TOPIC:

I am somewhat confused with the specs various options of DIRAC-compatible devices by miniDSP for professional studio application. Right now, I am using the DIRAC VST-plugin, but for various reasons I'd prefer a hardware unit - preferably without any extra DA/AD conversion.

The most obvious choice seems to be the DDRC-88D. It is all digital and offers me all my required features for all 6 channels in my 5.1 setup. However, I seem to remember that the latency induced by the device was somewhat high compared to the plugin option I currently use. I cannot deal with large latency, as I am a composer and play software instruments. That is why I want to add as few latency to my conversion chain as possible. Some years ago I already asked about this devices latency and it was way higher than the plugin (the post is no longer available for some reason ...). Today, there is DIRAC 3.0 available and I wonder: is it available for this device? Does it change the latency? What would be the latency for the DDRC-88D? And is there a bypass of room correction and what would be the latency of that mode?

Then, there seems to be a newer option for studios, the SHD Studio, which also supports DIRAC and offers digital in and out via AES/EBU connectors. It seems, I would need there units in order to get the 6 audio channels I need, which would make it almost three times as expensive for me. Does this device have any advantages over the DDRC-88D for my application? How about its latency? 

These two units seem the only ones suitable to my needs, right? I want digital in and out for 6 channels, I need bass management and DIRAC 3.0. In case I might have overlooked an option or that there will be a multi channel SHD unit in the near future, I would be glad for some insight! 
 

I'll respond to a couple of your questions:

1. I'd never seen anything to suggest that different version of Dirac Live will affect the latency on miniDSP devices.
2. No miniDSP products currently support Dirac Live Bass Control.

Others may have more to add but I suspect that in your position you are best sticking with the VST-plugin you're currently using.

Thanks! It doesn't have to be Dirac Live Bass control. The DDRC-88D does have a Bass Manager option, though. I am not aware wether the Dirac Live Bass control would have any advantage over that ... theoretically, it should just enable you to apply a low cut to your satellites and and send the bass portion to the sub(s).

Looking forward to further insight from other people!

For starters, could anybody tell me what the actual latency for the DDRC-88D and the SHD Studio is? It may of course depend on the digital audio settings you are currently using. In that case you may assume 48kHz and 24bit. In the past I think I found this information, but currently the search „latency“ does not result in any reliable post with numbers for both devices. It seems like older posts getting deleted here from time to time.

FriFlo wrote:

 It seems like older posts getting deleted here from time to time.

I don't believe they are. I don't recall seeing solid numbers for what you're after though I'm afraid. You could try contacting miniDSP Support to see if they'd be able to provide this for you.

Ultrasonic wrote:

FriFlo wrote:

 It seems like older posts getting deleted here from time to time.

I don't believe they are. I don't recall seeing solid numbers for what you're after though I'm afraid. You could try contacting miniDSP Support to see if they'd be able to provide this for you.
 

I wouldn’t assume that, unless the post where I asked exactly the same question regarding solid latency information for the DDRC-88D, that I posed about 2-3 years ago here was gone. But thank you for the hint! I will ask support directly.

FriFlo wrote:

Ultrasonic wrote:

FriFlo wrote:

 It seems like older posts getting deleted here from time to time.

I don't believe they are. I don't recall seeing solid numbers for what you're after though I'm afraid. You could try contacting miniDSP Support to see if they'd be able to provide this for you.

 

I wouldn’t assume that, unless the post where I asked exactly the same question regarding solid latency information for the DDRC-88D, that I posed about 2-3 years ago here was gone. But thank you for the hint! I will ask support directly.

Any chance you're thinking of where you asked about latency here?

www.minidsp.com/forum/minidsp-for-newbie...or-8-digital-aes-i-o

Possibly you saw latency figures on another forum too?

That may very well be the case. I just remember reading numbers here that I cannot find any longer. The thought of deleted messages came to me, as I couldn’t find older threads of mine in the user panel, I overlooked that there is a filter implied to that tab by default. Now, I can indeed see older post of mine. Anyway, thank you! I asked the question to support and will post it here as soon as I get an answer.

I'm responding from another thread where you asked about the latency of the DDRC-88D. I do have the 88D in a recording studio setting.

I do not see any obvious latency with the 88D. However, I DO NOT use software instruments. Our studio is pretty dedicated to "old school" recording, where people play real instruments. 

That being said, it might be worthwhile for me to do a simple measurement of the latency of the device. I do not believe it does any sort of "store and forward" type of processing, so I would not expect the latency to be very high.

At this point, it's a much higher priority to get DIRAC working correctly, which I've had all sorts of fits with. Another thing I do not like about the product is that it converts everything to 48k sampling rate internally to do it's processing. So if you input a 88K or 96K signal, it gets converted down to 48K and processed, then sent to the outputs. Same thing even with 44.1K, it gets converted to 48K. Fortunately our studio already does everything in 48K and we have no plans to go higher.

Another annoying thing is that it does not have a visible "volume" on the unit. So if you use the remote to turn volume up/down, you don't get any front panel indication of what it's set to.

For a recording studio, especially a 5.1 studio, this product is "almost" the bomb. Just needs a few tweaks to be a professional quality device (my opinion). It's still better than anything else I've found, but if it just had a few things, it would be perfect. 

Also, I chose the "D" version due to reports about the quality of the D/A converters in the "A" version.

Here would be my wish.. An "A" version with top notch converters, that doesn't change the sample rate (what you put in is what it processes at) that has a display of the volume. That would be a great device for audio/video studios. For ATMOS studios, it would even be nice if it were more channels, 11+.

Thanks for the reply! In case anyone is interested: I asked support regarding the latency and it seems the SHD (about 23ms) has higher latency than the DDRC-22D/DDRC-88D (about 12ms). That is a bit to much for my purpose of playing also virtual instruments live. It. is of course totally fine for recording and mixing! But since the unit cannot be totally bypassed, there would always be the delay ... 

I have come to the conclusion that using the DIRAC plugin in my DAW is the better option for me, although it is not perfect.