iPad + AUM + Midi Guitar 2 + Fractal?

unix-guy

unix-guy

Master of RTFM
So I've decided I want to integrate Midi Guitar 2 into my FM9 rig.

I did this years ago with Axe Fx II using an iPad "dock" audio interface and fed signal out and back in between Axe Fx and the interface over analog (instrument cables).

I recently became aware of AUM on the iPad, which offers a number of improvements over running Midi Guitar 2 "directly": it can host MG2 and other audio/midi apps and allows great control over the routing, it allows setting the buffer lower than MG2 hard coded 256, and as I discovered today it allows selecting the various USB audio inputs/outputs from my FM9 when connected directly with USB.

So that's pretty cool - iPad Pro and a single USB C to USB B cable and no separate audio interface requirement!

BUT... The latency is horrible. Definitely not useful for live performance :(

I'm going to find a few cables I need and try the old dock + analog method later to confirm that it doesn't have this problem as well. It worked really well before.

Anyone else try this or something similar with better results?
 
I set it up the analog way yesterday and it worked as expected.

But I was having challenges adding a second synth.

After some further research I resolved the issue, and also discovered the AUM sample rate defaults to 44.1 and there's a Latency Compensation that's recommended to turn off that defaults to on.

I'm going to revisit the digital method again today.
 
Well... No dice :(

The AUM sample rate wasn't it because it automatically detected and used 48k with the FM9.

Latency Compensation has no effect that I could find.

I tried Midi Guitar 2 both hosted in AUM and also standalone.

It's very frustrating the more I think about it because I would expect MORE latency going thru the analog In/Out (due to additional D/A and A/D conversion) than keeping everything digital via USB and it sure would be nice to not need extra cables or a separate interface.

Any ideas would be appreciated...
 
From Midi Guitar 2's website:
  • Supports IAA
  • Coming soon: Premium pack brings AUv3 hosting.
Just a guess since I'm more of android guy, but I bet you need that AUv3 hosting. I believe IAA runs in a separate process from a host like AUM. So if MG2 is running as an IAA that could be causing some of your latency issues. MG2 (running as IAA) and AUM may have separate buffers. So what you likely want is MG2 hosted (as an AUv3) under AUM and then AUM will have complete control over buffering.

That's the best guess I got anyway ...
 
Rex Rox said:
From Midi Guitar 2's website:
  • Supports IAA
  • Coming soon: Premium pack brings AUv3 hosting.
Just a guess since I'm more of android guy, but I bet you need that AUv3 hosting. I believe IAA runs in a separate process from a host like AUM. So if MG2 is running as an IAA that could be causing some of your latency issues. MG2 (running as IAA) and AUM may have separate buffers. So what you likely want is MG2 hosted (as an AUv3) under AUM and then AUM will have complete control over buffering.

That's the best guess I got anyway ...
Click to expand...
Same problem when running MG2 directly...

AUM does have a separate buffer. MG2 uses it instead of it's own when hosted which is one reason I started using AUM - I read on the JamOrigin forum that you get better latency in AUM because on its own MG2 is locked to 256 but when hosted in AUM you can use 128.

Also, I just confirmed that MG2 is loaded as AU not IAA so that blurb may be old.
 
unix-guy said:
Same problem when running MG2 directly...

AUM does have a separate buffer. MG2 uses it instead of it's own when hosted which is one reason I started using AUM - I read on the JamOrigin forum that you get better latency in AUM because on its own MG2 is locked to 256 but when hosted in AUM you can use 128.

Also, I just confirmed that MG2 is loaded as AU not IAA so that blurb may be old.
Click to expand...

If it's running as AU under AUM then the host should control the buffering. Maybe it's a bug in MG2's AU plugin? If you haven't already I would have a look at the process table to ensure MG2 is running under AUM and not in it's own process just for a sanity check. But that's probably how you verified that it was loaded as an AU already. So I basically got nuthin!

I'm sure you will figure it out. When you get it working it sounds like it will be a great setup.
 
Rex Rox said:
If it's running as AU under AUM then the host should control the buffering. Maybe it's a bug in MG2's AU plugin? If you haven't already I would have a look at the process table to ensure MG2 is running under AUM and not in it's own process just for a sanity check. But that's probably how you verified that it was loaded as an AU already. So I basically got nuthin!

I'm sure you will figure it out. When you get it working it sounds like it will be a great setup.
Click to expand...
In AUM you load apps from a list of AU apps or a list of IAA apps that are detected by AUM.

I'm not sure how to check processes on iOS but I'm sure there's an app for that.

I checked again and found that MG also shows IAA but it fails to load that way...

I think I'm going to try with my Axe Fx III just to see if it's any different than the FM9.
 
unix-guy said:
In AUM you load apps from a list of AU apps or a list of IAA apps that are detected by AUM.

I'm not sure how to check processes on iOS but I'm sure there's an app for that.

I checked again and found that MG also shows IAA but it fails to load that way...

I think I'm going to try with my Axe Fx III just to see if it's any different than the FM9.
Click to expand...

That's where I become clueless for IOS. On Android there are plenty of terminal apps that basically give you a functional bash linux console. On IOS I'm sure there is something similar but I have never used one on that platform.
 
Well, I got it working!

I was going to take it and try it with the Axe Fx III and noticed there was an OS update available (iPadOS 16.5.1).

I did the update then hooked it up with the Axe Fx III and after a few minutes of setup for the routing it was working fine.

I tried a few things for 15-20 minutes and no issues.

So I decided to try the FM9 again fully expecting the weird latency and it just worked.

I'm not sure if it was the OS update or just restarting or what, but it's pretty cool.

Now I've got to mess around and create some synth presets I like.

I've got a version of my main preset where I can now blend between my guitar tones and the synth tones with an expression pedal.

Overall, I think the latency is about the same as with analog but I didn't compare side by side.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom