The Digi002r offers low-latency direct monitoring in Pro Tools by routing incoming audio out Outputs 1-2. Works well in Pro Tools, but the option for “direct monitoring” in Cubase Device Setup is greyed out.
I’ve seen some posts elsewhere on the web that implies it is possible to use this feature of the Digi002r in Cubase, but I can’t figure it out. Anybody know? Thanks!
On another note, I’m considering buying an RME Multiface II, so if you use this successfully with Cubase and want to chime in, feel free! From what I gather, to achieve lowest potential latency, PCI based interfaces are the best? Otherwise, perhaps I should buy a Fireface…
Really depends on the interface.
PCI and PCIe have (I think) a direct path to the processor. USB and Firewire have to go through a controller first.
I would recommend a PCIe (PCI express) unit instead of PCI.
PCI (and PCIe) units typically have mixing on board the card; meaning that, while direct monitoring isn’t available on macs, you can use a provided program (TotalMix in this case) to monitor with near-zero latency (this is an assumption of the interface, see below).
I’m basing the above paragraph on my research of a MOTU 24i/o (PCIe, haven’t actually used it), a similar interface. Granted, I don’t use a mac, so I’m going by my interface’s manual.
Well after some research I’m considering upgrading my front end. I’m considering purchasing an RME 9652 and using Steinberg’s own MR816 in standalone mode for the pre-amps and converters. My aim is to improve performance while tracking using a lot of VSTs and I’m hoping that the performance increase with a PCIe card might relieve some of the strain on the computer to keep with up with my VSTs. But is that a pipe dream? Is the performance increase going from Firewire to PCIe negligible when taking into account the high load I’m putting on the CPU with my VSTs? Would I be better served to buy a slave computer and make some of the VSTs run outboard?
I based that statement off of things I’ve heard in this forum.
I’m a Windows user, so I wasn’t exactly 100% sure. So I searched for something to back it up.
Here: