would like to know how this works..
Sonar reads latency added by VST's and then applies it to the whole project to keep the project synced, I guess...
Can I bypass this process if fe. I move VST to a clip and then bounce clip ?
thanks..
 

Yes. Plug-in latency must be compensated for by adding delay to the project so tracks stay in sync. Bouncing a clip with plug-ins in the clip FX bin apply the effects and remove the plug-ins from the project.

thanks Scook.
Wondering if say Sonar could nudge back the clip by the samples latency it reads, would that be right ?
Rather than adding the highest VST latency to the whole project, nudging back actual VST latency on track or even clip level would be better ?
Just don't know if this nudging back would actually 'solve' the latency somehow...(if it even can be solved at all)

There is no way to shift the beginning of a project to the left on the timeline, it can only be shifted to the right.

While a VST is "live" there isn't much you can do (that would be useful). You can temporarily bypass all VSTs using "E" or clicking PDC in the toolbar, for recording purposes.

Generally speaking, it's mostly things like look-ahead limiters (including transient designers), phase neutral EQs and impulse reverbs that add significant latency.

There's no "free lunch" when it comes to latency - if the engine automatically shifts clips left to push them into the processor sooner it just means starting processing sooner too, so you gain nothing. eg. One track with a 2ms processing delay could be played 2ms early, but that means that when you start playback you must also start 2ms earlier, so your other tracks are audible after 2ms - just as they would have been if they were 'shifted right'.
 
All you can do is bounce down anything that uses VSTs or VSTis that incur significant latency.

thanks guys, always great to read and learn here on the forum 
Hope sometime I can learn how true/deep Sonar compensates latency (is reported latency on track level used, or does Sonar even record dynamic realtime latency buses/clips included ?)
If it's not already happening, especially on export....everything lined up correctly would be a great feature imo.
Not that I hear/notice any latency currently....and I HAVE SO MUCH FUN WITH SONAR !!!
 
 
 

Sonar calculates latency induced by every individual plugin and compensates so that everything "lines up" perfectly on playback. In order to do this, it uses a buffer. Say that track A has a plug on it with 25ms latency and track B is clean. It will then, on playback, start calculating track A right away but delay playing track B by 25ms. The result: everything plays back perfectly in sync. The only "problem" is that if you are playing a track live, it will get the same delay as track B in the above example, because Sonar doesn't distinguish between a recorded midi track and a live played one. This is why it is common to not use latency inducing plugins while still in the recording phase, although temporarily bypassing all plugins with "E" provides a quick fix if you don't mind the havoc it wreaks on your mix.

I'm not sure what you mean by "dynamic latency (buses/clips included)". How would latency be dynamic? Some plugins have settings that may alter their latency but they're not the kind of thing you'd want to automate. In any case, if there is any change to the latency on a track because you took out a plug you will usually need to stop/start playback to have Sonar recalculate the proper PDC.

Guess Sonar compensates latency VST report and not measures actual latency.
If you have a track with say a channel strip switched on, like PX64 Percussion Strip....Sonar might compensate latency even though there might be no/less latency when non of the modules (eq, dynamics) are activated.
I don't know if this is the case, just thinking it could be on some plugins/effects.
Other situation might be a plugin has on/off automation on functions inside the plugin that change the latency, not sure if Sonar would be able to compensate
Or if you have a track with 3 clips, of which just 1 has a latency effect....can Sonar calculate that ?
 
I don't know if other DAW's or fe SSL or NEVE consoles have this, but maybe a feature to record ACTUAL latency then compensate when exporting might be interesting.
Not that it's not ok now, but just thinking about it..
 
 
 

I think it would be theoretically possible to automate something that changes latency and create a problem. It just wouldn't be a very musically useful effect (like switching an EQ from regular to phase aligned). I think this is a case of "could I create this problem?"

Sonar handles clip fx just fine btw. Many other DAWs are or were significantly worse at this. Even for ProTools PDC is a pretty recent thing. I don't see how a console could measure latency at all.