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Recommended hardware

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:43 pm
by lonbluster
What phone hardware would play and record midi real time via usb (both to speaker and midi) without silensing the output?
Please recommend a specific cheap but performant model, make no sense to have silent output when recording with my Samsung a5.

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:24 pm
by planet-h
lonbluster wrote:What phone hardware would play and record midi real time via usb (both to speaker and midi) without silensing the output?
Please recommend a specific cheap but performant model, make no sense to have silent output when recording with my Samsung a5.

For what you want to do, be sure to ...
1. Forget all brands with exception of the Google Pixel product line.
2. Get a phone device with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

That said, the only remaining devices left are:
Pixel 1, Pixel 1 XL (no longer shipping)
Pixel 3A (the probably best deal for the lowest possible $ at the moment)
The upcoming Pixel 4A (not yet shipping)

Btw. Your Samsung A5, what Android is it running?
Have you tried to select another Audio System in the G-Stomper settings?
main screen / setup / aud / audio settings / [OpenSL | AudioTrack N | AAudio
However, you're A5 might be too slow to handle the load.

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 10:50 pm
by lonbluster
A5 has 8.0, and unofficially 10 and 11.. I d give those a try before finding a Pixel.
I don t see Aaudio option.
Thanks
Andrea

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 2:38 pm
by lonbluster
it seems the usb output is causing the silensing...
If I start gstomper with the jack plugged is much better, and sometimes with no delay!

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 6:43 am
by planet-h
lonbluster wrote:A5 has 8.0, and unofficially 10 and 11.. I d give those a try before finding a Pixel.
I don t see Aaudio option.
Andrea

AAudio just came to a stable state in Android 8.1.

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 6:44 am
by planet-h
lonbluster wrote:it seems the usb output is causing the silensing...
If I start gstomper with the jack plugged is much better, and sometimes with no delay!

That makes absolutely sense. When you say the "usb", what do you hook up at the USB port to get the audio through it?

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 9:17 pm
by lonbluster
Am using line6 amplifi TT as usb output, but through a usb c hub with power delivery. If it wasn t for the silensing I preferred because is more powerful than line jack for volume and bass.

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 12:15 pm
by planet-h
lonbluster wrote:Am using line6 amplifi TT as usb output, but through a usb c hub with power delivery. If it wasn t for the silensing I preferred because is more powerful than line jack for volume and bass.

The "silencing" you're talking about is because your device (in combination with the line6 on USB) has more than 60ms output latency.
All details about the behavior and why it's handled that way can be found in the docs at https://www.planet-h.com/gstomper/docs/ ... /part7.htm

Just as a test... have you tried to hook the audio interface up directly, without the powered USB C hub in between?

However, in order to get low latency results with USB Audio interfaces, I recommend to follow these steps:
1. Get an USB audio interface that is specially designed for mobile devices. I'm pretty sure the line6 should work well.
2. Be sure to use the latest Android version, which is usually given when using a Google Pixel 2, 3, 4, 5 device.
3. Be sure to use a Google Pixel 2, 3, 4, 5 device, as these are the Google reference models, which always have the best latency results, with or without USB audio interface.

Other devices as well as older Android versions work as well, of course. But you'll never get the same latency results.

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 9:25 pm
by lonbluster
Finally I'll stay with the jack, and anyway I set it to have the guitar dedicated on the Amplifi.
Today I had a good recording time with unperceivable latency, even though I hit more often the max volume, no more than that, and had to rebalance the outputs to the speakers and other volumes/pans.

Eventually I run on the Amplifi a bluetooth instance of another phone. So with Ableton link I get rid of the metronome on the main Gstomper where i do the midi recording. It works!
After many trials Finally I am starting to streamline my jam sessions speedily enough... with electric/acoustic guitar, mic and gstomper. (through an analog mixer/recorder)

Also on my Android I can't get a usb mic output with no latency, so I will consider the Pixel for this at the same time.
I will let you know if I find anything else curious, thanks for your support!

Re: Recommended hardware

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:03 am
by planet-h
Thanks a lot for reporting back, Ionbuster.
Interesting solution to use a secondary device with Ableton Link to get rid of the offset, and very innovative;).
Hope at some day I can listen to some of your recordings.