DM48X and Android

[Huy Phạm Bá]

Hello Erik
Hi everybody
I am a harmonica fan from Vietnam
Through Youtube and online resources, I became really interested in the DM48X and wanted to learn more before deciding to buy this harmonica.
I have a few questions, I'd love to hear everyone's responses.
1. I heard my harmonica friend talk about the DM48 model having a delay between the harmonica player blowing his breath into the horn and the response of the sound emitted. Has this issue been resolved on DM48X yet?
2. I am currently using a Samsung phone and tablet, is there any application that can integrate DM48X with Android devices?

[To the Sun]

No noticeable delay from my experience. I'm loving mine. I don't know about any apps that could accept MIDI and make sound from it on Android, but I'm sure there must be something.

[Erik L]

Hello,

Although there is a little bit of latency in the controller itself (probably in the order of 15-20 ms - although we have not measured it), whenever latency is really noticeable this is usually introduced further downstream. E.g. SWAM instruments on iOS (at least some of them) can feel just slightly sluggish compared to some simpler synths in my opinion - but they are still among the most playable software instruments and sound great.

Bluetooth adds a little bit more latency, but again with a responsive synth it can still be very fast and not too noticeable (assuming the player is within a few meters of the receiving unit).

When playing a Yamaha VL70 in a computer-free setup I would say the response is basically instantaneous - supporting that the DM48 is normally not the limiting factor.

A little-known fact is that velocity sensing (dynamic velocity) in the DM48X when turned on leads to a slight increase in latency (and SWAM instruments sound best with this feature active by the way - or alternatively with SWAM’s built in velocity detection turned on). This is because a little bit of extra time is needed to determine the initial pressure slope (i.e. the attack - how hard the note is triggered) before sending the “note on” MIDI message.

We have heard of several people having trouble with Android in this context (including latency issues), but it’s possible someone got it to work well.

Erik

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DM48/DM48X Digital Chromatic Harmonica User Forum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dm48-digital-chromatic...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dm48-digital-chromatic-harmonica/bb212d5e-7040-478f-a310-d7c509f7ee5en%40googlegroups.com.

[Emanuele Parravicini]

Concerning SWAM: what buffer size do you use?

[Erik L]

That was a good point, Emanuele.

I have always used the default setting (apparently 1024 samples - have not previously dug that far into the menus) but turning it down to 16 (0.3 ms) made a big difference. 

In particular when playing wired, SWAM is now very snappy on iOS. With reduced buffer, SWAM is also very playable over Bluetooth (with both stacking up, delay becomes noticeable).

This should explain why the desktop versions have always felt more responsive than iOS standalone apps - as I suppose the buffer size is in the former case dictated by the global setting in the DAW.

This was all a bit off topic, but lesson learned is that all iOS SWAM users should reduce the buffer size.

I also recommend to use the default SWAM settings combined with the “SWAM” Global preset in the DM48X (rather than the “DM48” preset in SWAM).

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dm48-digital-chromatic-harmonica/c0a5abf7-3338-4955-87db-98be1edf5729n%40googlegroups.com.

[Emanuele Parravicini]

We always recommend a buffer size of maximum 128 samples. Of course, it strongly depends on the CPU usage of the device; one should select the smallest buffer size with no audio dropouts.

A developer cannot force a given buffer size. For a fresh installation, the App gets the buffer size from the Operating System (iOS). Moreover, since the audio device is shared across different audio Apps, a given App takes the buffer size of the current running audio App. Let's say that you ope GarageBand, and it sets the buffer size to 1024; if you open a SWAM App leaving GarageBand running, the buffer size of the SWAM App is automatically set to 1024. At this point, if you close the SWAM App, the value of 1024 gets saved in the state; it happens that the next time you launch the SWAM App, it uses a buffer size of 1024.

Lesson learned: always double check the buffer size before playing.

A for the "DM48 Default" MIDI Preset, now that I know that you don't recommend it, we can modify it as you suggest and add the fix to the next release.

Best,

Emanuele

[Erik L]

Thanks Emanuele!

Very useful information that will make a real difference to many SWAM+DM48(X) users.

Erik

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dm48-digital-chromatic-harmonica/49f1d41b-811a-4c9a-85aa-5b9e3276297cn%40googlegroups.com.

[fb bf]

Hello, Huy Pham Ba,

personally, I don't feel any delay when playing the DM48X, unless I use an android device :-(
 I bought my harmonica 2 years ago, almost 3, I believe. At that time, I tried every available android app with my xiaomi phone and, I believe, a samsung tablet and could confirm that none worked satisfactorily, as had been reported to me by other players. 
Unfortunately, I had to buy a used iPhone for this purpose and it has worked very well. I believe I bought an iPhone 8. I had the chance to buy an iPad of similar age and regret not having done so. There are some interesting apps for musicians that only work for the iPad.

I did send an e-mail to this discussion list some time ago going into more detail of the apps I use, you might want to check it out.

I can only speak highly of the DM48X and understand that buying an additional phone or tablet to be able to use it is an an unwelcome cost, but I thought it was worth it. 
I am not an Apple fan myself, but the facts are that android devices have not been designed with midi processing and synthesizing in view, so the hardware does not work well for that. As a consequence, all the working apps are for iOS.

I hope this helps you decide to go for the DM48X!

Greetings from Brazil,

Fernando 

ᐧ

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DM48/DM48X Digital Chromatic Harmonica User Forum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dm48-digital-chromatic...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dm48-digital-chromatic-harmonica/df5998b0-0d7e-4562-9848-e5c0145703a7n%40googlegroups.com.

[JD]

Thtis is why I almost never use my dm48. The delay in android was horrible and I never found a windows free software where I had good results either.

Thought about buying an old iphone but was afraid of obsolescence since they like to stop updates and stuff like that and had a hard time finding somebody selling an iphone/ipad with at least garageband installed and willing to share eventually their apple id (i believe its a risk of blocking everything if a factory reset is done...)

4 juin 2024 15:05:37 fb bf <bres...@alumni.usp.br>:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dm48-digital-chromatic-harmonica/CAOr6ufR8x-CGRv8hEDsMEns4obakxY6hejJMbxPZh72AFEO1iA%40mail.gmail.com.

[fb bf]

JD, regarding updates to the iPhone, if it is used exclusively with the DM48X, if it is doing what you want it to do when you get, you probably won't miss much if future updates stop. Most apps will support older devices forever (or, at least, for a very long time) and security updates are way less critical, as you can avoid adding any sensitive information to the device and keep it offline most of the time. For that, I would suggest creating a dedicated apple ID and only adding payment information if necessary and removing it once any apps have been bought and it stops being necessary. 

I hope this helps.