Ableton Forum

Certain plugins I use seem to add tiny bits of latency, and after I make an entire set complete with mastering scheme it becomes bad. Specifically PSP and Waves plugins, but I love what they can do to my sound.
Tried messing with Plugin buffer size in prefs...

It hurts especially when I try to do realtime controller glitch.. the glitches are a little off so the sound isnt super tight like I want it to be or like it is whithout any Waves/PSP/Voxengo exciters/limiters...

Oh and this is the same on Macbook waves as it is on Windows waves... I tested very carefully on macbook..

For example try setting up like eight L3 Ultramaxes on a track and watch how long it takes for the audio of that track to get to the master...

Anyone have any tricks/workarounds for this? If you use a L3 and bounce it down does the new sample really retain the Umph that an L3 can give...

As computers get faster Effects get more complex and bog the system down just like my system was bogged years ago trying to run stuff that these days is easy on a processor... anyway Im not the first to get frustrated at this...

You're gonna want to look into PDC (Plugin Delay Compensation). I THINK there is a button to the right of the Master Track to make this function visable. It's grouped with the crossfader/sends/mixer visable buttons.

It'll put an extra drop down on the bottom of all of your audio/midi tracks, that allows you to input a time value (in ms). It then applies these delay times to all the tracks, meaning when the sound hits the master channel, they are all perfectly synch'd again.

I think.

napalmskatterjazz wrote: If you use a L3 and bounce it down does the new sample really retain the Umph that an L3 can give...

Yes, yes it does - just freeze the track, or bounce it down.

Also, be careful of over-use of L3. Unless you really need a particular part to actually sound compressed, it's usually best left as a master effect. Obviously this is down to personal preference and music genre, but if you're going to use multiple compressors, you should use them lightly (unless they're specifically there to make over-compressed sounds).

PDC is actually under the options menu as 'delay compensation', and i think is actually where the problem is. all his effects are creating so much latency that when live delays all the tracks so they match it means his realtime feel is out, and i don't think track delay compensation will fix this.

maybe turn them off while recording controller info in realtime, and use them more for adding the gloss for mastering? or as suggested bounce the tracks/clips down. i guess it depends on whether you're using em out live really. if so, you'll probably have to compromise between sound and usability...