I was switching back and forth between Live and Cubase the other night when I noticed a distinct difference in my Virus's responsiveness on the two DAWs. In live, when I played a part on my keyboard, the latency between key press and hearing the note was at least 100ms- it was bad enough that when I played a part with 16th notes, I reflexively kept playing extra notes because I wasn't hearing what I'd just played soon enough.
If I switched the Virus Control plugin into Live mode, it reduced the delay to the point where I could play properly again, but it still felt a little off. I also switched the audio out on the Virus from USB out (the default) to analog out, and the perceived latency was exactly the same.
In Cubase, however, I had never even experimented with the Live mode in the plugin; it always just worked and felt natural in Cubase. With both USB-out and analog-out the latency is imperceptible.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is there something I can do (other than Live mode in the plugin) to bring the two DAWs closer in feel?
About my setup:
- Virus TI Desktop (USB connection)
- Keyboard: AKAI MPK49 (USB connection)
- Audio interface: MOTU PCIe-424 with 24I/O, set to 256 samples, 44.1Khz in both Cubase and Live.
- Repro steps: In each DAW, start with an empty project and add Virus Control to a MIDI track. Play a fast part (16th or 32nd notes) live on the MPK49.
I think I also tried using an External Instrument device in Live, to take Virus Control out of the picture, but I don't remember if I actually did that, or what the results might have been.
Almost dumped Ableton Live and returned (somewhat unwillingly) to Cubase. 
