Delay Compensation Question

[R-Blitz]

Thanks in advance for any help. I'm moving from a Nuendo system and I've got a question about the ADC feature in PTHD.

When used with hardware (distressor, joe meek, other outboard gear), does Pro Tools automatically compensate for the AD/DA conversion's latency. I've been told yes, then also that it only compensates for plug ins and if you use hardware you have to manually account for any delay. It would be helpful if someone could clear this up. I'd love to be able to use my outboard gear in conjunction with Pro Tools without the head aches of manually adjusting latency. Thanks.

[Rail Jon Rogut]

YES!

Use them via I/O Inserts.

Rail

[Chris Coleman]

Use them via I/O Inserts.

Am I wrong in assuming I've got to manually calculate the HW delay for HW inserts? (the value of which is entered in the HW inserts section of the I/O setup page)

If so - what's the best method for doing that?

[Rail Jon Rogut]

You're wrong -- it's called AUTOMATIC delay compensation. The only time it could not be right is if you use an external device which has it's own latency. The Digidesign hardware latency is automatically delay compensated.

Rail

[Chris Coleman]

Thanks Rail. Is that why there's the manual delay-time boxes in the hardware inserts I/O Setup page - for HW inserts that add additional delay?

(the PT7 Ref Guide doesn't do a very good job explaining this, as far as I've found)

[Rail Jon Rogut]

Correct. It's also for folks who use 3rd party converters which Pro Tools can't know the A to D and D to A latency values for.

However -- since those values can only be entered as millisecond values, usually it's better to display the ADC values in the Mix Window and enter a user ADC value in samples (if required). In most situations, using analog outboard gear you shouldn't need to do anything if you're using Digidesign converters.

To check that ADC is functioning correctly you can always record a click as an audio region... then buss that to another Audio Track and record it using various outboard pieces and compare the recorded track to the source track.

Rail