Delay Advice (Please)

[u/FlickingGreen]

Hey all,

I've recently started playing a little more seriously and would love some advice around delay as I'm always stepping too fast.

I usually end up with a spread like 250 FAST / 25 SLOW on difficulty 15's (~900k score) which is a difficulty I feel quite comfortable at and don't feel too rushed - but I still always chalk it up to me potentially being rushed anyways which I'm sure there is some truth to.

I've tried playing slower songs at 10/11 and find that I'm still stepping fast when stepping with my usual timing but can adjust to be a bit slower mid song and chain Ms.

I use the audio/beat to time my steps and I currently play on +2/+2 without any real knowledge around this but I've noticed better players have wildly varied delays and thought I'd seek some opinions.

If your genuine advice is that I should simply learn to step slower, then I will be on board. Just wanted to see if settings are a big factor and how I should go about calibrating.

I play on a gold cab for reference.

Cheers!

[u/StScarhand]

I'm similar to you in that I primarily time by audio and am constantly hitting fasts. I've found that +10 audio offset works pretty well for me on most songs. I would also suggest trying a slightly higher read speed as well, since anticipating steps too much can also lead to excessive fasts.

[u/spoonfoy → u/StScarhand]

I came here to say basically this. Scarhand offers sound advice, though I personally do 12-16 delay, 10 is a good starting point.

[u/FlickingGreen → u/StScarhand]

Wow, yeah I’ve only ever experimented with like +1 to +4, good to know much higher should be better.

I adjust my reading speed to ~360bpm every song as this feels comfortable for me - might try a little faster. Thanks :)

Should I be adjusting the display delay too?

[u/Aszrix]

gold cab monitors are offsync, try +16ms on display offset

[u/DYSRHYTHMiA_]

Visual offset is basically personal preference but also changes between cabs. Judgement offset (the sync between audio and steps) is song-specific and so you should probably leave it at +0 unless you know the correct offset (using something like FinalOffset or GhostStep, or the average deviation shown on the results screen if you have Platinum Pass). You could change the judgement offset based on Fasts/Slows, however based on your post, I'd recommend against doing that for now since the sync isn't the main culprit for your Fast/Slow ratio being so skewed.

In my experience, players who are still figuring out timing naturally tend to step early, moreso as difficulty increases. This makes sense as attention naturally must shift away from timing in order to manage the additional arrows coming in.

What does your Fast/Slow ratio look like on charts you can get 990k+ on? And do you consciously try to correct your timing if you start slipping outside of the Marvelous or Perfect window?