Idea: Virtual Audio output to iOS device for DJs
Hi,
I'm using a Mac and an iPad for DJing and also own an iPhone.
I thought about something that could be very helpful to a DJ and that could be implemented either right in a program like SoundFlower or in a dedicated (and BTW simplified) program re-using some code written for SoundFlower.
It would be a virtual sound card that appears in the System's Preferences as well as in Core Audio settings just like a real sound card.
However, the outputs of this soundcard could be redirected to one (or more if you implement multiple outputs) iOS devices via wifi streaming and a receiver application downloadable via the App Store. It could also be a simple http address with an audio stream accessible through not only an iOS device but whatever device that can connect to a wifi network.
That would let a DJ to use his iOS device as additional sound output.
Common use cases would be :
1/ I'm in a party with friends, I've got my laptop but I didn't bring my sound card so I've got only the internal output of my Mac's sound card. I use this application to route my pre-listen / headphones output to my iPhone's jack-out.
2/ I'm mixing in a gig and suddently my Audio card fails or for some reason I can't make it work properly. I need a backup solution to mix with the Mac's internal sound card which will act as main output and my phone for pre-listening.
3/ I want to stream audio wirelessly without habing any dedicated wireless audio transmitter and receiver. Why not simply use Wifi ?
Maybe this is actually already possible with SoundFlower combined to an audio streaming application but I didn't found any application dedicated to that purpose so far.
Tell me what you think, if you think it's an interesting idea, if any others are interested in using an application like this.
What I have:
MacbookPro7,1
iPad 2 (w/ Touch OSC)
Soundflower (16ch) used
Traktor Pro 2
Ok so I've tried several methods. Only soundcards I have available are the ones on my macbook and iPad. I've successfully outputted the Output monitors in traktor Pro 2 (using internal mixing settings, mind you) to soundflower (16ch) channels 3 & 4 for L and R. If there is a program that can broadcast Specific channels of an Audio device, such as channels 3 and 4 off the soundflower (16ch), then hopefully I can send them to my iPad using a program that can run in the background without being interrupted by (or vice versa) Touch OSC's CoreMIDI over wifi.
At first I thought a simple solution would be something the safari browser can play like a stream file, m3u for example. Nicecast had a very convenient function of choosing specific sound channels off audio devices in the source menu. The only drawback is how long the audio took to get to the iPad, and just creating a network on my macbook for less interference didn't work because safari can't run that link while running on an internet-less network, so I couldn't try an adhoc connection.
Using Airfoil was another idea, however it wouldn't let me pick specific channels, only the entire Soundflower (16ch) device, which would have included everything, including the decks. I just needed it to broadcast the output monitors though.
Any ideas beyond this point?
Did anyone ever find a solution to this? I am looking for such a system for a multi channelled interactive headphone theatre piece.
I am currently sending 4 streams of stereo audio from Qlab through an RME UFX interface to 4 sennheiser G3 IEM transmitters. The audience are given sennheiser beltpack receivers with a pair of headphones and they are given instructions as they walk around the venue. In theory, this system should work very well, but in practise the problem is that the venue is a rabbit warren of small rooms with very thick brick walls, so we have a massive amount of interference.
If anyone has had any luck streaming multichannel audio to multiple iOS (or other such devices) and would be happy the share their knowledge, I would love to hear from you.
Tom
hey Thomas,
were you every able to figure a solution to this problem? I'm trying something similar and at the moment completely stuck!
hope your project went great
David