I hear the sound of the plugin in Realtime with no perceivable delay using Studio One. There is a special mode that allows me to do that by clicking on the tiny little Z icon to enable low latency monitoring. The day I discovered that, plugins suddenly came alive and useable. If I had to listen to the delay, I would be very upset. The standalone app that comes with the NDSP plugins are OK after you adjust the sample rate, but not as good as it is inside Studio One with that z option activated.

I asked AI if your software has that feature, and I’m afraid it does not.

Studio One features advanced low-latency monitoring through “Native Low-Latency Monitoring” (Green Z) and hardware-based monitoring (Blue Z), allowing near-zero latency during recording by using a dual-buffer system and Dropout Protection. This enables real-time monitoring with plugins, provided they add less than 3ms of latency.

In contrast, Ableton Live (including Ableton Light) does not have a comparable low-latency monitoring system like Studio One. While Ableton Live offers “Low Latency Mode” in its preferences, it is not as flexible or powerful. The feature reduces latency by optimizing buffer settings, but it cannot bypass the inherent delay from plugins or complex signal chains. As noted in community discussions, “YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE LATENCY IN ABLETON NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO”, especially when using plugins or virtual instruments. The system does not support a true dual-buffer setup or independent monitoring paths like Studio One, and its lack of dynamic buffer adjustment worsens latency issues in live performance scenarios.