I’m interested to know how C8 determines the buffer used in Asio Guard 2?
My understanding for the original Asio Guard was that the playback buffer was 4 x the buffer set by the user. So if the user set a buffer of 64 samples (which would be used for all record-enabled tracks), the Asio Guard buffer (for all playback tracks) would be 256 samples.
This was great progress compared to needing to run everything at a single buffer setting! However it was still limited compared to say Logic Pro’s playback (“process”) buffer, which could be set to 2048 samples even when the record buffer was set as low as 32 samples.
So… I’m interested to know how Asio Guard 2 approaches this, and whether the equation has changed to something like 8x or 16x the record buffer!
ASIO Guard 2.0 comes with 3 “levels”. I’m not 100% sure what buffers are involved, but it’s supposed to be transparent regardless.
This is what the new Cubase 8 manual says:
“The higher the level, the higher the processing stability and audio processing performance. However, higher levels also lead to an increased ASIO-Guard latency and memory usage.”
Maybe the release notes have more information? I’m trying to dig them up.
3 levels sounds promising! Hopefully the levels tie directly to sample sizes, perhaps allowing combinations of a really high playback buffer (1024 samples or 2048 samples) combined with a very low record / realtime buffer (32 samples). That would deliver really great performance for low-latency work in huge, processor-intensive projects.
If this is the case, this is GREAT news! That’s an enormous buffer for all playback work, allowing for massive projects with lots of effects per channel.
Another question (for those who are already running Cubase 8) - if the maximum buffer of 4096 is selected for Asio Guard, is it still possible to set a record buffer of 32 samples? Or does the highest Asio Guard setting limit the record buffer to a higher number of samples (such as 64, or 128)?
I’d like to know the answer as well…played around with it and it is great but at high setting my 128 buffer feels like 256 or higher now. I suspect at higher settings our buffer settings drift higher some how on input.