iPad Amp Sims

[paisleywookiee]

If built in amps sound good, they are basically NAM models so they should have this issue as well. If this occurs while using some NAM models but not all of them there maybe problems with the actual model. Instead of assuming you can send us the models that have the noise and we can check what is wrong with them.

Sorry for the way late response; forgot to update. So yeah, nothing wrong with Gigfast Lite at all; works great! There was something in my signal chain that day that was causing a ground loop.

Holy shit, NAM fucking rules. Wasn't really happy until I captured some of my own stuff, and it's so very good. Gigfast Lite is cool, albeit pretty barebones. I would love it if you guys could find a way to sync presets over iCloud. That'd be very handy for me.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Ok, as I might have some plans to get an iPad (Samsung just sucks unless you spend as much as for an iPad - and you still don't get workable latency figures), I think I can as well ask here:

What's the most comfortable compact iPad interface? Needs to run on buspower (should be not much of an issue), needs to have a decent Hi-Z input (obviously), needs to have a powerful headphone out and - possibly most of all - it needs low latency operation.
What's the rough latency numbers in average these days? Last time I tried some stuff (admittedly ages ago), it ended up being something like 15ms or so, hence a no-go. As I'd play through headphones pretty much all the time, I'd rather have something like 5ms. Is that realistic or is something like USB-class-compliant-with-CoreAudio what I'm looking at?

 

[dws2384]

Ok, as I might have some plans to get an iPad (Samsung just sucks unless you spend as much as for an iPad - and you still don't get workable latency figures), I think I can as well ask here:

What's the most comfortable compact iPad interface? Needs to run on buspower (should be not much of an issue), needs to have decent Hi-Z input (obviously), needs to have a powerful headphone out and - possibly most of all - it needs low latency operation.
What's the rough latency numbers in average these days? Last time I tried some stuff (admittedly ages ago), it ended up being something like 15ms or so, hence a no-go. As I'd play through headphones pretty much all the time, I'd rather have something like 5ms. Is that realistic or is something like USB-class-compliant-with-CoreAudio what I'm looking at?

RME babyface pro FS

Expensive but worth every cent. I went through a bunch of ‘good’ stuff before I got there and wish I had my time and money back (motu, audient, focusrite) RME stuff is the only one I’ve had no issue getting latency as low as high end modellers.

One major benefit for iOS stuff is TotalMix is available too. A big issue I’ve found with class compliant stuff is the system volume isn’t adjustable. So playing with anything like YouTube backing tracks they are always hitting 0db and cant be adjusted. TotalMix allows system volume to be adjusted in relation to everything else.

Sub 5ms is no problem at all if you’re running 32 samples (or even 64) , which is a breeze on the new iPad pros. It’s also built from a brick of machined aluminum and feels like it would survive a nuclear blast. Bus powered too.

Very good headphone outputs that can drive my 300ohm HD650 just fine from the 1/4 out. The 1/8 out is made for lower impedance phones

 

[Sascha Franck]

RME babyface pro FS

Nah, defenitely overkill for my purposes. I need something small (think iRig - just that it shouldn't be an iRig). Too expensive as well (even my main interface is way cheaper).

Sub 5ms is no problem at all if you’re running 32 samples (or even 64) , which is a breeze on the new iPad pros.

I take it that you can by now set the buffersize yourself? Hasn't been possible the last time I tried (as said, that's ages ago).

 

[dws2384]

Nah, defenitely overkill for my purposes. I need something small (think iRig - just that it shouldn't be an iRig). Too expensive as well (even my main interface is way cheaper).



I take it that you can by now set the buffersize yourself? Hasn't been possible the last time I tried (as said, that's ages ago).

Ahhh. Thats out of my wheelhouse. I used an irig when they first came out, one of the headphone jack ones, and it was so bad I didn’t use iOS guitar stuff 5 years at least.

Yes, you can set the buffer in anything I’ve used recently - Tonex, NAM (gigfast NAMxt), AUM, Audiobus, logic, loopy pro.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I used an irig when they first came out, one of the headphone jack ones, and it was so bad I didn’t use iOS guitar stuff 5 years at least.

That's exactly why I said "just that it shouldn't be an iRig".

So, do interfaces come with their own drivers by now or are they using Core Audio? I have never seen anything like an iOS driver download option anywhere... with vanilla Core Audio, 5ms isn't exactly realistic, regardless of the used interface.

 

[paisleywookiee]

That's exactly why I said "just that it shouldn't be an iRig".

So, do interfaces come with their own drivers by now or are they using Core Audio? I have never seen anything like an iOS driver download option anywhere... with vanilla Core Audio, 5ms isn't exactly realistic, regardless of the used interface.

They’re still using Core Audio, but you can now set your buffer in most stuff. I’ll have to see what I’m getting with my iRig HD2, but yes I too want to move away from that. It’s USB-C, but I think there’s definitely better out there (without breaking the bank).

 

[Los-D]

My experience if it helps: since my iPad Mini sits mostly in my desk, I run it through a Motu M2 + Monitors. Works great this way.

I also bought a Positive Grid Riff (which incidentally I don’t recommend) as a travel rig with + M-wave chocolate pedal and headphones (sounds really good, but has a well-known annoying noise gate issue).

 

[2dor]

Holy shit, NAM fucking rules.

Welcome aboard

 

[Sascha Franck]

They’re still using Core Audio, but you can now set your buffer in most stuff.

Hm ok, thanks. So it's pretty likely that lowest latencies won't get much below, say, 7-8ms. At least these are pretty typical numbers when running all sorts of interfaces without dedicated drivers.
Hm, I could actually just try things out with my Motu M2 and the iPads of my wife or son. The Motus are generally doing very well when it comes to latency, but I never tried without using the dedicated driver.

Now that iOS and macOS are getting closer and closer to each other, I'm actually wondering whether they'll come up with some "driver adaption" thing one day, allowing you to somehow install a driver meant to work in macOS under iOS as well. That'd be fantastic.

 

[BenIfin]

In my experience, NamXT or Gigfast Lite running within AUM is the current iPad iOS live-usage gold standard.

Its totally rock solid and glitch-less and sounds amazing.

Tonex iOS is done. Its an unstable piece of rubbish in its current ~16 month old non-updated - state.

The biggest issue is a good compact Audio-Midi interface. I settled on the IK iRig Pro Duo, but even at 32 Samples - it was rock solid - with my M1 IPad Air - but the overall latency started to become quite "feelable".

A good hardware modeler these days will give you a full real time return latency of ~2.0 <-> ~3.0ms.

I never measured it in my rig, but with the M1 IPad and the IRig Pro @ a fully solid and stable 32 Samples, I would say it was running somewhere in the ~10ms <-> 15ms range. It is -useable- but it starts to become noticeable very quickly.

As good as the IPad Audio sub-system is, either it or the interfaces are just not optimized for ultra-low-latency audio in an iPad world.

 

[ChordInversion]

I’d love to be able to use Tonex on my iPad, but they’ve kinda let it languish for quite some time.

IK puts out clearly imperfect stuff, and never communicates or acknowledges or listens - other than telling you to file an email support ticket. That's the deal with them. That's just how they roll. Works fine for some people. We can take it or leave it.

You can get good results with IK stuff, but mostly through adaptation and improvisation. You can't count on the product to sound good plug and play out of the box, and you'll always be dialing everything in to sound close enough for you.

...which is separate from their iOS abandonment, but connected in terms of company philosophy.

 

[Sascha Franck]

As good as the IPad Audio sub-system is, either it or the interfaces are just not optimized for ultra-low-latency audio in an iPad world.

I don't think there's "ultra" low latencies in the iOS world, at least not yet. Given my experience with driverless interfaces under macOS, just using the native Core Audio driver, latencies, while amazingly low compared to Windows or Android, never go below 6-7ms - and that's pretty excellent for Core-Audio-only already, typically we're talking more like 8-10ms, sometimes more.

I think I'll just check the exact figures on an iPad (pre M series) with my Motu M2 the next days. That'd actually be a kinda decent interface for my purposes.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Do NOT buy the LatencyMeter app on the App Store; it does appear to work with iOS 18.6 or 26, with two different interfaces.

 

[BenIfin]

RME babyface pro FS

Expensive but worth every cent. I went through a bunch of ‘good’ stuff before I got there and wish I had my time and money back (motu, audient, focusrite) RME stuff is the only one I’ve had no issue getting latency as low as high end modellers.

One major benefit for iOS stuff is TotalMix is available too. A big issue I’ve found with class compliant stuff is the system volume isn’t adjustable. So playing with anything like YouTube backing tracks they are always hitting 0db and cant be adjusted. TotalMix allows system volume to be adjusted in relation to everything else.

Sub 5ms is no problem at all if you’re running 32 samples (or even 64) , which is a breeze on the new iPad pros. It’s also built from a brick of machined aluminum and feels like it would survive a nuclear blast. Bus powered too.

Very good headphone outputs that can drive my 300ohm HD650 just fine from the 1/4 out. The 1/8 out is made for lower impedance phones

I agree - this kind of confirms my suspicions re: iPAD latency.

My main PC / DAW is not at all high end in any way and I've used an RME UCX for years - live-input tracks day and night glitch-free at 48 Samples / 1.7ms RTL - it doesn't go below 32 Samples.

Kind of says to me that the iPad CoreAudio Sub-System itself has a hard-minimum-latency-floor of ~3ms <-> ~4ms internally .... plus Audio Interface latency. Hence best possible RTL with an iPAD and a good Audio I/Face is, all up, ~4ms <-> ~6ms

I can assure anyone that the IK iRig Pro Duo doesn't even get in the car park of the ball park of these figures - and that's with it set to run at 32 Samples.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Okay this is driving me nuts, but it’s partially self-inflicted because I’m running iPadOS 26 Beta.

The latency is just okay, with GigFast Lite. But I can’t set the latency any lower than 64, and it might be because of the iPad I’m on (newer A16).

I think for me I’d stick with using NAM on my Mac, and use something external with the iPad and Logic.

 

[BenIfin]

Okay this is driving me nuts, but it’s partially self-inflicted because I’m running iPadOS 26 Beta.

The latency is just okay, with GigFast Lite. But I can’t set the latency any lower than 64, and it might be because of the iPad I’m on (newer A16).

I think for me I’d stick with using NAM on my Mac, and use something external with the iPad and Logic.

What external Audio Interface are you using with your iPad ? The Buffer setting will be in its software/control panel (?)

 

[paisleywookiee]

What external Audio Interface are you using with your iPad ? The Buffer setting will be in its software/control panel (?)

It’s a iRig HD2 with USB-C. There is no control panel, and there’s no control panel for my UA Volt either.

There is a buffer setting in Logic, it just won’t let me go lower than 64.

In the stand alone app; I can go to 32, but it’s still just okay.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Do NOT buy the LatencyMeter app on the App Store; it does appear to work with iOS 18.6 or 26, with two different interfaces.

I'd always measure such things physically.