• Registered: 2011-01-11
  • Posts: 23

Topic: babyface - totalmix latency questions

hi folks,

loving the babyface so far.

am i right in thinking that when using direct monitoring thru totalmix, the signal is only going straight in and out of the babyface unit (and thru the totalmix mixer), and not down the USB cable to the pc and back? ie the usb cable length has no effect on latency (however small)?

what is the actual latency of doing this? i know it is referred to as zero-latency, but presumably there is a certain number of samples latency?

and more specifically to my actual setup - how about when using an ADI-8 DS into and out of the babyface via toslink? total latency is then totalmix latency + ADI ADDA latency? how much is the ADI-8 DS roundtrip latency?

i appreciate these are going to be very tiny figures, but in the interests of complete understanding of the setup... :-)

gary.

  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 9,778

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

The USB cable will cause no noticeable (and practically not even any measurable) latency, regardless of length. Converter latency is about 1 ms each way or so.


Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

RME Support's Website

  • Registered: 2011-01-11
  • Posts: 23

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

hi daniel,

thanks for the info.

how about if you're using an active usb extension cable coupled to a normal usb cable? anything added in that scenario?

so are you saying the signal is doing a round trip down the usb cable during direct monitoring? and what is the totalmix mixer latency? a handful of samples?

gary.

  • Knut
  • Knut
  • DAW Mastermind
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  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 1,618

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

am i right in thinking that when using direct monitoring thru totalmix, the signal is only going straight in and out of the babyface unit (and thru the totalmix mixer), and not down the USB cable to the pc and back?

Yes. But if you record and playback the signal or play it through the software audio engine it travels over the USB cable and back.

total latency is then totalmix latency + ADI ADDA latency?

Yes. AD/DA latency is around 40 + 30 samples.

best regards
Knut

  • Registered: 2011-01-11
  • Posts: 23

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

Yes. If you record and playback the signal or play it through the software audio engine it travels over the USB cable and back.

perhaps i didn't describe that very well. obviously if you're monitoring without direct monitoring on in (for example) cubase, the signal is going down the usb cable and thru cubase's mixer and back. i'm talking about monitoring with direct monitoring on and not thru cubase, ie zero-latency. are you saying the signal is still going to the pc and back in this scenario? i understood that the totalmix mixer resided in the babyface itself?

gary.

6 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
  • Administrator
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 25,599

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

whatsisname22 wrote:

are you saying the signal is still going to the pc and back in this scenario

Of course not. ASIO Direct Monitoring = TotalMix monitoring = direct hardware monitoring inside the box.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • Knut
  • Knut
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 1,618

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

i understood that the totalmix mixer resided in the babyface itself?

Yes. As MC wrote with hardware monitoring the audible (!) signal does not travel through the USB cable and back. It goes from the input to the TotalMix hardware chip to the output.

best regrads
Knut

  • Registered: 2011-01-11
  • Posts: 23

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

great- thanks. that's what i wanted to verify.

  • Registered: 2011-01-11
  • Posts: 23

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

actually - how about the active usb extension question? will using a 5m active extension chained to a 3m usb cable add latency in a non-direct monitoring situation? i've seen a few user reports suggesting possible problems with latency and these repeater cables. when i tried it it felt like there was an added latency but it could have been my imagination...

gary

10 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 25,599

Re: babyface - totalmix latency questions

That's complete nonsense. And easily verified by a loopback recording with and without the additional cable.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website