Just getting started trying out Melodyne with X3 for the first time for vocals.  The Melodyne documentation recommends setting audio buffer size at 1024, which is much higher than I previously had it set with V-vocal.  This concerns me a bit because I had previously used ASIO for the purpose of reducing latency and had the buffer set quite low.  I am wondering what the experience of others has been in recording vocals to accompany existing MIDI instrument tracks with this higher buffer size.
 
And in setting the buffer number in Preferences, there are choices to make, whether we are talking about Playback I/O or Record I/O.  Is it equally important for both Playback and Record, or can you get away with 512 for Playback, perhaps?
 
Also, should the boxes (Under Preferences > Audio > Sync and Caching > File System) for "Enable Read Caching" and "Enable Write Caching" be left unchecked as they are right now?  What difference does this make?
 
I imagine some of this control of latency while avoiding drop-outs may have to do with the computer system being used.  Mine is Win 7, Intel i5, 8 GB Ram, Fast Track Pro interface, 3 Hard Drives.  Have not had any problems with latency or drop-outs, but while using V-vocal at lower buffer sizes.
 
Thanks for any comments about your experiences.

Mine are set sat 256, and I've experienced no problems with Melodyne

Just ignore the error message. If it's working OK use the buffer settings that give you the best results.

dscoyne
Just getting started trying out Melodyne with X3 for the first time for vocals.  The Melodyne documentation recommends setting audio buffer size at 1024, which is much higher than I previously had it set with V-vocal.  This concerns me a bit because I had previously used ASIO for the purpose of reducing latency and had the buffer set quite low.  I am wondering what the experience of others has been in recording vocals to accompany existing MIDI instrument tracks with this higher buffer size.
 

Do you mean you're doing it in real time?
As I suppose most do Melodyne edits after the tracking, and often one verse or even one phrase at a time, the higher buffer plays no role timing wise.

I've never bothered to up the buffer that much for Melodyne. Truth be told, if you leave a lot of clips "active" (rather than bouncing them down) Sonar seems to eventually get less stable. I've never checked if this is less so with a buffer of 1024 or more samples. Certainly it has never taxed my CPU very much. I now make a habit of bouncing nearly all clips. Backing vox for instance. The one(s) I prefer to keep open are my leadvocals because sometimes I need to revisit them. While it's possible to reMelodyne I'm not that comfortable with stuff running through the algorithm so often.

I have a track with several vocals and multiple instances of Melodyne in it and I'm noticing a substantial loss of phase coherence regardless of buffer settings. It's a great tool but going forward, I'm inclined to use it as a standalone and import the tuned tracks, which was how I started out with it since S6PE (my previous version) did not support integrating it as a plugin.

I do any Melodyne processing in editing, only after completing track recording, and so I jack up the ASIO Buffer Size with no problems, because I am not trying to sync new track clips - am only doing playback and editing at that point in the project life cycle.
 
 
Bob Bone
 

river
I have a track with several vocals and multiple instances of Melodyne in it and I'm noticing a substantial loss of phase coherence regardless of buffer settings. It's a great tool but going forward, I'm inclined to use it as a standalone and import the tuned tracks, which was how I started out with it since S6PE (my previous version) did not support integrating it as a plugin.

Melodyne's algorithms can shift timing by a few samples as part of its efforts to keep a neutral sound during pitch and timing changes. This is a known "issue". So that could conceivably affect phase coherence although I have to wonder in what kind of situation you'd hear that on vocals. Did you multitrack a backing vocal group with a lot of crosstalk?

This effect, by the way, is separate from ARA integration so using Melodyne externally and then importanting tuned WAVs should suffer from the same thing.

I would not be doing this in real time.  I would be correcting the vocal after the track has been recorded.
 
So if I understand correctly, if I raise the buffer to 1024 when doing this, it should not have an effect on latency.
 
Should I leave it there, or lower it back down when I am done pitch correcting with Melodyne?  For example, if I then process the track with the V-64 Vocal Strip and/or double it, or apply other effects.  And what about further recording?
 
Thanks.

dscoyne
I would not be doing this in real time.  I would be correcting the vocal after the track has been recorded.
 
So if I understand correctly, if I raise the buffer to 1024 when doing this, it should not have an effect on latency.
 
Should I leave it there, or lower it back down when I am done pitch correcting with Melodyne?  For example, if I then process the track with the V-64 Vocal Strip and/or double it, or apply other effects.  And what about further recording?
 
Thanks.

Have you tried just ignoring the message as has been suggested ?