What is roundtrip latency in Logic?

[RockNRoll]

Hello all,

 

At 128 samples, Logic says "8.9ms". Is this time referring to how long it takes from the moment a singer makes a noise to the time it takes to get back into your headphones/monitors?

 

Also, would this number likely increase as the result of plugins inserted into the track and an increasing number of tracks in the whole session in general? If so, would the latency reading increase to reflect the added demands of the CPU?

 

Thanks for any insights!

[triplets]

Yes, the higher the roundtrip latency, the worse it gets for recording in real time.

When recording, don't add any latency-inducing plugins like Adaptive Limiter, Multipressor, Linear Phase EQ and any plugin with a look-ahead function.

Try to reduce the I/O buffer as low as possible when you're recording to bring the latency down. You can also click on the Low Latency button on Logic's transport bar so it bypasses latency-inducing plugins.

What also helps is to put the Plugin Delay Compensation in Logic's Preferences to Off for recording and then back to All for mixing.

If you're getting CPU warnings when mixing with a low buffer, increase it.

[David Nahmani]

Also, would this number likely increase as the result of plugins inserted into the track and an increasing number of tracks in the whole session in general?

Latency only concerns the record-enabled track, not the other tracks that are merely playing back. So the number of tracks and what plug-ins are on the other tracks is not of concern.

 

On the other hand, adding latency-inducing plug-ins to the record-enabled track and/or to a channel strip in its signal flow will increase the roundtrip latency but not increase the reading of the roundtrip latency as displayed in Logic's audio preferences. So what's displayed is the roundtrip latency without any latency inducing plug-ins, or with the low latency mode on.