Audio over IP: a solution for users of older computers

[mashers]

Hi all,

My iMac is powerful enough to run Reason, but I've found performance poor on my older MacBook, particularly when using VSTs. Just as I was about to cave and buy a new laptop, I decided to try something out and found that it worked surprisingly well. The process is as follows:

1. Install Soundflower on both computers
2. Install audio over IP server on the more powerful computer
3. Run Reason on the more powerful computer, and set its audio interface to Soundflower
4. Install audio over IP receiver on the less powerful computer
5. Remote Desktop to the more powerful computer

Here is a more detailed guide.

Step 1: Install Soundflower
Download the latest release of Soundflower from this page:

https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases

Double click the DMG and run the installer. Do this on both computers.

Step 2: Install Audio over IP
Download Network Audio Transmitter from this page:

https://www.zachpoff.com/software/netwo ... ansmitter/

Download on both computers. On the more powerful computer, run the Network Audio Transmitter software, and on the less powerful computer run the Network Audio Receiver.

In the Transmitter window, click "Audio Settings" and set both the input and output device to Soundflower (2ch). Turn Live Input on.

In the Receiver window, change the Network Buffer to about 30ms. That figure worked for me on my network. You might need a larger buffer if your network is slower, or you might get away with a lower buffer if you have a very efficient network.

Then in the Transmitter window, you should see your other computer shown as an available receiver. Click its name and it should connect.

Step 3: Configure Reason to use Soundflower
Start up Reason on the more powerful computer. Open its preferences, and change the audio interface to "Soundflower (2ch)". Set the audio buffer to minimum.

Step 4: Remote Desktop from the less powerful computer to the more powerful computer
Open System Preferences / Sharing, and tick "Screen Sharing". Then on the less powerful computer, open a Finder window and choose the other computer from the Shared section of the sidebar. Click Share Screen at the top of the Finder window, and you should be able to see (and control) the more powerful computer. When you make sound in Reason, the audio should come out of the audio interface of the less powerful computer. Latency will depend on how the buffer size you chose in the Network Audio Receiver, but in my case it was unnoticeable especially since Soundflower added only 1ms of latency.


Caveats:

• I have not tried audio input, and I don't know if it works. The transmitter/receiver software does have settings for input and output but I don't know if input is or can be sent back to Reason
• It can be a bit fiddly to control Reason over Remote Desktop, but I have found that changing the resolution of the iMac to one which closely matches the native resolution of the MacBook makes it feel very much like using it directly on the laptop
• This software is Mac only. There are audio over IP solutions for Windows too, but I haven't tested them so don't know how well they would work
• No MIDI input. I assume there is a software MIDI over IP solution which could route MIDI data back to Reason but I haven't tested this yet.