ASIO latency compensation sliders

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OlSkoolGuy
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2012/05/02 07:29:49 (permalink)

ASIO latency compensation sliders

Greetings, all -
 
In spite of my reluctance to reveal my ignorance in this area, I need to know:
 
In the ASIO configuration panel, there is the main slider for setting the overall number of samples for the device, and it defaults to 512 samples (translating to 11.6ms effective latency at 44.1kHz), but there are two additional sliders for Latency Compensation (In & Out), which default to 32 samples each.  My question: what, exactly, do the compensation sliders do, and how do they do it? How will they affect performance, and what would the optimal settings be? (I am using an inexpensive USB interface, the Alesis io2 Express, but it works well for my purposes using the ASIO4ALL v 2.11 driver)
 
I have played around with the main setting AND the compensation settings, and have been unable to improve on the defaults.
 
Thanks in advance for your input - any tips at all regarding ASIO settings will be appreciated.

OlSkoolGuy

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    mettelus
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    Re:ASIO latency compensation sliders 2012/05/02 17:48:49 (permalink)
    I asked a similar question a while ago (not sure how to point you to that though) as I was having issues getting MIDI and audio to work in tandem without nasty issues. Bottom line, I removed the ASIO4ALL completely, and assigned MIDI to the TTS-1 (add it as a synth, and assign MIDI channels to it as the output), and ran audio with the most recent (check to see that your interface has the most recent) drivers for my output device. All channels ran fine at that point without much tweaking. To my knowledge, which is not extensive, the ASIO4ALL is a generic interface, which attempts to be a "catch all" interface, and is not smooth, nor adequate for many uses. The latency compensation you ask about is essentially compensating for the "delay" in the signals between input/CPU/output so that they synch. Depending on setup, system, etc. these latencies can vary from machine to machine, so the sliders allow you to tweak them to your specific use. Again, after the help from the folks here, I ditched the ASIO4ALL and went the route I mentioned above.
    #2
    bitflipper
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    Re:ASIO latency compensation sliders 2012/05/02 21:26:09 (permalink)
    If there is an ASIO driver for the Alesis interface, you can forego ASIO4All altogether. Or, you can use the WDM/KS driver and ditch ASIO4All. There are only a few audio interfaces that truly need ASIO4All, and the only ones I've seen were all low-end integrated audio devices such as RealTek and Conexant.

    mettelus answered the question correctly. You need to actually measure your actual round-trip latency with a loopback in order to properly set those latency compensation sliders. It's somewhat explained in the ASIO4All user manual.


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    #3
    FastBikerBoy
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    Re:ASIO latency compensation sliders 2012/05/03 01:56:30 (permalink)
    bitflipper


    If there is an ASIO driver for the Alesis interface, you can forego ASIO4All altogether. Or, you can use the WDM/KS driver and ditch ASIO4All. There are only a few audio interfaces that truly need ASIO4All, and the only ones I've seen were all low-end integrated audio devices such as RealTek and Conexant.

    mettelus answered the question correctly. You need to actually measure your actual round-trip latency with a loopback in order to properly set those latency compensation sliders. It's somewhat explained in the ASIO4All user manual.


    I used an Alesis Multimix12FW for a long time and if the ASIO drivers are anything like they were for that, ASIO4ALL is a good option, trust me.

    Karl
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    #4
    OlSkoolGuy
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    Re:ASIO latency compensation sliders 2012/05/03 04:22:03 (permalink)
    Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. The io2 Express did not ship with drivers, nor are there drivers available to download from Alesis. It seems they expected the generic Windows USB Audio Device driver to be sufficient. Ha, Ha, Ha.

    I have used ASIO4All with the M-Audio Firewire 410 for several years in the past and never had any problems... for audio-only recording.
    My problem with latency seems to be occuring now that I am getting deeper into Audio+MIDI composition. I can tweak things in the panel to work well with one or the other, but not both. (Confusion setting in... coffee required!)

    OlSkoolGuy

    *********
    X2a Prod - Win7 64 (i7 w/8GB) - A&H ZED 14 - Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 - Cakewalk UM-2G - Yamaha HS 80M monitors - Shure SM7B (and many other condenser AND dynamic mics) - tons of other hardware/software. 

    ********* 

    #5
    mettelus
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    Re:ASIO latency compensation sliders 2012/05/07 16:51:06 (permalink)
    I think (hope) I found the pointer to the post I originally made. My issue was also MIDI & Audio, but using an M-Audio Ozone. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2516185 As you get to Vista/Win7 the windows support for MIDI "went away" in effect... so learning that issue created more pain for me. Out of curiosity, which OS are you running? Unfortunately, the ASIO4ALL seemed to make my issue worse. I shifted to WDM/KS when all was said and done. Making the computer decide what resource to use created some wild latencies for me (nothing the ASIO4ALL sliders could ever cure). The issue you have beyond my initial post is not having drivers available :( Specific drivers would help a great deal, since they are focused and streamlined for your equipment. It might be worth contacting Alesis about!!
    #6
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