Suggestions for a Low Latency Setup and Audio Interface.

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Pumpthrust

New member
I am moving away from hardware to software synths and want to know what is a good setup for managing latency.
I currently use Renoise with the ASIO4All driver and a few free KVR plugins. I also own an Alesis Q25 midi controller (which I may get rid of)
I have a Lenovo laptop running:
Windows 7 64-bit
i7 5500 @ 2.40 GHz
16 GB of RAM

I am considering purchasing a prosumer-level USB audio interface as I heard this will significantly reduce latency.
Which ones do you recommend? Are my PC specs sufficient?

I will be recording vocals and playing softsynths, so I have no desire to monitor outboard gear. I also do not have any desire to do any extensive mixing/mastering/sound design, so monitors are of no importance to me.
 
krushing said:
What's the budget? Do you have an external preamp or do you want one in the interface?
Click to expand...

Budget: $800
External Preamp: Within the interface
With onboard Midi i/o
Looking at the RME Babyface. Yeah, it's expensive, but from everything I have read, it seems like a no-nonsense solution for low-to-zero latency work.
 
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Babyface is an excellent interface, but will have little to no impact on latency in the scenario you describe. The only time an interface comes into play is when you are going from analog to digital (or the inverse) - in your case, that would only be when tracking vocals (or playing back to headphones/monitors). When using soft synths, effects, mixing etc. in the box, the audio interface has absolutely no effect. Latency itb is only affected by software settings and the horsepower of your computer.
 
KonKossKang said:
With that processor, a 150$ interface would be doing 32 samples.
Click to expand...
ohhhhhkkkkaaaayyyy? 32 samples, what does that mean?
Is that good? Bad? Sufficient?
I bought a USB/XLR mic to record my vocals into Reaper. Kinda doubtful about an interface (especially a $700 one, despite its rave reviews). All I want to do is track vocals and play my softsynths without all that bullshit latency.
 
32 samples is the lowest every single interface can go. The stability of each interface varies though at latency settings but in general a 100-5000$ interface would not be choking with a good cpu.
512 is the highest latency should ever go if inputting midi data.
128 is average at 1ghz.
32-128 optimal.
anything above 512 is basically swing at that point lol

an 1.3ghz atom would do 50ms minimum at 1024.
an i7 would be doing 6-8ms at 32 samples. at the same speed, downclocked.

Although a 700$ interface would probably be nuts performance on a weak cpu. Depends though.
 
Those figures KonKossKang is talking about are buffer sizes (in samples). The smaller the buffer, the shorter the latency but also more work for the CPU to keep the buffer topped up and thus ensure crackle'n'pop-free audio. The interface drivers have probably the biggest impact on the actual latency figures; I don't think you can just derive the latencies from the CPU speed & buffer sizes like above - or well, you can, but there will be enough variation with different interfaces that it's fairly meaningless, apart from understanding that the CPU also plays a big part in the equation.

But yeah, RME has the best in business drivers.
 
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