Good afternoon,
So, I have (thankfully and finally) been working on setting up a basement studio, and I am wondering about best practices and best ways to integrate Receptor/Uniwire/Logic in my studio setup.
Best I can tell, the "double latency" of Uniwire (info goes out, then back in again) makes it less suitable for "live" playing, meaning that one is better off recording MIDI into Logic, then producing the track via Uniwire after the fact when latency is less critical. Is this correct?
So, I could run keyboards into the Receptor via MIDI, hear that in real time via headphones off the Receptor, and simultaneously output MIDI to Logic via the MIDI thru from the Receptor. I could simultaneously record audio, I suppose, as well. Any other ideas?
One last one - I've noticed the "audio dropouts" light coming on while using Uniwire, although the effects are not often easy to hear. Is there a logic to the audio being dropped, or is it just random problems? At times, couldn't hear big problems.
To state the goal last, I want to hear the Receptor sounds in realtime, such that performance isn't hindered, record the MIDI at the same time for later, potential editing, and rely on Uniwire rather than running through a preamp (assuming that Uniwire gives, what, a cleaner signal?)
Thanks for any thoughts/pointers!
Best ways to use Uniwire in Logic
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- KVRian
- 691 posts since 13 May, 2004 from Silicon Valley
Hi Mr. H,
I use uniwire with ProTools, which will be pretty similar to uniwire with Logic.
As you correctly point out, the "double latency" can really be a killer. For some things (like Ocean Way Drums Gold running on receptor), you are caught in a place where if you increase your buffer sizes (to remove crackles and "audio dropout" warnings), the latency increases so much that you can not get a reasonable "feel" to record your parts.
When you run into situations like this, I find that you really need to change your workflow. I know that this is not what you wish to do, but for me I felt I had no other options. Specifically, I develop all my parts in MIDI on the DAW (without Uniwire, monitoring Receptor from audio outs mixed with my DAW outs) until I feel that I am reasonably ready to render the audio parts on the DAW. At that time, I use uniwire, and change buffer settings (and mute the Receptor audio outs). When recording, you will need latency compensation in your DAW (probably most DAWs have this now, I don't know for sure about logic). While this typically works, it almost nullifies the promise of Uniwire, which is supposed to allow you to work with your plugins in real time.
Of course, you could 'halve' the latency by using digital interconnects between your Receptor and DAW (eg. ADAT), but even there you have compromises since you only get 4 stereo outputs (and you need to syncronize word clocks too).
If you are not pushing the boundaries of your Receptor (CPU wise, plugin-count wise) you might be able to use DAW/Uniwire seemlessly, without changes to your workflow for rendering, as described above. In my situation, this rarely happens in practice.
I can say that if you use multiple Receptors, with uniwire, you do alleviate the strain on any given receptor, and you are free to use smaller buffer sizes for each Receptor.
One other thing to mention regarding Uniwire and Latency. There is a nominal cost on your DAW's CPU simply for having a Uniwire plug on a channel. With my setup, I found between 3-4% cpu usage per Uniwire instance. It doesn't sound like alot, but it does add up when you start to use lots of them.
OK - hope these notes help.
Regards,
Kevin L
PS. Maybe this is a naive suggestion (to Muse), but I have suggested this to Muse on this forum before; Suggestion: for a 1/2 latency (and 1/2 functional) uniwire. For example, I would gladly 'give-up' the Audio/Midi input on Uniwire (using Midi Cables) to have only ethernet Digital Audio output to my DAW - in order to remove the 2X barrier.
I use uniwire with ProTools, which will be pretty similar to uniwire with Logic.
As you correctly point out, the "double latency" can really be a killer. For some things (like Ocean Way Drums Gold running on receptor), you are caught in a place where if you increase your buffer sizes (to remove crackles and "audio dropout" warnings), the latency increases so much that you can not get a reasonable "feel" to record your parts.
When you run into situations like this, I find that you really need to change your workflow. I know that this is not what you wish to do, but for me I felt I had no other options. Specifically, I develop all my parts in MIDI on the DAW (without Uniwire, monitoring Receptor from audio outs mixed with my DAW outs) until I feel that I am reasonably ready to render the audio parts on the DAW. At that time, I use uniwire, and change buffer settings (and mute the Receptor audio outs). When recording, you will need latency compensation in your DAW (probably most DAWs have this now, I don't know for sure about logic). While this typically works, it almost nullifies the promise of Uniwire, which is supposed to allow you to work with your plugins in real time.
Of course, you could 'halve' the latency by using digital interconnects between your Receptor and DAW (eg. ADAT), but even there you have compromises since you only get 4 stereo outputs (and you need to syncronize word clocks too).
If you are not pushing the boundaries of your Receptor (CPU wise, plugin-count wise) you might be able to use DAW/Uniwire seemlessly, without changes to your workflow for rendering, as described above. In my situation, this rarely happens in practice.
I can say that if you use multiple Receptors, with uniwire, you do alleviate the strain on any given receptor, and you are free to use smaller buffer sizes for each Receptor.
One other thing to mention regarding Uniwire and Latency. There is a nominal cost on your DAW's CPU simply for having a Uniwire plug on a channel. With my setup, I found between 3-4% cpu usage per Uniwire instance. It doesn't sound like alot, but it does add up when you start to use lots of them.
OK - hope these notes help.
Regards,
Kevin L
PS. Maybe this is a naive suggestion (to Muse), but I have suggested this to Muse on this forum before; Suggestion: for a 1/2 latency (and 1/2 functional) uniwire. For example, I would gladly 'give-up' the Audio/Midi input on Uniwire (using Midi Cables) to have only ethernet Digital Audio output to my DAW - in order to remove the 2X barrier.