When to use Delay Compensation?

[ASTR]

hi all
can anyone recommend a good document or guide for when and how to use the delay compensation setting in the playback engine.

Also - any recommendation to minimize string pluck sound when i use GuitarRig plugin...for some reason when i use the distortion setting i still get this odd acoustin string sound coming through when i play hard.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by ASTR

hi all
can anyone recommend a good document or guide for when and how to use the delay compensation setting in the playback engine.

Also - any recommendation to minimize string pluck sound when i use GuitarRig plugin...for some reason when i use the distortion setting i still get this odd acoustin string sound coming through when i play hard.

I can answer your second question - try a cleaner picking technique especially when you're using ANY guitar amp sim plugin. Hi gain on anything will accentuate anomalies in picking (or anything else). You could also try changing strings - old strings or some types of strings will give you unexpected sounds you don't want.

[therecordinghouse]

delay compensation is used mainly for mixing. it compensates for delay introduced by certain plugins by delaying all the other tracks by the same amount.

for example:
say i have two drum tracks that are the same. i put a compressor on track 01 that introduces a delay of 100 samples. this would cause a flamming effect because one of the tracks is playing slightly later than the other.

turn on delay compensation. pro tools will automatically delay track 02 (no plugin on) by the same amount as track 01 (has plugin on). your tracks now play in sync.

there really is no need to turn delay compensation off. IMO.

[Carl Lie]

Originally Posted by therecordinghouse

there really is no need to turn delay compensation off. IMO.

While recording it has to be off for me.

C

[WernerF]

You should never turn Delay Comp off. It is automatically bypassed on any tracks that are actively being recorded. After the record pass the audio track is then delay compensated for. It's usually best to use the highest Delay Comp setting as you will not have to stop and reset it when a higher setting is inevitabley going to be needed.

[Eric Lambert]

There are very few reasons to turn DC off, even when recording. It's not a perfect system, and even after many years it still has a habit of losing sync (requiring a restart), but most of the time it does a good job of keeping things in time. Turn it off and you're asking for trouble.

[Dism]

It comes down to a couple factors:

1. Does it work fine for you?

2. Do you run out of CPU power often?

3. Do any of your plugins cause latency?


Some people have had some trouble with it, especially during the record pass, so it may be better to leave it off situationally. It also has some CPU penalties, and can help on older systems to conserve power for plugins. Finally, if you don't use plugins that have latency, you don't need it. Many of us got used to the lack of ADC in the native versions and invested in plugins that don't induce latency. Either way, it's a choice, so that's why they give you the option to turn it off.

[WernerF]

Who has only plugins that don't cause latency? The notion that that is a reality is quite an absurd notion at best.

BTW, what plugins are you talking about?

[Dism]

Originally Posted by WernerF

Who has only plugins that don't cause latency? The notion that that is a reality is quite an absurd notion at best.

Not at all. Considering none of the stock plugins do. In fact, most of my plugins don't. I've known a more than few other engineers who do the same.

[drumzalicious]

I have never turned Delay Compensation off sooo yea.

As far as the guitar amp sim. Something I've learned with them is to essentially turn my Tone Knobs almost all the way off when doing any distortion type stuff. They all seem to over hype the high end which then gives me a ton of string noise and squeaking.