KVR Audio

golemus · Post by **golemus** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 1:46 pm

According to rumors android 4.4 kitkat should be out in these days (with Nexus5)

What do you think, will it bring any improvements to audio latency issues or in other ways make android better platform for audio apps?

In my opinion there is still to major problems with android.

1. UI latency/lag/sluggishness

2. audio latency.

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:00 pm

Its already being worked on but some devices are better than others. I dont think Kitkat brings anything to the table :

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/05/w ... of-choice/

golemus · Post by **golemus** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:39 pm

UltraJv wrote:Its already being worked on but some devices are better than others. I dont think Kitkat brings anything to the table :

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/05/w ... of-choice/

That is 6 months old information, after that android 4.3 came out and now 4.4.

In the "to do android list there are", "implement fast path to system mixer", it would be interesting if google has started to work on that.

a bit off topic but what do you think, will installation of CustomROM (cyanogenmod, supernexus, etc...) reduce audio latency...?

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:16 pm

Some custom Roms have audio enhancements but again it depends on the device. It seems dependant on the audio chipset used.

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:12 pm

UltraJv wrote:It seems dependant on the audio chipset used.

(Pretty much the same as on a PC, really...) No OS upgrade is going to make my Galaxy Fame have a decent audio chip - all the can be done is remove any inherent problems in the OS architecture. (i.e why Linux can drive some PC chipsets better than Windows in some cases.)

golemus · Post by **golemus** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:34 pm

http://developer.android.com/about/versions/kitkat.html

There is something about "Audio tunneling to DSP".

A friend told me that it might make low latency audio possible but only in Nexus 5 (at least for now). Any more information about this...?

paterpeter · Post by **paterpeter** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 9:25 pm

The Nexus 5 has been released ~3 hours ago (Nexus 5 in Play store). I've already ordered mine (32GB/black)

The 16GB version is already sold out in Germany.

TBH, I didn't buy it for any music-production purposes whatsoever. But I wouldn't say no if the audio situation sees an improvement.

SingleCell · Post by **SingleCell** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 2:48 am

golemus wrote:http://developer.android.com/about/versions/kitkat.html

There is something about "Audio tunneling to DSP".

A friend told me that it might make low latency audio possible but only in Nexus 5 (at least for now). Any more information about this...?

Audio tunnelling is just a hardware audio decoder chip. (mp3s are normally decoded on the CPU), so this is just a battery saving thing for the phone(s) with that chip when you're playing music. It's not programmable as far as I know so it has nothing to do with signal generation or latency.

fedexnman · Post by **fedexnman** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 2:57 am

paterpeter wrote:The Nexus 5 has been released ~3 hours ago (Nexus 5 in Play store). I've already ordered mine (32GB/black) The 16GB version is already sold out in Germany.

TBH, I didn't buy it for any music-production purposes whatsoever. But I wouldn't say no if the audio situation sees an improvement.

.

I got mine on order , its not supposed to ship until nov 22 , kind of crazy . Android seems a little behind on the music making apps scene still . Oh well .

musical android · Post by **musical android** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 8:32 am

But if you already have the phone it does not hurt to use the applications that exists and that are good! Actually there is whole lot of good applications that exists. Some that is not too bad in regards with latency depending what you want to do, but as soon it is applications that is using a sequencer latency does not matter at all!

If you are curious of what you can do with your new phone in the ways of
music making I shamelessly make publicity for my website musicalandroid.com

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:51 am

I'm interested in low latency audio on mobile hardware and am surprised Android is taking so long. I gather that that Windows Phone OS is a cut-down version of NT kernel. Any clues on its low latency audio performance?

paterpeter · Post by **paterpeter** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 11:08 am

fedexnman wrote:
paterpeter wrote:The Nexus 5 has been released ~3 hours ago (Nexus 5 in Play store). I've already ordered mine (32GB/black) The 16GB version is already sold out in Germany.

TBH, I didn't buy it for any music-production purposes whatsoever. But I wouldn't say no if the audio situation sees an improvement.
.

I got mine on order , its not supposed to ship until nov 22 , kind of crazy . Android seems a little behind on the music making apps scene still . Oh well .

Yeah, the first batches sold out super fast. Luckily I was quick. Mine will arrive on Monday, it's just 40km away from me right now

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 11:16 am

I read that the Nexus 10 2013 is also awaited this month?

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 1:28 pm

egbert wrote:I'm interested in low latency audio on mobile hardware and am surprised Android is taking so long. I gather that that Windows Phone OS is a cut-down version of NT kernel. Any clues on its low latency audio performance?

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums ... =wpdevelop

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:04 am

Thanks UJV. I guess this music caper is not a high priority in this situation where whole Windows Phone/RT platform will sink or swim on the basis of other things like cameras, battery life, bling rating etc.

Range of apps is a good thing - so laying the OS groundwork for good music apps potentially broadens the range of compelling apps. However, for those steering development at MS, in the headlong rush to get the latest models and features out the door - so that your job and the platform survives a few more generations in the market - I guess audio latency doesn't run anywhere near the top in the list of priorities.

This situation with Nokia and MS (which just bought their phone divistion for $$$) puts very experienced mobile manufacturers together with the OS development - which is getting closer to the Apple setup. Given MS experience with audio/MIDI on their desktop platform and their close relationship with some of the DAW companies over the years, perhaps some of those smarts can be ported into the mobile OS before too long.

Android 4.4 solves audio latency problems...?