Plugin latency is the small delay a plugin adds while it processes your audio, measured in samples or in a few milliseconds. Some plugins need to look ahead or buffer a little sound to do their job, so the audio comes out a fraction of a moment later than it went in. Most of the time your host lines everything back up on its own, so latency only really gets in the way when you are recording or playing an instrument live. Here is what it is, why it happens, and how to keep it out of your way.
This is host-agnostic. The idea is the same in every DAW or video editor; only the names differ, so check the wording in your own audio and plugin settings as you go.
Plugin latency is the small delay a plugin adds while it processes your audio, usually measured in samples or in a few milliseconds. The plugin takes sound in, works on it, and hands it back a fraction of a moment later than it arrived. Many plugins add none you would ever notice; a few kinds add a bit more, and that is what this page is about.
It helps to keep two different delays apart from the start, because they are easy to confuse.
Plugin processing latency is the delay a plugin adds by working on the sound, and it stays much the same whatever your buffer is set to. Buffer-size latency is the separate delay your computer and audio interface add while recording and monitoring, and it changes when you change the buffer. They add up together in your ears, but they have different causes and different fixes. This page is about the plugin kind.
Neither of those is the same thing as crackle. If the sound is breaking up with clicks, pops or short dropouts rather than simply arriving late, that is usually the buffer being too small or the CPU running out of headroom, which is a separate problem covered in why audio crackles and pops. Latency is about the sound being on time, not about it breaking up.
Because some plugins need to look ahead, or buffer a little audio in advance, to do their job properly. To work on a piece of sound cleanly, a plugin sometimes has to see what is coming a short moment before it acts, and holding that little window of audio is where the delay comes from. As a rule, the more a plugin has to look ahead, the more latency it adds. Plenty of ordinary plugins look ahead by nothing at all and add no latency you would ever hear.
The usual sources, roughly from the most latency to the least:
Simpler tools, like a basic EQ, most synths and many distortions, tend to add little or nothing. It is usually the precise, look-ahead kind of plugin that costs the most, which is why the same effect can matter on a track you record through and not matter at all on one you only mix.
| Plugin type | Why it can add latency | Matters while recording? |
|---|---|---|
| Linear-phase EQ | Uses a look-ahead window to keep the phase clean | Yes, better to add it when you mix |
| Lookahead limiter | Peeks at the audio ahead to catch peaks | Yes, usually a mix or master tool anyway |
| Convolution reverb | Can process audio in blocks | Sometimes, keep it off the track you play |
| Oversampling processor | Runs at a higher internal rate | Sometimes, depends on the plugin |
| Basic EQ, most synths, distortion | Little or no look-ahead | Usually fine to record through |
Usually not, thanks to a feature called plugin delay compensation, often shortened to PDC. When one track carries a plugin that adds latency, your host quietly delays every other track by the same amount so that everything lines back up and plays in time. In most DAWs this runs on its own in the background, which is why a latency-heavy plugin on your master or a mix bus is normally nothing to worry about while you play a project back.
Where latency does get in the way is when you are recording or playing an instrument live, because then you hear the delayed sound as you play. This is monitoring latency: you press a key or sing a note, it travels through the computer and any plugins on the way, and it comes back to your ears a moment later. A small delay is fine and you stop noticing it. Too much and playing in time starts to feel like talking on a bad phone line.
Two things change how large that delay feels. One is your buffer size, which is the main control while recording. The other is the sample rate, because a delay counted in samples turns into a shorter time in milliseconds at a higher rate, though a higher rate also asks more of your computer; sample rate and bit depth covers that side. The plugins on the track you are recording through then add their own delay on top of both.
You reduce it mostly by keeping the heavy, look-ahead plugins out of the way while you record, and by monitoring in a way that does not run through them. On playback and mixing you usually do not need to reduce it at all, because delay compensation is already lining things up. The steps that help while you are tracking are these.
| What you are doing | Does plugin latency matter? | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Playing a finished project back | Rarely, delay compensation lines it up | Leave it alone and let the host handle it |
| Mixing | No, nothing is being played live | Use whatever plugins you like, raise the buffer |
| Recording or playing an instrument live | Yes, you hear the delayed sound | Lower the buffer, monitor directly, keep heavy plugins off the input |
One thing to keep separate: none of this is the fix for crackles and pops. If the sound is clicking or dropping out rather than arriving late, that is the buffer being too small or the CPU overloading, and why audio crackles and pops walks through it. Note that the two pull in opposite directions while you record: raising the buffer helps crackle but adds monitoring latency, so the aim is the lowest buffer that still plays cleanly.
Latency is easiest to feel when you are trying to play a part in real time and hearing yourself a beat late. That is the one moment where a light, responsive instrument earns its keep.
Latency bites hardest when you are playing an instrument live and hearing yourself arrive late. Our instruments are built light, so they respond quickly and you can play them in real time without the lag that a heavy processor can add. The Collection is three of them: ARGISH, SILT and REHEAT.
When you want them in a project, The Collection ships as AU, VST3, AAX and a standalone app on macOS, signed and notarized, and a VST3 on Windows, so it loads into whatever setup you already have.
Free to hear in the browser, no signup. The Collection is three instruments in one purchase.
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