iOS MIDI input timing / jitter

[Leslie]

Every single component of my humble musc production studio has issues and problems - nothing is perfect in this "perfect" world
But I just use these "flaws" as yet another creative tool. I don't spend (waste) time observing and detecting jitter and other issues with my iPad, I just create music to my best ability with tools I have.
Btw; I'm sure that future iPad 10 with 16 core CPU and iOS 15 will solve some of these issues
Meantime I will just dedicate my time to create some tracks instead of wasting it for measuring and detecting jitter.
PS; Just an example of what can be done with iPad:

[coverup0204]

That's a great example of what can be done with an IPad for non-timing critical sounds that leave the tight stuff like bass and drums to hardware. I'm not being sarcastic, it really does sound good. Nobody is doubting the sound generation capabilities of iOS.

[tdmusic]

Wow, hadn't checked back on this post for a while, some really interesting discussion going on!

Glad I'm not going crazy and other people can reproduce the issue - coverup, I did the same kind of testing you did and saw the same results with notes "falling back in line" after drifting. The buffer explanation makes good sense, but I would happily trade latency for timing accuracy - anyone else interested in trying to reach out to app developers to discuss the possibility of adding an option to some of the most popular synths with me?

I appreciate that to some people, it's a non-issue, or could even be credited with adding "feel" to the timing, but for the kind of music I'm trying to create (electronic, techno, etc), tight rhythmic timing is absolutely key and one of the most common things I'd want to do is loop a rhythmic sequence in my DAW, adjust synth parameters over time on the iPad and record the output (then maybe cut loops out of this recording).

If the MIDI timing cannot be relied upon to be reasonably tight (and the jitter in question *is* noticeable with the kind of music I'm doing), it makes this much more difficult - the recording needs to be "time corrected" afterwards, which in turn prevents you from using effects like tempo synced delay on the output from the iPad.

It's a real shame as it definitely restricts the creative possibilities of using the iPad with a DAW, and I was so excited about doing so as some of the synths on the iPad are incredible. Of course, there's still a lot that can be done with recording one shot sounds, non-rhythmic material etc., but it's a shame to miss out on potentially so much more - at least it sounds like there could be a solution app developers could implement rather than something more fundamental with the iPad/its MIDI connectivity though!

[tdmusic]

One thing I'd be curious to know, as I've never really worked with "real" MIDI gear (synths etc) before, is how this jitter compared to hooking up a hardware synth over MIDI - anyone able to comment?

[Shabdahbriah]

bookmarking this.

[coverup0204]

Just want to say that Sunrizer was just updated with adjustable latency, and when it is set to 128 samples the timing is great. What a joy to play with a keyboard! You almost forget that the latency is there.

The timing sounds pretty good to my critical ears even with 16th notes up to 145 BPM or so. I don't think the original problem of sloppy note generation has been solved, but as we have seen, as latency lowers so does jitter. In short, hooray to this update! Glad I bought it on my iPhone too so I can have two of them now

Maybe this was some dark magic optimization by Beep Street, but let's hope other apps follow suit!

[audiojunkie]

Just want to say that Sunrizer was just updated with adjustable latency, and when it is set to 128 samples the timing is great. What a joy to play with a keyboard! You almost forget that the latency is there.

The timing sounds pretty good to my critical ears even with 16th notes up to 145 BPM or so. I don't think the original problem of sloppy note generation has been solved, but as we have seen, as latency lowers so does jitter. In short, hooray to this update! Glad I bought it on my iPhone too so I can have two of them now

Maybe this was some dark magic optimization by Beep Street, but let's hope other apps follow suit!

This is good news! I didn't realize that aspect of the update when I downloaded it last night. I'm off to lower my latency!

Thanks for bringing this news up!

--Sean

[dm12167]

Guys,

I am yet to find an app that sync's to my DAW-PRo tools

Have a MPC4000 connected to Pro tools as a slave and it supertight. I am using a sync gen box innerclocksystems.com which provides a sample accurate midi clock thats driven by a Plugin from the DAW

I have 10 samples max jitter on the MPC4000 slaved to Sync Gen box/Pro tools

Slaving beatmaker2 to the same sync gen box gives me really sloppy timing. I have used iRig Midi on the pad and connected Sync gen Midi to iRig Midi on ipad.

Look forward to the days when iPad can be sync'd properly to PRO Gear. That will be the day when I will get a dedicated iPad for the studio.

Until then... i will be watching