Help Understanding Record/Playback I/O Buffers: What do they do? Should the numbers match?

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csnack
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2018/11/07 20:05:05 (permalink)

Help Understanding Record/Playback I/O Buffers: What do they do? Should the numbers match?

There's plenty of info out there about the main asio latency buffer, but I'm having a hard time finding a whole lot about the Record/Playback buffers.

But I found a great old post by Bitflipper about Record/Playback buffers here http://forum.cakewalk.com...aspx?m=1710561&p=1

And I followed this tweak guide here (and other guides in the past)
http://forum.cakewalk.com...mization-m2944111.aspx

I'm trying to get a better understanding of what exactly the Record/Playback I/O buffers do, i.e. *what effect changing these numbers has on the system*. For example, raising the latency buffer will give more time for cpu to execute a command, but w/ a consequence of an increased latency - so to some degree it's simple enough to understand the results of lowering/raising asio latency buffer.

But w/ the Record/Playback buffer, when you change those numbers what exactly is happening behind the scenes as a result? I don't just simply mean 'better performance' kinda result, but rather what exactly is happening on the tech side AND how does that translate to the better performance? What is the result of setting these numbers low or high and what might generally be considered too high or too low for these numbers? **Should the Record/Playback I/O numbers match or can/should they be different?**

In CbB the default in Record/Playback buffer is 128, and it won't let me set it to anything above 2048 - though I've read here about people having that buffer up around 8000 and 9000 so that's even more confusing to me. I'm still in the middle of seeing what my system can comfortably handle and tweaking accordingly.

With an asio latency buffer of 64 and playing through amp sims I was having clicks/pops (not super bad, but here and there) and audio clips were vanishing after hitting the space bar to stop recording, and usually that vanishing act happened the very first time I'd try recording and randomly thereafter. But raising the Record/Playback i/o buffer incrementally to 1024 seemed to fix the audio clips vanishing the first time, but there's still some clicks/pops here and there and I feel like 1024 is quite high. It seems most here just tweak these I/O buffers a little over (a long) time until they find the 'right' setting for them - but what is a good starting point?

Currently I'm experimenting w/ disabling my network adapter and will check the result of that later today when I track guitar. I also now disable the AV before starting a session too.

Lastly, below is my system specs. I built it in 2014. What kind of audio performance can I expect from an older system like this? My daw is being pushed for the first time with multiple instance of amp sims, often playing through two amp sims at a time (dual amp) and my system is complaining here and there, but I think it just needs to be tweaked, which I'm working on. I have yet to get a major session w/ tons of plugs etc going, but realistically, what I kind of performance can I hope to expect w/ this older system? Is an asio latency buffer of 64 a realistic expectation to have for tracking? A million thanks to everyone here for helping me get smart.

SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        CHRISJONES-PC
OS version:                                           Windows 7 Service Pack 1, 6.1, build: 7601Highest latency on CPU 7:      2.10820 µs
Hardware:                                             Z97X-UD3H, Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., Z97X-UD3H-CF
CPU:                                                  GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
Logical processors:                                   8
Processor groups:                                     1
RAM:                                                  8052 MB total
Audio Interface: RME 9632 w/ latest driver
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    azslow3
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    Re: Help Understanding Record/Playback I/O Buffers: What do they do? Should the numbers ma 2018/11/07 20:41:38 (permalink)
    As first, check File/Audo Data in preferences. Record bit depth should be 24. You can also can see it the transport module.
     
    Run LatencyMon during recording. It may show you something, especially watch latency of disk drivers...
    I have hard time to believe in 2µs under load with everything running. Especially since you get real-time related glitches. Even with 800µs you should not observe such behavior.
     
    These settings are for the disk IO. And you have omitted most relevant part for the subject, the disk 
    If you use old HDD, check its performance. Better replace with SSD, they are dirty cheap now.
     
    With modern system and SSD, people report success even with 32 samples. Especially for RME, 64 should not be a problem. At least with 44/48kHz. If you try 64 with 192kHz, that is different :)
     

    Sonar 8LE -> Platinum infinity, REAPER, Windows 10 pro
    GA-EP35-DS3L, E7500, 4GB, GTX 1050 Ti, 2x500GB
    RME Babyface Pro (M-Audio Audiophile Firewire/410, VS-20), Kawai CN43, TD-11, Roland A500S, Akai MPK Mini, Keystation Pro, etc.
    www.azslow.com - Control Surface Integration Platform for SONAR, ReaCWP, AOSC and other accessibility tools
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    csnack
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    Re: Help Understanding Record/Playback I/O Buffers: What do they do? Should the numbers ma 2018/11/10 00:33:12 (permalink)
    Thanks man yeah like a noob I was running latencymon just by itself w/ nothing running hence why I got 2us. W/ Cakewalk going I got 696us. I use ssd for the audio disk. I started unhooking my daw from the cable internet network and that seems to have had a major difference and so far my system is running smoother since then. Thanks for the help.
    #3
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