• Registered: 2021-04-10
  • Posts: 4

Topic: Babyface and live hosts: Some research on latency and live hosts

Hello,

tl,dr:
Brainspawn Forte has been a host for playing VSTs live on stage but is discontinued since years.
One alternative, Gig Performer offers sufficient low latency and negligible jitter at a buffer size of 128 samples.
Full story here:
http://www.powerlord.de/site/angel/Late … rt2021.pdf

I have been messing around with this topic for some time, and now I finally did it: Measuring the MIDI-to-audio real-world latency and timing jitter depending on the buffer size, comparing Gig Performer by Deskew Technologies and Forte by Brainspawn, my old live host used for over 15 years at >200 live gigs. Audio interface is my RME Babyface pro.

Latency and minimizing it is one of the most discussed topics for digital audio. More than latency, the random latency jitter makes live playing feel untight and sluggish. So time for some facts on it.

Full posts on KVR and Sound on Sound:
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopi … p;t=563653
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view … mp;t=77561

Comments are welcome.

Angel

Live keyboarder since three decades

Angel von Powerlord's Website

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 24,813

Re: Babyface and live hosts: Some research on latency and live hosts

Thanks for that. The PDF is very good - and even sent me on a time journey back to the early RME years wink

What really bothers me is that the typical musician magazines all lost it - I am not aware of one that does what you did on a regular base, to inform their readers about such differences between DAWs, VST hosts etc. Same in many other fields, though.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

3 Reply by Angel von Powerlord (edited by Angel von Powerlord 2021-04-11 20:20:40)

  • Registered: 2021-04-10
  • Posts: 4

Re: Babyface and live hosts: Some research on latency and live hosts

Dear Matthias,

Thank you! Your explanations on buffers and latency almost 20 years ago were my starting point to understand latency.
This and Martin Walkers PC Notes on SOS Mag.
Best regards,
Angel

Live keyboarder since three decades

Angel von Powerlord's Website