Latency problems with Mini-Me

[David Penick]

I just bought a Mini-Me and used it to record vocals for the first time. I was having severe latency problems even at 128 samples, so I had to resort to "low latency monitoring," which I would prefer not to do. Has anyone else experienced these latency issues with a Mini-Me? I'm recording at 48K, 24 bits and am using the Mini-Me as the clock. And I'm using a Focusrite Voicemaster Pro as my main preamp, running my mic into the Focusrite first, then into the Mini-Me. I'm also using "SLC" on the Mini-Me. No other hardware is hooked up to the MIni-Me. The Mini-Me is hooked up via S/PDIF to my 002.
Thanks

[yoursickstudio]

don't you have an external mix desk ? small one.
if you have a mini-me or not you will always get latency

use a small mixing desk for 2 channels protools return and 2 from the mini-me mini aux ouput

[David Penick]

I don't have a small mix desk. Can you recommend one?

[tele_player]

Working at 128 samples shouldn't produce much latency. It should be a few milliseconds (like 6 ms.) Anyway, if Low Latency mode works (I never tried it with an S/PDIF input), what's your objection to that?

Just for latency experiment, have you tried the 002 mic preamp, at 128 samples buffer, with and without Low Latency? Was the latency significantly different from using the S/PDIF input?

[globaleric]

Are you saying that you're getting MORE latency with the external A/D using the SPDIF input than with the 002's internal preamps / ADC?
If so I'd be interested in a statement from Apogee's tech support...

BTW even 64 samples latency is an issue when recording vocals - it's resulting in a weird "chorus" effect in the performer's headphones not everyone can cope with.

[David Penick]

When I was using the 002's preamp, I could record at up to 512 samples with no problem. I have more latency with the Mini-Me going through S/PDIF. Low latency monitoring works fine, except it disables plug-ins that are on the record-enabled track, and since I don't usually use plug-ins when I'm recording vocal tracks, it's not that big a deal.

[David Penick]

Yes, I'm getting more latency with the Mini-Me AD than with the 002's internal preamp AD.

[tele_player]

BTW even 64 samples latency is an issue when recording vocals - it's resulting in a weird "chorus" effect in the performer's headphones not everyone can cope with.

I'd say the vast majority of users here on the DUC would disagree with you on that, most make do just fine without using an external, no-latency mixer setup.

[globaleric]

Of course I was meaning a Digi002-only setup without any external mixer!
And I bet the vast majority will hear the latency with such a setup.

[yoursickstudio]

your fix with no external mix desk would be:

mini-me -> s/pdif -> digi002
mini-me aux output -> analog -> digi002

that way you can use the low latency monitoring the digi002 offers
same thing can be done with the MBOX2.