Native Instruments - Knowledge Base
Knowledge Base
"Overall Latency" Demystified: why does my NATIVE INSTRUMENTS software report a greater audio latency since I updated it?
If you look at the Audio/MIDI Settings window of NATIVE INSTRUMENTS applications released after November 2008, you will see a new, reworked Audio Settings Dialog.
In particular, we have changed the way that audio latency is reported at the bottom of the Audio tab.
We have added more detailed information about how much latency you are experiencing on your system with your current settings.
Audio Settings Dialog Window
While some of the values shown here depend on the setting that is made using the "Latency" slider on Mac (or within your soundcard's control panel on Windows), some depend on the capabilities of your soundcard driver; i.e., some soundcards are capable of good performance at lower latencies while others are not.
Here's a breakdown of what these latency figures mean:
Input
This number is actually the sum of three values:
Processing
This value is set by the latency slider, so it can be set by the user. It determines the length of the buffer size used by the software to process audio
Output
This shows actual hardware latency again which is introduced by the transfer of the audio data from the operating system to the audio interface.
Some more background
...but why is the overall latency so long since I have updated my software (e.g. to Guitar Rig 3.2.1)?
Please understand that the actual latency is no longer than it was before!
The older audio settings dialog that we used in our software reported the numbers in a different way, showing the input and output latency of our software in milliseconds, but the hardware latency was not calculated into the shown latency. This has now changed, so what you see is the ACTUAL TRUE latency you will experience with a given configuration.
In particular, we have changed the way that audio latency is reported at the bottom of the Audio tab.
We have added more detailed information about how much latency you are experiencing on your system with your current settings.
Audio Settings Dialog Window
While some of the values shown here depend on the setting that is made using the "Latency" slider on Mac (or within your soundcard's control panel on Windows), some depend on the capabilities of your soundcard driver; i.e., some soundcards are capable of good performance at lower latencies while others are not.
Here's a breakdown of what these latency figures mean:
Input
This number is actually the sum of three values:
- hardware latency (introduced by the transfer of the audio data from the audio interface to the operating system )
- the audio input buffer, which is always equal to the Processing buffer (this is set with the latency slider)
- a short amount of time that is caused by transportation of the data through the operating system
Processing
This value is set by the latency slider, so it can be set by the user. It determines the length of the buffer size used by the software to process audio
Output
This shows actual hardware latency again which is introduced by the transfer of the audio data from the operating system to the audio interface.
Some more background
- "Hardware latency" (see above) occurs because the operating system and the audio interface exchange audio data by using packages of a certain size. In most cases the size of these packages (or buffers) is determined by the manufacturer of your audio device, so you cannot change this. However, the PC ASIO drivers of Native Instruments audio interfaces do allow you to change this hardware latency. This is labeled "USB latency" in the Native Instruments ASIO driver control panel.
- Note that the values shown in this dialog window are based on what the driver reports to the software. There are some drivers which do not report the correct information, hence you might find unexpected values shown with some drivers.
...but why is the overall latency so long since I have updated my software (e.g. to Guitar Rig 3.2.1)?
Please understand that the actual latency is no longer than it was before!
The older audio settings dialog that we used in our software reported the numbers in a different way, showing the input and output latency of our software in milliseconds, but the hardware latency was not calculated into the shown latency. This has now changed, so what you see is the ACTUAL TRUE latency you will experience with a given configuration.
64%
35%
