Latency
The time a signal takes to pass through the system, which affects monitoring
Related
Latency is the time a signal takes from input to output: microphone to converter, through the buffer and plug-ins, then to the headphones. Every stage adds up. When recording, it shows up as hearing yourself slightly late; the rule of thumb is that past roughly 10 ms most players notice, and timing and feel suffer. The exact threshold varies by player.
A smaller buffer lowers latency, but the CPU must handle audio more often and may crackle under load. Plug-ins add delay too, especially look-ahead processors and linear-phase EQ. Hosts compensate delay to align tracks, but monitoring still needs a low-latency path or direct monitoring.
The usual mistake is to confuse it with a delay effect. A delay deliberately creates echoes; latency is the time lag the system cannot avoid.
Related → Buffer Size
Sources
- 监听延迟与往返延迟，参 Huber & Runstein, Modern Recording Techniques 与通行音频接口文档；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.