Problems with Latencies Less than 4ms

[PHANTOM NORTH]

Hi. I'm using an EMU 0404, Cubase SX3 and windows xp sp2. My PC is otherwise pretty powerful. If I set my ASIO latency to anything less than 4ms, I get pops and clicks and other artifacts when recording and playing back tracks and monitoring. Is there a way I can use the lower latencies like 2ms or 3ms without any artifacts? A setting I'm missing somewhere perhaps? Thanks

[Methlab]

It sounds like your computer is not as powerful as you think

[ewegogetemtiger]

your interface is a $200 usb device. I'm surprised you're getting even 4ms
I'd say you're doing pretty well

[PHANTOM NORTH]

It's not the 0404 USB. I have the PCI version. My PC is an intel e6600 with 2gb of RAM...

I just figured that If my card has the option to do 2ms, then I should be able to do it... If not, then yeah 4ms is working well enough I guess...

[js1]

The EMU drivers are not renown for super low latency performance. I have a quad core and an EMU card as well, and 4 ms is about as low as I get.

js

[PHANTOM NORTH]

Cool. All I needed to know. Thanks guys

[12Bass]

Do you have Processor scheduling set for Background services? It gives greater priority to audio processing and helps achieve lower latencies.

[w_stylz]

And /or buy RME equipment if you want low latencies. I can mix 20-30 tracks with effects on an athlon 2.8 ghz single processor machine at 2.7 MS with an RME HDSP 9652 card.

[PHANTOM NORTH]

Originally Posted by 12Bass

Do you have Processor scheduling set for Background services? It gives greater priority to audio processing and helps achieve lower latencies.

Where can I find this out?

[theblue1]

If we're talking round trip latency, then you're going to be hard-pressed to get it down much below that (4ms).

AD and DA are going to take most of a couple ms. And then i/o buffering will likely account for the rest.


Sounds like -- if the issue is realtime monitoring -- then you're going to have to jump to an analog monitoring chain.


PS... many people use terms very loosely. The round trip latency I mention is not the same as the one-way monitoring latency buffer setting many DAWs have to allow for adjustment to accomodate for slow CPUs, processing, and plug-ins/ADC. For instance, with my hardware i/o buffers set to 128 samples each, I can set my DAW's monitoring latency to a minimum of 2.9 ms -- but that gives a roundtrip latency of about 7.9 ms. But many people seem to fail to make the distinction between these very different factors.

[w_stylz]

Actually, the emu card has a great program called patchmix which lets you do realtime hardware monitoring and "with effects routed in I believe" Every sound card should have this and it is a surprise that the high end companies haven't figured this out except 1 or 2 of them. I would gladly pay a premium to be able to record while monitoring reverb, compression, and having the flexibilty to record or not to record those effects or record both signals on sep tracks. The yamaha 01x also does this as it is a standalone digital mixer but there should be some higher end version by RME or Apogee in my opinion with dedicated DSP for studio quality monitoring effects. If anybody else knows of any, let me know.