Customizable delay / latency

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djbono
Posts: 16

Post by djbono »

My keyboard doesn.t have a proper MIDI input, rather it.s usb...

And there seems to be a few 100's of milisconds latency. (I.ve got to hit the notes slightly before they are lined up perfectly).

A manual latency variable would be nice; but an automatic delay adujstment (a bit like a popular music video game...) would be awesomer.

Thanks!
kiwi
Synthesia Donor
Posts: 1180

Post by kiwi »

Hi,
You set the output sound to you're keyboard?
djbono
Posts: 16

Post by djbono »

Yes of course.

WHy not use ymaha xg patches when one can !
kiwi
Synthesia Donor
Posts: 1180

Post by kiwi »

Because there's better soundbanks on kontakt :p

So it's strange you had latency using you're keyboard you use the propriétary driver? the généric one provided with windows is not the best usually.
djbono
Posts: 16

Post by djbono »

1) Hadn.t tought of proprietary drivers
2) It happens more when I.m at slower speeds than 100%. So maybe there.s something in the 'slowing down' method at playhere...

Oh and, I.m extremely picky here; the 'delay' I.m talking is probably no more than 150-200ms... so .. yeah, not that critical
Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

djbono wrote:And there seems to be a few 100's of milisconds latency.
Which kind of device are you playing Synthesia on? PC, Mac, Android, or iPad? Usually keyboards are very fast (say, less than 5ms latency) so it might be something else. Android is super terrible most of the time for audio (and input and video output and every other kind of) latency, so it might not be your keyboard's fault.
djbono
Posts: 16

Post by djbono »

Thanks for the reply,

I'm using the PC version on a fairly recent Dell (quadcore, 16gb or RAM, win7.)

Again, I can.t press enough the fact that I,m being very picky here. It.s not a 'big deal' though it does cause the song to stop sometimes before I hit the note when I feel like it's right to press.
Most of the time I can manage to press a tad earlier
Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

Ah ha. If you're using the built-in Windows synth, this might explain it.
kiwi
Synthesia Donor
Posts: 1180

Post by kiwi »

Hum no he use his keyboard sound but with such a pc i strongly advise you to buy a pro soundcard and you 'll enjoy beatifull piano sounds with 3ms latency!

100 ms is really too much specialy for classical.
djbono
Posts: 16

Post by djbono »

Well, as an output device I use my Keyboard, but for the mapper, yes I guess then it's windows's.
I"ll try to switch

Thanks for the info
(but just so we're 100% clear - It's not really slow nor buggy at all, just it feels like there.s a 100-150ms delay on the input).

Then again the delay must be also there since I use the same keyboard as the output... weird.

Maybe its just in my head
djbono
Posts: 16

Post by djbono »

Ok so yeah, 100ms is probably way too much , in reality its closer to 20-30ms I guess.

I did update the yam driver from 3.1.3 to 3.1.4; didn't notice any difference.

The green dot still has the time to appear (well, flash) before I press each note; and it's not because I,m slow, I'm simply following rythm of the track being played back by my piano.
kiwi
Synthesia Donor
Posts: 1180

Post by kiwi »

Try to plug the usb at the rear of you're pc not in the front i gain a little like this.
jsherwani
Posts: 1

Post by jsherwani »

I've got Synthesia connected to my Steinway Spirio | r, which is an acoustic grand piano with an official player system that supports MIDI in/out. I've spoken with Steinway, and their rep confirmed that there's a 500ms delay built into the MIDI in -> actuator pipeline, since it's a physical device and it requires a lot more work to make a physical key get depressed.

Given this, it would be AMAZING to have the ability to manually set a delay within Synthesia (I use the iPad app) that counterbalances the delay in the MIDI processing on the piano. I'd simply want the visuals to be 500ms delayed (while the MIDI data goes out without a delay), so that both the visuals and the piano's playback would be synchronized.

I get that this may be a super niche feature, but I'm willing to pay extra for it if that helps! This is really going to blow open the world of learning piano for me, and it's a dream I've had for decades. Thank you!
Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

That is an interesting use case (and definitely niche, like you mentioned). Hmm.

Decoupling the audio playback position from the on-screen drawn position would take... a lot of effort. That we're drawing and playing the same thing at the same time is one of those universal assumptions the code makes. It would break Melody Practice mode outright: you can't play the background parts 500ms ahead of time if you don't know whether the song will still be playing or be stopped in 500ms.

For strictly "Watch and Listen" mode, it might at least be a tractable problem... but it'd still be a big job.

I'm afraid for how narrowly this would help the majority of users, it is tricky to justify spending the effort on it. The (not great) workaround in the meantime would be to have Synthesia output the background tracks through its own built-in synth (which completely defeats the purpose of having such a high-end instrument in the first place), but at least then your playing would be closer to in sync with Synthesia's.
badmozart
Posts: 3

Post by badmozart »

jsherwani wrote: 02-20-21 3:33 pm I've got Synthesia connected to my Steinway Spirio | r, which is an acoustic grand piano with an official player system that supports MIDI in/out.
Which port did you use to connect your Spirio to Synthesia? Are you using the USB port on the piano or the MIDI ports? I've been unsuccessful in having Synthesia recognize the Spirio as a MIDI device.
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