lag audacity recording lag](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xWKCV9mWJsI/maxresdefault.jpg)
(There is also ASIO4ALL which translates between an ASIO application and Windows drivers, and that may help even if you don't have true ASOI drivers for your interface.) ASIO is designed for low latency, so if your hardware supports ASIO that's an advantage in REAPER. REAPER supports ASIO drivers (The official version of Audacity does not). Otherwise, when there is at least a few minutes (maybe days or weeks) between the time you record and when you playback or mix, so a couple extra milliseconds doesn't matter. The biggest issue with latency is if you are trying to monitor yourself through the computer with a delay. Latency (delay) is constant (assuming no "glitching") and it can be compensated for when mixing. Both are usually more-related to hardware & drivers (and buffer settings) than to the application. Latency in Reaper is very much better.Latency (delay) and "out of sync" could be two different issues. They tend to get a bit/lot out of synch with Audacity. I hope I not overdoing it with all these questions in one post! Is it possible to recreate that in Reaper. I also used to use a "quick fix" solution (I think somebody suggested it in an Audacity forum) for creating a reverb for my vocals. So does anybody have any suggestions for producing similar boost bass and boost treble settings as presets, just to get me started? Not very subtle, I admit, but it does suit my present needs and it is a kind of template from which I can advance, hopefully, in the future.
![audacity recording lag audacity recording lag](https://churchsoundtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Audacity.jpg)
![audacity recording lag audacity recording lag](https://candid.technology/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/audacity-capture-feature.jpg)
However, as I am a real novice in sound recording, and prefer to concentrate on music-making, for the time being, what I could do in Audacity was to boost my bass in equalisation by clicking boost bass and get rid of the boom on my acoustic guitar by clicking boost treble.
![audacity recording lag audacity recording lag](https://www.captivate.fm/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Audacity-screenshot-1.png)
However, the latency issue has been driving me mad because I sing, do backing vocals, add acoustic guitar, acoustic bass and mandolin. Audacity actually quite suited me because it was a bit like a more sophisticated tape recorder. I have just moved from Audacity to Reaper.