Torq 1.5 User Guide Chapter 1 83Torq 1.5 User Guide Chapter 15 83
Buffer Size
The other important setti ng for your audio interface is the Buffer S ize. This parameter can cause a lot of confu sion for
some users, but is actually not that com plicated. To understand how the buffer size affe cts the performance of Torq, you
must understand a little bit abo ut how your computer processes audio.
Multi-tasking is a term that re fers to doing multiple jobs all at once. It’s what allows your co mputer to run more than one
program at a time (i.e. listening to iTunes while surfi ng the Web). While it looks like the computer is doing two separ ate
things at once, it’s actually not— it’s still doing only one task at a time, but cha nging between tasks faster t han you
can see.
This provides for a streamlined computing ex perience, but creates a problem when usin g audio applications. Audio is
non-stop—a 5-m inute song will play for 5 minutes without interr uption. So how can the computer keep audio playi ng
while it’s jumping around to do other tasks? Th e answer is buffering. An audio buffer i s a temporary “storage tank” t hat
can hold a brief moment of audio. The computer w ill fill the audio buffer with music then le t the buffer play while it does
other things (like update the clock on your scre en, check your network connections, mo nitor RAM usage, etc.). When
all things work properly, the computer will comple te its other tasks and fill the buf fer with more data before the buffer
empties, thus resulting in per fect audio while multi-tasking.
If the audio buffer happens to em pty before the computer can fill it with more d ata, the audio playback will stop unt il the
computer can fill the buffer aga in. These “dropouts” happen very quickly, not sounding li ke prolonged gaps of silence, but
sounding more like clicks and pops or otherwi se distorted audio. When this happe ns, the solution is to either lighten th e
CPU load (by closing unnecessary ap plications or processes that are wasting t he computer’s time) or by increasing the
size of the audio buffer, allowing it to play longer (thus givi ng the computer enough time to perform it s other tasks).
So why not just go with a large buffer size and avoid drop outs? The problem is that increasing the buf fer size increases
the system latency. Latency is the t ime between when you tell the computer to do so mething (such as activating an EQ
Kill) and when you actually hear the resul ts from the speakers. If you have a large audio buf fer, the buffer will have to play
out its entire contents before you’ll hear any new E Q changes in the audio. When DJing, this can b e a nightmare if you’re
trying to do things with accurat e timing—all of your actions will have a del ayed effect on the music.
The solution is to set the buffer size as low a s it can go without inducing any audio problems. Thi s is just like playing a
game of limbo:
1. Load some music into a Deck and play it.
2. While the music is playing, open the Audio Preferences.
3. If music is playing back properly, open the Buf fer Size menu and select the next smalle st buffer size. The buffer
will be updated immediately and the mu sic will continue to play.
4. Listen to the music for a moment. If i t sounds clean (no click, pops, or glitches), then l ower the Buffer Size to the
next lowest setting.
5. Keep repeating this procedure, listen ing to the quality of the audio each time , until you reach a setting where the
audio breaks up.
6. Once you find this lower threshold, set the Buf fer Size to the next highest setting (th e last one that worked
properly) and your system will be optimized.
While Torq should be very stable at these settings, keep in mind t hat the system performance can be
compromised as you increase the CPU load. Thi s is most notable when using CPU-in tensive VST effects or the
Elastique time-stretc hing algorithm. Loading one of these effe cts may cause pops and click in your audio, at which
point you will have to increase the buffer size un til the audio is clean again.
✓ Note: Using some external VST effec ts can introduce additional audio buf fering within the Torq application. When
this happens, your manipulations of the D ecks will seem sluggish—thi s is a side effect of the VST plug-in in us e and
is not related to this buffer sett ing.