How Low Can You Go?; About Samples And Buffers - Native Instruments Audio 8 DJ Operation Manual

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11.5.1 How low can you go?

1.5 ms of latency approaches the theoretical minimum, because it will always take some

time to convert a human action into something digital and then to convert the digital action

back to analog sound. However, note that ultra-low latency settings (or higher sampling

rates) make your computer work harder, which can affect the performance. So, here are

some tips on living with latency.

Audio cannot be handled continuously by a computer, but has to wait its turn while other

operations are being carried out. As a result, sound cards create a "buffer," which can

hold a certain number of samples, where data can be stored and released as needed to

create a smooth flow of data. An analogy would be if you had a hose that does not deliver

water continuously, but in bursts. So you use a holding tank to store the water coming in

from the hose and have a valve in the tank that releases a steady amount of water in a

smooth, continuous flow.

If the tank (buffer) is large, then you can store more water in case the hose goes dry for a

bit. But it will take longer to fill the bucket, which is equivalent to latency. A smaller tank

takes less time to fill, but the hose needs to deliver water on a pretty continuous basis.

All ASIO audio interfaces and sound cards include a Control Panel in which you can adjust

latency. This may be given as the number of samples per buffer or just milliseconds.

The AUDIO 8 DJ provides you with six predefined settings (in milliseconds) to choose from

and the option to user-define the values.

Open Start > All Programs > Native Instruments > Audio 8 DJ Driver > Control Panel.

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