Hello Jim,
I would expect detectable latency with the microphone plug in.
Personally I would use a "real" microphone/line mixer and loop the sound through the mixer (Playit sound out of sound card into mixer and back in if needed).
I can't suggest an ideal mixer for this application as I've not found one but a sound card and more or less any mixer would do.
Hello again Jim,
While not "perfect", the Yamaha AG03 merits consideration.
I have far too many mixers already (!) but it seems well thought through and if I were buying another it might be on my list.
I await with interest further products in the range, the AG06 seems to be going in the wrong direction but Yamaha seem to at least "get it" a bit.
Hi Mark
thanks for the comments. Yes - I'd thought of the sound out & then back in again, & whilst this works, it seemed to be getting over complicated ! If I go along that route I'll probably run from 2 laptops, with one into the mixer along with mic & then a 2nd one for the encoding to stream.
That said, I have been playing around with the plugin more & after realising I had some levels set wrong on my laptop, have found that using the system & the plugin & selecting no playback, I can use it as intended with no latency. I can still occasionally monitor levels by selecting normal playback, but obviously this gives latency.
So - a good result (thanks Jason) ! Having been used to sitting in a room full of equipment, I'm trying to go the other route & work with just a laptop & microphone ! I'm almost there !
Definitely a case of teaching an old dog new tricks !
Thanks all
Jim www.emmatoc.com
Hello again Jim,
At the risk of being the Yamaha salesman (and for a product I've never touched !) the "Loopback" bit of the link below explains what I was getting at.
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/interfaces/ag/ag03/
As an alternative for streaming, I like "Broadcast Using This Tool". This will run OK on a low spec PC with PlayIt Live on the same PC.
Hi Mark
Yes - all noted. It looks a good mixer, but out of my 'justifiable' spend range at the moment ! Nice size & capabilities, & worth considering if I do more internet radio after my 3 days next February.
I think I'm sort of achieving the same by monitoring the mic from the pc sound card rather than from the PlayIt output to encoder, but this only seems to work on a line-in mic rather than a usb mic. Usb mic still gives latency...
Interested re BUTT - I was going to use this until I saw Jason's Internet Broadcast plugin, which I have downloaded & am aiming to use. At the moment I am not doing any live streaming - just using auto dj so haven't used it yet. Would be interested to know if there are any differences worth thinking about, & if I use a separate pc dedicated for streaming then maybe BUTT is the right solution ? - however, I hope to do all this from one pc & so presumably Jason's plugin is the right answer ?
Have to say, the old days of cd players, mini discs, mixers & all into the back of the compressor / limiter & then into the TX were far easier to understand !!
Cheers
Jim
Hello Jim,
Your mention of processing is, in my view, the critical point.
Great as PlayIt Live is, other than the envelope manipulation that is possible at the transition between tracks there isn't any level control. Application of some form of loudness processing (effectively mimicking replay gain) on the music files is adequate for home listening. For anything else, probably not.
If you are recording "as live" for Internet radio you might find using the microphone plug in adequate although there isn't an obvious way (other than ears) of judging the level on your recording.
You could post process using Audacity and one of the compressors and that might be OK if you have something that fairly gently rides the gain to bring up the quiet bits.
If you can trust the music to be the "right" level then microphone processing can keep reasonable balance between announcements and music.
If you have a look at my "Poor Man's Radio Setup"
http://support.playitsoftware.com/support/discussions/topics/5000061271
You can see how I've interfaced PlayIt Live into an ordinary mixer using a £10 sound card. I have subsequently put the same card on a Windows 7 machine and the newer ASIO4ALL worked fine.
To complement my mixer "habit" I've now developed what could be an expensive interest in USB sound cards. Currently I can't entirely recommend any (!) but I've a greater understanding of their weaknesses.
Interestingly, if anything there are less decent multi channel sound cards on the market now than there were 5 years ago. Possibly because the laptop DJ market has moved to controllers with built in sound cards with "main mix" and "cue" built in.
The way of the perfectionist is hard.
Hi Mark
Definitely a complicated process to reach perfection ! Luckily I'm more of the old school way of thinking in that content is far more important than utmost perfection, but, I still want it to sound right ! I will study your mixer & soundcard writings in more detail to get the hang of it !
Just one more thing - is there any advantage in using BUTT rather than the PlayIt plugin ?
Thanks Mark & thanks for taking the time to advise on this.
Cheers
Jim
Hello Jim,
To a degree B.U.T.T. and the PlayIt plug in do different things.
The PlayIt plug in is able to take the mixed PlayIt audio and convert it into an audio stream. Unless you use "virtual" audio connections B.U.T.T. needs a soundcard input to connect to. The PlayIt plug in can also stream from a "real" input.
Since the PlayIt plug in uses the audio produced within PlayIt Live, there is no need for level control, B.U.T.T. can alter the level of the audio being streamed and provides a reasonable level meter to do this with, however this provides more opportunity to get the gain distribution wrong !
B.U.T.T. has various recording options (although perhaps the likes of Audacity would be a better recorder).
I've found both reliable.
My view in summary, there is a lot to like in B.U.T.T. but if the PlayIt plug in meets your requirements it is very simple to use.
Jim Salmon
Hi
I am relatively new to PlayIt - highly impressed ! I have a slight problem regarding latency / delay on the microphone. I am using the Microphone Mix plugin, & a basic microphone into the line in / mic in socket on my laptop running windows 10. The microphone is delayed when I monitor from the laptop on headphones. I have de-selected the 'Listen to this device' box related to the mic & Stereo Mix but still get this latency problem. Am I overlooking something obvious ?
Would a virtual audoi cable or something like the VoiceMeeter Banana mixer help, or am I totally on the wrong track here ?
Hope you can help. Many thanks.
Jim Salmon www.emmatoc.com