Delay Compensation Explained! (Part 2 of 2)

In Part 1 we discussed the various setting and warning lights of delay compensation.  In part II let’s explore a few more track specific options you have when dealing with delay compensation.When an audio track is record armed, Pro Tools automatically turns OFF delay compensation for that track.  This is desired behavior if you are tracking something and need to monitor off that track with no latency.  There are some cases (such as feeding a mix bus from stems while they are recording) in which you want delay compensation to remain ON when the track is record armed.  To do this Control+Command+Click on the “Cmp” number on the track.  It will turn blue.

Audio Track with Delay Comp Locked On.

On the other hand, Aux tracks always have delay compensation ON.  If you want to turn delay compensation OFF (for example, you are tracking through an aux and need to monitor it without delay) you can Control+Command+Click the “Cmp” Number and delay comp will be bypassed for that track (Grey).

Aux Track with Bypassed Delay Compensation

Sometimes you want to ignore the reported compensation on a track, for example if a track is over budget on delay and you want to compensate manually.  To do this Control+Command+Click on the “dly” number, it will turn grey, and the reported plugin delay on that track will be ignored in delay compensation calculations.

Reported Delay Ignored

There we go… now go compensate for something!