Source-Live has proved to be incredibly useful, especially over the last few months, with one key drawback, the latency. As a result, the team at Source Elements have been working hard to develop a low latency version of Source-Live. In this article, we have a world exclusive sneak peek and demonstrate how low the latency really is.
What Is Source-Live From Source Elements?
Source Elements say that “Source-Live is the only HD video software streaming application that syncs your audio directly with your DAW / NLE for accurate audio approval to picture enabling you to be able to stream your timeline video with high-quality audio, using external devices or entirely in the box”.
Per-stream authentication for world-wide-web security and accountability.
Compatible with any DAW or NLE on Mac OSX: Pro Tools, Nuendo, Media Composer, Logic, Final Cut and many more.
Source-Live Basic is also available, for audio-only streaming.
Latency - Why Does It Matter
Source-Live is designed to be able to stream your mixes with video in sync to clients anywhere in the world with an internet connection, to a computer desktop tablet or smartphone.
Until now, the key drawback, which makes it difficult for clients to give live feedback has been the latency, the delay from you sending the video stream from your computer to the when it arrives on the client’s device. With Source-Live there have been reports that this can be anything up to 10 seconds depending on bandwidth.
With the increased need for remote approval of mixes, especially with those for whom video sync is also a key factor, reducing the latency, whilst retaining the quality has been a challenge the development team at Source elements to resolve.
Does It Work?
We have been given a world-exclusive to be able to show Source-Live LL in operation to demonstrate how low the latency in the new low latency version of Source-Live really is. Check out our video below.
The window in the bottom left-hand corner is a QuickTime Player window playing an excerpt from one of our videos, from a tracking session for the song Bring Me Down featuring Abbie F Jones and the Studio Rats.
The window in the top right-hand corner is a browser window receiving the stream from the QuickTime Player via Source-Live LL and the Source Elements servers. Watch the video to see the much lower latency Source Elements have achieved.
What Other People Think
Pricing And Availability
We understand that the price for Source-Live Low Latency will be the same as the previous version. It will be $45 per month plus a per-hour fee to use the servers, which although not set yet, Source Elements tell us it will be"cheaper and better than that whatever else you were using”.
Source Elements are aiming to release Source-Live LL at the beginning of September.
It will be a free upgrade for all existing subscribers.
It is cross-platform, both macOS and Windows, and designed to work on all browsers and mobile devices