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Show HN: Beatsync – perfect audio sync across multiple devices

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Re: Show HN: Beatsync – perfect audio sync across multiple devices

#61
post #9

This is very, very cool; it's a thing I've been looking for on my backburner for several years. It's a very interesting problem. There are a ton of directions I can think about you taking it in. The household application: this one is already pretty directly applicable. Have a bunch of wireless speakers and you should be able to make it sound really good from anywhere, yes? You would probably want support for static c…

Silent disco in which everyone brings their own source and headphones.

Absolutely! Silent disco still requires impractically expensive rental hardware to work well as far as I know. A lot of them run off FM radio, since it's the simplest way to go, but nobody owns portable radios anymore.

An OSS app with the ability to sync everyone up over mobile or wifi, on Android or iOS with BYO headphones, would be incredible. This should be a thing :)

Re: Show HN: Beatsync – perfect audio sync across multiple devices

#62
Could have used this 25 years ago when I was working in a large room with ~100 other people. Every friday an mp3 was distributed and then at the same time we all started playing it signaling that the workday has ended and the friday bar was open. Fun times.

Re: Show HN: Beatsync – perfect audio sync across multiple devices

#64
post #9

This is very, very cool; it's a thing I've been looking for on my backburner for several years. It's a very interesting problem. There are a ton of directions I can think about you taking it in. The household application: this one is already pretty directly applicable. Have a bunch of wireless speakers and you should be able to make it sound really good from anywhere, yes? You would probably want support for static c…

Silent disco in which everyone brings their own source and headphones.

I believe the syncing won't work when playing with a bluetooth device

Re: Show HN: Beatsync – perfect audio sync across multiple devices

#65
post #49

Impressively accurate - Android phone in Firefox Chrome on OSX == basically perfect to my ear. That's super cool, thanks for sharing!

For fun I tried syncing over Tor as well. It works impressively well! Amazingly tight sync considering the latency is 3 random hops around the world.

Re: Show HN: Beatsync – perfect audio sync across multiple devices

#67
post #19
post #9

This is very, very cool; it's a thing I've been looking for on my backburner for several years. It's a very interesting problem. There are a ton of directions I can think about you taking it in. The household application: this one is already pretty directly applicable. Have a bunch of wireless speakers and you should be able to make it sound really good from anywhere, yes? You would probably want support for static c…

> This speaker is 300 feet away from its output through X meters of copper; figure out my additional latency offset for me. 0.3 microseconds. The period of a wave at 20kHz (very roughly the highest pitch we can hear) is 50 microseconds. So - more or less insignificant. Cable latency is basically never an issue for audio. Latency due to speed of sound in air is what you see techs at stadiums and performance halls tuni…

For those wondering: The rule thumb here is that light travels at one foot per nanosecond. 300 ns =0,3 μsec. Electricity is a bit slower but the same order of magnitude.

Re: Show HN: Beatsync – perfect audio sync across multiple devices

#69

Any plans to integrate this with Apple Music or Spotify? I would assume your algorithm would work only with files uploaded to the site, but curious if you had plans to attempt something with Apple Music/Spotify

Yes! The very next step.

This is kind of where my attempt at this idea during lockdown died... Copyright law

Re: Show HN: Beatsync – perfect audio sync across multiple devices

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silent disco in which everyone brings their own source and headphones.

Absolutely! Silent disco still requires impractically expensive rental hardware to work well as far as I know. A lot of them run off FM radio, since it's the simplest way to go, but nobody owns portable radios anymore. An OSS app with the ability to sync everyone up over mobile or wifi, on Android or iOS with BYO headphones, would be incredible. This should be a thing :)

I wonder if something like this (without the OSS part) doesn't already exist. Some cinemas in France have some kind of app for people who are either hearing or visually impaired which allows them to follow the movie.

I've never seen in action and don't know how it works, but at least for the audio part it should be able to synchronize the phone with the cinema screen.

If I'm not mistaken, it's provided by this company: https://www.twavox.com/en/

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