Latency in the H9000

[joeydego]

A couple questions here. Is there any way to determine latency in a chain of algos I/O? If not, this is extremely useful information and a big wishlist item. Second, is there anything I could possibly be doing wrong that would cause unusual delay compensation numbers? here’s what happens: 

Studio One uses a VST to handle outboard processing. I initiate the VST and after that, the VST has a ping function which sends an audible click thru the chain and back which figures the latency and automatically adjusts the DAW session for it. So, I typically set up 4 stereo channels of analog and 4 stereo ADAT of Eventide, making 8 stereo tracks of effects. I ping them. Most channels give sample numbers in the area of 30-200 or so. I’ll get one random track here and there that will give a really wonky number, in the 10s of thousands and it will continue to change and go higher if I keep repinging. I’m certain my routing is proper, nothing crazy. 1 goes to 1, 2 goes to 2 and so on. I’m also certain the chain is on bypass when this happens too, a requirement for getting an accurate number. 

The only thing that seems to help is changing my Eventide session entirely and rebuilding it. It fixes the issue, but its really not a fix. I’m now stumped. Anyone have some thoughts on this? 

[John Baylies]

I'm not familiar with Studio One, but I did find this comment in a ticket, which may help.

The H9000's latency is variable and it depends on:

1) What IO you are using

• Using analog IO will add about 1ms of latency due to the converters.
• Digital IO will have much lower latency, probably a sample or two.
• Network audio will add some latency.  For Dante, this is configurable.
• There is an additional but very small latency due to the internal H9000 audio router, which is 3 samples in and 3 samples out, so a total of 6 samples, or 0.125ms at 48k.

2) The structure of the FX Chain that you are running audio through

• A single algorithm FX chain, or an FX chain in which the algorithms are in parallel, will add about 1.3ms of buffering latency.  Each additional series algorithm will add another 0.7ms of buffering latency.  So four algorithms in series will add about 3.3ms.
• The internal FX chain routing compensates for buffering latency, so you will not hear comb-filtering artifacts due to running e.g. 2 series algorithms in parallel with one.

3) Whether any of the algorithms add latency as part of the processing (e.g. a lookahead limiter).

• We don't currently have information on the processing latency added by the algorithms.
• In many cases it will be zero.
• Reporting and compensating for processing latency where necessary is something we'll consider implementing in future software versions.

 

[John Baylies]

There's also a ticket in the backlog for adding a 'DAW Mode" with a fixed (maximum) latency across FX chains.

My guess is that Studio One isn't expecting a different latency from each FX Chain.

[Pombero]

Just out of curiosity what is your buffer size set to on your audio interface? Probably it is just my imagination, but when I get weird stuff with the Pipeline Stereo in Studio One I usually go into my Apollo settings and toggle the Buffer sizes up and down.

[John Baylies]

joeydego, mind posting your session here so I can use it as a starting point as I learn how to use Studio One and Pipeline XT?

[joeydego]

This is how I tend to use the 9000. Most of the time in stereo pairs, I have 4 stereo ADAT and 4 Stereo Analog. 

[joeydego]

John Baylies wrote:

There’s also a ticket in the backlog for adding a ‘DAW Mode” with a fixed (maximum) latency across FX chains.

My guess is that Studio One isn’t expecting a different latency from each FX Chain.

DAW mode sounds awesome, taking the guesswork out of latency. S1 via a plugin treats each I/O as a seperate processor and will ping them all individually to figure the latency not only in the chain, but to the specific I/O 

[joeydego]

Pombero wrote:

Just out of curiosity what is your buffer size set to on your audio interface? Probably it is just my imagination, but when I get weird stuff with the Pipeline Stereo in Studio One I usually go into my Apollo settings and toggle the Buffer sizes up and down.

UA suggests a buffer of 512 as a default for mixing. I tend to keep it there, unless I forget. I really don’t direct monitor so I drop buffer setting to 32 for tracking. My machine doesn’t really miss a beat at that setting, even with multiple plugin instances open. Perhaps this is a symptom of missing a beat (or a few thousand samples).

[joeydego]

John Baylies wrote:

joeydego, mind posting your session here so I can use it as a starting point as I learn how to use Studio One and Pipeline XT?

I’d be happy to! Just give me a few, after dinner EST

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