UR22mkII latency

Steinberg Hardware UR Series
#1

Hi there,

I have just installed my brand new UR22mkII and it almost works well.

However, the latency (input and output) is in the 15 - 20 ms range.
Is it what is expected from this audio interface?
This is what I get from my entry level Behringer Xenyx X1222 console.
I remember my old EMU 1616 (PCMCIA connector) used to provide a decent ~5ms latency 15 years ago…

Is ~17ms the normal latency to expect from this device?
Is it due to USB?
Can I expect better result with a USB 2 port? Even better with a USB 3 port?
Is there any recommended settings in the configuration panel to improve this?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Best regards, Erix.

#2

What is your buffer size set to? The latency is directly related to the buffer size. 15-20 mS sounds like a 512 sample buffer at 44.1 kHz.
32 samples should get you 2-4 mSec latency but, depending on the machine and the project, you may get dropouts and crackles.

#3

Yes it is 512 samples buffer at 44.1Khz.
So you confirm this is expected latency.

#4

Yes. 512 samples / 44100 samples per second = .0116 seconds or 11.6 mSec. Thats just the buffer. Add a few mSec for actual conversion of A to D, etc. Try lowering the buffer size to 256 , 128, or even 64 samples. See if you get a nice uninterrupted audio stream with no crackles or pops. USB 2 or 3 may help but in most cases, the CPU’s ability to process the audio (i.e. effects, instrument sounds, etc.) is the limiting factor. So for recording, turn off effects and processing in the DAW that you don’t really need to achieve lower buffer sizes with good results.

HTH

#5

I’m using a USB 2 port.
I have tried smaller buffers, but I do have a lot of additional problems with that UR22.
After opening a Cubase (9.5 Artist) session I quickly have very bad noise when playing or recording music.
A lot of cracking audio. I have spent days trying to play with the buffer parameter with no success.

#6

Hi Erix,

did you solved your Problem regarding the bad latency…?

I come from ESI Juli@ (pci-card) with 5 ms global latency (48 Khz & 128 Samples; input: 2.67 ms, output: 2.67ms).

The UR22MK2 shows global latency of 13.9 ms (!) (48 Khz, 128 Samples; input: 6.48ms, output 7.48ms)
on my Intel i7 8700k (Gigabyte z370 hd3p) 16GB ram, Windows 10.

UR22MK2 Firmware: 1.04
Driver: 1.10.4
Windows 10: 1903

With 48kHz and 64 Samples i got 4.125 input and 5.125 output latency - global: 9.25ms latency


Strange: On my old Macbook pro (late 2013; i7 8GB RAM; Mojave) the ur22 (48 Khz, 128 samples) has 10.7 ms (input 5.23, output 5.46 ms).
It is better than my newer i7 8700k !

What i have done to reduce the latecy-values:
–> i already unplugged all usb devices, reinstalled yamaha drivers, the ur22mk2 got the newest firmware.
–> i already unplugged by PCI Card (ESI Juli@) to see what happen. But it didnt change the latency of my UR22MK2
–> i turned off “Intel Turbo Boost” in my BIOS.
–> my Windows is running in “high performance” mode.
–> i updated my Chipset driver, usb driver, nvidia driver are uptodate
–> i disabled onboard sound
–> i disabled onboard graphic card.
–> i unplugged my GTX 1080 graphics card and tried with the internal onboard graphics card
–> i have the newest BIOS Firmware (Motherboard) F13

… the “bad” latency values are still there - nothing of my actions (above) leads to better values.


I have no idea why the UR22MK2 has “bad” latency in compare to others or in compare to my old macbook…
I know a pci audio device like ESI Juli@ is even better in latency because usb is more laggy but 13.9 ms… on actual hardware (i7…)…???


I will now test with an old core2duo HP Notebook to see whats up there…
The results:
(48Khz, 128 Samples, core2duo on Windows 10)
Input 6.7 ms
Output 7.7 ms
So the poor latency values seems to be a problem of UR22MK2 with Windows 10…
:-/

#7

If i use 44100 with 512 samples i get 16.485 ms input latency and 19.456 ms output latency so global latency is 35.9 ms…
That’s why i use 4800 with 64 samples (4,13 ms input, 5,13 output = 9,25 ms global latency).

#8

64 samples / 48000 samples per second = .00133 or 1.3 mSec latency
So that seems you may getting some additional latency from somewhere. Maybe a plug-in or something.
Maybe it is related to UR on Windows 10 but I use a UR44 on Windows 10 and I get latency values that are very close to the expected values based on the buffer settings.