Focusrite Saffire 6 / Driver Error Compensation

[MikeIndidginus]

Hi all,

My understanding of this seems to be cloudy. I have a new Focusrite Saffire 6 soundcard with the latest drivers. I'm trying to minimize latency between my Soundcard & Ableton (version 7) so that when I play my didgeridoo it's in as tight a timing as possible.... Problem is if I do the driver error compensation test in Ableton it seems to *add* latency not reduce it? The overall latency figure goes up from this:

Input Latency: 4.38ms
Output Latency: 4.38ms
Driver Error Compensation: 0ms
Overall Latency: 8.75ms

To this:

Input Latency: 4.38ms
Output Latency: 4.38ms
Driver Error Compensation: 14.5ms
Overall Latency: 23.3ms

I think I'm quite possibly getting confused with my concepts here but I thought the idea was to minimize the latency so that it's not detectable when I play the didg into Ableton & it comes out the monitors? If I remove the driver error compensation figure that I got from the test, the overall latency drops to 8.75ms! But then in the driver error compensation test I get a delayed recording.... My brain feels like mashed potatoes! If anyone can help me suss this out I will be very happy & grateful!

Michael.

[Coupe70]

Ok, I'll try to explain:

Your system always gives you latency when recording, so your recordings
will be delayed. Without driver error compensation Live will think your
latency is 8.75ms and will automatically move your recordings 8.75ms
to the left to compensate this latency.

But in reality your latency is 23.3ms. If you don't adjust driver error
compensation Live will move your recordings 8.75ms to the left, but your
recording will still have a delay of 14.5ms as it would be correct to
move your recordings 23.3ms to the left to have it right.

Hope this helps...

[pedroschki]

Slightly unrelated, but possibly useful information.... I've got a Saffire 6 and the latency is terrible on it (My previous Fast track Pro was far superior).

For some reason the drivers aren't too cracking. I installed ASIO4ALL drivers, and my latency improved noticeably...

[MikeIndidginus]

Not unrelated at all! I've also installed ASIO4ALL & it works like a dream - it's improved every single soundcard I have ever owned! What I don't understand is why soundcard manufacturers can't do this from the get go? They need to hire Michael Tippach!

Anyway, I wanted to ask Coupe70 something - I understand what you are saying, but my logic goes like this!

Driver error correction should leave me with an overall latency that is *less* than the original, not more? So a negative value, not a positive one?

[Coupe70]

Anyway, I wanted to ask Coupe70 something - I understand what you are saying, but my logic goes like this!

Driver error correction should leave me with an overall latency that is *less* than the original, not more? So a negative value, not a positive one?

No. Driver error compensation does not change your latency at all. It is only to handle
the existing latency correctely and only affects the way Live handles your recordings.
The latency your audio driver reports (the one which is automatically shown by Live) is
wrong in most cases (or does not include the latency the rest of your system causes), so
you have to manually adjust the driver error compensation to give Live the correct values
to work.

Again: Whatever you dial in, it does NOT affect your latency. Your latency with or without
correct driver error compensation is 23.3ms.

[MikeIndidginus]

It is only to handle the existing latency correctely and only affects the way Live handles your recordings.

In that case, does that therefore imply that in a live situation the driver error compensation is irrelevant?

[Coupe70]

It is only to handle the existing latency correctely and only affects the way Live handles your recordings.

In that case, does that therefore imply that in a live situation the driver error compensation is irrelevant?

As long as you don't do live sampling I would say YES.
It's only relevant for recording and direct monitoring through your machine.
I recommend reading the first page of the driver error compensation lesson again.

[MikeIndidginus]

OK, that's what I needed to know. I won't be live sampling. What I needed to be sure of is that those at front of house will not hear a noticeable delay in my didg playing (in other words, so it doesn't sound out of time & thus rubbish). I have read & re-read the lesson but didn't understand, hence my asking here! And from what I can see a lot of others don't understand either. It's not obvious stuff.... Thanks for your input.

[Coupe70]

What I needed to be sure of is that those at front of house will not hear a noticeable delay in my didg playing (in other words, so it doesn't sound out of time & thus rubbish).

Well, that depends on if you play your didg THROUGH Live.
If you do there will be delay / latency. If you use the direct monitoring
of your interface (would guess Saffire 6 can do it) there is no latency.

[MikeIndidginus]

My didg is being processed in live (for compression, eq, rverb). I need to do it that way as the dry signal doesn't sound great. Or at least doesn't sound nearly as good as it does with the plugins applied