Apogee Duet 3 User’s Guide
Choose Your Duet Workflow
In the previous sections of this User’s Guide, the individual components of Duet have been described
in detail. This section describes howk these components work together to form a sophisticated and
efficient audio production environment.
All of us - producers, engineers and artists - have their preferences when recording and mixing, so
Duet offers a wide variety of compelling workflow options.
A Glossary of Important Workflow Concepts
With a better understanding of some important workflow concepts, you’ll get the most from your Duet.
Latency - If you’ve done any recording at all with your computer or iPad, you’ve probably
encountered that annoying delay that makes recording your performance difficult - it’s like you’re
trying to record over a transatlantic phone call - that’s latency!
What is latency and why do you have to deal with it? Well, it starts with the fundamental process of
digital audio - to convert audio waveforms to numbers for editing, processing, mixing and more, then
convert numbers back into audio waveforms for listening. At each stage of your digital audio system -
analog to digital conversion, recording & playback in your audio software, plugin processing -
computations are performed on the digital audio that require time. Add up the total time from
microphone input to headphone output, and the delay can significantly distract a performer as they
record.
Buffer, aka IO Buffer, H/W Buffer - Most Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software applications
have a buffer setting, which is potentially the largest source of latency in your system. The buffer
setting offers a range from 32 to 2048 samples* to specify the amount of time the app spends to pass
audio from the hardware interface, record it, process it through plugins and mixing, and finally pass it
back to the interface for listening. Why wouldn’t you set the buffer to the lowest time, 32 samples?
Then you’d get the lowest latency!
At the lowest setting, you’re giving the DAW the least amount of processing time. As your session
grows and you add tracks, plugins and virtual instruments, the DAW won’t have enough time to
complete the processing before the allotted time, and you’ll get clicks, pops and other symptoms of a
DAW application under stress.
* Buffer settings may vary by DAW and sample rate.
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