Sudden Latency Issues

Help, Support & Bugs
1

Just wanted to check if anyone else has been experiencing changes in latency using Renoise with MOTU Traveler audio interface (?)

I have the exact same setup now as before, and earlier this have been working like a dream (2ms / buffer 256),
but now i notice there’s a big latency while monitoring recording through renoise. totally annoying, so I have to monitor directly through MOTU’s cue mix instead,
which is zero latency (but it still sucks, because that applies only to dry signals, can’t sing through a wet channel in Renoise any longer).

But I don’t really think it’s an issue with Renoise, I experience the same thing in both 2.7, 2.6, 1.9, and whatnot…
but thought I’d check with the forum anyways

Any tips on what else it can be is appreciated.
Firewire cable turned bad?
something fried in the motherboard where the fw controllers are?
is there a good way to check where the weak link is?

Have also tried innstalled new firewire and motu drivers, but no effect :huh:

2

Is it your Wet Chain? Remember all effects have a processing latency! This starts to add up, especially with some of the hungrier effect.

If you try and monitor through Renoise with an empty chain are you still getting a lot bigger latency than before?

3

2ms? LOL Some plugins add 1ms per instance per track!

I’m not sure if it’s in 2.6, but at least in 2.7 betas, go into Tools -> Plugin Delay Compensation info and you’ll see something on the lines of:

  
PDC is enabled  
  
--- Song's total/max generator latency: 0 Samples (0.00 ms) ---  
  
Active instrument compensation delays:  
None  
  
--- Song's total/max FX latency: 256 Samples (5.33 ms) ---  
Track('01'): Device('VST: Native Instruments: Guitar Rig 4') -> 256 Samples (5.33 ms)  
  
Active track compensation delays:  
Track('Mst') input delay -> 256 Samples (5.33 ms)  
Track('S01') input delay -> 256 Samples (5.33 ms)

So basically, in theory - the lowest latency I can get atm is 5.33ms (256 samples) this also depends on your sampling rate etc;

Use that to calculate your lowest possible latency that’s caused by DSP chains and any virtual instruments you may have.

4

Actually you have 256 samples in and 256 samples out so the lowest round trip is 512 sample, 10.66mS. That is only the soundcard buffer side of it too, any internal processing also adds more, as you know. (Remember he is talking of monitoring recorded input so it’s in and out.)

How does that stop the plugins from taking any computational time? It doesn’t! Although may help if it has been incorrectly reported to Renoise.

5

thanks for the input guys.
yes, the problem applies to dry channels as well, and it didn’t use to act this way.

anyway, i will try to look into the PDC info / options tonight and see if i have overlooked something.
and i’ll report back.

thanks again

6

ok - i’ve done some more testing. and now i’m both confused and shocked.

confused because this latency can’t possibly have come recently, it has been there all the time, and i have not realized it until now…

shocked because i notice now how much latency is added for each vst effect i add in my projects. if i have no effects at all loaded, monitoring and live input works fine, no noticable latency.

but, let’s say i add ONE medium heavy vst effect… then both live audio and midi latency is a fact. and, what shocks me, is that even if i disable/mute all effects in a project, latency is still there. is this right?

this means, if i at the end of a project decide to record, let’s say a guitar track, i have to DELETE all fx to be able to play at a sensible latency… goes for midi as well.

pdc on/off has no affection on this.

why can’t renoise return the low latency when i disable all effects? aren’t they really disabled after all?

i don’t really remember that this has been such an issue for me before, which i find weird.

7

Probably because you can enable and disable effects through pattern commands and it makes a lot more sense for a track to have a fixed latency than for it to be changed throughout your song all the time, quite likely causing audible glitches.

8

Try doing this. if you want to jam some chords, mute all the tracks you don’t “need” to play, ie: keep your drums, bass or whatever, then reduce your latency for the recording session. If you still have latency issues doing this, then select the VST effect in the mixer and press ENTER to disable it during your jams.

I’m not sure what plugs you’re using, but if your demands are getting high, perhaps also look at upgrading your CPU.

At present, on my i7 2600k, I sometimes have 6 Guitar Rig 4 vsts running, many, many other VST effects and using things like Kontakt Abbey Road 60s drums, Kontakt MM Bass and other Kontakt libs + some soft synths and son, manage to get about 7ms with my USB M-Audio Fast Track Pro

9

Also, something I’ve started doing lately. Go through your VST effects, and start a new Renoise project. Then add in a drum loop sample, or anything sample, let it play on loop.

Let’s say we’re testing EQ’s.

Then add a few, say - 10 instances of said plugin and check your CPU load. Then delete all instances of that EQ, then add 10 instances of another EQ effect, and see if you can substitute it with another, less CPU hungry alternative. Obviously you will have some plugs you don’t want to trade, but it will give you an idea of what plugs are eating your CPU and have higher delays.

10

ahh, thanks for the good help, everybody!
turned out it all was because ONE plug i added in my template, on the master chain, which, even if turned off, caused a shocking 80ms latency! woah! no wonder i had problems…
so this have affected all of my recent projects. have now replaced it with a chain based on native fx, and i am back in business with 5 ms in total for the whole template.
thanks for opening my eyes folks :)

11

Glad you’re sorted!

Could you tell us which plugin it was? For the benefit of other current/potential users of that plugin.

12

Waves L3 Ultramaximizer… i should probably have guessed :rolleyes: