76–TRAKTORAUDIO6–Manual
10 Appendix
10.1 About Latency and Buffers
Whenconvertingaudioinformationtodigitalandviceversa,theaudiodriverneedstostore
thedatainbufferpackages(audiobuffers)whicharethensenttoandprocessedbytheCPU
ofyourcomputer.Thehigherthebuffersize,thelongerittakesforasignaltonallyarrive
attheoutputasaudio.Youmightexperiencethisaslateresponsebetweenhittingakeyon
a controller which controls music software on your computer and hearing the sound at the
output.Fortunately,withtoday’scomputersandlow-latencysoundcarddrivers,thisdelayis
usuallyverylow(e.g.,threemillisecondsisaboutthesamedelaycausedbyngerssnapping
onemeterawayfromyourears).Latencymustbekeptatminimuminordertomakesoftware
instrumentsandDJapplicationsplayable.
HowLowCanYouGo?
1.5ms of latency approaches the theoreticalminimum because it willalways takesome
timetoprocessinformationinacomputer.Notethatultra-lowbuffersizesettings(aswell
ashighersamplerates)makeyour computerwork harder,whichcanadverselyaffect the
performance.
Readchapter6forinstructionsonhowtoadjustbuffersizesandsampleratesforshorterlatency.
Ifyoucannotgetridofaudiodropouts,crackles,andnoisesbyadjustingbuffersizeand
sample rate settings, check your system using the DPC Latency Checker Program for
Windows,foundonthewebathttp://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml.
10.2 DifferentTypesofASIO
ItisextremelyimportanttousethededicatedASIOdriverwrittenfortheTRAKTORAUDIO6
andinstalledduringsoftwareinstallation(chapter3)oftheTRAKTORAUDIO6.Thereare
alsogenericASIOdrivers(forWindows),typicallycalledASIODirectXFullDuplexDriveror
ASIOMultimediaDriver.Ifyou’renotsurewhichonetouse,trythemallandchoosetheone
that provides the lowest latency.