MicroKey Air Wireless Midi Latency Test

[toelessfoot]

I recently purchased a Microkey Air 49. Before buying I couldn't really find much information on the latency added by the wireless. The apparent consensus from reviews I read was that the latency added by the wireless was negligible but I noticed it immediately so I decided to measure it.

 

I tested using this setup:

MicroKey Air 49 > BT wireless > iPad Air 2 (Korg iM1) > Field recorder

MicroKey Air 49 > USB > iPad Air 2 (Korg iM1) > Field recorder

 

I chose a sound with a strong transient and used my nail to strike a key on the MicroKey to produce another clear transient. The field recorder picked up both transients and I measured the ms difference in Logic X between the transient of my nail hitting the key and the sound from the synth. This test does not accurately measure overall latency but I believe it does accurately measure the latency added by the bluetooth.

 

Here are the results:

 

 

I performed the test 10 times per connection method, averaged the results and calculated the difference.

 

 

What the waveform looks like.

 

Because of the consistency of the numbers and the isolation of the connection method in the test setup I'm confident in saying that the wireless adds ~21.5ms which is considerably more than I expected. I suspect the total latency is around 35ms which makes playing more percussive/rhythmic parts a challenge. Hopefully potential buyers will find this useful.

 

I'll be testing with my Macbook soon.