Hi guys, can anyone who is using one of the scarlett interfaces let me know the kind of round trip latency you are getting, preferably at both 44.1k and 96k. I'm just about to get an ableton push and want to be able to take it out with my laptop, my head wants an rme baby face but unfortunately my Mrs doesn't :P
 
I am happily unable to detect any latency on my desktop system @4.5ms round trip but I know thats a big ask of a fairly cheap usb interface, I'm looking at the 2i4 and it seems to have everything I want/need for mobile if it can do low enough latency for me to not feel it on my push.
 
PS, I have a focusrite VRM box (I dunno if they have some kind of unified driver?) and I can get that stable at around 7ms on the laptop I guess if I can match that or better with a scarlett I am pretty much sold.
 
Cheers, Greeny.

Greeny
Hi guys, can anyone who is using one of the scarlett interfaces let me know the kind of round trip latency you are getting, preferably at both 44.1k and 96k. I'm just about to get an ableton push and want to be able to take it out with my laptop, my head wants an rme baby face but unfortunately my Mrs doesn't :P
 
I am happily unable to detect any latency on my desktop system @4.5ms round trip but I know thats a big ask of a fairly cheap usb interface, I'm looking at the 2i4 and it seems to have everything I want/need for mobile if it can do low enough latency for me to not feel it on my push.
 
PS, I have a focusrite VRM box (I dunno if they have some kind of unified driver?) and I can get that stable at around 7ms on the laptop I guess if I can match that or better with a scarlett I am pretty much sold.
 
Cheers, Greeny.

I'm extremely pleased with the 2i4 and haven't had any latency issues (any other issues for that matter) with it......I can't remember exactly what the latency was (I think ~ 6ms @ 48k). The good thing about the 2i4 is that it has:
Direct Monitor Function
Turn the direct monitor control on the front panel of your Scarlett 2i4 and you will hear what you are recording through your speakers or headphones, without the signal having to go through your Mac or PC. This avoids the possibility of latency (introduced by your music software), which can be distracting while recording.

It sound to me like you are planing on using it for playing live real time effects, like guitar rig stuff///correct? 
The I have the Scarlett 6i6 which I believe is exactly the same driver wise. 
For the most part it's still the top of my list if I was to shop for a new box. 
But what you need to understand is that all budget interfaces do not perform well in the Round Trip Latency dept. Read this thread which I found very educational. 
 
http://forum.dawbench.com/showthread.php?1548-Audio-Interface-Low-Latency-Performance-Data-Base/page13
 
They work great for all other tasks, but would not be first choice for someone using guitar rig live. 
You'll see that they didn't even make the list, same with the Roland budget interfaces. They talk about useing hidden buffers which tricks your system into false reported RTL. 
The list does have a few good picks and with Focusrite your looking at the Saffire series to get better RTL performance. 
 
On my system best I can get is down to 12 ms and still be stable. I keep it a little higher.  I'm re building with a i5 and will see if this improves. 12 ms is very noticeable to me as a tight slap back echo. I think we need under 5ms to cut it. 

Mesh cheers for the info, I could live with 6ms!
 
Cheers Johnny I know RTL isn't great (as pci/pci-e) on the cheaper usb interfaces but as I say, I will be a single man if I buy a babyface which a bit of research tells me is the best for the job. And yeah I'll be wanting to do live monitoring through my daw with FX which is the problem really. Gonna pick up the push at the end of next week and test out with my VRM box, if I can live with that @7ms then the scarlett should be good! (btw my laptop is a fairly new quad core so running at lower buffers is no problem generally). The saffire would be useless to me unfortunately cos I like that 4.something ms latency on the pro 24 but alas my laptop has 3 usb3.0 ports and not much else - no firewire.
 
If not then I guess I'll be secretly saving the pennys for the babyface and hope the mrs doesn't ask what it is/how much it costs when it comes through the door - the GAS bill is already quite high this year and I aint talking hot water and central heating :D
 
EDIT: I should have probably mentioned for recording guitar and vox I can use the direct monitor no problem, most of my guitar parts are clean anyways so hearing the direct signal wouldn't be distracting, when I am on the push however I dont wanna be feeling latency on the pads, if I am I shall be attaching it to my desktop and leaving it there til I am the proud owner of an RME :)

DId you look at that list? at the bottom is the Focusrite Saffire 6 USB. And they are listing for $199. Then as you go up the list there are a few other brands that are not a lot more in price. 
This one has pretty good specs for only double the money of an 2i4. 
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AudioBox44
 
 

I aint interested in the saffire 6 mate, I did look at the list yeah but even its lowest latency there is too much, the firewire ones are alot better in that regard. Also the saffires converters aren't as good as the scarlett from what I read online.
 
I did a bit of research on the presonus stuff too and (I dunno how new the info is) but apparently that great latency doesn't work the same outside of studio one and I am pretty much stuck with ableton live for the purpose of the push.
 
I am not in a huge rush to get mobile with it anyways so before I get rash I will fire up the vrm box on 48k for ~6ms latency and see how that feels on the pads, I can make a better informed decision from there. The guitar/vox stuff is very secondary to me aswell, I am more likely to be doing that stuff on my desktop where I have solid latency already.
 
Elsewhere I've been lead to believe the steinberg UR22 is about as good as you can expect for the money, might be worth me having a closer look too since it has everything I need and is cheaper than the scarlett.
 
Choice is great, but sometimes it sends me on a wild  goosechase :D
 
Thanks for the info/help mate.

but apparently that great latency doesn't work the same outside of studio one and I am pretty much stuck with ableton live for the purpose of the push.  
 
I was unaware that the brand of DAW had any bearing on latency. My understanding is the performance will be the same for all. Careful of what you read on the internet. I know the more you read the more your head starts spinning. I'm just in the process of purchasing powered speakers. Most people make opinions on gear they don't even own, or they bought cheap and are mad because it isn't loud enough... 
 
 Also the saffires converters aren't as good as the scarlett from what I read online.
 
I find this hard to believe too. I would think they are the same and if not anyone who can hear any difference is full of it. 
My self I like my 6i6 and it was just a little more than the 2i4. It comes with a lot more in/out options and Mix Control. I also don't like bus powered interfaces. 
 
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/reviews/906141-focusrite-scarlett-6i6.html
 

A quick google will reveal that in this case the performance is different with any DAW that isn't studio one.
 
Difference in converters is real, I have 3 interfaces and I can hear the difference between them, it isn't night and day but its definately different. It doesn't matter in the case of the 6 though since the latency is too much anyway - I really wish my laptop had firewire :/

Little update, done a little testing with my vrm box, latency is just fine for the push thankfully :D