Audio Interface Latency

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Feranax

New member
Hi everyone!
I'm now starting in Home Recording world and i'm very confused!:mad:
Last year I bought a mixer from Behringer, thinking I could record from there into my DAW... Now I know that I need an Audio Interface!
Does a cheap interface like Focusrite Scarlett 8i6:
-Monitor the processed (plugins) audio from PC?
-Has enough low latency to record a track while listening to another previously recorded?
I would love to record my songs in home, but I'm starting thinking this is impossible...:eek:
Thanks very much!

EDIT: I was searching for other interfaces and found M-Audio Fast Track Ultra... old interfaces have more latency or it's the same?
 
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Most interfaces offer zero or very low latency, but they do it by looping the inputs directly back to the output. When you use DAW effects on live inputs you defeat that function, so latency becomes about the computer and DAW setup. Most modern computers can be set up for this with quite low latency.

Some interfaces (e.g. UAD) have onboard effects that can be used with very low latency. That might be something to look into.
 
Latency has many causes, and hardware+drivers can be part of it, but unless you've got a pretty old, slow computer, you should be able to record at home. Lots of people are doing it!

I would not choose M-Audio over Focusrite, personally.
 
When they loop the inputs to the outputs you're also able to listen to other tracks coming from the DAW?
That onboard effects are called DSP? Cheap interfaces like Focusrite have that?
 
Feranax said:
When they loop the inputs to the outputs you're also able to listen to other tracks coming from the DAW?
That onboard effects are called DSP? Cheap interfaces like Focusrite have that?
Click to expand...
The first thing is typically called "direct monitoring" on most current audio interfaces. It's basically an immediate turnaround at the interface of what is going in. It can be hardware switchable, or in an app provided by the interface manufacturer. And, yes, you can listen to other tracks in your project from the DAW while you are doing that. You will typically mute the track being recorded, because that (listening to the input after round-trip to the DAW) is where the latency gets introduced, though that may not require action at the DAW - depends on how the direct monitoring is done.

Focusrite does not have onboard DSPs. I know some, like Steinberg, interfaces have some limited DSP capability, like compression and reverb, but it's not something where you can download things like guitar amp sims into it. (That is a higher level of interface.) If you need to monitor an amp+fx kind of input on the lower end devices, you'd want to mic an amp, or use something like a pedal or rack gear, i.e., so you can direct monitor something like you want in the track, and possibly record a dry signal and re-amp or apply ITB virtual plugins later.
 
Thank you very much! So, if I plug my multi fx pedal to the interface and mute the channel in the DAW while recording, I will listen the pedal from the direct monitoring and the other tracks from my PC, right?

---------- Update ----------

Pre Sonus interfaces have DSPs?
 
Feranax said:
Thank you very much! So, if I plug my multi fx pedal to the interface and mute the channel in the DAW while recording, I will listen the pedal from the direct monitoring and the other tracks from my PC, right?
Click to expand...

Yep, but if you split the guitar signal so one goes through your fx pedals and one goes in dry, you can use the dry one to build a guitar sound from the ground up.

Feranax said:
Pre Sonus interfaces have DSPs?
Click to expand...

There are different levels of DSP. The basic one just controls your monitor mix, the balance between inputs and playback. More advanced DSP allows for some effects to be heard on your inputs (and perhaps recorded).

There's an even more basic kind of direct monitoring that is analog and uses a simple knob on the front of the interface. It's super simple and easy to use, and the latency is truly zero, but there's no separate control for the two inputs, it's just a balance between inputs and playback. So if you wanted to do that dual guitar recording described above, you would have the dry signal mixed with the fx signal in your headphones. In that case even a basic DSP based direct monitoring control might be better.

So research each interface to see what type of direct monitor setup it has.
 
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