[LAU] hardware - Intel CPUs

[Len Ovens]

On Tue, 15 Apr 2014, James Mckernon wrote:

> On Mon, Apr 14, 2014 at 2:06 AM, Len Ovens <len at ovenwerks.net> wrote:
>       I would realy like to stay away from having to use a USB or FW
>       audio IF. In fact I would like to be able to continue to use my
>       delta 66 for as long as I can before I spend more money :)  The
> 
> Thanks for the useful info in your post. Just to be clear on this part: are
> you saying you don't want to switch to USB/FW solely because you want to
> keep using your delta 66, or because you have some definite preference for
> PCIe over USB/FW devices? If the latter, I wonder why?

USB in audio is limited. Getting clear USB ports interupt wise is not 
easy. Audio can not be on a hub or share it's usb with anything else, but 
many new MB have no mouse or kb port so the USB is already being used for 
that much. The real reason though, is latency. With the pci the latency 
can be 1/4 what it can be in USB or FW. That is the lowest seeting jack 
for USB or FW is 64/2, but I can run the d66 at 16/2 with no problem on a 
well tuned system. This does make a difference for live work. I know that 
64/2 seems like very good latency (it is) but remember that the card then 
adds another ms in each direction as well as the stage distances on top of 
that. That is the time it takes the sound to reach my ear after going 
through the computer as a processor and then through the air to my ear. 
Maybe that is still not worth worrying about... but even with 30 feet of 
cord and no digital delay, I can hear the delay from my playing to the 
sound reaching my ear.

--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net