Portable Sound card with low latency question

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fotizimo
Posts: 285
Joined: 15 Jan 2016
Location: Canada
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17 Sep 2017

I have a 2016 Surface Pro 4 i7 2-in-1 laptop which I use as my main music making machine, and the internal sound card is not all that great, and I am looking to see if anyone knows of a small USB sound card that can be used while mobile, but which won't cause Reason to chug under the pressure of some of the heavier REs.

For normal operations, I use my SP4 with a Yamaha AG06 audio interface, which works really great while I am at my desk. With this device, I get 19ms output latency, and 512 sample buffer. When I take my SP4 out of the house, and want to do some quick work, I resort to the DX primary driver or MME speaker settings, which lower the latency to 0ms, but raise the sample buffer to 2048 and 8192 respectively.

What I am wondering is if there is a small or portable sound card which will get the buffer sizes back down to the 512 area like the Yamaha device? I can't seem to find what specs would drive this when comparing USB sound cards or audio interfaces.

I know this is a weird request, as most will say that serious music editing should only be done while in a controlled environment, I find I get a lot of creative ideas while out and about with my headphones and my Korg Nanokeys.
Fotizimo @ Instagram
:reason: on Surface Pro 4
Nektar Impact 25
Novation Launchkey Mini
Arturia SparkLE Spark Codec for Reason

drloop
Posts: 243
Joined: 27 Jan 2015
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01 Oct 2017

Have you tried ASIO4ALL drivers? http://www.asio4all.de/
I use ASIO4ALL drivers ti the internal soundcard of the my laptop and I use 256 samples of buffer @44.1 kHz.
Works when I travel and would like to compose. I use a nanoKEY2 together and have done some serious songwriting in the air and when I travell by train.
No use for external soundcard with ASIO4ALL.

EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

02 Oct 2017

I too am in the market for a little low-latency powerful and good-sounding headphone amp/DAC. Most of the time I'm using headphones, and not using a mic, so the UR22 sits in its box most of the time. I just plug into the laptop's headphone socket and Realtek has its own built-in ASIO driver. But I'd like something with a bit more heft, that isn't scared of 250ohm headphones. Looked at the Dragonfly, but apparently that has problems with latency. It's made for listening to music really.

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fotizimo
Posts: 285
Joined: 15 Jan 2016
Location: Canada
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03 Oct 2017

drloop wrote:
01 Oct 2017
Have you tried ASIO4ALL drivers? http://www.asio4all.de/
I use ASIO4ALL drivers ti the internal soundcard of the my laptop and I use 256 samples of buffer @44.1 kHz.
Works when I travel and would like to compose. I use a nanoKEY2 together and have done some serious songwriting in the air and when I travell by train.
No use for external soundcard with ASIO4ALL.
Actually, I had been steering clear of ASIO4ALL as I was really trying to keep the options and paths on my computer to a minimum, but have installed this, and I think this is working. I guess I didn't realize what the app accomplished, so didn't think I needed it.
Fotizimo @ Instagram
:reason: on Surface Pro 4
Nektar Impact 25
Novation Launchkey Mini
Arturia SparkLE Spark Codec for Reason

dana
Posts: 335
Joined: 29 Apr 2015
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03 Oct 2017

I still have my apogee one, its a great mobile solution with low latency.

EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

03 Oct 2017

I actually think a dinky little USB bus-powered high quality headphone DAC/amp, specifically for music producers, with super low latency, would sell like total hot cakes.

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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3811
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

03 Oct 2017

fotizimo wrote:
17 Sep 2017
I have a 2016 Surface Pro 4 i7 2-in-1 laptop which I use as my main music making machine, and the internal sound card is not all that great, and I am looking to see if anyone knows of a small USB sound card that can be used while mobile, but which won't cause Reason to chug under the pressure of some of the heavier REs.

For normal operations, I use my SP4 with a Yamaha AG06 audio interface, which works really great while I am at my desk. With this device, I get 19ms output latency, and 512 sample buffer. When I take my SP4 out of the house, and want to do some quick work, I resort to the DX primary driver or MME speaker settings, which lower the latency to 0ms, but raise the sample buffer to 2048 and 8192 respectively.

What I am wondering is if there is a small or portable sound card which will get the buffer sizes back down to the 512 area like the Yamaha device? I can't seem to find what specs would drive this when comparing USB sound cards or audio interfaces.

I know this is a weird request, as most will say that serious music editing should only be done while in a controlled environment, I find I get a lot of creative ideas while out and about with my headphones and my Korg Nanokeys.
I don't know your budget but if you want to never think about latency ever again then
http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/dig ... 7%F0%22%22
Home and on the road.
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4filegate
Posts: 922
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

21 Oct 2017

... something inside laptop/notebook DAC onboard
MSI has selected ESS Technology's SABRE HiFi Audio DAC on motherboard
REASON Via an ASIO driver - This is your best option if it is available.
I like the simplicity of having things "just work."

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