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Re: latency figures

Gareth Whittock schrieb:
> Ok, I may be in a position to purchase a new PC laptop soon and will 
> have to trawl thrugh the myriad tech spec jungle
> so... Who's got the lowest latency figures?
> Advice on quad core vs dual vs 8 core, amount of ram, 64 bit vs 32 bit 
> etc.
The latency you get doesn't have that much to do with the CPU.
Main factors tend to be (in no specific order):
    * the computer's chipset
    * (integrated) computer peripherals (some card readers tend to have 
a very negative effect)
    * audio interface drivers
    * audio interface hardware
    * software application
    * your distance to the speakers

The influence of the processor comes after that - a more powerful 
processor can help you lowering latency if the other factors are ok 
(very simplified statement).
There is a performance figure which is a good indicator as how good a 
given computer is for low-latency applications, and it's called DPC 
latency. For a test tool, see 
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Some (online) computer magazines have finally started to post DPC 
latency figures a while ago.

Although not a looping application, I got <0.7ms (one way at 48kHz) with 
the following setup:
    * Dell Studio 1747 (w/ Nehalem QuadCore)
    * Win7 Professional, Cubase 5.5
    * RME digiface/HDSP Express
    * recording 17 audio tracks and running The Grand 2

(details on the session: 
http://moinsound.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/a-tatowierte-katz-another-twitterchords-tune/)

          Rainer

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