• SONAR
  • Low Latency or Software Monitoring Option
2013/02/27 15:46:38
yusuf38
before using sonar, i used Logic, and Logic has a function call Low Latency Monitoring, it is used during Recording, to reduce latency. If you think i'm refering to hardware direct monitoring, its not. Low latency monitoring means that you monitor from your software, instead of your hardrive. I wonder if Sonar has something like this. Let me know. thanks.
 
Yusuf.
2013/02/27 16:31:50
John
In Sonar its a matter of how small you can have you buffers on your hardware. The lower the less latency. Though most people find a delay under 12 MS is instant enough that it wont be a problem. 

One reason this forum recommends one should have a good audio interface. 
2013/02/27 16:35:16
karma1959
I don't believe there's a specific command for this, but I'm sure others will chime in to confirm or correct me.  Ultimately, I think this comes down to the round trip latency you're getting with your audio interface's driver.  Monitoring via hardware (or directly from your audio interface) is preferred, but you can monitor via software if you have low round trip latency with your audio interface's drivers and have no plugins running that would introduce latency. 

When I'm tracking, I disable all plugins to lower resulting latency and have no problems monitoring via software with my RME UFX using the ASIO driver mode with 128 buffers.  When mixing, I increase buffer size to 1024 or 2048 to compensate for latency-introducing plugins without encountering any pop or cracks.

If you're encountering difficulties doing this, it will help to know your machine & audio interface specs, driver mode and buffer settings.

Hope that helps.
Russ
2013/02/27 17:38:32
yusuf38
Thanks John and Russ for replying. I've relied on the buffer size for my latency issues so far. I am using Focusrite 8i6 and it can go as low as 45 samples, but i never tried as low as that. Lowest i've been is about 220 samples during tracking, because i know that i'm not using the better computers out there.

Latency isnt really an big issue, because i believe that a 221 buffer size is good enough, but since i'm always recording in 44.1khz, i just thought a low latency mode like the one in Logic could end my worries.

Russ, you mentioned "When I'm tracking, I disable all plugins to lower resulting latency"
Do you disable all the plug ins in all tracks and busses or just the track(s) that you are tracking?

Oh and here's some detail of my Rig as of now.

Hp Pavilion G4. Win7. Intel core i5 2.50Gz. 8GB Ram. 64bit.
Focusrite Scarlet 8i6. ASIO. Seagate 500GB USB3.0. Sonar X2 Studio 32/64 bit.

Yusuf.
2013/02/27 17:53:58
DigitalBoston
the letter E diables everything on the fly. if you can play over a low quality,you can get those tracks down,
 i use it if i start to get crackin at 128 to overdub a quick clip
2013/02/27 17:56:29
DigitalBoston
iv been havin issues with sonar locked at 64 and wont let go.
 it works but i cant get back to 128 now for weeks.
and now monitor from hardware  helped.
 i change to 128 or higher and sonar kicks it back to 64.
it likes 64 for some reason im missing
2013/02/27 18:04:36
yusuf38
i didnt know letter E can do that. Cool tip. Thanks.

2013/02/27 18:07:20
yusuf38
You want to try adjusting the buffer setting directly from your interface as oppose to doing it in Sonar.
2013/02/27 18:55:34
John
Yusurf I know its a year late but welcome to the forum. 
2013/02/27 20:35:33
BlixYZ
You have gotten some good advice, but I'd like to offer another perspective. Unless I am using a softsynth, I ALWAYS use hardware monitoring. It is a dream once you have it set up. My studio is a professional studio and so having even small amounts of latency during tracking is something clients would complain about. This way there is ZERO latency and the buffers can be set anywhere you like. When I need to record midi via a soft synth, I get the latency low JUST BY DISABLING PLUGINS as described above. There is a button marked "FX" that does the trick, or you can press "E". Most of the time, I can lower the latency just by disabling my BUS plugins. This is a trick I want everyone to know about. I leave the plugins running in my tracks and I don't lower the buffer size- I ONLY disable any BUS plugin and the latency drops to near zero (unless the project is huge). I always recommend hardware monitoring to everyone- I think monitoring through your computer's processor is foolish unless you must for a particular reason. It doesn't tax your computer, and there is ZERO latency. How can you beat that. I don't usually post this long, but as you can tell- I feel strongly about this. I want people to feel my bliss. Anyone can feel free to contact me for more specifics as to how to set this up (with reverb and evrything). My interface is a Profire 2626 which has a software mixer that makes it simple to get levels for hardware monitoring. I also use a hardware "rack mount" reverb/fx unit to add some reverb for those who like to hear it when they sing but I DO NOT record the reverb, I record the dry signal only. This can be done using a small mixer that has direct outs, or in my case, using the Aux 1 channel in the profire's software mixer.
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