Minimum viable DAW hardware for guitar?

[Tenebris]

Hi all - you know there's always that guy in the band who's the producer type, programs drums, synth pads, has three racks of outboard gear? Yeah, I'm not him. My use case is recording demo guitar tracks over a click in Reaper and sometimes using EZDrummer to drop in where I think the kick and the snare should go. I sometimes record my own final tracks at home but those are generally over lightweight mixes, I let people who are good at mixing and production do mixing and production.

Current workflow is using an FM3 as an amp into one input of a Fireface UC, direct from the guitar for future reamping into another, Fireface USB into a PC DAW running Reaper. Rarely use plugins and never during tracking, I do everything in the Fractal. I usually have my latency down around 2.3ms and would like to keep it that way. Would a medium-spec Windows tablet and a USB hub along with the Fireface do me for a DAW? Money's not a big issue but "something that isn't A Computer" is.

 

[saarangnarayan]

Have you tried using your FM3 via USB to track guitars? If you do that, your latency would be lowest.

 

[JasonE]

I would definitely try going from the FM3 directly to the PC. Are your Fireface units not both interfaces? If they are I wouldn't run one into the other. I would run one or the other.

If by Windows tablet you mean a laptop, yes you could do it with a laptop with the right specs.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Have you tried using your FM3 via USB to track guitars? If you do that, your latency would be lowest.

How would that be lower than what he's doing now? assuming he's monitoring the FM-3 with direct monitoring.

I'd totally say it's worth using an external audio interface over the built in ones from a modeller, even for routing speakers/headphones and dealing with tracking mixes, a dedicated device is just way better.

 

[Mikael Dez]

How would that be lower than what he's doing now? assuming he's monitoring the FM-3 with direct monitoring.

I'd totally say it's worth using an external audio interface over the built in ones from a modeller, even for routing speakers/headphones and dealing with tracking mixes, a dedicated device is just way better.

I do understand this argument from an in/out perspective, but wouldn't the two extra AD/DA conversions add latency?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I do understand this argument from an in/out perspective, but wouldn't the two extra AD/DA conversions add latency?

If you monitor with the FM-3 you’d have 2 stages of conversion (DI->digital, and then back out to headphones/outputs).

And if you connect to an interface via SPDIF then you have the same number of conversion steps (one in, and then D/A).

If you use the analog outputs of the FM-3 and connect to the analog ins of the interface, you won’t hear any latency if you monitor on the inputs (or it’ll be so negligible that you’ll never notice).

If you monitor through a DAW, you’d need to set low buffer sizes and be careful on what plugins you may be running through, but even then it’s largely a solved problem in 2025.

 

[Tenebris]

If you monitor with the FM-3 you’d have 2 stages of conversion (DI->digital, and then back out to headphones/outputs).

And if you connect to an interface via SPDIF then you have the same number of conversion steps (one in, and then D/A).

If you use the analog outputs of the FM-3 and connect to the analog ins of the interface, you won’t hear any latency if you monitor on the inputs (or it’ll be so negligible that you’ll never notice).

If you monitor through a DAW, you’d need to set low buffer sizes and be careful on what plugins you may be running through, but even then it’s largely a solved problem in 2025.

I vibe-solved the 'FM3 vs interface' problem once I figured out how to use the headphone outs properly. Tried some demo tracking using the FM3 as a monitor for a few hours and it was just Not Good when I was trying to double my own tracks (which admittedly is a thing I do a lot and am seriously OCD about.) There was just something "off" that was making it impossible to nail a really precise doubled take that immediately went back to normal when I switched back to using the Fireface as the interface and monitor.

Regarding the DAW thing, yeah, I was wondering if I'm demanding about latency but have very minimal requirements for plugins during tracking (usually none) and I used a high quality external interface, I could potentially get away with a new Thinkpad or something in that class.

 

[bikescene]

I vibe-solved the 'FM3 vs interface' problem once I figured out how to use the headphone outs properly. Tried some demo tracking using the FM3 as a monitor for a few hours and it was just Not Good when I was trying to double my own tracks (which admittedly is a thing I do a lot and am seriously OCD about.) There was just something "off" that was making it impossible to nail a really precise doubled take that immediately went back to normal when I switched back to using the Fireface as the interface and monitor.

Regarding the DAW thing, yeah, I was wondering if I'm demanding about latency but have very minimal requirements for plugins during tracking (usually none) and I used a high quality external interface, I could potentially get away with a new Thinkpad or something in that class.

There are some good posts on the Fractal Audio Forum about adjusting the unreported latency of the FM3. The additional latency of the active blocks doesn’t get reported to the DAW so you’d have to loop the output back into the input to figure out the offset. Then you can insert that value into your DAW’s settings and everything should be fine with overdubbing.

I use my modelers (HX Stomp, FM3) when I can’t get to my main setup.

I tried using a 2020 model Microsoft Surface a few years back but experienced too many dropouts. Maybe the latest models will perform better.

I’ve had luck with various iPad models for stable mobile recording in a pinch, but the iOS DAWs are not my first choice for a user experience.

In the end, I prefer breaking out an old 13 year old laptop to run vs an iPad if I can’t reach for my main computers. I work better with a keyboard and mouse vs a touch screen for recording applications. Reaper and EZDrummer are light weight enough to work. I wish the Surface worked out.

 

[Tenebris]

There are some good posts on the Fractal Audio Forum about adjusting the unreported latency of the FM3. The additional latency of the active blocks doesn’t get reported to the DAW so you’d have to loop the output back into the input to figure out the offset. Then you can insert that value into your DAW’s settings and everything should be fine with overdubbing.

Much appreciated. I looked into that and a few other posts about A/D/A conversions and just decided to stick with what I'm doing after all, seems like using the FM3 standalone doesn't really get me anything in my home setup. I'm still mulling jumping to an Axe III, I got the FM3 for live after doing a couple of fill-in shows using someone else's and it's sort of taken over.

I tried using a 2020 model Microsoft Surface a few years back but experienced too many dropouts. Maybe the latest models will perform better.

I’ve had luck with various iPad models for stable mobile recording in a pinch, but the iOS DAWs are not my first choice for a user experience.

In the end, I prefer breaking out an old 13 year old laptop to run vs an iPad if I can’t reach for my main computers. I work better with a keyboard and mouse vs a touch screen for recording applications. Reaper and EZDrummer are light weight enough to work. I wish the Surface worked out.

Appreciate the insight, just before the pandemic I was surprised to find how non-performant a then-current Surface tablet was for an auto tuning (cars, not singers) application in realtime. This is also a case where I don't *need* it to work, I just have a major case of DAW footprint overkill right now and was wondering if I could slim it down.