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RE: Repeater latency




     Per wrote:
<<<I've been into software beta testing as well and I'm under the
impression that keyboard musicians are more tolerant to latency than
(percussive) guitar players or drummers are.>>>

     Odd to mention that keyboard musicians are more tolerant to latency 
than guitarists or
drummers are.  I suppose there are quite a few keyboardists out there who 
do a lot of textural
pad-like sounds.  For me, the attack of a note is crucial.  Many 
manufacturers get a lot of
interesting sounds when they forget about the attack.  Few of them really 
get the attack right
even when they're trying.  Emu comes close.  Kurzweil comes much closer.

     Even though MIDI was developed in the beginning with keyboards firmly 
in mind, it is
extremely lacking in the latency department.  Ever try to layer 4 sounds 
together and then hit a
simple 8 note chord?  Talk about latency...  Somebody's bad idea of an 
arpeggio joke.

     Ok, enough MIDI bashing.  I'm curious about Kim's statement that 12.5 
ms is a "particular
distance".  I never thought about it in these terms.  Of course it makes 
so much sense.  If I am
on a stage and I'm hearing my sound delayed by 12.5 ms, my body will 
interpret that as being a
"particular distance".  So how far away is 12.5 ms?  I know that it's 
really simple math, though
I'm unsure as to how much of a second is a ms.  Is it .001?  If so, then 
the perceived distance is
a little over 14 feet away, or 4.3 meters (assuming 68 degrees F or 20 
degrees C).  Huh, I guess
this puts things in a perspective of sorts.  I try to keep my onstage 
monitors about 4 feet away
from my head, and on the same plane (3.5 ms latency through the air).  To 
this end, I am running a
pair of active studio monitors and placing them behind me.  Since I'm not 
using a live mic, this
works very well as monitors, and in smallish places, as PA as well.

     Now, was this latency test done on Repeater version 1.0?  If so, what 
is the current latency?
 I always run my keyboards through the Repeater on dry mute, mostly 
because I can't stand how much
the sound degrades when I mix pre-Repeater and post-Repeater dry signals 
together.  This is both
the latency thing (phase shifting) and just that the signal has gone 
through yet another A/D,D/A
process.

     This also makes me wonder what the latency on my keyboard is and 
whether I'm unconsciously
adapting for that (more than likely).  There is also latency on a grand 
piano, and great latency
on a pipe organ.  And I'm always late to work...

          Stephen







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