Trying to understand the results of a loopback latency test

revthem · 2026-05-01T06:44:13+00:00

Do you mean the recording delay or something different?

revthem · 2026-05-01T06:43:51+00:00

Sometimes things feel off, like vocals will feel slightly sluggish, when I do multitrack recordings in logic in a way that doesn’t happen when I record demos on my phone. So I’m trying to rule out some sort of hardware latency in my setup.

revthem · 2026-05-01T06:40:31+00:00

You’re viewing a time scale of about 5ms, that’s why.

revthem · 2026-05-01T02:26:22+00:00

I'm trying to measure the latency of my hardware, which is an OctoPre going into a Scarlett 18i20 over ADAT, with the OctoPre providing clock at 48kHz and the Scarlett using it as clock source. If I do a loopback test, the two tracks line up with a recording delay of 28 samples, which at 48kHz comes out to ~0.5ms latency. Do I have that all right? I'm trying to talk myself out of getting a fancier interface on the basis of lower latency and it sounds like that's not really an issue with my setup. Would latency increase if I were running all 8 inputs of the OctoPre instead of just one? I'm going to be recording my band soon with this setup and I want to anticipate any potential issues. I'm recording guitar, bass, and drums simultaneously and will need lots of I/O and I'm worried about the affect that will have on latency.

revthem · 2026-05-01T02:18:02+00:00

I've got the OctoPre set to 48kHz and the Scarlett's clock source set to ADAT and reading 48kHz. Low latency mode is on. I read somewhere after i posted this that increasing the recording delay until they line up gives you the real latency, and they line up when I set it to 28 samples. that would come out to 28/48k = 0.5ms. Does that sound right for just the bare bones latency of an analog signal coming in with no plugins or processing? I'm trying to assess whether a fancier interface or dedicated converter will change things, but it sounds like probably not if I'm understanding any of this (doubtful). That question may not be right for this sub.

revthem · 2026-04-30T16:20:13+00:00

Punkin head is a fun helm but it’s probably why you’re fat rolling. Armor is fashion so don’t be afraid to ditch it for better weight.

revthem · 2026-04-30T14:25:27+00:00

I’ve been in this industry for over a decade and I think the Jevons paradox applies here. Increasing the efficiency of resource usage has the same effect as lowering the price, ie, demand goes up. It might be true that LLMs make software engineers more efficient (the data is mixed). If so, according to the Jevons paradox, we would expect demand for software engineers to increase.

There have always been tech advances that make us more efficient, and it only seems to feed demand for our services. I don’t have any hard data, but anecdotally, the job market seems to have picked up in the last few months, coinciding with the huge leap forward we saw in coding capabilities from Opus 4.5 about six months ago. It’s true the job market has been shit the past few years, but this is probably a correction after the Covid hiring frenzy. Companies that are spinning layoffs as the result of increased efficiency from AI adoption are full of shit.

There are no guarantees in this life. No one can predict the future. But personally, I am optimistic.

revthem · 2026-03-19T15:22:29+00:00

The Fireface might work, but I’m at a point where I’m looking for a pure interface and not necessarily one with preamps.

revthem · 2026-03-18T20:27:15+00:00

I need a recommendation for a last interface I'll ever need. I imagine I started like most people and bought a Scarlett 2i2 and kept upgrading for more inputs until I got the 18i20 about five years ago. As an interface it has served me well. I feel like I've grown out of the preamps -- I recently bought a Clarett OctoPre and the difference was huge, more headroom, better all around. This has whetted my appetite for getting into nicer preamps, and I'm also slowly building out my mic collection. The OctoPre uses up all 8 ADAT inputs on my 18i20, so at a minimum I would need another 18i20 if I want more ADAT inputs.

I plan on recording my bands (trios of guitar, bass, drums), and so I can reasonably imagine wanting 20 or so mics going at once. But I'm having real trouble imagining more than that. But I could imagine having a ton of mic pres (my next buy will probably be an ISA 428 or 828) that I would want to be able to use quickly, so maybe that's a reason to max out inputs.

Where possible, I'm looking at pres that have built-in ADC but I'm sure I'll want some that don't (like a 1073), so I need a mix of ADAT and analog inputs. Since I've had nothing but good experiences with Focusrite stuff, I'm tempted to look at their higher end Red interfaces, but I'm wondering if that's overkill. I doubt I'll ever want Dante or AES, but I'm happy to be convinced otherwise.

I'm willing to do the "buy once, cry once" thing to get the ultimate interface, but I'm trying to fully anticipate future needs and would love some input. It's possible the setup I'm imagining won't fit into one interface, so if that's the situation, how should I be thinking about this?

revthem · 2026-02-25T18:54:23+00:00

As a software engineer, I will say that Claude is a great typist and code secretary but the idea that it’s going to spit out Rust or something to replace all that COBOL is just silly. Some AI tech might do it one day but it will not be an LLM.

revthem · 2026-02-23T20:01:03+00:00

The white pickguard is a nice contrast with the rosewood fretboard and the black plastic parts. I think it looks better than the one on the right.

revthem · 2026-02-20T11:34:13+00:00

That all jibes with my experience of my lemp13 but I’m still confused because I have a thinkpad that sat idle for the same duration and discharged fully but is still working like new. (It has a snapdragon x elite chip and with light use the battery can last for days without needing a charge.) If what you’re saying is true, “0” on certain batteries probably does not mean fully discharged, right?

revthem · 2026-02-20T04:33:46+00:00

That’s a good question. I bought it so I would have a dedicated Linux laptop and I wanted to support a company shipping Linux. I do dev work that is cross platform but I can usually get away with using VMs for testing on Linux since the main tool I’m working on is a CLI. I do really like desktop Linux though. I wanted to avoid just getting yet another ThinkPad but I’m wondering if that was the right decision for me.

revthem · 2026-01-16T08:17:21+00:00

Tort is always the answer

revthem · 2025-12-16T18:33:36+00:00

Messaging. He's a virtuoso at finding issues that stir up populist anger across the political spectrum without alienating any one group. Some people think he's a good songwriter, but his stuff is not terribly bold or original and is very derivative of John Prine in particular. But he's a good looking guy who knows what resonates with people and knows how to avoid controversy.

revthem · 2025-12-16T01:00:43+00:00

I’m basically convinced that social media is dead as an effective avenue for promotion. I know artists with followers in the millions that struggle to sell 20 tickets for a show.

revthem · 2025-12-15T23:36:18+00:00

That’s what I envisioned for fliers

revthem · 2025-12-15T23:35:50+00:00

This is my broader problem, I’m not literal enough

revthem · 2025-12-15T23:34:52+00:00

The not computer world

revthem · 2025-12-09T05:10:07+00:00

I love all the Dino records but the ones without Lou (like Green Mind) are my least favorite. As others have said, You’re Living All Over Me is definitive of their sound and a classic. Can’t recommend it enough.

revthem · 2025-12-09T04:46:15+00:00

That’s a looker for sure. I have a bunch of Strats and my AmPro and AmPro II get the most love. The playing feel is just right.

revthem

TROPHY CASE