Latency (microphone) with Audient id4

1

Hi All.

A question on microphone latency with Cantabile with my new Audient id4.

Any way of reducing the latency with Cantabile settings and not Audient settings?

2

Latency is adjusted by setting the sample rate and buffer size of your interface driver. Cantabile can adjust buffer size for some devices, not all. It would be in options under Audio Device I think.

Below is a link to a comparative list of tested capabilities of many modern interfaces. If you look WAY down the list, you will see that the ID4 is very poorly rated. It looks like even at a 256 sample buffer (at 17ms latency) it doesn’t support much in the way of VSTs. 512 samples would increase the amount of processing support, but gives you over 28ms latency. Probably poor drivers.

I recommend getting a different interface. The Gen 2 Focusrite Scarlett devices are pretty decent for the price.

Edit… fixed link.

3

Hey David,

latency is mainly about the audio interface drivers. Within these it’s about two factors

  • ASIO Buffer size: for vocals processing, you need to drive this as far down as it will go without crackling - try to shoot for 64 or 96 samples
  • driver efficiency - some drivers are programmed very smartly (e.g. RME), others add latency beyond the buffer size. Since I don’t know the Audient, I can’t say anything here

I assume you are using ASIO drivers - WASAPI can only do output AFAIK

These settings are mainly Audient settings; Cantabile in itself doesn’t add latency.

The only other source can be the plugins you are using to process your audio - brickwall limiters are notorious for adding latency (that’s part of their operating principle), but other plugins may do similar things. Try simply routing your audio through Cantabile without any plugins - if that reduces latency, then one or more of your plugins are introducing additional buffering. That means that you should find alternatives to these plugins…

Cheers,

Torsten

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4

Thanks for this! Ironically, I had a 2i2 1st generation and was getting blue screens so went for another, which was the Audient! Seems I made the wrong choice! I’m looking for an interface for live use. Low latency on external microphone plus midi drum vsts. The Komplete 6 appears to be recomended, but also looking at the Steinberg, and the Rubix… Your thoughts?

5

Thanks, for your help! Yes, using ASIO. I’m not using any limiters at all. I think the problem is my choice of interface. Any recomendations on low latency interfaces for live use?

6

I just returned my gen 2 6i6 to order a Babyface Pro. The 6i6 was actually really good for the price, which is evident by its rating on that list I linked to above. You can pick up a gen 2 2i4 for $199 at Guitar Center, which should do what you need it to. 2x mic inputs, 4x 1/4" line outputs, midi in/out and all bus powered. I would have kept the 6i6 but I needed several features it doesn’t have. Unless you’re using multiple mics and guitars, or running complex layers of multiple synths and samplers, you should be ok with the gen 2 Scarlett stuff. MUCH better than the gen 1 you had.

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