Dealing With Latency

Latency figures for computer-based recording systems have improved dramatically over the past decade, but, as Mark Cousins explains, you still need to know how and when to manage it...

Cast your minds back to the early days of computer-based audio, when hard drives where barely larger than 200MB and computers with CPU speeds beyond 16MHz could be considered processor workhorses! In those formative years it wasn’t uncommon to experience several seconds delay – or latency – between audio entering the computer and it leaving via the soundcard’s output – certainly, a software-based recording studio felt a long way off being a realistic proposition! Fifteen years on, though, latency figures have significantly fallen with the exponential rise in computer power, and many people now work happily on computer-based DLWs. But even with these improvements, latency remains a potential thorn in the side of any software studio.

This feature first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 38
Filed under General Features

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