Online Microphone

[WolfBrigade]

I have not seen this answered anywhere, so I would really like to know if on Xbox Live will you be able to hear someone signing from a microphone controller or will you hear the actual singer in the background, such as from the Guitar Heros.

[Maposaurus]

You don't hear the singer, just the track.

To prevent lag.

[DarK_AssassiN]

I just thought of something... could it be possible that they could add that feature in later? Maybe if some new breakthrough in online technology hits or something... I dunno. Just a thought..

[Maposaurus]

I just thought of something... could it be possible that they could add that feature in later? Maybe if some new breakthrough in online technology hits or something... I dunno. Just a thought..

Lagless internet would be cool.

But I doubt we'll have that until far after Rock Band becomes a relic.

[xizorhutt]

if you play in quickmode you hear your voice on your tv but they hear the lead singer of the track on there tv.

[DarK_AssassiN]

Lagless internet would be cool.

But I doubt we'll have that until far after Rock Band becomes a relic.

Well, I mean, of course people far away are going to lag, but not all my friends are really far away, but they can't ALWAYS be over... so an option to turn it on would be kinda cool if they could change it a little for people that want it... Everyone would have to agree for it to work though so its not forced on you while online and you know your going to lag... I dunno. I mostly play online on PC so I dunno how the 360 would handle that... :\

[Bakkster]

Well, I mean, of course people far away are going to lag, but not all my friends are really far away, but they can't ALWAYS be over... so an option to turn it on would be kinda cool if they could change it a little for people that want it... Everyone would have to agree for it to work though so its not forced on you while online and you know your going to lag... I dunno. I mostly play online on PC so I dunno how the 360 would handle that... :\

The lag will ALWAYS be great enough that it will ruin the vocals musically. It would be unplayable.

[WolfBrigade]

Well that sucks... I would love it if my internet could connect perfectly to someone just a major intersection away... sniff*.

I would absolutely LOVE to be able to hear, let's say, my friend without sitting right next to him. Sigh.

[Frederf]

With the "lagless" technology flying around in RB (and by lagless I mean clever coding to make the lag seamless), I don't think it's lag that prevented singing to transmit over the internet but instead the audio quality.

RB couldn't reasonably ask for the bandwidth to send high enough quality audio to make it worth it. Could be Frank Sinatra singing his heart out over an XBL headset to you and you'd think it sounded like crap.

[Bakkster]

With the "lagless" technology flying around in RB (and by lagless I mean clever coding to make the lag seamless), I don't think it's lag that prevented singing to transmit over the internet but instead the audio quality.

The only way they could do this, is to give the singer a head start. Two problems with that: if the singer's ping increases, he drops; the other instruments mistakes don't get seen by the singer for even longer.

Music is very sensitive to small changes in time. As low as 25-35 milliseconds is enough to make things seem off. Your average (even small) latency over the internet is about 100ms. That means the vocals would consistently be 1/10 of a second late, which is very grating from a musical standpoint. This, to me, seems like the bigger problem than a slight audio compression.

[af_goalie]

While I am no internet guru. It seems wierd that some games, COD4 for instance can support 60fps and still allow voice chat between 16 people, for the most part lag free. Seems like they should be able to support this, just my uninformed viewpoint.

[Bakkster]

While I am no internet guru. It seems wierd that some games, COD4 for instance can support 60fps and still allow voice chat between 16 people, for the most part lag free. Seems like they should be able to support this, just my uninformed viewpoint.

That just because in an FPS, you don't notice a delay in voice communications. In Guild Wars (for example) it is very obvious when you try to coordinate your damage at exactly the same time. The person counting down will end up being close to a second faster.

A good test to show you what I mean, is try to sing with someone else on any online voice chat. If you sing at the same time you hear them singing, they will hear you singing late, and vice-vers-a. Give it a try, and you'll see how badly that would mess things up in RB.

[Electric_Zen]

A game like COD4 can use little tricks like predictive algorithms to render where they think a guy is, even if they are not 100% sure because of latency.

You do not want Rock Band attempting to do predictive rendering of your bandmate's voice.