Ableton Forum

JBlongz wrote:So I will notice a significant latency difference betweeen the Duet and RME Multiface?

That depends, what was your total latency (in milliseconds) with the Multiface? You said you ran a buffer size of 256 to 512, but you didn't say what sample rate or what your latency was in milliseconds.

I have never used any of the RME stuff, but I've heard a lot of good things about their latency performance.
For me, 10.4 seconds total latency with the Duet is not a problem at all.

If you were playing completely in the analogue world, with no digital latency whatsoever, and you had to stand 30 or 50 feet from your amp, most people would NOT be so thrown off by it that they couldn't play anymore. You'd adjust your playing and just get on with it.

The nax latency I had was 7ms. I usually tried to keep it at 5ms. I was using Multiface 2 with the new generation pci 2.0 compliant RME card with the latest firmware. I always keep the sample rate at 44.1KHz 16bit. I know PCI will always be faster than Firewire, but I need an ultra portable bus-powered solution. I've been reading comparisons with the Duet, Motu Ultralite and Profire 610. I gather that the Duet's sound quality is best, Profire is impressive, and Motu is solid. But I'm very worried about latencies. That is my biggest annoyance.

JBlongz wrote:The nax latency I had was 7ms. I usually tried to keep it at 5ms. I was using Multiface 2 with the new generation pci 2.0 compliant RME card with the latest firmware. I always keep the sample rate at 44.1KHz 16bit. I know PCI will always be faster than Firewire, but I need an ultra portable bus-powered solution. I've been reading comparisons with the Duet, Motu Ultralite and Profire 610. I gather that the Duet's sound quality is best, Profire is impressive, and Motu is solid. But I'm very worried about latencies. That is my biggest annoyance.

I'll assume you mean 5ms TOTAL latency, not just input latency.

For what it's worth, I've owned both an Ultralite and now the Duet, between the two of them, here's my opinion.

Ultralite: *slightly* lower latency for me (64 sample buffer size, around 8-9ms total latency), good sound, very stable with Live 6 and 7 (didn't have it to test with Live 8 )

Duet: *slightly* higher (100 samples buffer size, 10.4ms total latency), excellent sound quality and mic pres, very stable with Live 6,7,8

I suppose if latency is your deciding factor, go with the Motu. I had the ultralite and before that, an original 828 and both of them were great interfaces that were rock solid.
Personally, I'm happier with the Duet, the sound quality is absolutely worth it.

Either one will serve you well.
Can't speak for the profire as I've never used one.

LandWhale, What type and quantity of plugins do you use, if any? 10ms of latency sounds like a lot. I play the keys and how it will not throw me off after a couple instances Kontakt and SampleTank.


Perhaps I will try the Duet for 30days.

I typically run 1-3 instances of Line 6 pod farm plug-in, 1-4 instances of Fab Filter One or Automat, and at least a dozen Live devices, usually more.
Once I either hit 50% CPU or start getting audio crackles, I usually either bounce or freeze a few things, or bump up the buffer size if I don't need to record anymore live instruments.

I don't know how the duet would respond in your scenario, I know Kontakt and Sampletank are obviously more demanding than what I'm using.

Having owned both, my advice would be try the Duet first and see if it can handle your config, if not, try the Ultralite.

I hope you dont mind me asking.
What latency do you get at 100 samples (for in/ out / both)?
I do most of my monitoring in headphones, is there much of a difference between the headphone amp in the duet then the mac itself?

thnks & regards

interior designers los angeles
interior designer los angeles
interior design los angeles

I posted it earlier

My total latency at 44.1khz is:

4.35ms in + 4.56ms out +1.5ms of driver error compensation= 10.4ms TOTAL latency

The headphone amp gets really loud, definitely tighter and smoother than the built-in audio on the MBP, especially when using high volume.

I got mine yesterday too! Bought it warehouse resealed. I LOVE IT! There is sooo much headroom. I'm getting high volume without turning it 1/4 of the way yet (I keep my monitors' volume at 80%). It performs very well at 100samples buffer size when running sample intensive plugins like Philharmonik, MachFive, BPM, and Kontakt. I haven't tried the preamps..maybe sometime today. The Duet is very clear, very simple, no headaches. The breakout cable is kinda annoying, but I'll live with it. The quality matches my RME Multiface for sure! I don't regret selling my 2009 Mac Pro. I recommend you guys swap out the CD drive for another hard drive, then turn the superdrive into a usb external. I use the second drive for my most important sound banks and Live's Library (400GB total). And it ELIMINATES the need for an external drive, letting my duet control that bus.

Here is the kit to do it:
http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index ... N=77221827

Good decision on the Duet eh?

Thanks for the link on that dual hd upgrade, they don't have the option for my particular model MBP, but I believe there's another company that has a similar upgrade for pre-unibody models.