Anyway to adjust latency for Beats headphones

I am on an iPad with Beats 3 headphones and a MIDI controller in the USB port. I shifted the MIDI -150ms and lowered to 128 samples and it’s actually not too bad, it’s off by like a fraction.

is there any other way to reduce latency any further, particularly for live recording using the MIDI controller, with Beats ?

otherwise how are you simultaneously recording and monitoring with a MIDI controller? Is there an adapter for USB c to dual USB C+3.55 adapter (Or do you use headphones later for final mixing) ?

Comments

  • Bluetooth wireless audio is by far the biggest subject in adding latency so if you want to get rid of latency, use a wired set of headphones.

    What I'm doing is monitor using wired headphones and using Bluetooth MIDI which has much, much lower latency than audio.

    There are BT MIDI interfaces like the Yamaha UD-BT01 that can be used with MIDI controllers that have a USB but no 5-pin MIDI ports.

  • I use a USB-C Hub (It's got a USB-PD port and a USB-C Port and 2 regular USB-Ports + card reader) and hook my audio-interface (Audient ID4 Mk2) and a midi-controller (CME X-Key 25) to it. Both headphones and monitors are connected to the audio-interface...

  • Both excellent solutions. My interface is in my “analog” studio so this is really a home/“bedroom musician “ issue. Otherwise when I’m in my studio using dRambo on the mac (which is rare) I have it plugged directly in and I have the MIDI Controller also plugged in at the same time for latency free monitoring and recording.

    i was hoping there might be a hub or adapter with a converter such as the apple usb C multi, obviously with a 3.5mm audio jack on it but I wasn’t able to find one.

    @rs2000 youre right so, honestly it’s not a huge surprise or crazy issue because as you said, it’s the biggest issue with BT audio and recording. I was just wondering if anyone worked around it or what your lazy, bedroom jamming situations might look like . I should just go to the studio every time but that isn’t always possible.

  • @FearAndLoathing To be fair, BT audio latency only really hurts when you play a keyboard or pads live.

    If you can get friends with writing your music on the piano roll or remix existing audio material, audio latency isn't so much of an issue.

  • Very true.

    You know I’m complicating a simple setup.

    I’ll save the “hardcore” recording (meaning all wired and 0 latency) for the studio and just jam out on the speakers when I’m in the bedroom

    I can always use the BT headphones for post recording mixing/mastering type stuff after I’m finished if I don’t feel like waiting for the studio.

    now there is a usb c multiport that has a pass thru usb and audio Jack a friend showed me so that’s also a possibility. It’s $25 or so, so if I experiment I will report my results

    otherwise thanks boys

  • @rs2000 as I was purchasing the Yamaha I realized I’ll need the apple multiport adapter for the USB A to USB C ($35 or so) and then Yamaha $60 and I still won’t be able to have 3.5mm without a hub of some kind so I finally found a hub

    USB-C (male) Host - Multi- hub:

    USB C 100 p (pass thru for MIDI controller )

    3.5mm audio jack

    plus like 6 more USB C and A

    so I’ll be able to connect the iPad to the hub and then everything to the hub, like the MIDI controller, plug /power source if battery is low. And 3.5mm jack, and then I’ll plug that in


    with that said I’m still curious. If I got a dual split for the iPad Pro, like USB C to USB A, and 3.5mm jack , could I potentially wire my beats and have wireless Bluetooth MIDI controller hooked up? Or would the Yamaha need dedicated power/drive? Sorry I didn’t see this anywhere else so I’m just detailing my OP

  • You can definitely use Bluetooth MIDI along with other stuff over USB. If your MIDI controller requires power over USB, you'll need a power bank or wall wart to supply it.

  • edited March 2023

    Ok so at the risk of sounding totally foolish it COULD potentially also have the power delivery through the iPad?

    Meaning the 100PD is what the iPad gives so that would be sufficient? Thanks uncle Dave

  • The 100 W PD is the maximum the hub can accept. It will use some of that and offer some to the iPad for power and charging. Note that USB-C Power Delivery uses higher DC voltage (20V or more) to achieve these high wattage values. This power is only suitable for powering hubs and charging USB-C iPads. It is in no way suitable for powering audio interfaces, MIDI controllers, or other connected gear.

    A USB-B port is limited to a maximum of 500 mA at 5V (2.5 W), so that's the most the iPad will be able to "give". That should be plenty to power a MIDI keyboard controller. But if you're connecting to a USB port, there's no reason to use Bluetooth MIDI.

  • Ok, pulled trigger on the hub as it has that capacity. And you’re right Dave, I was just kind of curious because instead of JUST having a solution for the iPad now, I was looking into the BT Yamaha for my interface. It’s compatible with the app as well, so I would have a solution for another issue, close but different.

    I look forward to working with 0 latency and headphones now. Thanks a lot for the confirmation (5v/2.5w), as I couldn’t find it and you basically showed I have a lot of “headroom” power wise( to use an analogy) uncle Dave

  • I got the iPad Pro USB C hub - USB C + 3.5mm headphone jack (+1 more USB C for power) and 0 latency [mini bedroom studio] recording is achieved. I can really appreciate the difference now. If anyone wanted to know, it works if you have an iPad Pro/air.

  • edited March 2023

    Since using the USB C+ Audio Jack with Drambo it has started to crash on me. I noticed clipping and random skipping now. It’s very annoying that it happens; luckily it hasn’t happened while I had a serious song, but if it were any other time, I would be very upset.*

    What might be causing the crash and problem now? Is it possible Drambo/iOS doesn’t like the audio driver+USB/midi hub? Anyway to check on if a “better” hub might stop this? Any other processes to check on or settings to adjust to stop or minimize crashing? (Increasing samples? Buffer?)

    Thanks

    *This never happened before the hub, and it never happend with the USB C controller directly plugged in with BT headphones (despite the latency it didn’t crash at least).

  • Is Drambo actually crashing? Go to the iOS Settings app search for "Analytics", then open "Analytics Data". Look for filenames beginning with "Drambo". If there are files at the times of the crashes, they may indicate a real bug in the app.

    You could try increasing the Drambo Latency (Number of Samples) setting.

  • There are a couple of incidents in the log reports. I’m not going to pretend I understand them but there was something in the logs for Drambo.

    Im going to increase samples since I’m wired up, I can go to 512 or maximum and I’ll let you know if that helps

  • (Just an update: increased samples, using the second hub instead of first: No crashes since. Chalk it up to random CPU entanglements ;)

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