Using the "live" button multitimbrally

I have addressed this topic before, but never really got an answer.

Specifically, how does everyone get around the fact that when you engage the live button (in VC) to record a new part, your other parts are knocked out of sync? To clarify, if you record a bass line on part 1 and want to record a lead on part 2, you must engage the live button to record without feeling the latency, which consequently knocks your other tracks out of sync. On my system it's only about a 16th note, but it can get kind of hectic when recording at higher BPMs and/or with many tracks.

Are you guys soloing the channels you want to record? Does it not matter for what you're doing somehow? Is there a workaround?

Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions you might have!

Thanks for the reply AntonyB, but to clarify, I am referring to midi parts not audio (I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing here).

Why does it matter? Because when I play a hi hat line on channel 1 and then go to play a clap part on channel 2 and engage the live button (so as to reduce input latency), the clap part is knocked out of sync about a 16th note (live mode does not offer accurate playback and since it must be engaged globally, affects all channels). I only use drums as an illustration because it is easiest to hear the effect. It is even harder to tell with pads, material with long-decaying effects, and/or lots of automation. Why does that matter? Because when I play parts in with the Virus it is way harder to get smaller note signatures in time as compared with other hardware and soft synths.

Therefore, I am curious to see how other people handle this. Do folks just fix notes after the fact in a piano role? I would also be curious to know if this is something that occurs in all DAWs. I am an Ableton Live user and I have had some issues in the past with Live knocking recording channels out of sync when using latency inducing plugs (try using the Virus through VC on one channel and then playing into FXpansion Geist's sequencer, for example).

Anyways, all input is appreciated.

What I'm talking about is realtime input of midi notes.

I am aware of what the live button is for, and I get sample accurate timing with the live button disengaged during playback.

And therein lies the problem... To achieve sample accurate playback of a midi track, the live button must be disengaged. However, to record a new midi part, i.e. on channel 2, you must engage the live button so that you do not feel the latency from realtime input (keyboard playing). By engaging the live button to record your new midi part, your other previously recorded midi parts, i.e. channels 1, 3, or whatever, are knocked out of sync while the live button is engaged. Once the live button is off, all tracks are of course fine. I am concerned with the process of recording midi, however, because having to engage the live button to not feel playing latency and subsequently knocking your other midi tracks out of sync is a pain in the sense that it is hard to play on time when you are getting phasing and weirdness between the Virus itself and other instruments in your track that are playing in time (whoa, run on sentence). My usual solution is to drag wrongly played/quantized notes after the fact, but this is not ideal and not a process that I have to deal with in my other soft and hardware synths.

Hopefully this helps clear up what I'm talking about...

Thanks Marc,

I'm really wondering if this is an Ableton issue. Specifically, Ableton has an issue with delay comp taking on the latency of the highest latency plugin. Here is a video that I made a while ago (but never got a reply to) that may relate in the sense that it displays an anomaly in the way Ableton handles delay comp.

Nevertheless, I'll try and make a video later that specifically addresses the issue I'm talking about in my above posts.

Thanks again.

Okay, will do. Thanks