[problem] adding few effects (even in disabled state) affects latency

GhostX

New Member
Hello guys!
I've bought AXE 3 recently and I came across a problem, the solution of which was not able to find.
I plug my guitar into instrumental input and route output1 into Native Komplete Audio 6, which I use as my main audio interface. I use direct monitoring from mentioned audio interface. Studio One 4 with Komplete Audio 6 ASIO driver. I use Axe Edit III to control the AXE. Latest firmware.

Yesterday me and my friend were recording some stuff. We started from the very basic amp-cab-geq chain and then went full nuts (!!!) adding phaser, delay, filter and few other effects. CPU went from 20% to 50%.
My friend (that was playing guitar) noticed latency changes that he felt from direct monitoring. I said that hes just deaf and that he should go find another friend, but being paranoid myself, doubts crept into my mind.
We set clean patch with I/O and bunch of shunts and started recording clean guitar sound to the beat of the metronome. All good.
We set previous patch with all effects ON. Horrible input latency striked back.
We set half effects to bypass -- not much changed.
We deleted unused effects, CPU load went from 50% to 20% (amp-cab-geq left) -- better, but still noticeable latency.
We even disconnected USB cable, but being programmer myself, I know that god has its own views.

I'm not talking about latency that makes monitoring/jam unplayable, I'm talking about latency that makes direct recording questionable.

Question is, is it normal behavior or I'm just doing something wrong?


I apologize for possible grammar mistakes.
 
You might find that the Axe III makes a very high quality interface itself, which is very well integrated with its onboard processing and routing.
 
Just pause and think about what you've said, if your assertion is true - the III when used in isolation exhibits noticeable latency increases as you add effects.

If this was true, the internet would be full of it - Fractal would not sell any products, all the people that use and love the III would not etc.etc.

Can you imagine the noise Kemper and Line 6 fans would be making?

So therefore we can assume it's something else you were hearing - here are some ideas:

1. Something in your patch makes it feel like the sound is delayed - for example very wet reverb, or reverb with lots of pre-delay. Even maybe if you have a lot of mic distance in your cab set up
2. Something in your patch(2) makes you feel like that, maybe actually your friend was mistaking 'latency' for lack of attack on the note?
3. Your audio interface, direct monitoring just means that it's not going to the computer - it's likely still going through the a/d (and therefore d/a) convertors, some interfaces don't do this, but some do. That adds latency, and more importantly the signal will change.
4. You talk about recording to the metronome, this is using your USB drivers, did you really do nothing else? Meaning no other tracks, no other load on the PC etc.

As others have said here, try using the axe as an audio interface - it's rather good.

It's also worth talking about latency, really it's overhyped - often by people looking to look techy (no disrespect meant to you or your friend), play a Marshall stack in a decent sized venue, you're dealing with more latency than the Axe introduces, do you really hear people complaining about that?
 
The only problem with using the AF3 as an interface is the fixed bitrate. If it could only switch! All of my old Logic projects from the past 10+ years are in 44.1.
 
Just pause and think about what you've said, if your assertion is true - the III when used in isolation exhibits noticeable latency increases as you add effects.

If this was true, the internet would be full of it - Fractal would not sell any products, all the people that use and love the III would not etc.etc.

Can you imagine the noise Kemper and Line 6 fans would be making?

So therefore we can assume it's something else you were hearing - here are some ideas:

1. Something in your patch makes it feel like the sound is delayed - for example very wet reverb, or reverb with lots of pre-delay. Even maybe if you have a lot of mic distance in your cab set up
2. Something in your patch(2) makes you feel like that, maybe actually your friend was mistaking 'latency' for lack of attack on the note?
3. Your audio interface, direct monitoring just means that it's not going to the computer - it's likely still going through the a/d (and therefore d/a) convertors, some interfaces don't do this, but some do. That adds latency, and more importantly the signal will change.
4. You talk about recording to the metronome, this is using your USB drivers, did you really do nothing else? Meaning no other tracks, no other load on the PC etc.

As others have said here, try using the axe as an audio interface - it's rather good.

It's also worth talking about latency, really it's overhyped - often by people looking to look techy (no disrespect meant to you or your friend), play a Marshall stack in a decent sized venue, you're dealing with more latency than the Axe introduces, do you really hear people complaining about that?

Thank you for reply and your time!
I apologize if my post was misleading that I am trying to slander the device. It's the best piece of gear I've ever had.
Even with those delays I don't find it such a big deal (there's offset fix for such cases), but for my friend it's a big deal. He's also considering to buy axe in the future. So I'm mostly doing it for hes calmness:)


1 -- I'll dig into mic distances. It's making sense.
2 -- No. It's the first thing that I've assumed. We even reamped the same DI through clean/amp-cab patches.
3 -- True.
4 -- No, I use USB just to edit patch via AXE Edit, the signal itself goes from axe output1 to main audio interface inst. input.
Also gonna try to use it as a main interface.

Thank you, again.
 
The only problem with using the AF3 as an interface is the fixed bitrate. If it could only switch! All of my old Logic projects from the past 10+ years are in 44.1.
I am in the same boat.

You can go in analog on those. Not as spiffy as going in digitally, bit still sounds great....
 
compressor block with look ahead will add latency.

I thought drive blocks added latency but I could be mistaken or maybe was only previous models and not the 3.
 
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