Re: VST?

[Leo Cavallo <cavallo@dada.it>]

Hi Doug and all

I think there're a few misconceptions here... ;)

At 16.32 01/07/99 -0600, you wrote:
>OK, I'll jump in here.  What Gareth has said about _Cuebase VST_ is true. 
> To anwser your question more completly, VST stands for Virtual Studio 
>Technology and is a cross platform plug-in arcetecture like _Direct-X_ on 
>windows machines, _Audio Suite_ on Mac and Windows, and _TDM_ on 
>Digidesign ProTools compatable hardware running on either Mac or Windows 
>NT.
>

the Virtual Studio Technology is the whole software architecture, not just
the plugin system

>I've found that the use of multiple VST plug-ins can also cause about a 1 
>sec. delay between the input of a signal and it being echoed out the 
>monitor output in MOTU's 2408--which is why I consider this system to be 
>unusable for any serious recording, as most users will have to disable 
>all plug-in processing when in record mode, or monitor the source 
>pre-2408 and try to line up by ear with the tracks that are playing back 
>-- thus necessitating 2 pair of nearfields. (I'll go into further details 
>on the evils of MOTU at another time if anyone cares to hear.)

I dunno if you're working on Mac or PC system, but latency at the moment is
an inevitable "problem" with every audio card on the market. It's due to 
the
internal computer architecture... it's the delay the whole system puts
between its audio input and output...
Consider that the MOTU 2408 (that I own too and I'm very happy with)
probably has the lowest latency value around... down to 3ms on my P2
350mhz... I call this real time... Consider a lot of MIDI instruments (to 
be
played live) have 3-6ms latency...
And, on PC, latency doesn't depend on how many plug ins you open but
exclusively on the card buffer(s) settings. 

BTW, like real studio usually do, it's better to record straight clean and
then process the signal (with plug ins), than recording wet... so latency
should not be a big problem... in fact big latency values are a problem 
only
for mixing, when your moves on the virtual mixers have a delay on the music
played.

ciao
leo