Hello,
I have been reading that the HIGHER than sampling rate, the LOWER the latency?
That sounds wrong! Wouldn't a higher sampling rate cause the hard drive and CPU to work even harder thus making latency even longer?
 
I am so confused as to what Sampling Rate i should be tracking at.   Right now I am at 24bit / 44.1 (i see a lot of people do 48 Khz - not sure why as CD is 44.1 anyway).
 
Any help here would be appreciated.

As an example, with your asio buffers @ 512 samples doubling the sampling rate from 48khz to 96khz  will halve the perceived latency figure in Sonar, but your CPU has twice the workload and you will need to increase buffer sizes much sooner to compensate as you increase the number of tracks/synths.
 
For all intents the difference between 44.1 and 48 is imperceptible, and you should choose the appropriate rate for your release medium (CD, DVD etc)
 
I think recording @ 24bit/44.1 is fairly common practice, and a good balance of resolution/headroom etc vs file size/performance, particularly when most final product will end up @ 16bit anyway.

tenfoot
Doubling the sample rate will halve the perceived latency figure in Sonar, but your CPU has twice the workload and you will need to increase buffer sizes much sooner to compensate as you increase the number of tracks/synths.
 
For all intents the difference between 44.1 and 48 is imperceptible, and you should choose the appropriate rate for your release medium (CD, DVD etc)

Thanks for responding tenfoot.   
 
Question, when you say "doubling the sample rate will halve the perceived latency figure in Sonar" - what do you mean exactly?
What latency? like when I am singing into the mic?  When playing an instrument?  I'm not sure what this "latency" even is.
 
 

Latency is the time it takes your system to process the audio - its round trip if you like. Generally when recording vocals and real world instruments you can monitor them directly using your interface software, so it is not such an issue. It really comes into play with soft synths and using real-time fx on inputs as you record (eg guitar fx inserts) If your asio buffers are too high, there will be a perceivable delay between playing a note on your vsti synth and hearing it.
 
The setting in Sonar is under preferences/audio/driver settings, then click on the asio panel buttonn. Generally for tracking, the lower the better. Anything above 512 samples (around 11ms)  and most people will be annoyed by the delay.
 
Once you have finished tracking and you are mixing and adding fx, you can increase this setting to avoid any glitching that may start to happen as you increase processor load.
 
 

tenfoot
Latency is the time it takes your system to process the audio - its round trip if you like. Generally when recording vocals and real world instruments you can monitor them directly using your interface software, so it is not such an issue. It really comes into play with soft synths and using real-time fx on inputs as you record (eg guitar fx inserts) If your asio buffers are too high, there will be a perceivable delay between playing a note on your vsti synth and hearing it.
 
The setting in Sonar is under preferences/audio/driver settings, then click on the asio panel buttonn. Generally for tracking, the lower the better. Anything above 512 samples and you will definitely be annoyed by the delay.
 
Once you have finished tracking and you are mixing and adding fx, you can increase this setting to avoid any glitching that may start to happen as you increase processor load.
 
I

Thank you! So you are saying INCREASING the sample rate actually HELPS you with ratio when playing softsynths?
 
I would think it would make the ratio WORSE, no?  Because the system has to work harder?

Not increasing the sample rate -  increasing the buffer size under the asio setting described above will lower the system load. 

The sample setting in the asio panel\bufer size is not your sample rate. Leave your sampling rate setting @ 24bit (it is above the asio panel button)
 
 

tenfoot
Not increasing the sample rate -  increasing the buffer size under the asio setting described above will lower the system load. 

but didnt you say:  "Doubling the sample rate will halve the perceived latency figure in Sonar"  - what does that mean exactly?

tenfoot
The sample setting in the asio buffer is not your sample rate. 
 
 

i know - i am talking sampling rate - in Sonar preferences.

Latency is, as I know it, the time it takes to produce a point ( note, tone, etc) and have that point taken, processed, and returned back to the ears to hear. Don't know if you have ever played a note on a keyboard and not had the sound played back at the same time you hit the note. Hard to overdub that way. I have a friend that produces everything at 92kh. He claims that sending music around needs to be higher to keep quality high enough for others to look at and use without degradation or loss. Hope this helps. Will help more if I can.