Latency issues with Focusrite 8i6 3rd Gen.

[MikaB]

Hi Folks,

So I have been trying out the new interface, I previously had a Presonus Audiobox and have to admit I'm stumped about this problem.

Basically, I have left everything as it is out of the box and I have huge latency issues where I record along to e.g. a click or a VST bass and I am way behind the beat. Sounds fine when recording - I just have headphones plugged into the front and have not changed anything or done any fancy routing. MixControl has just been set to "Empty" preset and then I added the DAW in as the output.

I hear everything OK but when I record, it's behind the beat. I have never had these problems with the Audiobox and I'll hook it up in a minute and see if things look the same (which I doubt). I've used the Audiobox with Mixcraft and nothing was every behind the click or beat.

One thing I am not sure on is where direct monitoring happens. On the Audiobox it is obvious. On the Focusrite it mentions Direct Monitoring but the FocusControl manual then does not mention it whatsoever.

Tbh, I don't really get the MixControl software either as regards headphones: I can't apparently send any mixes to the front headphone sockets, which I thought was the whole point of having them... And if they're for direct monitoring they clearly do not work.

Any ideas welcome. I'm very much a newbie at all this, although the Audiobox was a doddle to use. Maybe I should go back to it...

Cheers,

M.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Are you using ASIO mode in Mixcraft's Sound Device preferences? If not, try that.

If ASIO mode alone doesn't fix the problem, click Open Mixer and try lowering your buffer settings a bit.

If you lower them too much, you'll get audio skipping. Try to find a happy medium.

Greg

[outteh]

https://d2zjg0qo565n2.cloudfront.net/si ... -guide.pdf

You need the control user guide. Check out direct monitor routing!

[MikaB]

Hi,

Are you using ASIO mode in Mixcraft's Sound Device preferences? If not, try that.

If ASIO mode alone doesn't fix the problem, click Open Mixer and try lowering your buffer settings a bit.

If you lower them too much, you'll get audio skipping. Try to find a happy medium.

Greg

Switching to ASIO fixed it. Zero latency. Well, 3 ms according to the ASIO dialog in MIxcraft. But with CoreAudio, I was getting a roundtrip delay of around 100 ms, no idea why.

Update: buffers set to 64. Seems OK for now although I did detect the odd occasional pop/crackle, barely noticeable but there. May up them a bit.

Thx Greg!

[MikaB]

https://d2zjg0qo565n2.cloudfront.net/si ... -guide.pdf

You need the control user guide. Check out direct monitor routing!

Thanks for the link Mark, I have my copy for the 8i6 but the key problems with the Focusrite guides are:

- They are not model-specific
- They do not explain that the headphones at the front are actually identical to outputs 1-2 at the back. OK, you can get separate mixes by using direct routing, as you say but this is not explained anywhere in the Guide, which talks about direct routing for mixing only.
- They do not explain direct monitoring anywhere, only direct routing

With trial and error, it can all be worked out, but it is a bit non-intuitive. You would think, perhaps, that the headphones could simply be assigned a mix directly but I guess that would make it not an 8i6 but an 8i10 (5 pairs of stereo outputs).

As said, still getting to grips with all this. At least my first song is completely written. Just have to get it turned into bits and bytes :=).

M.

[Anorax]

With trial and error, it can all be worked out, but it is a bit non-intuitive. You would think, perhaps, that the headphones could simply be assigned a mix directly but I guess that would make it not an 8i6 but an 8i10 (5 pairs of stereo outputs)

So fun fact, you can change the headphone monitoring source on a 2i4 with a hardware switch...

Completely unhelpful to you, of course, but Focusrite has definitely thought of this before!

Actually, does the 8i6 include the Scarlett monitoring software like the 18iXX series do? You may be able to change the headphone source in the software.

[Rolling Estonian]

Update: buffers set to 64. Seems OK for now although I did detect the odd occasional pop/crackle, barely noticeable but there. May up them a bit.

64 is really low, the 'norm' is 512, that's why you're hearing pops.

M