FabFilter

If you have delay compensation enabled, ANY plugin with latency will "delay" everything.
128ms is absolutely normal for linear-phase processing

Yeah I know that but like i said, even instances of Pro-q4 set to zero latency are still reporting that same amount. So it adds up, and gets really latent, rather quickly.

Hi Landon,

That is really odd, you should get around 90 ms latency at 44.1 kHz with Low mode.

If you have linear phase off, and no spectral bands, there should be no latency. Maybe there's another plugin that causes it?

Cheers,

I am using spectral bands on zero latency. I deleted the linear phase instance I had. I am just looking at individual plugin latency, so it's just the instance of Proq reporting that I am seeing.

For each instance with spectral bands I get 106ms of latency. Is this accurate? If so, that's fine. I will just plan out for when I use this feature.

Spectral EQ is a linear phase process by default. So even if the rest of the plug-in is in zero latency, adding a spectral band will indeed add latency to your track.

Same issue here in Ableton 12.1. Did you manage to solve it?

comparing my mixing files, one with pro Q3's all over and one with all Q3's replaced with Q4's. The latency is quite noticeable. Will have to use old my mixing file till they fix this.

As far as I can tell, and based on info from Dan Worrall's tutorial, Spectral EQ will automatically put the plugin into Linear Phase mode – adding ~100ms latency – even though it continues to show "Zero Latency" in the mode selection at the bottom. I also find this to be a bit confusing.

That is correct: spectral bands need linear phase which incurs latency of about 100 ms.

The Zero Latency button refers to the processing mode for the other bands: these are still processed in this mode so it's not that the entire plug-in switches to linear phase. I can see how this might be confusing, but I also don't want to change the name of this mode. We do show a small spectral icon next to it, plus the resolution setting for the spectral bands.

More info here:
www.fabfilter.com/help/pro-q/using/spectral-dynamics

Cheers,

I can't describe how awesome it would be if FabFilter made a version of the spectral bands for live sound. Gullfoss has a live version that doesn't react to transients, and Curves Equator just came out with a live version too.

I am also having the same issue (Cubase 14, Mac M1 Pro, OSX 14.7.1 - Pro-Q 4 v 4.01) and, as above, have returned to using Pro-Q 3 in my mixing projects which immediately solves the issues.
It seems to be the case that Pro-Q 4 has some inherent latency compared to Pro-Q 3 whichever setting I have it on and the Spectral mode is pretty much unusable unless I only keep it to one (or maybe 2) instances of the plugin.
I even tried removing all other plugins from my project but the problem persists and it is definitely the Pro-Q 4 which is the culprit.
I am very much hoping that there will be a new version of the plugin soon which will address this.

I've had to really limit my use of the plugin so far because of the inherent latency. Doesn't bother me as much in mixes but can't use it at all in production sessions while I'm actively tracking or editing. Definitely something that I'm hoping gets resolved in an update soon. Pro-Q 3 to the rescue in the meantime!

As an addendum to what I wrote before (although I'm not sure exactly what it implies), looking at the plugin in Cubase's VST Plugin Manager, in an entirely empty project without any plugins inserted at all, it lists the Pro-Q 4 at 5120 samples of latency and the Pro-Q 3 at 0. (latest VST3 versions).
So without activating any bands or even having any instances of any plugin open, the information window from the Plugin Manager shows a massive latency difference between the two.
As I said, I'm not sure how significant this is, but it maybe a pointer.

Hello everyone,

I second the various comments. I am experiencing higher latency on M1 Mac / Live 11 on Q4, with zero-latency mode, no spectral activated. Such thing did not occur with Q3 and it would be very nice to be able to have the zero latency mode Q4 actually be zero latency.

Thanks in advance for your work.

@Rathimself: can it be you have Pro-Q 4 set to linear phase mode? In that case you'll get the same latency as when using a spectral band.

@Sascha can you send us a video of the issue?

Hi Ralph.
All instances in "Zero Latency" mode.

I've just tried to replace 8 stock channel EQs in a Logic Pro X project with Q4 and immediately experienced significant latency making Q4 unusable! On a M1 Mac.

@Rathimself can you send us a video of the issue to info@fabfilter.com?

@Midiman, are you sure you're not in linear phase mode or using spectral processing? This will indeed introduce latency, which should be compensated by your host.

Updated to V4.02 and I'm so happy because they finally fixed this issue! Fabulous FabFilter!