Although RME products are highly reputable, many users (myself included) encountered this when using the Fireface UC and UFX:
When one presses the arm button there's approx. 1 (one) second until it turns red and armed. Disarming it it's also not instant but it seems to take less time than arming.

What's more, any action that's being done in the Preferences window, takes minimum 2 seconds before the new settings are memorized.

For example: enabling/disabling one of the Fireface UC's input/output drivers takes 6 (six!!!) seconds after clicking the "Apply" or "OK" buttons for the new settings to be memorized.

On the other hand, if one opens the Preferences window and then clicks "Cancel", then the window disappears instantly.

Has anyone here encountered this? Is this a Sonar or an RME issue? Is this any different in X2?

Here is an older thread on the RME forum that suggests the issue is in Sonar itself:
http://www.rme-audio.de/f../viewtopic.php?id=10079

I reckon this is caused by Sonar. I observe the same delay when arming several tracks from the VS-700C.

The issue is *not* Sonar itself.

ie:  If you arm a track when running a FastTrack Ultra 8R or the Fireface series, you'll experience some delay.
If you arm a track running a MOTU Firewire unit or the newer Presonus VSL series, the response is immediate.


The response time is almost alarmingly immediate when changing audio preferences running a VSL series audio interface.  The fastest I've seen with any audio interface.

I am using the original hammerfall PCI and multi-face setup for the last 10 years. I don't recall ever having issue with this. What type of drivers are you using in Sonar? I always use ASIO drivers, I tend to have issues when using the WMA drivers. Latency has always been an issue and odd behavior when using anything besides ASIO. Beyond that, I always find a stack-up delay when trying to sync MIDI over time using the WMA.

I have a slight delay with RME and my M-Audio FTU (both ASIO). I've always assumed it was the drivers doing a 'handshake' so I've never thought of it as an issue...an annoyance true, but not an issue.

Somewhat akin to a 'gapless audio engine' or lack thereof. ;-)

Regards,

I am using the original hammerfall PCI and multi-face setup for the last 10 years. I don't recall ever having issue with this.

The "sluggish track arming" is most common with USB audio interfaces.
ie: Using the RME Babyface (which is great BTW)... running the ASIO driver... when you arm a track there is a slight delay.  There's no other delay/latency... just when arming to record.  This has nothing to do with the audio interface's round-trip latency.  The Babyface is excellent in this regard (4.9ms total round-trip latency at a 48-sample ASIO buffer size/44.1k).

Note that this behavior doesn't happen with all USB audio interfaces.
Response is very quick with the Presonus VSL series.

Yeah, but I was hoping it would be resolved one day... True, not an issue but an annoyance. And no one seems to know what's causing it...

My UFX lags about 1 sec when arming to record.
Using USB, never tried it via firewire.

Tom

Jim Roseberry, I tried my Fireface UC with Reaper and the response is immediate. What version of Sonar do you have?

Hi pop-star. I have a UCX, as you know, and I use Sonar X2a x64 on Windows 8 (dual core laptop). I have a firewire jack, but I've been using the USB interface exclusively so far (only got it in December). I too experience very short lags related to the arming of tracks. I find if I quick group the tracks, the lag hits only once (half a second to arm 8 tracks rather than 8 half seconds). I select the tracks I want and ctrl+click the arm button.

I don't have this issue with my Fast Track Ultra using USB.

On the other hand, I used to get system crashes related to the fast track ultra if I failed to turn it off before sleeping or restarting my system, which I don't get with the UCX.

In general, while I do notice bits of latency here and there that seem related to the UCX driver (like I hit the play button and there is a miniscule pause before playback starts -- btw, this could be the bajillion fx on the trax).

It really doesn't bother me that much. I don't tend to arm and un-arm tracks all the time. I'll arm 10 tracks and then let it run for 3 hours. What's a half a second over three hours.

So, it doesn't bother me. That doesn't mean it's fixed though. We also don't have Windows 8 drivers yet. It will be interesting when those come out. It looks like drivers were updated in December 2012, so we may be waiting a bit for the next revision.

Sorry this is bugging you.
 
BTW, here are some tunes from the first recording I've made with the UCX.
http://stabilitynetwork.blob.core.windows.net/g-tunes/base8.htm