1 ms latency with stock sound card !!

I would bet your measurements are off...

Why? Because just by sheer fact of the AD/DA you are going to have more than 1 ms of latency I believe.

Plus stock sound cards have problems with drift if I remember right, along with being poor quality conversions and preamps etc.

Seablade

Yes, they may be off, but even if they are off by , say, 5ms, that's still pretty good.

I used to check on latency figures all the time, but over time, I found that if everything just worked and sounded right, latency between 5 and 40 ms really didn't make much difference to me as long as the end product sounded right. While performing, I have my piano vst at 23 ms latency and there is no detectable difference, at least to me, than if it was at 5 seconds.


But if you really are getting 1 ms, that's amazing...

Actually with ASIO4ALL I was able to get 8ms on an IBM A31 (P4 1,6Ghz, 512mb ram) Thinkpad's internal AC97 SOUND MAX sound card. Now with my M-AUDIO FireWire I am at 5,8ms. Actually as long as I am below 10 I am happy :-)
Just 1ms to me appears extremely unlikely. Are you using the DMA Buffered mode? But actually you should not have any reason to complain as long as you don't get drop-outs and clicking noises.

144 samples, and what is your sample rate? At 44.1 that would be just under 3 mS induced by your buffer that is correct(Lower if you use a higher samplerate), assuming you are in fact getting that performance. You could always try looping out of and back into your interface with a cable and playback and record a file into and out of your multitracker(Assuming you dont have latency compensation) and see how far off it is. That should give you a pretty accurate number.

In as far as that is concerned I wouldnt doubt it is possible to get low latency with a built-in interface if that is what you are asking. Doesnt mean your interface is good quality though IMO as many other things factor in that. On top of the fact I am betting you are outputting 2 streams and at most recording one since you are using your internal card, it will get significantly less stable as the workload gets more intense and you start running a large number of plugins and such.

Under 10 mS should do fairly well, ideally you would want under 5 if possible as low as 3, under 3 I doubt youll ever hear a difference. While with larger numbers you may not hear a difference being out of phase will play all hell with your frequency response in your recordings when you mix them down which is why you want to avoid that.

Seablade

Ok what I meant was in your multi-track program(I am assuming you are using one) import an audio file and set that track to playback through your stereo output(This would be best accomplished using a mono file as most likely you only have one input). Then take an 1/8" Mono to 1/8" Mono cable and run it out of your output that the file is playing out of, and into your input on your laptop, set the gain so you get the same amplitude on the input that is coming out of the output if you have that option, and then set a track of your multi-track to record your input. Then start your multi-track program playing the file and recording the input, the difference in time between the playback and record will represent your latency and should be fairly accurate I believe. Obviously you will have to zoom a ways in to see the mS(Or what should be mS) difference between the two, and make sure you use a file with a definite signal at the begining, not one that fades in over time so you know when it starts playing.

In as far as sound cards, are you set on PCMCIA or did you just say that because you figured it would be the best way to go for a laptop? If the second option do you need power out of your laptop for it(So you dont have to plug into the wall)? How good of an interface are you looking for?

Seablade

pcmcia cards:

High End: RME

General: Echo Audio Indigo series.

If you dont need much except for basic line level I think the Indigo from what I have heard about it will serve you fine.

Seablade

I'm on the indigo IO, input output and I use it for everything: monitoring when composing on cubase, live performance, even when watcing dvds with a digital projector. It has been 100% reliable for me and sounds great, much better than the stock card. It also has small for factor. FOr personal monitoring with headphones, it also sounds great. It even works well with gaming.

I think you woud be 100% thoroughly happy with the Echo card. To , me, it's pretty cool.

My only warning!

Do not drop your lap top on the side with the card. Actually, we shouldn't be dropping them in the first place. The only problem I ever had with my HP pavillion/echo combo, was that last year, It fell a few feet on the side that the card is on. The fall didn't damage the card, but it did damage the pcmcia port and it needed to be replaced.


Here's the breakdown:

Echo Indigo 1. DJ version if you dj or need two outs
2. IO version if you want to record...it has one stereo input, which may noty sound like much, but if you're only wanting to record one strument or vocals, it works pretty well.
3. standard version only has the stereo out.