Metronome
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Is there a preferred way to get a metronome into a session, other than just using an audible one in one user’s physical space near the mic? Wondering if introducing a click into a session electronically somehow would reduce any effects of lag vs. having it on one end.
Running on Windows, with Audibox 96, two condenser mics. Most often two users (two players here,
one player remote from me), some sessions with 3 users (2 players here, 2 remote locations). This is a classical guitar trio/quartet. We are stuck with 30-50 ms latency even with ethernet and interface, limit is our internet provider. Latency does not seem to impede playing, but we get tripped up with a metronome- could just be us, but looking to reduce problems any way we can.
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Physical distance is about 50 miles.
I’m not sure about the remote user(s), but my provider is Spectrum. I ran speed tests from Spectrum and a couple of other sites, consistently getting 350 Mbps download, 11 Mbps upload, so probably upload is a limit. One of the sites also measured latency and jitter, at 60 and 56 ms respectively. I don’t think there is another provider in my area. There is a (considerably) higher priced plan that claims 500/35 or maybe 500/mbps down/up speeds. Would hitting 35-50 mbps upload noticeably improve performance for Farplay? I read somewhere that latency (or ping?) can be high even with fast down/up, but I’m not sure I understood that correctly. Nobody advertises latency, just speed.
I am pretty sure I recall seeing a buffer setting in the Universal Control app for the Audiobox 96, but I can’t find it now. (Farplay window indicates the buffer is controlled by the interface) I believe there was very little change in latency between say 16-64 buffer. Currently at 64 buffer, which shows 1.3 ms. The local latency with Farplay running, shows 8-10 ms.
This started as a simple question about a better way to add a metronome, butI’m guessing from your respons that the answer is to get latency down such that both the music and local (physical) metronome play without lag? At any rate, I appreciate any advice.
Yes, I think there’s a good chance we can lower your latency a bit. At distances of 50 miles, it’s not unusual to get latencies in the ballpark of 20 ms (I routinely get latencies around 10 ms because I have fiber internet). This should help you feel as though your ensemble (and the metronome) are all in the same place.
If the speed-test website you used for latency measurements was near you, then the latency of 60 ms and jitter of 56 ms were very high and lead me to wonder whether there is a connection issue inside the home:
- Is Wi-Fi turned off on the computer?
- Is the computer connected by Ethernet directly to the main router that connects to Spectrum’s wiring that goes out the house? It’s important to avoid connecting the Ethernet cable to an extender/repeater router (aka “mesh network access point”). Otherwise, Wi-Fi is still being used in the connection. It’s also important to avoid using Ethernet-over-power adapters (like PowerLine adapters) and to avoid plugging into a secondary router like an Apple Time Capsule.
For best performance, we do recommend getting at least 50 Mbit/s of upload speed, if possible.
If you have a chance, it’d be interesting to double-check the local latency you get in FarPlay when you try an ASIO buffer size of 32 samples. I think the ASIO buffer size might be called “block size” in your AudioBox’s software. When I use 32 samples with audio interfaces on a PC, I get a local latency in the neighborhood of 3 ms (instead of 8-10 ms).
Happy to answer more questions,
David Liao
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