How Does Latency Correction Work in Pro Tools First?

[MicESanzMusic]

How does Input and Output latency correction work in Pro Tools FIRST? NOT plugin monitoring latency. I’m currently using Pro Tools First, if the latency correction is different in Pro Tools First than it is in the current version of Pro Tools please let me know and explain if you can.

I'm a rapper and when I was younger I used the DAW Audacity and I was on a PC and I knew nothing about drivers. i would record my raps and there was like a 200 ms latency or more and my raps were off beat. My vocals were showing up in Audacity 200ms after where they should have been in relation to the beat I was overdubbing. I had to manually calculate latency by turning on a click track, setting a second track to record, and putting my headphones over my microphone with monitoring off. (to avoid a feedback loop) Then compare the two waveforms to measure how much distance was in-between them and manually enter that value into a latency compensation setting. This would vary all the time lol.

Since then I've developed somewhat of a complex about this and I want to make 100% sure that I won't have latency issues and everything will be on beat. My eternal nightmare since the audacity fiasco is that my raps, because of input/output/recording latency, will be off beat just slightly and i won't notice until my song is posted and someone comments about it. Comparable to dreaming that you’re at school in your underpants.

I can’t seem to find a setting for this. Is this all calculated behind the scenes? Should I ever worry about this? I found options for it in Reason (see attached file) but I can’t seem to find one for Pro Tools.

so does Pro Tools First and Pro Tools 12 do this automatically? (the latency test i described above). How often does it refresh? is there a setting i need to tweak or should i just forget this was ever a problem? Is the way Pro Tools calculates and corrects for latency different in Pro Tools First vs Pro Tools 12?

I’m using a Focusrite Scarlett Solo and a MacBook if that matters. It connects via USB. It does have a direct monitoring switch on the interface itself. If i have this enabled will that mess with the latency correction?

Again, I’m talking about input/output/recording latency. the time it takes my voice to travel into the microphone, through my interface, and into my DAW (Pro Tools) to be documented. Also, the time it takes the audio from the instrumental track i’m listening to to travel through my headphones for my brain to perceive the tempo and when to rap. I am NOT talking about hearing a slapback delay while you're monitoring and having to lower the buffer size.