User Manual

WORKING WITH HOST AUDIO SOFTWARE
20
Where to go in popular audio hosts
Here is the location for this setting in various
popular audio software host applications:
Other audio software
Consult your software’s manual for further
information.
REDUCING MONITORING LATENCY
Monitoring latency is a slight delay caused by
running an input signal through your host audio
software and back out. For example, you might
hear it when you drive a live guitar input signal
through an amp modeling plug-in running in
your audio sequencer.
This delay is caused by the amount of time it takes
for audio to make the entire round trip through
your computer, from when it first enters an input
on the M Series interface, passes through the
interface hardware into the computer, through
your host audio software, and then back out to an
output.
Monitoring through the M2 or M4
If you don’t need to process a live input with
plug-ins, the easiest way to avoid monitoring
latency is to disable your DAW’s live monitoring
feature and instead engage the MON (monitor)
switch on the front panel of your M Series
interface. Visit motu.com/m2-start (or /m4-start)
to watch a video about this feature.
Monitoring through your host audio software
If you do need to process a live input with host
software plug-ins, or if you are playing virtual
instruments live through your MOTU audio
hardware, you can significantly reduce latency by
adjusting the audio buffer setting in your host
audio software, as explained in the next section.
☛ It is important to note that monitoring delay
has no effect on the recording, or playback, of
audio data from disk. The actual recording and
playback is extremely precise, it is only the
monitoring of your live input signal which may be
delayed.
Adjusting your host software audio buffer
Buffers are small bundles of audio data. Your M
Series interface “speaks” to your computer in
buffers, rather than one sample at a time. The size
of these buffers determine how much delay you
hear when monitoring live inputs through your
audio software: larger buffers produce more delay;
smaller buffers produce less.
Adjusting buffer size on macOS
Under macOS, audio I/O buffer size is handled by
the host audio application (not by the M Series
Core Audio driver). Most audio software
applications provide an adjustable audio buffer
setting that lets you control the amount of delay
you’ll hear when monitoring live inputs or
processing them with software plug-ins, as shown
for Performer Lite in Figure 4-2.
Host software
Location for choosing the M2 or M4
Digital Performer
and Performer Lite
Setup menu > Configure Audio System >
Configure Hardware Driver
Pro Tools 9 or later Setup menu > Playback Engine or Current
Engine
Logic Pro Preferences > Audio tab > Devices tab > Core
Audio tab
Garage Band Garage Band menu > Preferences > Audio/
MIDI > Audio Output/Input menus
Cubase and Nuendo Device Setup > Devices list > VST Audio
System menu
Live Preferences > Audio tab
Reason Preferences > Audio preferences
Reaper Preferences > Audio prefs > Devices