MPC Audio Input Latency

Hi all,

I've searched around this forum and found some handy info on folks dealing with latency when running audio into the MPC inputs.

What is interesting me is the discrepancy between standalone and controller mode. I have not done rigorous testing here, as i'm still learning my way around the device. But here are two anecdotal "case studies".

In controller mode using the MPC software, you can clearly see latency measured along with adjusting buffer size etc.

But what about for stand-alone?

The other day I was jamming on a synth with outputs running into the MPC in standalone. Conscious of latency I tried to be judicious with fx and VSTS, but still had a fairly large amount of FX on various tracks, including the master output. As well as a few instances of Hype and Odyssey.

Everything was bang-on in time, always in the pocket. This included doing things on the external synth's own sequencer to do instant pattern jumps, weird timing midi-fx etc...all the drums from the external synth always landed where they should, locked in the pocket with the MPC (which was also running a drum synth plugin).

Just yesterday I returned to an incredibly messy, poorly organized slug of a project i've been working on in controller mode and figured i'd add some more mess by recording the same external synth to audio tracks.

Here I am encountering really bad latency, Even if I adjust the buffer size in MPC software to its lowest setting.

A workaround isn't hard: just plug both MPC and synth into external mixer and get the synth pattern sounding how i want in time with the MPC, then plug synth into MPC inputs and sample.

So I guess the conclusion is: anyone have any tips/rules/best practices for managing latency? Especially in standalone? Just heap FX and processing onto the machine until it chugs and then strip things away again? I am aware of the sample delay plugin, which is handy! But seems like more of a faff than just using an external mixer and sampling that output into MPC input.

Im mostly surprised by the fact that I got away with no noticeable latency in standalone, as I had quite a bit of FX processing on tracks. Clearly there is a "threshold" to avoid crossing.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

runningwater wrote:Hi all,

I've searched around this forum and found some handy info on folks dealing with latency when running audio into the MPC inputs.

What is interesting me is the discrepancy between standalone and controller mode. I have not done rigorous testing here, as i'm still learning my way around the device. But here are two anecdotal "case studies".

In controller mode using the MPC software, you can clearly see latency measured along with adjusting buffer size etc.

But what about for stand-alone?

The other day I was jamming on a synth with outputs running into the MPC in standalone. Conscious of latency I tried to be judicious with fx and VSTS, but still had a fairly large amount of FX on various tracks, including the master output. As well as a few instances of Hype and Odyssey.

Everything was bang-on in time, always in the pocket. This included doing things on the external synth's own sequencer to do instant pattern jumps, weird timing midi-fx etc...all the drums from the external synth always landed where they should, locked in the pocket with the MPC (which was also running a drum synth plugin).

Just yesterday I returned to an incredibly messy, poorly organized slug of a project i've been working on in controller mode and figured i'd add some more mess by recording the same external synth to audio tracks.

Here I am encountering really bad latency, Even if I adjust the buffer size in MPC software to its lowest setting.

A workaround isn't hard: just plug both MPC and synth into external mixer and get the synth pattern sounding how i want in time with the MPC, then plug synth into MPC inputs and sample.

So I guess the conclusion is: anyone have any tips/rules/best practices for managing latency? Especially in standalone? Just heap FX and processing onto the machine until it chugs and then strip things away again? I am aware of the sample delay plugin, which is handy! But seems like more of a faff than just using an external mixer and sampling that output into MPC input.

Im mostly surprised by the fact that I got away with no noticeable latency in standalone, as I had quite a bit of FX processing on tracks. Clearly there is a "threshold" to avoid crossing.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Which MPC are you using? The X, as I understand, actually has a direct-monitor option that should have zero latency. The Live/Live II/Key 61 and One do not.

Good info thanks. This is on original MPC live. I was tempted by the X, but the live has better ergonomics for my workflow.