ASIO

[Edhardt]

I just had a question that hopefully someone can answer or help me out with.


When using ASIO drivers, and adjusting the buffer settings, all the way to one side makes the sound crackle more, and all the way to the other is perfectly smooth and clear. What, if any, is the downside to always running my sound through ASIO with the buffer so its perfectly clear? Does it take away from audio quality or something like that?

Also, i can't seem to figure out what the other settings are for, because i don't hear much of a difference when i mess with them. Such as latency compensation, and the other settings under options.

[Edhardt]

Also, i noticed when i have it set so it uses more cpu, with a midi controller plugged in, the response time is faster and better, but if i go to high i start to hear the crackle. On the other hand, when it is set to use the lowest cpu and i'm just running a track, it doesn't seem to affect it because i'm not using a midi controller.

[X-Trade]

Having the buffer set up high will result in a more sluggish response when playing a keyboard. Basically having a larger buffer is giving your CPU more time to produce slightly more data, so it doesn't break up because its easier for the CPU to keep up, whereas a lower buffer size is much better in terms of musicality, e.g. in live performance or when making takes in the studio because any changes you make or any notes you play will 'happen' much faster. The 'buffer' is basically a 'delay'. It defines the size of block of sound data that should be created before it is pushed out.

so a size of 256 will calculate 256 samples, then push them to the output, then calculate the next 256, then push them, etc.

as with the MIDI keyboard, I wouldn't say its to do with having the keyboard plugged in, rather, synthesizing an output is always going to be slower than playing back an existing recorded track. you're just streaming a recording, as opposed to doing lots of real time calculations on audio. If you had lots of effects plugins on that track, it would impact the quality (unless you increase the buffer size) in a similar way to playing lots of notes (e.g. a glissando) on your softsynth using MIDI controller.

[Edhardt]

Thanks X. I wasn't sure if anyone would understand what i was tryin to say, but you explained it well.