ZERO Latency Plugins .... real ? .... a thing ? .... marketing ?

BenIfin

BenIfin

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Hi all !

Been doing some research Googling Plugins and found some "name" EFX Plugin and Guitar Amp Sim Plugin makers/sellers claiming their plugins have "zero latency" (?)

I don't actually know what this means in practice / reality.

I assume (?) it means that if your whole PC and Audio Interface has a real world total RTL of say 5.0ms .... then installing and running their Plugin will keep your systems total real world RTL at 5.0ms .... (?)

-> am I interpreting this right ?

-> is/are Zero Latency Plugins "a thing" / "real" ?

-> or are all well written Plugins Zero Latency ?

Thx
 
Some kinds of processing will necessarily add some latency, but most plugins add zero latency, so yes, you're interpreting it right. It's not a matter of "well-written" though, since any latency that occurs will usually be inherent in the algorithm.
 
LP59 said:
Some kinds of processing will necessarily add some latency, but most plugins add zero latency, so yes, you're interpreting it right. It's not a matter of "well-written" though, since any latency that occurs will usually be inherent in the algorithm.
Click to expand...

Thanks !

Yep. Ended up on the GigPerformer Forum and there are dedicated stick'ied pages that list zero latency plugins for live use so if the GigPerformer hardware and software and audio interface total rig have a clean-empty real world RTL of X ms, then users can choose from the lists of these known zero latency plugins to keep their full live total performing "racks" / "rigs" at X ms.

Some interesting ones I found

-> NAM Plugin 0 Samples / 0 ms Latency
-> Nembrini [everything] 0 Samples / 0 ms Latency
-> NDSP Nolly 3 Samples / ~0 ms Latency
-> NDPS Cory Wong 6 Samples / ~0.1 ms Latency
-> Brainworx Amps [almost all] 0 Samples / 0 ms Latency

Who knew ? Well .... not me that's for sure :)
 
Last edited:
It is not marketing.

There are plugins that introduce virtually no latency ("zero latency"). I tested this on several occasions.

The most impact is:
a) audio interface quality
b) buffer size/sample rate

The lowest buffer size depends on the app. For example, in Logic is 32 samples and in Gig Performer is 16 samples. You can't feel any latency at all.
 
BenIfin said:
Hi all !

Been doing some research Googling Plugins and found some "name" EFX Plugin and Guitar Amp Sim Plugin makers/sellers claiming their plugins have "zero latency" (?)

I don't actually know what this means in practice / reality.

I assume (?) it means that if your whole PC and Audio Interface has a real world total RTL of say 5.0ms .... then installing and running their Plugin will keep your systems total real world RTL at 5.0ms .... (?)

-> am I interpreting this right ?

-> is/are Zero Latency Plugins "a thing" / "real" ?

-> or are all well written Plugins Zero Latency ?

Thx
Click to expand...
I think it probably just means "no additional latency" on top of the buffer size(s) you set for your audio interface.
 
BenIfin said:
-> or are all well written Plugins Zero Latency ?
Click to expand...
There are many, many well written plugins that induce latency by design. It depends on the intention of the developer and which trade offs they are willing to balance. Some audio processes require latency due to the laws of the universe existing and do not require a zero latency version. Some will offer a live/zero/minimum latency version that sacrifices some fidelity so it can be used live.

Many processes can be done without needing to incur noticeable latency, but some require it to perform their task with the least compromise things like linear phase crossovers/filters, lookahead for sidechains etc. It does not mean they’re poorly coded.

Low latency plugins have been around yonks.
 
ive yet to meet a zero latency plugin for a guitar effect personally if its touching a guitar signal in real time, including the modelers ive tried. theres sure faster ones, but zero ms seems a bit hopeful for a round trip.
 
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