Switching time latency - Hardware or Software?
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Hello there,
I want to buy a footswitch midi controller to use with bias fx for live purposes.
I've seen the official bt-4 demo on youtube and comments below confirmed what I noticed in the video: there's a certain amount of latency switching from a patch to another which is really annoying for the most of users and that kills my enthusiasm.In a live enviroment I don't want to be bothered about latency, so I'm wondering:
Is this issue caused by the footswitch itself since the bt-4 relies on a bluetooth connection or it has to do with the software performance?..or maybe both?If for instance I connect via usb another remote controller, would the latency get any better?
I'm a pro musician and I'm fascinated by the idea to gig around just with my ipad, since bias fx sounds pretty good...but of course the setup has to work properly and smooth
Do you guys use a remote controller?
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I use the dual path for switching because of this. It isnt just a problem of the bluetooth, switch the presets in the software by hand and you'll see how long it takes
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@pipelineaudio
yeah I've tried myself and I can see it now.
does the developers are aware of this? are they working on it or they just don't care? -
I'm working on it :) I'm sure they'd all love it to switch instantly, but even hardware systems can be slow to do it so its not the easiest thing in the world
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Doesn't the Quich Snap section remedy this? I think everyone forgets or doesn't notice it is there.
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as far as i know there is no such "quick snap" feature in bias fx..
pipelineaudio are you working on it? are you a developer?
So you think that even an iPad pro couldn't be enough powerful to switch faster?I'm not a programmer and i don't know how it works but Couldn't this be solved somehow pre-loading in background at least one bank and its 4 patches per time using the ipad's ram?
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The fact that an iPad can run a harmonizer live, at low latency tells me the power is there. I'm looking into the RAM.
Preloading is a potential solution! I'm looking at something along those lines.
I'm the non-coding member of a lot of development teams in DAWs and VSTs and recently got bit by the iOS bug. I've been tormenting my friends trying to get some code going on it lately
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I just realized, you may be talking about desktop/laptop rather than iOS.
If its for a real computer, SWS Live Configs would be the ZERO switching delay setup I'd go with
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no, I'm talking about iOS..
anyway, I'm glad that my hint has been helpful for you...I hope that the latency nightmare finishes as soon as possible and theeen i will buy the right audio interface and the remote control...i can't wait! -
for the records my ipad's cpu usage stands up to 15 - 20% while I'm running Bias FX or Bias Amp...
I don't know ram stats but for sure there's a lot of cpu power left -
Yah, dude, both have it.
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How fast does that change for you?
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Hehn hehn hehn hehn hehn.....I haven't bothered using it, though I guess I should. It should make work-flow better. I read a while back the Fractal gear has this feature, and it was real quick.
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@tannhauser said in Switching time latency - Hardware or Software?:
Hehn hehn hehn hehn hehn.....I haven't bothered using it, though I guess I should. It should make work-flow better. I read a while back the Fractal gear has this feature, and it was real quick.
I'm sorry but I use the iOS version of Bias Fx and all I have is live view which has this gap I'm talking about
By the way I've talked to the support team of this and this is their reply:
"Yes, definitely. I do understand that this is a serious problem for live use. We have been investigating and looking for better solutions to reduce the gap between preset changes. Hopefully we can come up with an idea that actually decreases the CPU usage in order to keep the performance of the app"
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Reply didn't show up in notifications. Anyways, I had a feeling it wasn't in the mobile platform. Grim. I haven't picked up a guitar in eleven days, so I haven't checked on it further.
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My videos show that some switching can be instant, but not necessarily when it calls for unloading and loading
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I mean I think the best thing would be to limit your usage to how you would use a real rig. Get as much out of the amp model and fx as possible. I feel like with the fx and with being able to run two amps in a dual signal rig being able to switch between two signal paths, turn od on or off, turn off delays and reverbs.
All the switching inside the preset is actually pretty much instant. Doing that I think would make your experience more usable for live. Its what I have come to accept. ....you could do something like in tonestack instudio and have 8 different tracks setup with 8 different fx racks and switch between those being "solo'd " with midi. Then you can have them switch instant. Theres workarounds, just have to be creative with the limitations.
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Even analog hardware isn't always instant. Digital hardware shares the same limitations as in the box stuff. There are things that can be done in any domain to make things better
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@brian-dress said in Switching time latency - Hardware or Software?:
I think the best thing would be to limit your usage to how you would use a real rig. Get as much out of the amp model and fx as possible. I feel like with the fx and with being able to run two amps in a dual signal rig being able to switch between two signal paths, turn od on or off, turn off delays and reverbs.
Yeah, you can have your favorite distortion and clean set-ups without even adding or subtracting any components; just switch in and out, and different settings for each component. Four ways for each, two for one and six for the other, etc. Should be near-instant.
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At least I want to be able to set a patch for each song i play in a live performance having all the timing fx (such as delay and tremolo) set accordingly with the bpm of the song...
If so, I could stay in one patch for the entire piece of music but at that point I'd need to toggle on/off more than 4 pedals at the time using a remote controller..
A 10 switch remote controller would be perfect:
8 switches to control the pedals and the remaining 2 switch for patch up/down.
The live view mode has 10 "switch" already...they should just add the possibility to map them how I said and that would be a real workaround which would make possible to use Bias Fx live ignoring the gaps between the patches...I talked to the support team about this and it seemed to be a good idea.
I don't think this kind of implementation is hard to do, but it will take some time anyway because development team is about to release some new hardware stuff so I don't think they are going to work on it soon...
So, until then to me Bias FX mobile will remain a nice tool to have in your pocket to play/study with, but nothing more..no yet