Misterlee wrote:Thanks Randyman! Pretty sure I can go lower on the buffers, I think I just arbitrarily picked 128 for the heck of it. :-)
I have an additional question on not tracking with plugins, would this apply to UAD plugins which have their own HW (UAD Card)processing? I am thinking maybe a UAD 1176 would be useful while tracking occasionally. I'm just trying to wrap my head around System/DAW/Plugin processing etc. and your answer got me thinking hypothetically.
I came from a very underpowered computer for many years, with a HDSP 9652 and a UAD-1 so direct monitoring was all I used.
I will say the 9652 and the RayDAT are awesome products. I cannot think of any manufacturer who has such stellar products with awesome stable driver support and updates. Pretty sure I'm a RME user for life!
It's not that you can't track with plugins - it is just that you should avoid using any plugins that induce any latency into the chain. I prefer to keep ALL plugins in my DAW's Track Mixer so they are heard "live" in the DAW mix, but are not actually printed. Plenty of efficient plug-ins out there even for a lower powered DAW IMO...
With UAD, I believe there are two scenarios. The Apollo's allow the DSP to happen at the hardware level (before the signal ever hits the PC), and my understanding is these plugins would be "printed" through the ASIO driver assuming you are monitoring through your DAW (or you'd need to use the UAD's own mixer for monitoring/foldback). That allows for fairly low latency with UAD with a few compromises (print the plugins in your DAW, or be relegated to the UAD's mixer for talent's low-latency headphone mixes).
If you are attempting to send a signal from your DAW back into a UAD card for realtime processing (or a similar function with an Apollo), you will include additional latency as the signals must be buffered going from DAW-to-UAD, get processed, then get buffered again from UAD-to-DAW. That latency is ADDITIVE to the baseline "through the DAW" ASIO latency your DAW has as-is.
Primarily as a drummer, I'm pretty anal about latency - and with modest plug-in management (AKA: avoiding the use of significantly latent plug-ins while tracking/overdubbing), I haven't had any personal complaints. Additionally, NO ONE has ever mentioned anything about perceivable latency in my setup (and I always feed the talent's headphones from the wet DAW mix!).
MADIface-XT+ARC / 3x HDSP MADI / ADI648
2x SSL Alphalink MADI AX
2x Multiface / 2x Digiface /2x ADI8
I run 32 samples 24/7 (your RayDat can as well). RME @ 128 is generally acceptable to most players IMO (other interfaces set to 128 samples can be a whole different ballgame!)...