MOTU 896mk3, User Manual

Page: 69 / 112

CHAPTER
69
10
Reducing Monitoring Latency
OVERVIEW
Monitoring latency is that slight delay you hear
when you run an input signal through your host
audio software. For example, you might hear it
when you drive a live guitar input signal through
an amp modeling plug-in running in your audio
sequencer.
This delay is caused by the amount of time it takes
for audio to make the entire round trip through
your computer, from when it first enters an
896mk3 input, passes through the 896mk3
hardware into the computer, through your host
audio software, and then back out to an 896mk3
output.
If you don’t need to process a live input with
plug-ins, the easiest way to avoid monitoring
latency is to use the 896mk3’s CueMix FX digital
mixer to patch the input directly to your monitor
outs via the 896mk3 audio hardware. The 896mk3
even provides effects processing (EQ, compression
and reverb), which can be applied on input,
output, or even at the bussing stage, just like a
conventional mixer. For details, see “CueMix FX
hardware monitoring” on page 73.
If you do need to process a live input with host
software plug-ins, or if you are playing virtual
instruments live through your 896mk3 audio
hardware, you can significantly reduce latency —
and even make it completely inaudible, regardless
of what host audio application software you use.
This chapter explains how.
It is important to note that monitoring delay has no
effect on when audio data is recorded to disk or
played back from disk. Actual recording and
playback is extremely precise.
Monitoring live input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Adjusting the audio I/O buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Lower latency versus higher CPU overhead . . . . . . . . . . 72
Transport responsiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Effects processing and automated mixing . . . . . . . . . . . 73
CueMix FX hardware monitoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Two methods for controlling CueMix FX . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Using CueMix FX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Controlling CueMix FX from your audio software . . . . 74