I have been using the Waves CLA Plugins for a while now. I have been dealing with latency with those plugins ever since I have gotten them. I can not have them on a track in ANY session without getting latency when trying to record. Even if I Bypass the plugins I still get latency. I have to delete all CLA Plugins from the session entirely to get rid of the latency.
This makes for a huge problem if I have worked on a mix and the client wants to come back and change a part. I have to make a preset, completely delete the plugins from the session and then add them back after we are done tracking the new / fixed part. Its very frustrating.
My system Specs are as follows:
DAW - ProTools Studio Latest Version (with Delay compensation on)
Interface - Audient EVO 16 with SP8 Expander and Focusrite Octopre
Running at 48 / 24
Operating System - Windows 10
Processor - i7 12700k 4.9 GHz
RAM - 64GB DDR4 3200
500GB NvME Samsung 970- OS Drive
1TB SSD - Samsung 850 - Audio Drive
Hi @constantinestudios,
Thank you for the detailed explanation and setup description.
When discussing Latency, your Sample rate and buffer size settings ,will play a big role in determining latency values.
CLA PLugins will produce some latency, exact values can be found under the Tech Specs Tab > Latency from every Waves Product Page i.e. CLA Vocals Plugin - Waves Audio. Working in higher settings such as 96 khz will produce higher latency values, as opposed to 48 khz.
You can also try and lower your buffer settings, to obtain lower latency values when recording i.e. to reduce latency, however this will take its toll on the CPU, so it depends on your current session load, as lowering buffer settings, might cause some audio interferences.
If you feel you needs some assistance or more information do not hesitate to Contact Technical Support they will gladly help out and advise.
Running your session at a higher sample rate will also reduce latency, but that also comes at a cost.
The reality is though, that the CLA Signature plugins were never made to be used in real-time, they were designed to be mixing tools where latency is less of an issue.
Higher latencies are the result of an increased amount of calculations that are required to serve the plugins purpose. Somethings are just more computationally expensive than other things. Throw in oversampling and the latencies just multiply.
In the case of the CLA plugins there is a lot going on under the hood that we are not privy to. EQ, compression, saturation, reverb, delay and other special treatments. Of those reverb can be CPU expensive and saturation often needs oversampling so it doesn’t sound harsh. I’m willing to bet that these two functions would be the main culprits for larger latency times within the plugin.
But that would be an educated guess.