Latency using outboard with Daw?

[Charlie-O]

Does anyone care to share there knowledge about the subject?

Say for instance is there a huge delay coming out of you daws converters into a compressor (analog)
then back in...

Or how about using a digital effects rack like a lex pcm as a aux effect. how many samples of delay can I expect from this?

[kittonian]

A general rule is that there will be 1.5 milliseconds of delay going from D/A. Going back in A/D will produce about the same but then you have to worry about how you are monitoring that signal and whether or not the latency is compensated (PT HD is the only software that does this but the upcoming Nuendo 3 will do this as well).

Staying in the digital domain (i.e. going in and out through AES for example) will produce a minimal delay and if you calibrate your DAW correctly it should be perfectly in time with everything else (just went through this today on our new G5 with DP 4.12 and it's a pain but it will work).

I actually mentioned this feature to MOTU today when I was speaking to them about the DP 4.5 release and they said I was the first person to ever ask them about including this feature. Very strange. So, I posted a note on OS X Audio in the DP forum casually mentioning it and sure enough within 10 minutes or so someone responded saying that they had never imagined this could be done and that it was now on their wish list.

There are other ways around it for right now but if you truly want the best compensation I've ever come across it's in PT 6.4. If you're staying native then Nuendo 3 (which will hopefully be available before the end of the year) will have it. If you don't mind working around it and want stable, dependable, mac based software, DP is your way to go.

Hope that helps!

[Charlie-O]

Thanks, for the reply this does help...... 1.5 msec. is alot! Having outboard to mix with along with plugs is a grat asset to me, and tapping them the right way has been my delima.

[Blinddot]

Originally posted by kittonian
A general rule is that there will be 1.5 milliseconds of delay going from D/A. Going back in A/D will produce about the same but then you have to worry about how you are monitoring that signal and whether or not the latency is compensated (PT HD is the only software that does this but the upcoming Nuendo 3 will do this as well).

I´m wondering how does the soft (PT and Nuendo3) know about the right amount of compensation that it has to put for different converters?, and if you could be able to mix different converters with different latency.

I know this point has been disscused before, but after doing few searches I wasn´t able to find anything, please feel free to point me to the right threads.

thanks

[button]

If you have favourite analogue gear you want to use in a send/return from a DAW, maybe it's a good idea to calibrate your system. Just take a square wave/spike, send audio out to your compressor/eq and record back in to the DAW. Then check the delay, and if you use that compressor/eq again, pull the compressed/eqd track ahead by that amount.

[theslickmick]

Can I jump in here please?....I'm totally new to computer recording ( I usually use a 16 track multitracker)... Just to confirm then.... If I want to do a send/return to my Kurzweil KSP8 through ADAT at 48k there would be no latency to worry about or minimal latency? How would I get a square wave/spike in the first place so I could test the delay?

I'd be working with Nuendo 2 (when it arrives next week) and the RME HDSP 9632. How would I judge the soundcard latency also?

Sorry for the basic questions that have sort of been covered before but if someone could confirm it for my particular setup, I'd be grateful.

Thanks,

Michael.

[button]

Draw the spike in an editor or just import a wav.

Soundcard latency is a totally different issue, dependant on computer OS, drivers, etc. Check an internet forum for the setup you are using.

Worry about this issue (delay-rerecording into DAWs) only when you have your own system fully sorted for "regular" recording.
It's sort of a mix issue for those who want to mix "in the box", but also want to use one or two bits of cherished outboard to process tracks.

[theslickmick]

Thanks a lot for the quick reply. I'll try importing a wav file when my system arrives.