MAC-users... What soundcard is best for ultra-low latency!?

jesQuick · Post by **jesQuick** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:16 am

I know this is covered in several other trheads... But here we go again...

What sound-card is the one with the lowest latency on PowerMac´s?

My M-Audio (sigh) FW 410 cannot go lower than around 10 ms... And that is with a completely empty session... And the M-box, well, its USB so no lower than 512 samples...

Whats do you guys use... And what is the lowest possible buffer-size with an empty session u can get?? Without getting clicks and pops...

(This thread could potentailly be very interesting or make you cry your eyes out)

Cheers!

Im running OS 10.3.9...other specs below...

madlab · Post by **madlab** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:57 am

I use a X-station with a 256 buffer and get a quiet decent latency.

snowtires · Post by **snowtires** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:16 pm

so this is for a desktop? get a pci card interface

jesQuick · Post by **jesQuick** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:02 pm

snowtires wrote:so this is for a desktop? get a pci card interface

Yes its for a desktop... Looking at the Delta 1010 (but do I dare going the m-audio way?) Any good info on the 1010 out there...?

stegi · Post by **stegi** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:06 pm

motu traveler

snowtires · Post by **snowtires** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:51 pm

jesQuick wrote:
snowtires wrote:so this is for a desktop? get a pci card interface
Yes its for a desktop... Looking at the Delta 1010 (but do I dare going the m-audio way?) Any good info on the 1010 out there...?

i hate m-audio, but a friend of mine swears by his 1010. i asked him, 'if you had $2000 to spend on an audio interface, what would you buy?' and he said 'five more 10/10s'

Spikee · Post by **Spikee** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:08 pm

I own the 1010 w/ breakout box and it's really not that bad. I run at 44.1/24/384 buffer and my latency is about 8ms which is manageable. The breakout box also does a great job handling signal processing, and my recordings have all been very clean.

I'd also look at RME's selection. Their soundcards all boast zero CPU load, which is quite astonishing. The only problem however is that they're fairly expensive...

snowtires · Post by **snowtires** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:27 pm

yeah, i was like, hmmm maybe i'll get an rme and then i was like, hmmm maybe i'll win the lottery first, so i can afford one.

frisbeedisk · Post by **frisbeedisk** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:27 pm

dont start another hate m-audio thred..

death to the 410

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:06 pm

the guy who'd buy 6 10/10's is a certifiable mongoloid. He probably uses them to chew on or something.

ryansupak · Post by **ryansupak** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:20 pm

RME Audio Hammerfall cards are known for exceptionally low latency; I've heard in the neighborhood of <=3ms. I think RME is the brand Monolake uses FWIW.

I don't know of any actual computer::latency benchmarks though.

hth,
rs

snowtires · Post by **snowtires** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:21 pm

b0unce wrote:the guy who'd buy 6 10/10's is a certifiable mongoloid. He probably uses them to chew on or something.

it's funny, because i feel the same way, i told him he's crazy

psizE · Post by **psizE** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:29 pm

if your considering an RME you might as well get a metric halo uln 2882
made for mac only! great interface

psizE

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:35 pm

+1 metric halo

it must be made of voodoo or something. Any sound you put in - comes right back out! voodoo voodoo! oohh ohh! the voodoo box! dont look directly at it!

Willem · Post by **Willem** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:17 pm

I have a Mackie Onyx with firewire option, I must say it serves me really well.