First, the ‘Z’ to the right of the Audio Roundtrip monitoring latency will be coloured blue if hardware monitoring is recognised, and, second, only when suitable interface DSP is seen will the “Use native low-latency monitoring instead of hardware monitoring” option not be greyed out. Then it makes low-latency hardware-based monitoring available, a condition it indicates in two ways on the Audio Setup / Processing pane of the Preferences dialogue. Studio One recognises PreSonus interfaces with onboard DSP or, running under Windows, any interface conforming to the ASIO 2.0 DM spec. PreSonus’s Studio 192 interface offers onboard DSP and, as well, integrates directly with Studio One, a significant feature for recording workflow. Real-time, hardware-based mixing has near-zero latency, so inputs are heard without delay and Device Block Size can be optimised for track playback.
It’s a little clunky, but effective enough to have worked successfully for years.Īs DSP chips became cheaper, the next solution for the buffer-size paradox emerged as dedicated DSP chips for monitor mixing embedded in interfaces.
If you are using a modest or older interface that offers little in the way of bells and whistles or speed, this is the method you will continue to use. The first approach devised to resolve this conundrum was simply to reset the buffer size smaller when recording and larger when mixing.
Plainly, buffer needs for monitoring and track playback are in fundamental conflict with each other. My typical buffer size for mixing would be 512 or 1024 samples. This is all lovely, but the Device Block Size buffer is also used for playback of existing tracks and plug-in processing, and, in that context, larger buffers are better because they ease the processor’s workload. Round-trip delay time is the sum of the input and output latencies. The input and output latencies in milliseconds produced by the current setting are displayed at the bottom of the dialogue. I usually use 32 samples, or sometimes 64 samples (for high-res, high-track-count situations) when recording. For the lowest monitoring latency, set it as small as you can get it without incurring dropouts, glitches or clicks. In Studio One, the Audio Setup / Audio Device / Device Block Size setting in the Preferences dialogue sets the basic buffer size. Small buffer sizes create less delay, so recording is best done using the smallest workable buffer size, but smaller buffer sizes also push your processor harder, and this proves to be the limiting factor in how small a buffer you can use. It also complicates the use of virtual instruments, which get delayed as well. Recording is impacted by buffer size because buffering necessarily introduces latency (delay) in monitoring the source, and monitoring delay is difficult to stomach when recording a performance. But this buffer turns out to sit at the center centre of competing priorities, a fact that has engendered no small amount of confusion around buffer size settings. In DAWs, this stability is ensured by the use of a buffer, a short-term ‘staging area’ your processor can use like counter space in a kitchen to make processes more efficient. When audio data is moved around, it absolutely must be received and played on time, or bad things happen. With Studio One’s advanced features, latency need not be a problem. A nice, short, 32-sample buffer is in use here, yielding perfectly workable latencies of less than a millisecond. Screen 1: The Audio Device preferences pane.