3. Monitoring and latency

What latency is, how it's calculated from the buffer, when direct monitoring is worth it and how to avoid dropouts when recording with amp sims.

Latency is the time it takes sound to enter the computer, get processed and come back to your ears. If it’s high, you play and hear yourself late, and that ruins the rhythm even if you don’t know why.

The buffer

The computer processes audio in blocks. The block size is the buffer, and the time comes from a simple calculation: samples divided by sample rate.

At 48 kHz, in each direction

64 samples: 1.3 ms
128 samples: 2.7 ms
256 samples: 5.3 ms
512 samples: 10.7 ms

The real latency you hear is higher: the round trip doubles that number, and converters and the driver add a bit more.

Buffer when recording64 or 128 samples

Less latency, more work for the computer. If clicks or dropouts appear, raise it one step. From about 10 ms round trip, many people start to notice the delay when playing.

Buffer when mixing512 or more

You're no longer playing anything live, so latency doesn't matter. A large buffer gives the computer more margin for plugins and avoids dropouts.

The two monitoring paths

Direct monitoring, from the iD44

The signal goes from the input to the headphones without passing through the computer, from the iD mixer. It has no perceptible latency, but no plugins either.

Works best for: vocals, and for guitar or bass when you don’t need to hear the amp sim.

Monitoring through Studio One

The signal goes through the track’s plugins (blue button) and comes back. You hear the amp sim, but with the buffer’s latency.

Works best for: guitar and bass with amp sim, because playing with the final sound changes how you play.

🟠 Better to set it now· in recording

Playing with a delay worsens the rhythm and pitch of every take, and that can't be fixed later without a lot of editing. It's solved in minutes, and only once.

If there are dropouts or the computer can’t keep up

Try in this order:

Raise the buffer one step. It’s the first and simplest thing.
Freeze what you aren’t playing. Superior Drummer 3 and amp sims use a lot. Convert those tracks to audio with Transform to Audio.
Remove the mixing plugins. Long reverbs and look-ahead limiters add latency and CPU. Turn them off while recording.
Close what you don’t use: browser, file syncing, real-time antivirus.

If plugins add delay

Some plugins, especially limiters and those that work with look-ahead, delay the signal. When mixing, Studio One compensates automatically. When recording, you hear it. That’s why a light recording session is worth it, leaving the mixing chain for later.

Common mistakes

What NOT to chase yet

Quick path: monitoring with no delay

Quick path

Buffer at 64 or 128 samples when recording.
Guitar and bass with amp sim: blue button on and channel lowered in the iD mixer.
Vocals: direct monitoring on and blue button off.
If there are dropouts, raise the buffer one step.
Convert to audio what you aren't playing.
Turn off the mixing plugins while recording.
When mixing, buffer at 512 or more.

Expected result

You play and hear yourself with no noticeable delay, echo or dropouts. The takes land where you played them. With the takes done, what’s left is keeping the best of each one: comping and editing.