N11 Latency question

Possible idiot question here:

On the MixConsole the Total Latency row is displaying several tracks with some latency - mostly 1.1ms where there is only one plugin on a track, more if there are several plugins on a track. Do I need to apply negative delay to these tracks or does Nuendo automatically compensate for it? I think it is the latter, but just want to be sure.

If Nuendo does automatically compensate for the latency, why then do we need to know what the latency figures are?

Nuendo does compensate the latency.
With the numbers, you can decide which plugin contributes the biggest delay.
And if you need to deactivate some plugins for lower latency, you can choose the right ones.

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Thanks for the reply.

But if Nuendo automatically compensates isn’t it irrelevant how much latency exists before the compensation?

If you needed to do more overdubs with a live musician… then latency would be an issue.

I may be being amazingly stupid here, but I’m just not getting this.

If Nuendo is compensating for any latency that may be present, surely if I were to overdub another part I would be unaware of that latency. Even if Nuendo did not compensate for latency I would probably automatically adjust my playing to fit with what I was hearing.

Hi fendercris

You are 100% correct it doesn’t matter except where you are monitoring through Nuendo where the delay may be uncomfortable for musicians in their ears if too height, eg vocals, or VSTi’s. If the artist is hearing their own guitar amp or drums etc and Nuendo is just playing back and recording then latency in Nuendo, is for the most, part irrelevant.

If you have say a 5ms input and output latency an artist hears themselves and the latency through the DAW in their cans the artist will hear themselves phasing with the cans. If there is 11ms (indicated in the mixer channel) + Input Latency 1.5ms - 6ms + output Latency 2.6ms - 7ms, (Indicated in -Studio Setup>VST Audio System) added up = total round trip latency 15ms - 24ms. The latter may be too much.

As far as the recording is concerned the timing will be correctly compensated. The artists timing may be off hearing themselves twice or late.
For VSTi playback ASIO Guard will try increase the latency of non recorded channels and reduce the latency of record ready channels. I don’t think it will do anything for the 11ms on your audio channel though.

‘Constrain Delay Compensation’ button on the toolbar of the project window will bypass any plugins in the mixer that adds more latency than is set in Delay compensation setting in Preferences. I think the default setting is 0ms.

As for monitoring own voice or instrument through Nuendo the amount of acceptable delay is up to you.

I hope this helps

Edit:
If your sound card supports it, the control room can be used with ‘Direct Monitoring’ available in 'Studio Setup>ASIO just under VST Audio system.

We don’t monitor monitor through Nuendo directly - we use RME TotalMix to provide latency free monitoring to the performer, so I think the displayed latency values on the Mixconsole are irrelevant in this case.

Thanks for your replies.

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Just a heads up on Toalmix and direct monitoring with the control room works flawlessly if you only need 4 mixes, no record plugins and no DSP. Just hit the direct monitoring option in Studio Setup and you off to the races.