Overview
The [plugin_latency] object reports latency compensation values to the DAW. This is essential for plugins that introduce processing delay, such as lookahead compressors, linear-phase filters, or any algorithm that requires buffering audio before processing.
When you report latency to the DAW, it will automatically compensate by delaying other tracks to keep everything in sync.
Inlets
Set DAW latency compensation value for the plugin, measured in samples.The DAW will delay all other tracks by this amount to compensate for the processing delay introduced by your plugin.
Usage Example
Basic Latency Reporting
#N canvas 0 0 450 300;
// Report 512 samples of latency
[loadbang]
|
[512(
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[plugin_latency]
// Dynamic latency based on buffer size
[r buffer_size]
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[plugin_latency]
Lookahead Limiter with Latency Compensation
#N canvas 0 0 600 400;
// Define lookahead time in milliseconds
[loadbang]
|
[50( // 50ms lookahead
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[t f f]
| |
| [samplerate~]
| |
| [* 0.001] // Convert ms to samples
| |
| [plugin_latency] // Report latency to DAW
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[delwrite~ lookahead_buffer 100]
// Audio input
[adc~]
|
[t a a]
| |
| [env~] // Get envelope
| |
| [> 0.8] // Detect peaks
| |
| [gain_reduction]
| |
| [*~] // Apply gain reduction
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[delread~ lookahead_buffer 50] // Read delayed audio
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[dac~]
Variable Latency with Oversampling
#N canvas 0 0 500 350;
// Calculate latency based on oversampling factor
[loadbang]
|
[t b b]
| |
| [samplerate~]
| |
| [/ 1000] // Get samples per millisecond
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[r oversample_factor] // 1, 2, 4, 8x oversampling
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[*] // Multiply base latency by oversampling factor
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[plugin_latency]
// Example: 2x oversampling adds filter latency
[2( // Oversampling factor
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[t f f]
| |
| [s oversample_factor]
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[* 32] // 32 samples of filter latency per oversampling stage
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[plugin_latency]
Important Notes
Latency values must be reported in samples, not milliseconds or seconds.
- Changing latency during playback can cause audio glitches in most DAWs
- Set latency once during plugin initialization (use
[loadbang])
- If you must change latency dynamically, be aware that the DAW may need to rebuffer
Calculating Latency
From Milliseconds
// Convert milliseconds to samples
[50( // 50ms latency
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[t f f]
| |
| [samplerate~]
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[* 0.001] // ms to seconds
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[*] // multiply by sample rate
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[plugin_latency]
From Buffer Size
// Direct buffer size in samples
[block~ 4096] // Processing block size
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[4096( // Report same as latency
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[plugin_latency]
Combined Latencies
// Add multiple sources of latency
[loadbang]
|
[t b b b]
| | |
| | [256( // Oversampling filter: 256 samples
| |
| [512( // Analysis buffer: 512 samples
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[1024( // Processing buffer: 1024 samples
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[+] // Add all latencies
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[+]
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[plugin_latency] // Total: 1792 samples
Common Use Cases
- Lookahead Processing: Compressors, limiters, gates that need to “see” the future signal
- Linear Phase Filters: FIR filters that introduce latency for phase-linear response
- FFT Processing: Spectral effects that require buffering for frequency domain processing
- Oversampling: Upsampling filters that add latency
- Analysis Windows: Any processing requiring buffered analysis before output
See Also
[block~] - Set DSP block size[samplerate~] - Get current sample rate[delread~] / [delwrite~] - Delay line for lookahead
