What to do to get less latency?

[Filipe Marquez]

Hello guys! I wanted to ask you some questions:

1) What to do 1st to get less latency? Get more RAM, change the Processor, or change the HD?

2) My HD has a Seektime of 8.5 ms. Does that mean that when plugging my guitar directly on the computer and running a standalone Amplitube, will i get 8.5 ms of latency or more?

3) In the preferences box of Gutar Rig 5 standalone, it says i'm getting an overall of 4ms of latency. Is that true or is there something else to analyse?

I ask it all cause i'm not really ABLE to hear any or much latency, but as of some of you may know i'm a bit neurotic when it comes to gear, so i just want to be sure i'm getting the best. Thanks!

[Ball&Chain]

In basic concept terms, computers load programs into RAM memory. It will only pull data from the hard drive when it needs something it doesnt already have loaded into ram.

The best thing you can do for performance is optimize you amount of ram and cpu usage by not loading on startup, unneccessary programs thata arent needed all the time. There are also a ton of OS optimizations you can do by turning off uneeded features in windows.

Unless the latency is really bad, you probably wont notice it at all until you start recording. Then its possible you may notice something you recorded in perfect timing could end up off slightly when you play it back.

[innerdreamrecords.co]

4 ms is great!

[MojoMonster]

I ask it all cause i'm not really ABLE to hear any or much latency, but as of some of you may know i'm a bit neurotic when it comes to gear, so i just want to be sure i'm getting the best. Thanks!

If you can't hear the latency, you don't need to worry about it.
Easiest cure for it is an optimized audio chipset and a lotta fast ram.
IOW, a stand alone audiocard, PCIE or USB, will do you much more for reducing latency than anything else.
The more horsepower/ram you have, the better your software will run.

And again, if you *can't hear it*, don't worry about it.

[Filipe Marquez]

Thanks guys! I am a bit neurotic by this indeed. I don't think i can hear any latency, not even when recording, but i am in doubt if i hear less attack than when i play through an actual amp, idk...

But thanks for giving me the tips, i will get some more ram today, just to guarantee! Thanks!

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Thanks guys! I am a bit neurotic by this indeed. I don't think i can hear any latency, not even when recording, but i am in doubt if i hear less attack than when i play through an actual amp, idk...

But thanks for giving me the tips, i will get some more ram today, just to guarantee! Thanks!

In your software reduce the latency until you get pops and crackles then you've gone too far - bump it up until they disappear. 12ms is acceptable.

[uOpt]

Any properly working computer from 1997 or so on should be able to record and play audio without audible latency. The whole latency thing in the area of working computers is blown out of proportion. If you stand 10 meters away from your speakers you get 30 msec delay just from the speed of sound.

Now, the problem is that not all computers are working properly and sorry to say that problems with MS Windows are the usual reason. Either the thing is too busy with some malware or anti-malware (the latter usually doing more damage to performance), or some third-party hardware drivers sucks. There are also all kinds of problems with USB, on all levels, cables, port, hubs etc. It's not the old 1.1 USB. USB 1.1 is fast enough for stereo music. It's crap - crappy hardware, crappy drivers, crappy software - that does the damage.

Of course you can overload your computer, namely with audio effects, or software synthesizers. In those cases your CPU load will be 100% and you need a faster CPU or back down on the processing.

So, if you have an audible delay without doing too much, fix your computer.

If not, don't worry about it

[Filipe Marquez]

Yeah, my computer is mid-level, not bad not good. I just got some minutes ago 4 more GB of RAM, now i have 8GB. The processor is Core i3 3.4ghz, HD Seagate Barracuda 500GB and Gygabite motherboard...I think it's more or less right?

I pretty much just use it for recording and internet, have no games or anything...

And thanks for the information about the 10 meters away man, i'll use that in further conversations about latency! lol :P

[innerdreamrecords.co]

I record on a 1Ghz P3 with 512 MB of RAM, you'll be okay.

[Chris of Arabia]

I record on a 1Ghz P3 with 512 MB of RAM, you'll be okay.

Old skool... like it

[Funkfingers]

I record and monitor via a MOTU audio/MIDI interfacing box and a Firewire cable.

[Filipe Marquez]

Hm, and that's another question that i didn't clear fully yet, what's the real difference between usb and firewire? I'm too lazy to read, so if you know the answer

[uOpt]

Hm, and that's another question that i didn't clear fully yet, what's the real difference between usb and firewire? I'm too lazy to read, so if you know the answer

Firewire is a professional high-speed bus designed for storage and large video applications, by people who had the will do do things right.

USB, regardless of what the speed spec says, is crap. A lot of USB hardware (interface chip, cables etc) and a lot of device drivers in operating systems are unreliable crap written by people who were thinking "mouse" while they wrote the driver that you hook up your important harddrive up to. USB also randomly falls back to slow speeds when it doesn't like something on the bus, and that fact is hard to discover from software. The designers omitted obvious feature, notably host to host (that's why you cannot connect two computer just using USB, but you can with firewire). Then there is that whole mess with USB interfaces that are either host capable or not, which plagues current cellphones. And to top it all off even if you are host capable on a cellphone then you need another special cable, probably costing more than the device.

All things considered I like Firewire better

[Reload in 5]

Firewire is a professional high-speed bus designed for storage and large video applications, by people who had the will do do things right.

Thats a bit of a stretch but go on

USB, regardless of what the speed spec says, is crap.

Uhh, OK. I suppose thats why its the standard across operating systems and brands (remeber there are Apples (since 2008) that have USB and not firewire)

A lot of USB hardware (interface chip, cables etc) and a lot of device drivers in operating systems are unreliable crap written by people who were thinking "mouse" while they wrote the driver that you hook up your important harddrive up to. USB also randomly falls back to slow speeds when it doesn't like something on the bus, and that fact is hard to discover from software.

Dont use crap hardware. That is firewire or USB. That solves both the hardware and driver issue (since drivers for a recoding drvice are written by the hardware manufacturer)

The designers omitted obvious feature, notably host to host (that's why you cannot connect two computer just using USB, but you can with firewire).

Whats that got to do with recording?

Then there is that whole mess with USB interfaces that are either host capable or not, which plagues current cellphones. And to top it all off even if you are host capable on a cellphone then you need another special cable, probably costing more than the device.

So you are saying I cant plug my line6 studio into my cellphone? NOOOOOOO
I suppose I need to go get a new phone with firewire on it....

All things considered I like Firewire better

Good for you.
but windows 7 with USB 2.0 or 3.0 is more than fast enough and robust enough for audio recording.

edit: this is all a very comical post, not meant to be serious in any way, except the last line.

[Chris of Arabia]

Practically, from a data throughput perspective, very little between USB2 and Firewire400. If I remember rightly, USB2 looks as if it's faster using the bare numbers, but that particular protocol constantly polls to check it has a device connected to it, where Firewire doesn't. It may be the other way round, but that's my recollection of the key difference.

As for USB3 and Firewire800, I really couldn't tell you. Maybe you could research it and tell us...

[Funkfingers]

Of course, for guaranteed absolutely zero latency every time, you could always use (gasp!) analogue tape.

[Chris of Arabia]

Of course, for guaranteed absolutely zero latency every time, you could always use (gasp!) analogue tape.

Heretic! Burn the witch!

[Funkfingers]

Heretic!

I still have my editing blocks, splicing tape and chinagraph pencil.

I wonder what my de-gausser would do to yo' laptop?

[Chris of Arabia]

Probably much the same as it would to your tapes at a guess. Fortunately, I don't run any recording s/w on my laptop

Without tape we wouldn't have 'Wasted Light'. Now some may say that wouldn't be a bad idea, but I tend to disagree

[Funkfingers]

Apologies to the OP for the temporary hijack. Getting back on topic...

My experience with recording guitar into a computer via an external audio interface is that, nowadays, latency is something that you feel rather than hear.

Driving NI Guitar Rig (or, in my case, Apple Logic's Amp Designer plug-in) should feel exactly like playing through an amplifier. Recording a mic'd up amplifier should also feel normal.

If you are experiencing the degree of hesitation that used to happen with guitar synthesizers and MIDI Guitar systems, it is time to reset your buffer.