Specifications

Audio

Sampling frequencies supported by

the M3 Editor / Plug-In Editor

• The M3 Editor / Plug-In Editor support sampling frequencies of 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2

kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and 192 kHz.

• If a sampling frequency lower than 44.1 kHz (such as 8k–32 kHz) is speciﬁed by the exter-

nal host application, the output of the M3 Editor will be silent.

Sampling frequency setting (sampling rate converter)

The M3 itself operates at an internal sampling rate of 48 kHz. If you’ve speciﬁed a sampling

rate other than 48 kHz, the sampling rate converter built into the M3 Editor will operate, con-

verting the data to the appropriate 48 kHz audio data so that audio data can be transferred

between the M3 and the computer.

Both the standalone version and the plug-in version will operate at supported sampling fre-

quencies, but at high sampling frequencies, the M3 Editor will consume a signiﬁcant amount

of realtime CPU processing in order to perform the rate conversion. Unless you are using a

sufﬁciently fast computer, we recommend that you use 48 kHz if your application allows 48

kHz recording and playback, since this will minimize the processing load.

About latency

Latency (delay) will occur in audio data that is handled by M3 Editor via EXB-FW.

Latency occurs in the following three locations.

1. When passing audio data between the M3 and M3 Editor

2. When passing audio data between M3 Editor and your DAW

3. In the sampling rate converter built into M3 Editor

For location 1 above, the latency can be adjusted in Windows by opening the KORG EXB-FW

ASIO Driver control panel and setting the ASIO buffer depth (☞p.6 “About the buffer size”).

In Mac, go to the M3 Editor’s GLOBAL mode, choose the Software Setup tab, and in the

Audio Settings section, adjust the Buffer Latency setting (☞p.58).

For location 2 above, the latency is adjusted in the DAW you’re using. In the stand-alone ver-

sion of M3 Editor, you can set this in the Preferences dialog box (☞p.13 “Audio settings”).

For location 3 above, the latency will change depending on the above settings 1 and 2, the

sample rate, and the CPU Load setting (☞p.58) in the GLOBAL mode Software Setup tab

Audio Settings section.

The overall latency resulting from the total of these three locations is shown as the Total

Latency in the GLOBAL mode Software Setup tab Audio Settings section.

In order to decrease the overall latency, you’ll need to decrease the above three latencies. For 1

and 2 above, this means that you’ll want to choose a low value; however, the values that are

actually usable will depend on your system, and noise is more likely to occur with exces-

sively low settings.

Regarding 3 above, the M3’s sample rate is ﬁxed at 48 kHz, so you can minimize the latency

by setting your DAW (M3 Editor) to also run at 48 kHz. You can also reduce the latency by

setting “CPU Load” to High in the Audio Settings section, but depending on your system and

on the settings for 1 and 2, this may make noise more likely.

As appropriate for your system, you’ll need to ﬁnd the optimal settings for which noise does

not occur.