Audio interface & latency

With Plinken Run connected, your audio interface is opened natively with a single duplex callback: one hardware clock, one buffer in, one buffer out. That is what makes near-zero-latency monitoring possible while you record.

Choosing the devices

• macOS: pick the interface under Settings → Audio → Grid / Mixer devices (Audio In and Audio Out). When Plinken Run is connected it opens these natively, so the selection works in every browser, not only Chrome.
• Windows: pick the driver under Settings → Runner → Audio driver. The list shows every installed ASIO driver, with Automatic — first driver that opens as the default. Changing the driver reconnects the runner.

You can switch devices while connected; the runner reopens the interface without dropping the session.

Sample rate: 48 kHz

Plinken runs at 48 kHz, always. There is no setting. The runner asks the interface for 48 kHz and refuses to open if the device stays at anything else, because a session at the wrong rate would play at the wrong pitch.

If your interface is locked to another rate you see an error like ”… is running at 44100 Hz and would not switch to 48000 Hz — set the interface to 48000 Hz in its control panel, then reconnect”. Do exactly that: set 48 kHz in the vendor’s control panel or Audio MIDI Setup, then click Connect again. A rate change while running ends the session for the same reason.

Buffer size

Settings → Runner → Audio buffer sets the hardware buffer: 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024 samples. The default is 64, which is 1.3 ms at 48 kHz.

• Smaller is lower latency. If you hear crackles, raise it one step; the fix for crackles is more buffer or fewer plugins, never both at once.
• This applies to Plinken Run only. The in-browser engine is not configurable; it always runs at the browser’s 128-sample quantum.
• On Windows the value is fitted to what the ASIO driver allows. If you change the buffer in the driver’s own panel, the runner follows the change without reconnecting.

macOS: input and output must be the same interface

The runner opens one device for both directions. If Audio In and Audio Out point at different hardware, the open fails with “same-device required for low-latency duplex … Pick the same physical interface for input and output.” Pick the same interface for both.

Windows: ASIO only

On Windows the runner uses the interface’s ASIO driver and nothing else. ASIO is the only Windows path that gives one duplex callback on one hardware clock; the Windows mixer (WASAPI) adds tens of milliseconds and is not used.

• No ASIO driver installed: the runner reports “no ASIO driver is installed — install your audio interface’s ASIO driver (e.g. Focusrite USB ASIO) to use Plinken Run on Windows” and the browser engine stays active. Install the driver that came with your interface, then reopen Plinken Run.
• Open ASIO control panel… under Settings → Runner opens the vendor’s panel. Buffer size, sample rate and routing live there; the runner follows a buffer change in place and ends the session on a sample-rate change.
• If you only have a generic driver such as ASIO4ALL, it will usually open, but a vendor driver gives better latency.

Hardware input strips

Every input channel of the interface gets its own mono strip in the In section of the Mixer: fader, pan, mute, solo, monitor and sends. Up to 48 channels are supported. These strips are local to this computer and are not shared with peers in the Space.

Assign a hardware input to a track from the track header’s input selector on the Grid, arm the track and you are monitoring through the strip, fader and inserts with one buffer of delay. See Recording.

Latency and recording offset

The runner reads the interface’s reported latency when it opens the device and uses it to place recorded takes. The Recording offset and Auto offset controls under Settings → Audio apply to browser-engine takes only; the runner measures its own device.

Compensation is applied when a take is placed on the timeline, never by delaying what you hear while you record.

Test tone

Settings → Audio → Test Tone plays a sine of the chosen frequency and level through the engine so you can check output without a project. It currently feeds the Plinky and Peers strips and runs through the runner only.

MIDI

The runner opens every MIDI input on the system and rescans once a second, so a keyboard you plug in appears without a restart. All inputs feed the Instrument Run tracks; there is no per-device filter yet.