Hi everyone, I’m hoping to find some answers to a problem that’s been bugging me for a while: latency.
(screenshot of system info)
Sometimes with three virtual instruments (e.g., 1 GA5, 2 Arturia), I can clearly hear a latency in the guitar track that’s unmanageable without delay compensation. Other times, with multiple VSTs, it doesn’t happen. I’ve tried changing the sound card’s buffer size or freezing it, but in the first case, nothing changes. Maybe I’m misunderstanding how delay compensation works, because it’s still a frustrating situation… e.g., when delay compensation is active in the guitar track, the insert ampsim is immediately disabled, and recording becomes a chore. Does it depend on the sound card? (Scarlett 4i4) Does it depend on the type of VST? Thanks everyone in advance.
Yes and yes.
The audio interface introduces a fixed latency (ie. fixed per buffer size setting). This is usually the steady part.
Each plugin can also introduce an additional latency. This is usually the part where latency changes depending on which plugins you have loaded. Kindly see the manual on how to see this latency:
Your interface gives you 22ms round trip latency. That is too much for live playing, at least for my feeling. Anything above 15ms is over the top as far as I am concerned. For some people this value needs to be even lower.
Maybe if you switch off the Safe Mode it will get better?
Latency = 192 / 44.1 = 4.4 ms for cards buffersize
latency = 970 / 44.1 = 22 ms for safe mode buffer.
I partially solved the problem, although some latency is noticeable. I reduced the sound card’s buffer further, removed the safe function, and configured the card to partially hear direct monitoring on the guitar input. While it’s not ideal, it’s a more manageable situation, so thanks so much for the suggestions. I’m considering purchasing a sound card but am torn between the myriad of models and various configurations. The main choices are the SSL 12 or the Arturia Fuse Studio. Let’s hope for the best 
If you have the budget go for an RME-Audio interface. Especially on Windows-PC they have the best drivers in town.
True, nothing beats an RME 
. Also consider buying a used one if it’s a question of budget. They literally last for decades and will still be supported. They are that good…
RME comments and subsequent posts always have a Groundhog Day feel to it…
Hi,
I own the 16i16 which is essentially like the 4i4 with some extra ins and outs. I record guitar and cannot live with latencies like 12.7. I feel disconnected from what I am playing. However it is no problem to reduce the buffer to 64 instead of 96. You will get a latency of 7.3ms which is totally fine. Assuming your CPU can handle it of course.
To reduce latency, you can also increase the sample rate. It looks like you’re using 44.1kHz at the moment. Try increasing it to 96kHz. This should give you noticeably lower latency.
Edit:
It might be interesting to note your interface’s overhead that adds to your overall latency.
96 samples @ 44.1kHz sample rate equals 1.564ms. Round trip that is 3.129ms of latency for the sample buffer alone. Your interface adds an additional 462 samples to the buffer which bumps up the total round trip to ≈12.7ms.
For comparison, my interface has a round trip latency of 7.55ms @ 44.1kHz sample rate with a buffer of 96 samples.
Increasing sample rate to decrease latency really only works if you have enough processing power for all your channels and plugins to function within the reduced period between samples. So, this is really only appropriate if your computer has adequate real-time resources. Be sure to check your performance before going this route!
Thanks for all the suggestions, I’ll definitely consider purchasing a higher-end sound card to mitigate the problem. In the meantime, it’s still a bit of a mystery… my PC is quite powerful, it’s a project lead, and the problem has come and gone over time, but in this case it really threw me off because the number of tracks is so small. I’ve tried every combination of buffer size and direct monitoring, so… I need a new sound card
Do you use Control room? When hunting for plugins that have latency, people tend to forget the control room. Some plugins that usually are put in the control room (like room/headphone correction software) can add latency, too, and they are always in the real time path.
That being said, if I record guitar through an Amp sim, I practically always use “Constrain delay compensation” to disable any plugin that has latency over my configured threshold. That’s what this function is designed for.
I have written a small howto regarding the different latencies and how to handle them some time ago, if it helps:
Thanks so much for sharing, I’ll review the settings in the “VST” section and, yes, I use the control room, but you turned on a light bulb… there are two metering plugins in the control room insert and I’ll try removing them. In the meantime, “necessity is the mother of invention” I also learned how to route for direct monitoring with the 4i4.
Yes, the delay compensation theshold is an important setting, as most guitar amp sims introduce latency (more more, some less). I have this setting between 1 and 2ms and that seems to work well with most amp sims.
(But of course, having an RME interface helps additionally, as others already noted 
)