Operation Manual

Getting to know VL3X
VL3X – Reference manual (updated 2015-10-20) 87
Setting up USB Audio
Setting up USB Audio in Windows
When Windows detects a new audio device, it
will automatically set the device as “Disabled”.
The Audio Device Manager also “Hides Disabled
Devices” by default. This means that you may
not see VoiceLive 3 in your “Playback” or “Re-
cording” devices tabs.
To fix this, right-click on the Playback or Record-
ing tab and uncheck “Hide Disabled Devices”.
Then, click on VoiceLive 3 in both your Playback
and Recording tabs and “Enable” the device.
Here’s a video that shows you how:
youtube.com/watch?v=8-M5WBc3qJE
This will allow you to use VL3X as your input and
output device.
Setting up USB Audio in OS X (Mac)
Your Mac should automatically detect VL3X as
an audio device when it is connected, and install
the correct driver. You will then have to open the
Audio MIDI Setup utility and set your VoiceLive
3 as the “Playback” and “Recording” device(s),
depending on how you’d like to use VL3 in your
setup.
DAWs
When using a Digital Audio Workstation, you’ll
need to choose the driver type for your audio de-
vices. If you are using VL3X with no other audio
devices connected to your DAW – i.e., like a reg-
ular external audio interface –, then you should
choose a WDM, Direct Sound or “Generic Low
Latency ASIO Driver” (Cubase) setting.
It is not advisable to use WASAPI – especial-
ly with Audacity – since it puts the audio into
“Loopback mode” and feeds input into output.
Round-trip audio latency
There is roughly 70 milliseconds of round-trip
latency through VL3X. When you have recorded
vocal/guitar parts to tracks in your DAW, you’ll
need to offset them accordingly in order for them
to line up with other audio.
Programs like Cubase allow you to offset tracks
individually. Otherwise, manually “sliding” the
track works very well.
DAW Audio + MIDI Data Timing
If you are using MIDI data/sync from a DAW such
as Ableton alongside USB audio (as you might
do when performing live), you may need to adjust
Ableton’s MIDI offset in order to have the USB
audio line up correctly with the internal VL3X
metronome. The USB audio takes a tiny fraction
of time to go “through” VL3 to the outputs, so
you’ll need to delay MIDI data from your comput-
er to compensate.
The best way to achieve the above is to send an
audio metronome (along with MIDI clock) from
Ableton via USB to your VL3X. You should hear
the metronome from Ableton coming from the
VL3X. Then, activate the internal MET in VL3X
on the Loop Layer. In Ableton, go to the Setup/
MIDI page and use MIDI Send Offset until you
hear the audio metronome from Ableton and the
internal VL3X metronome line up perfectly. It may
take some experimentation, but +70ms or so is a
good starting point.