Is there a better forum for this? It's so dead. Anyways, are there any low priced firewire/ RME HDCP things I can get for my PC for super low latency guitar modeling?

[Yamdiddle]

I'm playing around with Guitar Rig, and even turning everything super low and getting 8ms of latency feels laggy once I go up in speed. It makes practicing rhythm and timing feel impossible. It's like playing Smash Bros Melee and forgetting to turn on "Game mode" on your TV.

 

Also, if I do get some kind of firewire or RME card, do those even work with Guitar Rig or Amplitube or is it entirely different software?

 

Or, should I get something that doesn't even connect to the computer? One time I was in a studio with someone that had something made by Boss with all these effects, and hooking it up to a PC was optional because all of the stuff was built in. All kinds of modeled amps, effects, actual knobs and stuff that I could turn. I don't know what that type of hardware is called, if it's called a pedal or something else, but that was cool. Can anyone help me out here? Lowest latency possible is my #1 feature... and #2 feature is that it doesn't destroy my bank account. I only save a few hundred a month so that's basically my budget.... I mean I can wait if it's worth it, but yea I'm not a rich audiophile and don't want to spend 2000 bucks on an amp sim with expensive tube preamps and stuff.

 

Thanks.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I'd suggest asking in the Studio Trenches or Recording forums - both of which get more traffic than this forum.

[WRGKMC]

 

Its unlikely your latency has anything to do with your interface. Its the computer all the way. If you haven't got a quad processor with the memory maxed out highly optimized for recording "And" a separate internal drive for tracking running low CPU consumption plugins, chances are you wont be able to use plugins as a substitute for hardware versions.

 

Laptops are always slower then desktop versions with the same specs too. This is because laptops are all about battery efficiency and everything

runs on the lowest voltage possible. There's all kinds of throttling going on to save power and there's no way you can match the speed of a desktop running multiple internal drives for recording.

 

There's a little program you can run that will test your computer. http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

It gives you a readout of how low the latency can be set without crashing. If it doesn't read below 100 forget it. You probably wont be able to optimize your way into running plugins as hardware substitutes. If the average is 50 or below you may have a chance of getting close by optimizing the crap out of the laptop. Deinstall all programs, antivirus, internet, everything except your audio programs and operating system. Then go even farther and shut down most of the services running in the back ground. Then you can turn off your network card and make sire all your IRQ's are running independently.

 

That Might get the latency another 10ms lower doing all of that. If its still not in the 10~20ms region, you probably aren't going to be running plugins in real time.

 

I normally record through an interface using zero latency monitoring. I Have nmy latency set for like 1 second so I can run the maximum number of plugins mixing music. I have a very fast computer but not nearly fast enough for running plugins close to real time. The thing is they have these plugins being sold and by their adds they make you think they are going to run like stomp boxes. Most should list the Minimum computer hardware requirements, not the maximum. Minimum means you'll be able to load and limp along without crashing. They may not tell you what is recommended for proper functionality.

 

Personally, I've tried most of them and I wouldn't even consider using them as a substitute for hardware. It would be cool if they actually worked and actually gave you decent tones like hardware based effects do, but the reality is, they just aren't quite there yet. There's still too many gain staging and CPU issues. Plus you cant beat the low cost of what you can do with hardware.

 

For example, I bought a used Digitec RP150 pedal a few months ago for $35. http://digitech.com/en-US/products/rp150 I can record bass and guitar with it, and its got a basic drum machine built in. It got all kinds of effects, amp modeling and even a tuner built in. I can plug it into the computer direct with the USB and plug in headphones. I can hear the tracks play back and track along to them with zero latency. Then if I want to add more effects I can do that when I'm mixing using daw plugins.

 

I normally use my interface however. I use the pedals stereo analog output and plug into the interface and use the interfaces converters instead of the pedals built in USB converter. I can record at higher sample rates and I don't have to be swapping devices within the daw when tracking.