Hello. I put together this guitar patch for live effects and some recording capability.
I quite like it, and the sounds that I can get, but its usability is really limited by latency which by me estimate is close to half a second.

I am running it on a dell inspiron 1420, which was a cheap laptop even when it was released about 4 years ago... So I was wondering, especially since I am planning to buy a new (laptop) computer, if it is even realistic to run this patch at usable latencies (>50ms or so). and if so, how "good" a computer would have to be. I attached the patch...

Thanks in advance!

http://www.pdpatchrepo.info/hurleur/guitarrr.pd

To get the MOST of your patch, you need to run it on a computer that isn't focused on providing drivers of everything from EVERY printer/scanner/camera that's ever existed to modems, game controllers and pancake makers. You need a computer that doesn't spend it's idle time checking emails, getting widget updates, making sure all applications are given equal rights, performing maintencance during crucial music production time, you need a computer that isn't busy providing 3D, transparent windows, dynamic shadowing, fancy window graphics and poofs of smoke.

You need to run your pd patch on a stripped down, bare bones operating system. You need a custom setup. And for this, there is great news! Because this possibility exists through open source GNU/Linux, and, it's all free!! Best of all, there is already a 'distribution' (tailor made package) aimed at providing optimum performance for sound/visual media artists that will happily sit along-side Windows and requires NO installation!! Crazy, huh!

Check out Pure:Dyne -> http://puredyne.org/

You'll get way more bang from your computer and definitely decrease your latency. So much so that you'll probably not need a new computer.

Also I just checked out your specs.

I'm running your patch on Mac OS X with a few many applications open (including firefox) on a Mac spec-ed lower than yours (given the IBM vs Intel argument to be not true). And I can run it happily with 12ms latency. Pure:dyne would definitely chomp that down a few notches.

might have to get a mac based on that. is that just a function of osx, I guess?

PureDyne does look interesting, but can anyone back up the claim that PD runs better on osx than windows?

also, arif, did you try running sounds through it? because I am thinking that there may be a delay from processing that is greater than the latency that is just set in the audio settings...