FarPlay Blog

This intermediate update brings important improvements both in front of and behind the scenes:

• Audio and video connectivity improvements
  We’ve increased the robustness of our peer-to-peer connection mechanism.

• Customizable mix recording
  When recording a mix of your session, every participant used to be recorded at the same nominal volume and panning. Now, you can use the levels and panning you’ve chosen for your monitoring in the recording. Just go to Preferences -> Recording to enable this option.

• Custom video quality settings
  FarPlay now allows you to set your video frame rate, resolution and outgoing bandwidth manually. First, Start Video, then go to the Video Options menu and select Video Preferences to access the settings.

• Audio device switching improved
  FarPlay now detects when an audio device is disconnected and reacts appropriately, among other improvements.

• Signed Windows installer
  No more warning messages when installing FarPlay on Windows! Our installer is now properly signed.

Today we announce FarPlay 1.0, our first non-beta release, featuring built-in video, multi-user sessions, multi-track recording, and multi-channel broadcast output. We’ve been working hard to make this major step forward, and we look forward to seeing what you make with it!

A complete list of new features follows:

• Multi-user mode (requires subscription)
• Built-in Video
• Auto latency control
• Improved connectivity
• Multi-channel recording (requires subscription)
• Windows installer (MSI)
• Mac installer (DMG)
• Multi-channel broadcast output (requires Standard+ subscription)
• Linux deb and rpm packages
• UI fixes
• Audio recording now properly detects and reports file opening/writing errors
• Sending audio latency fixed when using unsynced playback/recording devices
• Ubuntu 22.04 compatibility fix

Download FarPlay 1.0.2 free here.

For International Make Music Day, on June 21st, Dan Tepfer played live with musicians all over the world, from Australia to the US via Japan and Europe, using ultra-low-latency audio app FarPlay. An 11-hour musical marathon featuring Jo Lawry, Sophia Bacelar, Jelena Kuljic, Kristin Berardi, Michael Janisch, Sam Anning, Seigo Matsunaga, Paul Brody, Massimo Biolcati, Noah Preminger and others. Featuring brand-new FarPlay features such as multi-user sessions and multichannel Broadcast Output.

FarPlay co-creator Dan Tepfer did some free improvising with bassist Seigo Matsunaga over FarPlay. Seigo was in Kyushu, Japan, 6800 miles (11000km) away from Dan in Brooklyn. Even with latency around 80ms, they had a blast playing together.

Dan Tepfer, in Brooklyn, played w/ French pianist Thomas Enhco, in Paris, on his livestream last Monday, and with latencies around 45ms, they were able to make real music together!

FarPlay version 0.3.7 is out today, with the following improvements:

• Windows: support for native audio devices (experimental).
• Windows ASIO: use ASIO Control Panel for ASIO buffer size configuration.
• Linux: support for Jack and PulseAudio devices (experimental).
• Select input channels directly from channel menu on the main session window.
• Preferences: improved channel configuration.
• Use fixed -3 dB gain for recording mix tracks.
• New BO channel layouts for mixing local and remote audio (with fixed -3 dB gain).
• Fix an issue when mono mix was played in stereo when monitoring your own sound.
• Extend volume sliders to +10 dB. Double clicking on the slider sets it to 0 dB.
• Improved HiRes displays support on Mac and Windows. Respect Windows system scaling settings.
• Minor UI fixes (don’t open multiple preferences windows, error messages, tooltips).
• Connectivity workaround for rare cases when FarPlay keeps displaying “Initializing service…” message (SSL CA workaround).
• Connectivity fix: never send packets larger than standard Ethernet MTU (1500 bytes). Prevents audio disconnects right after session join (a rare issue happened mostly on Windows at specific configurations).
• Use fixed 1000 ms delay when recording without BO (ignore BO delay in this case).

Grammy-nominated saxophonist and composer Remy LeBoeuf lives less than a mile away from me in Brooklyn, and we were able to play together through FarPlay with absolutely no perceptible latency, even in highly demanding rhythmic music. A super fun session.

3900 miles is an extreme distance for low-latency audio, but with strong internet connections at both ends, vocalist Kristin Berardi and I were able to get our latency down to about 50ms using FarPlay (equivalent to playing with someone 50ft away from you if the sound is traveling through air), and make some real music together. The longest distance I’ve ever tried — and it worked!

Did a FarPlay session with my friend the superb guitarist / composer Gilad Hekselman. He was on Windows, where low-latency audio is a little bit more complicated than on Mac or Linux. Still, it worked perfectly. We played All The Things You Are and Solar and challenged the connection by focusing on simultaneous contrapuntal lines. Super fun.

My brilliant friend Sophia Bacelar has her Carnegie Hall debut this Wednesday & asked me to guest on a song. She’s in NJ right now 46 miles away from me, so we rehearsed with my new low-latency app FarPlay instead of schlepping. If you like Piazzolla, you’re in for a treat.