Music Software Latency: Parallels VS. Boot Camp

[processor93]

i've been running Parallels Desktop for mac 3.0 for over a year now, and it's been adequate, though it sometimes stutters a bit. usually rebooting the app solves it.

Today I picked a couple of USB MIDI controllers relatively cheap, thinking I could do some real-time playing in the Windows environment. However, the latency was ridiculous - something like 3 seconds or more for any softsynth or softsampler to register a key had been pressed, and only if it was for a longish period of time.

I tested the same controllers on an HP running Windows native, and they have only a tiny latency. So I'm wondering if the same would go for XP running on Boot Camp instead of through Parallels. Major difference? Would it be the same as running on a PC?

Also, are there any global settings I can tweak to get the latency down?

[DeltaMac]

The latency that you get may be caused by the virtual system created by Parallels. As version 4 has improved system performance for many users, it might be worthwhile for you to try the version 4...

You didn't say what version of Windows you are using with Parallels...?

And, it makes sense that booting completely into Windows (a Boot Camp installation) would give you the best hardware response, as you don't have the software layer to possibly slow that down.