Imagine you're driving on a musical highway (Route 66?), where every car represents a piece of audio data. The buffer size is like the distance between each car.
A small buffer size means the cars (audio data) are closely packed, allowing you to experience the music (recording) almost in real-time. (less latency) However, if the traffic (processing load) gets heavy, the cars might have to slow down or even stop occasionally, causing audio glitches or "traffic jams" in your recording.
On the other hand, a large buffer size puts more space between the cars, ensuring smoother traffic flow. This can prevent glitches, but you might experience a slight delay (more latency) because the cars are farther apart.
Here's another example illustrating small and larger buffer size scenarios using a conveyor belt:
Small Buffer:
Imagine a short conveyor belt that moves items very quickly. This is like a small buffer. It's fast, but if the workers can't keep up, things might get messy. If you have a live or recording session and want to record your signal without too much latency, we suggest setting the buffer size at 32 samples.
*As your computer's CPU must work very hard to process this small data quickly. If it can't keep up, the sound might glitch or crackle and you need to set the buffer size a bit larger (128 samples or higher) to continue your session.
Large Buffer:
Now, imagine a long conveyor belt that moves items more slowly. This is like a large buffer. It's more stable because there's plenty of time for workers to handle each item, but it's not as fast as the short one. If you're in your home studio mixing a multi-track recording with lots of effects and plugins. We suggest setting the buffer size at 1028 samples.
*There's a noticeable delay when you press a key or move a fader in your recording software, which doesn't matter when mixing but would be impractical for a live or recording session.
To sum up, finding the right buffer size may involve some trial and error. You can start with a moderate buffer size (512 samples) and adjust it as needed based on your project's demands and your computer's performance.