Delay Compensation limitations in Reason

[orthodox]

I am only now beginning to understand how Reason delay compensation works (and how it does not). It seems the signal path delays can only be compensated at the Main Mixer channels and buses. I ran into a problem of going unsync several times when I used a simple split/merge schematic in the Mix Channel insert fx container. For example:

Code: Select all

(Insert box "To Devices")
        v
   (-SPLITTER-)
    v        v
    v      (FX)
    v        v
   (--MERGER--)
        v
(Insert box "From Devices")

In this example, if the "FX" device has a nonzero latency, it is not compensated for in the other idle path and the split signals go out of sync. If I take the scheme out of the box, it does not work either. Only when I use separate Mix Channels instead of a merger, the compensation begins to work:

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(Signal source)
        v
   (-SPLITTER-)
    v        v
    v      (FX)
    v        v
  (CH.1)   (CH.2)

This limitation seems too restrictive. I can understand that in order to allow for DC on arbitrary (non-looped) paths they would probably need to have too many delay buffers (which are now only bound to Mix Channels). Yet the current implementation does not allow for using A/B crossfade mixers on paths with different inherent latency.

[PhillipOrdonez]

What if you add the fx and merge between the mix channel and the hardware interface onto a third mix channel? Would it get out of sync in that case as well?

[orthodox]

What if you add the fx and merge between the mix channel and the hardware interface onto a third mix channel? Would it get out of sync in that case as well?

The rule is that I have to merge signal paths with different latencies only by routing them to separate Mix Channels for each path. Any other way they will be out of sync.

[Loque]

You forgot, that some devs do not report proper latency in their devices too.

[Boombastix]

Yeah, it is a real problem splitting a signal and loose delay compensation. You can obviously put in the sample delay RE, set it manually, so both channels are in sync with each other. I tried, it works. Put it inside a Combinator even, so far so good. But the Combinator reports nothing to the mixer channel, and there is no manual setting for delay comp in the Combinator, so it won't automatically compensate for you.

I just put in a notepad RE and wrote in what the delay comp is so I can manually set it at the mixer channel.

But the way to do it would be to have a Combinator feature that allows you to set a fixed delay comp. Then it would report that automatically to the mix channel every time you drag in that Combinator. It should be on their to-do-list...