SONAR/Delta 44/latency?

[pdlstl]

I’ve been using CW since PA 8.0 and since that time, I also used a Delta 44 soundcard.

Until recently, I’ve always done my monitoring via hardware. Thus, latency was never an issue.

I’m trying to wean myself off my mixer and am using the Presonus Central Station for monitoring. Latency has now become an issue.

In SONAR, the latency slider is full left and this shows to be 11.6 milliseconds. Too much!

I’ve been advised to go into the panel for my Delta 44 and adjust latency there. I ran home at lunch and tried this. I didn’t see a slider (like in SONAR). The only thing I saw relating to latency was a drop-down menu to set the DMA buffers. I set it on 128 and the SONAR playback was fine. But still at 11.6 milliseconds.

Am I going about this the proper way?

Can ya’ help a brutha’ out?

 

[Ethan Winer]

> The only thing I saw relating to latency was a drop-down menu to set the DMA buffers. <

That's the place. If you have a fast computer, set that for the lowest buffer size (number of samples).

I'll also point out that you'll never get latency low enough to monitor comfortably. So why not just monitor through a mixer like everyone else does?

--Ethan

 

[Chris Long]

Don't forget to run the Wave Profiler each time you adjust the buffers. Otherwise I think Sonar will continue to report the last known latency number.

Chris

 

[dachay2tnr]

Also, above the latency slider in Sonar is a setting for # of buffers. The higher this is set to, the higher your latency will be. IIRC the lowest available setting is 2.

 

[pdlstl]

> The only thing I saw relating to latency was a drop-down menu to set the DMA buffers. <

That's the place. If you have a fast computer, set that for the lowest buffer size (number of samples).

I'll also point out that you'll never get latency low enough to monitor comfortably. So why not just monitor through a mixer like everyone else does?

--Ethan

Ethan,

My CPU:

P4 3.0 Ghz

800fsb

1 gig RAM

What amount of latency is realistic for this?

My chain has consisted of mic>preamp>mixer>soundcard.

If I cut the mixer, won't this be one less thing in the chain?

 

[pdlstl]

Also, above the latency slider in Sonar is a setting for # of buffers. The higher this is set to, the higher your latency will be. IIRC the lowest available setting is 2.

I played with that but I'm pretty sure I set it back to 2.

Chris,

I didn't know that. Thanks!

Thanks to all!

 

[dachay2tnr]

Ethan,

My CPU:

P4 3.0 Ghz

800fsb

1 gig RAM

What amount of latency is realistic for this?

My chain has consisted of mic>preamp>mixer>soundcard.

If I cut the mixer, won't this be one less thing in the chain?

With the Delta WDM drivers and that rig, you should be able to get latency in the 1.7ms range or so.

Bear in mind that this is also contingent on the number of tracks and plugins being used. IOW, as your track count starts to rise, you might start getting dropouts in Sonar at that setting.

However, I agree with Ethan, unless you are trying to monitor software FX using Input Monitoring, or recording MIDI in realtime, you should monitor through your hardware and eliminate latency concerns altogether.

 

[pdlstl]

Okay, y'all have convinced me. The 1202 stays.

 

[Ethan Winer]

> P4 3.0 Ghz
> 800fsb
> 1 gig RAM
> What amount of latency is realistic for this?

You should be able to have latency well under 5 milliseconds if you set up the computer properly. I have an older 2.26 GHz computer, and the latency with my Delta 66 is 1.5 milliseconds when the Delta's buffer size is the minimum 64 samples.

> If I cut the mixer, won't this be one less thing in the chain? <

I suggested you use a mixer for monitoring, which has no impact on recorded quality. But let's be realistic here. Yes, fewer pieces of gear in the recording chain means there's less chance for the sound quality to deteriorate. But any decent mixer is not going to be much of a factor. The weakest links in any recording chain are, in order of importance:

1. The room you record in.

2. The microphones you use and where you place them.

3. Everything else.

--Ethan