Syncing mobile sound systems-- best solution yet - The Chainlink2024-03-29T12:05:07Zhttps://thechainlink.org/forum/topics/syncing-mobile-sound-systems?groupUrl=bikesound&commentId=2211490%3AComment%3A363413&xg_source=msg_com_gr_forum&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI was kind of happy I found s…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-28:2211490:Comment:3662982011-06-28T18:07:21.684Zh' Zerocatshttps://thechainlink.org/profile/H3N3
<p>I was kind of happy I found something ready made and functional, and not too expensive.</p>
<p>There really has been nothing quite like this available in the ~ 6 years I've been watching.</p>
<p>gadgetguy, are you going to write this software?</p>
<p>I can't tell if anyone actually took the time to see how Airfoil works.</p>
<p>I was kind of happy I found something ready made and functional, and not too expensive.</p>
<p>There really has been nothing quite like this available in the ~ 6 years I've been watching.</p>
<p>gadgetguy, are you going to write this software?</p>
<p>I can't tell if anyone actually took the time to see how Airfoil works.</p> With regards to the dynamic s…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-28:2211490:Comment:3661192011-06-28T17:48:09.066Zgadgetguyhttps://thechainlink.org/profile/gadgetguy
<p>With regards to the dynamic system, the software would have to constantly readjust for the changing locations of the players. This would be possible (although with alot of work) and yes, any lag would be problematic (but thats why I mentioned buffering the stream). You are never going to have optimum sound quality, but im sure something listenable is possible.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With regards to the prerecorded option, you need all the players synched (constantly), so if one has problems it…</p>
<p>With regards to the dynamic system, the software would have to constantly readjust for the changing locations of the players. This would be possible (although with alot of work) and yes, any lag would be problematic (but thats why I mentioned buffering the stream). You are never going to have optimum sound quality, but im sure something listenable is possible.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With regards to the prerecorded option, you need all the players synched (constantly), so if one has problems it simply drops out until it can get to the same spot everyone else is at.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I dont mean to imply any of this is easy. It is a very worthwhile project.</p> gadgetguy said:
It seems th…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-28:2211490:Comment:3662852011-06-28T17:23:37.134Zh' Zerocatshttps://thechainlink.org/profile/H3N3
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<cite>gadgetguy said:</cite><br />
<blockquote cite="http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/syncing-mobile-sound-systems?groupUrl=bikesound&commentId=2211490%3AComment%3A365866&xg_source=msg_com_gr_forum#2211490Comment365866"><div><p>It seems that a clever program would buffer the stream and utilize some type of time synching method (off a GPS signal perhaps?). A very clever program would actually use the relative locations of the recievers to adjust for phase…</p>
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<cite>gadgetguy said:</cite><br />
<blockquote cite="http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/syncing-mobile-sound-systems?groupUrl=bikesound&commentId=2211490%3AComment%3A365866&xg_source=msg_com_gr_forum#2211490Comment365866"><div><p>It seems that a clever program would buffer the stream and utilize some type of time synching method (off a GPS signal perhaps?). A very clever program would actually use the relative locations of the recievers to adjust for phase shift.</p>
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<p><strong>Are you applying this to use for a bike ride? You're not talking about one static set of ears to adjust for-- you're talking about a moving group with multiple listeners changing positions constantly.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Someday someone will figure this out. </p>
<p>A less elegant solution would be to have the music preloaded on all the sound sources, then simply coordinate from a common time signal (again perhaps GPS) so there is no transmission during the event at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>That's what we used to do. It was fun but invariably someone's player would hiccup or just not run at the same speed as the others.</strong></p>
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</blockquote> It seems that a clever progra…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-28:2211490:Comment:3658662011-06-28T17:11:46.033Zgadgetguyhttps://thechainlink.org/profile/gadgetguy
<p>It seems that a clever program would buffer the stream and utilize some type of time synching method (off a GPS signal perhaps?). A very clever program would actually use the relative locations of the recievers to adjust for phase shift.</p>
<p>Someday someone will figure this out. </p>
<p>A less elegant solution would be to have the music preloaded on all the sound sources, then simply coordinate from a common time signal (again perhaps GPS) so there is no transmission during the event at…</p>
<p>It seems that a clever program would buffer the stream and utilize some type of time synching method (off a GPS signal perhaps?). A very clever program would actually use the relative locations of the recievers to adjust for phase shift.</p>
<p>Someday someone will figure this out. </p>
<p>A less elegant solution would be to have the music preloaded on all the sound sources, then simply coordinate from a common time signal (again perhaps GPS) so there is no transmission during the event at all.</p> gadgetguy,
I don't think you'…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-28:2211490:Comment:3658002011-06-28T04:51:01.847Zh' Zerocatshttps://thechainlink.org/profile/H3N3
<p>gadgetguy,</p>
<p>I don't think you'd want repeaters-- I keep repeating this and maybe I'm just not doing a good job of describing it . . .</p>
<p>Unless you are relatively equidistant to two or more sound sources, or very close to all, you're going to hear the sound staggered significantly, such that it would be unteneable. Even if you could increase the range, you would not want to try something like this with anything but a cluster of sound bikes riding together within 50 feet of…</p>
<p>gadgetguy,</p>
<p>I don't think you'd want repeaters-- I keep repeating this and maybe I'm just not doing a good job of describing it . . .</p>
<p>Unless you are relatively equidistant to two or more sound sources, or very close to all, you're going to hear the sound staggered significantly, such that it would be unteneable. Even if you could increase the range, you would not want to try something like this with anything but a cluster of sound bikes riding together within 50 feet of each-other, at most.</p> This definately sounds like a…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-27:2211490:Comment:3658802011-06-27T22:40:46.906Zgadgetguyhttps://thechainlink.org/profile/gadgetguy
<p>This definately sounds like a cool idea.</p>
<p>With regards to the range problem, is there some way of setting up repeaters?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If this gets up and going I hope it is called "Critical Bass".</p>
<p>This definately sounds like a cool idea.</p>
<p>With regards to the range problem, is there some way of setting up repeaters?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If this gets up and going I hope it is called "Critical Bass".</p> Thanks for the worst case sce…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-26:2211490:Comment:3647762011-06-26T17:50:18.186Zh' Zerocatshttps://thechainlink.org/profile/H3N3
<p>Thanks for the worst case scenarios.</p>
<p>I don't understand your question about packet protocol--which "device" do you mean-- my router?</p>
<p>Was kind of happy to find a solution that didn't require that level of understanding.</p>
<p>I never thought this would be useful for anything more than a small cluster of "receivers." You wouldn't want people too spread out anyways-- that would be an aural train wreck due to the speed at which sound travels.</p>
<p>Are you planning to write that…</p>
<p>Thanks for the worst case scenarios.</p>
<p>I don't understand your question about packet protocol--which "device" do you mean-- my router?</p>
<p>Was kind of happy to find a solution that didn't require that level of understanding.</p>
<p>I never thought this would be useful for anything more than a small cluster of "receivers." You wouldn't want people too spread out anyways-- that would be an aural train wreck due to the speed at which sound travels.</p>
<p>Are you planning to write that custom app you mentioned?</p> 300 feet is not very far. An…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-26:2211490:Comment:3640292011-06-26T17:00:14.544ZTodd Allenhttps://thechainlink.org/profile/ToddAllen
<p>300 feet is not very far. And the signal gets weak and the bandwidth drops off badly. Don't think about the best case of a couple bikes fairly close together with a clean line of sight. Think the worst case of travelling around a corner downtown with a massive stone and steel building in between the transmitter and receiver. And possibly dozens of other nearby devices operating on the same channel. And a large number of bodies, bicycles and other random obstructions all constantly…</p>
<p>300 feet is not very far. And the signal gets weak and the bandwidth drops off badly. Don't think about the best case of a couple bikes fairly close together with a clean line of sight. Think the worst case of travelling around a corner downtown with a massive stone and steel building in between the transmitter and receiver. And possibly dozens of other nearby devices operating on the same channel. And a large number of bodies, bicycles and other random obstructions all constantly passing in between and interfering with the signal.</p>
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<p>Do you know the packet protocol your device uses? ie UDP or TCP? If it is TCP it will be more robust with a single transmitter and receiver but is unlikely to scale well with multiple receivers. If it is UDP it will likely scale better, but likely not handle dropped packets as well.</p> We tried the high-powered FM…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-26:2211490:Comment:3644972011-06-26T15:51:57.000Zh' Zerocatshttps://thechainlink.org/profile/H3N3
<p>We tried the high-powered FM transmitter years ago. I think Todd spent hundreds of dollars on it. Nobody was particularly concerned about the FCC violation, but the problem was sound quality. There are simply no affordable FM receivers out there that can pull in and output a signal that doesn't make a decent sound system sound like crap.</p>
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<p>I'm still confused by your initial comments--Are you saying you <em>didn't</em> try Airfoil? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This discussion is…</p>
<p>We tried the high-powered FM transmitter years ago. I think Todd spent hundreds of dollars on it. Nobody was particularly concerned about the FCC violation, but the problem was sound quality. There are simply no affordable FM receivers out there that can pull in and output a signal that doesn't make a decent sound system sound like crap.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm still confused by your initial comments--Are you saying you <em>didn't</em> try Airfoil? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This discussion is amazingly hard to follow.</p> The only issue would be that…tag:thechainlink.org,2011-06-26:2211490:Comment:3640242011-06-26T15:28:41.315ZSpencer "Thunderball" Thayer!https://thechainlink.org/profile/SpencerThunderballThayer
<p>The only issue would be that the source audio would of course be ahead of the transmitter. Simple solution... Only play the source through the FM transmitter and use a receiver through ones own sound system. If this is something people would actually want to use I would consider getting one of these. I think the thing about building your own sound bike is that you want to play yer own thing. Be your own personal DJ and I am not sure if the level of participation it would be worth the…</p>
<p>The only issue would be that the source audio would of course be ahead of the transmitter. Simple solution... Only play the source through the FM transmitter and use a receiver through ones own sound system. If this is something people would actually want to use I would consider getting one of these. I think the thing about building your own sound bike is that you want to play yer own thing. Be your own personal DJ and I am not sure if the level of participation it would be worth the cost.</p>