3 ms·

This problem is similar to the one faced by photographers. Why do in-camera shots look so much better in one camera vs another? A big reason these days is the c

This problem is similar to the one faced by photographers. Why do in-camera shots look so much better in one camera vs another? A big reason these days is the camera's default software post-processing matches your taste. I bet with a little fiddling (particular with things like eq, compression, reverb, maybe resonance - all of which Live has in abundance!) you could find a great sound. It's just easier because Yamaha has great taste in sound. (One day I swear I will get a C5!) The other thing that affects your experience, and that doesn't have anything to do with timbre, is latency. Ableton through a USB audio interface into monitors is going to take (much) longer than the onboard sound generation + speakers on a digital piano. It's going to add at least 20ms plus whatever time is required to compute the sound. Meanwhile any cheap digital piano is going to do better than that.

Slow_Hand 5y ago
I agree that unchecked latency (no matter how imperceptible) can sour or perception of an instrument's playability. That said, latency of 3ms is very attainable so long as your interface isn't a decade old. That's a very usable speed. Software instruments are usually about as quick as you'd ever need them to be (no latency). So just make sure your audio buffer is set low (32 - 128 samples) and that you're not doing any heavy DSP processing that's going to add extra latency. It takes some vigilance to do and it can be a pain in the ass to manage when you're trying to play the instrument in a CPU intensive session, but if you do it right you'll only get latency at the output stage (3ms).
- javajosh 5y ago
  I have Live 11 on macOS 11.2.3 on an Intel 2.3GHz MBP and Live states output latency as 13ms for a 64 sample buffer at 44.1KHz sample rate. Apparently latency is reported by the audio interface driver itself, rather then measured, because live has a parameter to override that latency, including with negative values (using time travel?) It's something I should fiddle with, for sure. It would be nice to have playable virtual instruments!
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Negative values typically offset for instance midi output to a point prior to the point where they normally would be output. So this only works for items that have a timestamp. But a soft-synth for instance could be driven that way to anticipate a longer delay further down the chain to end up with a more neutral delay once the whole chain has been traversed.

Slow_Hand 5y ago

I agree that unchecked latency (no matter how imperceptible) can sour or perception of an instrument's playability. That said, latency of 3ms is very attainable so long as your interface isn't a decade old. That's a very usable speed. Software instruments are usually about as quick as you'd ever need them to be (no latency). So just make sure your audio buffer is set low (32 - 128 samples) and that you're not doing any heavy DSP processing that's going to add extra latency. It takes some vigilance to do and it can be a pain in the ass to manage when you're trying to play the instrument in a CPU intensive session, but if you do it right you'll only get latency at the output stage (3ms).

javajosh 5y ago
I have Live 11 on macOS 11.2.3 on an Intel 2.3GHz MBP and Live states output latency as 13ms for a 64 sample buffer at 44.1KHz sample rate. Apparently latency is reported by the audio interface driver itself, rather then measured, because live has a parameter to override that latency, including with negative values (using time travel?) It's something I should fiddle with, for sure. It would be nice to have playable virtual instruments!
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Negative values typically offset for instance midi output to a point prior to the point where they normally would be output. So this only works for items that have a timestamp. But a soft-synth for instance could be driven that way to anticipate a longer delay further down the chain to end up with a more neutral delay once the whole chain has been traversed.