Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Portable Speaker
Hi all,
I'm looking at getting a JBL flip 3 Bluetooth speaker, can anyone confirm the Aux input has zero latency?
Thanks.
Comments
I don't see any reason why the aux input would have any latency issues. If you were to use it in Bluetooth mode, that would be a different story.
I've got one. No latency at all with the cable. Bluetooth? Forget it...
There is no such thing as zero latency, but a plugged in connection in an amp should be sooooooo low that your brain would automatically compensate
Some portable speakers do have quite some latency even thru the aux cable. JBL Xtreme doesn't but I had an Anker that did have enough latency to make it impossible to do any real time playing. So I'm not sure why some speakers have that problem but it might be because they do some sort of processing to produce a fuller sound than otherwise.
Will watch out for portable speakers in the future then!
Fruit bat's right, of course. Technically there might be a smidgin of latency but not to any extent I've ever noticed.
Great, thanks all! I've tried other speakers with direct connections in the past that used DSP with unplayable delays. Flip 3 it is..
Not Bluetooth, I know, but the Aux in on most - if not all - Sonos speakers have a horrible latency because the speakers process the input in some way (the A->D conversion or sync with other speakers?) before outputting the sound, even if you only have one speaker standalone. Such a shame, I have a Play 5 and I can't use the Aux In for any performance stuff...
@Soupe Latency-wise the Flip3 feels great when cord-connected. With bluetooth the latency is big, but even then fine for Some programming (step-sequencing, but no expressive-playing like piano or drum pads).
Frequency-wise the Flip3 is the best I tested of it's size: it's the least "boost colored" compared to its JBL brothers: both the Charge and the Extreme seem markedly Less true (less flat-frequency) than the Flip possibly because they're waterProof (submergible) as opposed to the Flip being only "splashproof": physically less protected and thusly less compensated for.
Lastly: The main downside of the (consumer-targeted) Flip is that the low-end frequency cutoff is fairly brutal: much below 100hz vanishes and sound becomes unreliably represented even higher than that yet the mids to highs are a surprisingly decent reference.
Thanks Proppa for the mini review! I've not heard the flip3 so only going on reviews, not expecting too much for its size but just handy to play synths/pianos etc when out & about.
Cheers..
I have two from Bose. They are fantastic. No latency aux-wise, minimal latency bluetooth-wise and a lot of low end. They weren't cheap but they are really very good.
Has anyone tried minirig? It's possible to use two together for stereo, plus there's a subwoofer option. Both aux for zero(near, physics) latency, and bluetooth that's as low latency as possible with that tech (read: still not good enough for live performance, but might not drive you crazy when playing around). Been on my jones list for a while. The iOS app, which I was holding off for, is out now, but the reviews seems spotty. The hardware looks great. The whole kit would be a lot of dough though. So if anyone here was so brave, and still happy with the purchase I think I'd join the club
http://minirigs.co.uk/
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/minirig/id1106227171
Which models?
Of possible further interest in this thread: this channel has several side-by-side comparisons of portable speakers: https://www.youtube.com/user/clavinetjunkie/videos
I have the soundlink II and III. They are both great. I was especially blown away by the II. So small, so much low end for such a small speaker.
Thanks!
Plus shout out to @Proppa! That youtube video list seems to cover everything mentioned here if one is willing to click loadmore enough times and use the browser search to zero in. Plus a lifetime's worth more reviews! Let the quandary begin!
I had one and sent it back, it sounded awful. It was just past the return date though (since it had been bought as a present), so they gave me a refund on condition I removed my critical review.
The reviews are usually very good, so maybe I just got a dud. They tested it and said it was fine though, but to me it sounded muddy, and there was speaker buzz.
They offered to repair it but as they refused to replace it I went for a refund instead.
So many consumer-grade speakers are so unnaturally bass-heavy (which is what sells in a BestBuy, I know). I mean, it seems silly to drive your mixed-on-an-iPad tracks through a set of Barefoots. But is there a brand that is relatively neutral? What about those Cambridge Soundworks products? My kids have the little Oontz speakers, and they seem pretty robust for the size (and price).
And the bigger Oontz actually charges your iPad via USB....
Wow, quite the sale price. Not sure if that's very temporary, or the new price, but for 30 bucks it looks like a good bet in the small category. Has the the oh so import aux in. So good to go for music making apps!
The only portable speaker I have so far is the 1.0 version of this
http://www.outdoortechnology.com/Shop/Buckshot/
No aux in though, so really just good for what I bought it for, which is riding my bike with no headphones, and maybe, just maybe, getting the attention of cars that otherwise wouldn't have noticed me. Sound quality is barely above the built in speaker of iPhone 6s Plus (which is actually more a testament to the built in), but capable of being much louder. Can attest to riding in the rain, and the battery seems to last forever. Which is more that I can say for my bike light
A while ago I read a short article by a DJ who swore by the creature below, the Atom V2 from Audio Dynamix. They're a British company. I still haven't heard one myself, I haven't had the need to pull the trigger on one. I tried finding the article but I didn't bookmark it and couldn't locate it in Google. An unusual thing is that the red one is 15£ cheaper. I tried pinpointing a model or spec difference but can't see it. Maybe they've discounted the red one because it doesn't sell?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uprated-Audio-Dynamix-Atom-V2i-Silver/dp/B00DX788SI
Jbl xtreme
+1
If money is not an object and you want to use it for studio work as well as Bluetooth listening then I have yet to hear better than the ILoud from IK Multimedia. Plus it comes with the highly convenient built in audio interface for recording external guitars ,synths or what ever you like. Oh and it certainly lives up to it's moniker. This bad boy is really loud but the bass will not sound fake or over processed .
+2
Used it on stage.
Like it.
Thanks again @Proppa for the video list.
After sifting through it my conclusion is they're all terrible, stick with headphones :P
Seriously though I could summarize his preference for the reasonably priced bracket as: JBL, pick a size.
But then he goes and does this:
Which just increases the lust factor for the minirig!
It should be noted that if one wants to pair speakers the JBLs support this, but only two. Stereo only if the same model. The minirigs can be chained together in greater number, and with cords for no latency. The JBL pairing is wireless only. Along the way I also stumbled on this comparison of paired JBL Charge 3 vs single JBL Xtreme:
Another great choice, if a bit pricey for it's size, is the Fugoo XL. He seems to like it all his reviews, yet it doesn't make his poolside round up:
I'm inquiring about that, will report back if I get clarification.
Another stereo pair option is the UE Mini Boom. I do have one of these and I love it, sound- and design-wise.
@srcer One thing to note about the JBL's: the frequency response / sound color is very different between the models: both the Extreme and the Charge (being waterproof) seem like they are EQ-preset to compensate for the internal foilwrap (or whatever JBL is doing to waterproof the product) while the (splashproof) Flip sounds the most flat, true and useful to my ear as a monitor.
Mind you it depends what you're doing: I'm making beat-based electronic music and am used to hearing it on proper monitors so my needs for an ultra-portable speaker are down to just not butchering audio so bad that what I make in the wild is useless or needs a ton of correcting once back on said actual studio monitors. In this sense the Flip sounded the least "treated" and had distinctly better high end than the big JBL brothers (I listened to the same track back to back on all three models repeatedly) while also being the smallest and least loud of the three.
I was very tempted by the Minirig but frequency response cutting off where it does on the low end gave me enough pause to go Flip. I'm confident that the stereo Minirig-rig with the subwoofer is far superior to the Flip but that kind of setup totally defeats my own Ultra-portable needs: something that allows me to bypass iDevice speakers with minimum effort / maximum portability and for that the Flip has been working great.
+1. Luv mine
+1
I personally use this one for extra bass. No latency!
That looks nice and chunky - what is it?