25ms is the lowest I can go

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special-t
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Post by special-t »

Hi,

I've had a Pulsar II card for about 2 years now and I've always had it running at 25ms latency (44.1KHz). I'm using Nuendo 2 and would really like to get a lower latency because it makes playing VSTi's a lot easier. I think I must have something configured wrong on my computer. If I select the 3ms latency and load up Nuendo, the CPU is at 40% nearly and this is without any effects or instruments on. I have a P4 2.26 GHZ CPU, a nice UAD-1 card which I bought recently (the problem existed before that, that card's just made things sound nicer), 1GB DDR Ram, an ABIT BG7 Mboard, a Realtek network card, an Asus Radeon 7100,(I was using a G550 before and changed it because I thought that was the problem). I'm really stuck because I've lived with this latency problem for 2 years now and I would like to get it sorted now or I might change to a hammerfall card instead. I'd appreciate anyone's input. Best regards,

Tom.
enb141
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Post by enb141 »

I have a Pentium 4, 1.8 GHz, 256 RAM RDRAM 800MHz. Are you sure that you have selected ASIO SCOPE in Devise Setup, VST multitrack?

I'm telling you this because I have a 4 ms latency, and I also have tryed a toy blaster Audigy I and I had the same low latency too.
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at0m
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Post by at0m »

Lower latency quickly raises CPU, especially if you use a lot of ASIO IO. It's a trade-off one for the other, low latency or cpu overhead...
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garyb
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Post by garyb »

true, but 40% sounds high for just i/o running. something else is happening. or are you running 32 channels of asio with 5 or 6 vsti sample players running?
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valis
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Post by valis »

Are you sure there are NO plugins anywhere (inserts on outputs or groups you've got setup for sends etc)? Probably not but worth checking as Cubase always processes regardless of input & this will wreak havoc with denormal issues on older plugs.

I also agree that's excessive, I've tried my card(s) with a friend's nuendo/sx setup here in town and didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary. Here with Logic (I have nuendo 1.x as well) things are fine with my Pulsars AND with my hammerfall as ASIO master. I probably see a slightly lower cpu load with the hammerfall but I can't imagine it affecting my latency settings on a modern PC, perhaps an old sub-1Ghz p3 but certainly not a modern p4.

I would like to add however that I use my RME as ASIO master and the majority of my analog i/o, and only use the pulsar cards via ADAT for routing stuff in & out of the card. I actually prefer working this way now, things are more flexible with the RME's routing thrown into the mix and I still have the same level of midi control over SFP. The biggest change was that I stopped relying on SFP for *everything* and I now use it for 2-3 things only. An example would be a large Flexor patch, perhaps a smaller modular/flexor filterbank on something else, and a drum eq/reverb/comp/limit chain, rather than a zillion eq's & comps and micromixers trying to sum 32 ASIO outs. Imho my mixes are simpler & more effective now, and the things that need enhancing in SFP still get it.

Of course I mix on an external board, so your mileage may vary.
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garyb
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Post by garyb »

a dumb question...are you sure dma is enabled for your hard drives?
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next to nothing
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Post by next to nothing »

another stupid question: XTC mode?
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