Skype audio conferencing use for online session?

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:46 pm

Hi y'all,

My previous thread on VOIP turned into the recording thread...

Anyone had any experience using recent versions of Skype conferencing to have an online realtime whistle session?

I'm going to install it tonight on my system, anyone interested in doing some testing? I believe Skype supports multi-user conference of up to 4 or 5 people, all for free to Skype users.

Cheers,

Michael

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:49 pm

I don't think this will work because of lag. You normally have around 20-120 milliseconds lag in a typical internet connection. Should be enough to desync the timing.

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:16 pm

Sounds about right for a typical session

PD.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:18 pm

Patrick D'Arcy wrote:Sounds about right for a typical session

PD.

PJ · Post by PJ » Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:30 pm

I heard that some people were thinking of organising piping classes using Skype. It was more of a one-to-one than a session, though.

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:47 pm

20 ms might not be a problem but 120 ms would probably be unusable.

If sound travels at about 750 fpm than 20 ms is about 15 feet, so that would be like a large circle style session.

Sounds like an experiment worth trying.

Who's up for a test?

Cheers,

Michael

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:07 pm

OK, I'm all setup on Skype now, user id is:

seisiuneer

If anyone wants to try an online session, give me a Skype call!

Cheers,

Michael

Brazenkane · Post by **Brazenkane** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:14 pm

all, I tried it w/ AIM... just too llong of a delay

DIAGONALINE · Post by **DIAGONALINE** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 3:54 am

I normally play exactly 120ms behind everybody else, so if I start first it might just work.

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:35 am

I hear good things about Skype as far as latency, will report any results. In the mean time, join in the fun!

anima · Post by **anima** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 1:50 pm

BTW, over at the other forum you can put your skype address in your profile and it comes up next to your pm, www, etc., button in each post. Been there for about 6 months now. Yet another shameful promotion brought to you by...............

Jeff

srfmowman · Post by **srfmowman** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 4:57 pm

http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/
Site that gives more information than just download/upload speed.
I skyped with Michael. Nice clear connection for voice,guitar,low whistle.Fair for Uilleann pipe,not too good for high whistle(like wind across a mike). Interesting technology. Thanks Michael.

John

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 11:01 pm

Yesterday I had a couple of test Skype calls with John and also players from other sites where we tested both the frequency response and latency.

Skype claims that their audio codec supports frequencies up to 7000 hz, and the range of a whistle, from D5 to D7 is from 523 to 1975 Hz, so you'd think it would work fine, but there are problems with some atonal distortion in the higher frequencies. The Skype audio codec must be optimized really for voice and while it supports higher frequencies, I'm guessing that its some kind of subband encoder and doesn't allocate many bits in the higher frequency bands, just enough to help with the sibilants in speech.

Interestingly, guitar and the first octave of uilleann pipes seem quite good, concertina not too bad but some distortion in the second octave. Speech quality is really amazing, better than landline I think.

Latency was variable and sometimes excessive so online sessions aren't going to work very well, but certainly distance learning and online lessons where players take turns should work just fine.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in a test Skype tune swap , give me a call, Skype id is:

seisiuneer

Cheers,

Michael

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:45 pm

Well, just picked up a webcam... Anyone want to swap some tunes or chat about piping, my Skype ID is:

seisiuneer

Cheers,

Michael