Halion
New member
It seems I have been misslead somewhat by the "extremely low latency" statements on soundcards like those sold by M-Audio, Terratec, Emu etc.
I have a Terratec EWX24/96. Up until now I've always used hardware monitoring so the latency wasn't a probably, but I've tried software monitoring and it is becoming a problem. I've got workarounds but I just want to explain a bit how much my total latency from the point of the microphone to the headphones is.
System:
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
1gig ram (DDR, but not the fast kind)
First the theory part:
If I record one single track at 24bit 96khz at the theoretical buffer size of 128 samples, I can get a latenly of something like 2 ms.
BUT: That's not all the latency there is. In the control panel of my terratec, there's also a DMA Latency box, which has selectable values from 1ms to 10ms. It didn't seem to make a difference where I set it (although I'm sure it has to do with stability somehow), so I set it to 1ms.
Then there's output latency. What that's you say? Yes, there's such a thing as output latency (I didn't know either). And apparently, it's bigger even than the input latency. Lets say, again theoratically, it's 4 ms.
Then there's more. When I'm looking at the black bootscreen when I start my computer, there's also shown how much latency my ram has, and apparently, it is 2.5 ms.
Quick math: 2 + 1 + 4 + 2.5 = 9.5ms. Still good enough.
However, there is no way I can run a decent project like this. First of all, I don't want to record at 96khz since it hogs my system and fills my harddrive like a speed demon. So it switch to 44.1 khz. WHOP, there goes the latency. 2 ms input latency turned into 6 ms (keep in mind, buffer is still on 128 samples). The output latency (which I can only view in Cubase) suddenly shoots up to something like 12 ms.
Quick math: 6 + 1 + 12 + 2.5 = 20.5ms Edgy.
However, after a track or 2, I'm getting pops and clicks out the butt, so all I can do is enlarge the bugger. I'm taking it slow and going up to 256 samples. Input latency is now around 8 ms and output latency is around 16 ms.
Quick math: 8 + 1 + 16 + 2.5 = 27.5ms Too much.
It sounds like a lot more aswell (well over 40 ms if you ask me, but I'll blame my ears for the time beeing).
Now if I want to run things really smoothly, I'll have to enlarge the buffer a bit more even.
So much for "extremely low latency". The ASIO4ALL drivers I found on the internet faired a little better, but still too much latency.
Just felt like sharing.
*End of Rant*
I have a Terratec EWX24/96. Up until now I've always used hardware monitoring so the latency wasn't a probably, but I've tried software monitoring and it is becoming a problem. I've got workarounds but I just want to explain a bit how much my total latency from the point of the microphone to the headphones is.
System:
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
1gig ram (DDR, but not the fast kind)
First the theory part:
If I record one single track at 24bit 96khz at the theoretical buffer size of 128 samples, I can get a latenly of something like 2 ms.
BUT: That's not all the latency there is. In the control panel of my terratec, there's also a DMA Latency box, which has selectable values from 1ms to 10ms. It didn't seem to make a difference where I set it (although I'm sure it has to do with stability somehow), so I set it to 1ms.
Then there's output latency. What that's you say? Yes, there's such a thing as output latency (I didn't know either). And apparently, it's bigger even than the input latency. Lets say, again theoratically, it's 4 ms.
Then there's more. When I'm looking at the black bootscreen when I start my computer, there's also shown how much latency my ram has, and apparently, it is 2.5 ms.
Quick math: 2 + 1 + 4 + 2.5 = 9.5ms. Still good enough.
However, there is no way I can run a decent project like this. First of all, I don't want to record at 96khz since it hogs my system and fills my harddrive like a speed demon. So it switch to 44.1 khz. WHOP, there goes the latency. 2 ms input latency turned into 6 ms (keep in mind, buffer is still on 128 samples). The output latency (which I can only view in Cubase) suddenly shoots up to something like 12 ms.
Quick math: 6 + 1 + 12 + 2.5 = 20.5ms Edgy.
However, after a track or 2, I'm getting pops and clicks out the butt, so all I can do is enlarge the bugger. I'm taking it slow and going up to 256 samples. Input latency is now around 8 ms and output latency is around 16 ms.
Quick math: 8 + 1 + 16 + 2.5 = 27.5ms Too much.
It sounds like a lot more aswell (well over 40 ms if you ask me, but I'll blame my ears for the time beeing).
Now if I want to run things really smoothly, I'll have to enlarge the buffer a bit more even.
So much for "extremely low latency". The ASIO4ALL drivers I found on the internet faired a little better, but still too much latency.
Just felt like sharing.
*End of Rant*