Buffer Size

What Is Buffer Size?

Buffer size is a setting found in every DAW. It tells your computer how many samples of audio to process before sending them out to audio outputs. When you play audio from a DAW, the DAW is processing that audio in real time as you are hearing it. It does that processing in chunks. Buffer size is the size of those chunks.

When you hit play on the DAW, the computer collects the samples into the buffer. Once the buffer is full, the computer processes the sound and then sends it out to your playback devices like headphones and speakers.

If you make the buffer small, the CPU has to work very hard to keep moving the sound along. If you make the buffer large, the CPU does not have to work as hard because it can process bigger chunks of sound all at once. The downside is that processing in larger chunks causes a delay in the playback called latency.

What Is a Good Buffer Size For Recording?

When you are recording a singer or playing an instrument, you want the smallest buffer size that your CPU can handle. Usually, a setting of 64 or 128 samples is best.

Small buffer sizes have low latency. This is very important when recording. If there is latency, a singer hears their own voice after a noticeable delay. That is very confusing. It makes it almost impossible to stay on beat. A low buffer size makes sure the sound hits the headphones without latency, exactly when the musician expects it.

How Do I Fix Audio Pops And Clicks?

Sometimes when you are working on a song, you might start hearing weird popping or clicking noises. Sometimes the music might even stop completely. This usually happens when you have too many tracks and effects playing at the same time. The computer cannot work fast enough to handle all of the audio processing that it is being tasked with.

The easiest way to fix this problem is to change your buffer size to a higher number. Try changing it to 512 or 1024 samples. This gives the computer plenty of extra time to do the processing for all those effects. The popping noises will stop, and the music will play back smoothly. Producers typically use a high buffer size when they are doing the final mix so that they can have heavy audio processing without worrying about overloading the CPU when listening to the song.

Does Buffer Size Affect Audio Quality?

Buffer size does not change the actual quality of your final audio file. It only changes how hard your computer has to work while you are playing the song in the DAW with effects running in real time.

If you use a small setting or a large setting, the final bounced song will sound exactly the same. The only thing that changes is the delay or the popping noises you might hear when playing the song back in the DAW. Once the song is finished and exported, those settings do not matter anymore.