I/O Buffers and "Use Reported Latency"

JonD
For tracking, 128 is a good starting point.  Of course, it comes down to your interface drivers and system (Some interfaces can comfortably go lower - 64 or even 32 - and still work glitch-free!).  Ideally you want to work in your "sweet spot" -- low enough so there's no noticeable lag-time, but not so much that your system can't handle it without glitching.  An easy formula for this is to go the lowest setting your system will handle, then bump it up one setting.
 
For mixing, you don't need super fast response time.  Bump it up to 1024 or higher to ease the strain on your system.

microapp

Jeffiphone
Just a quick question for the forum......
 
I read in the help guide that the default for the I/O buffers is 128. I'm just trying to optimize my system to avoid the nightmares I encountered last week. I'm not running huge projects, but normal, like 30 tracks or so. Do most folks raise the level of the I/O buffers to 256 or greater?
 
Also, should the number in my I/O buffers be the same as the number of my ASIO level of my Focusrite interface? Meaning if I change one, should I change both settings?
 
And one more......can someone explain what the "Use Reported Latency" box is? And should this be altered in some way?
 
Thanks so much for the help.
 
~Jeff

#2
For the 4 or 5 interfaces I have used with Sonar I cannot adjust the buffer settings from within Sonar while using ASIO. They are greyed out. Sonar picks up the setting from hardware so you have to use the ASIO control panel provided with the hardware. Not saying this is 100% true but in my experience it is.
#3
AFAIK, "Use reported latency" does not do anything. PDC uses the latency reported by individual plugins to force plugins to sync.

microapp

Thanks Micro. I think what I'm asking is......should the setting on my ASIO Panel (256, for instance) match the I/O buffer settings in Preferences (e.g. 256)?

Yes, Sonar should use the settings in ASIO Panel.
If recording (say... guitar) while listening to previous tracks, make the buffer size as small as possible without dropouts etc, so there is minimal delay in the guitar track. I try to keep the roundtrip latency < 10ms. If the latency is > 15ms or 20ms, you will begin to hear the guitar track delayed. If your interface has direct monitoring, use this instead since you will hear the guitar before it goes into the DAW and eliminate at least the input latency.
For mixing, the latency is not important since there are no external instruments involved and all the tracks are already recorded (or generated from MIDI) so use a bigger buffer setting to allow more tracks/effects before dropouts. You will notice a delay from pressing PLAY to hearing audio but that is about it.
You can think of the I/O buffers as little delay lines on the in and out of the DAW.