Why is there latency in the Sessionwire call?

Despite what some software companies may advertise, latency is here to stay.

Sessionwire does not promote or advertise the ability to "jam live" or "rehearse live" over the internet - for a very good reason. It will always take a certain amount of time for the signal from one machine to travel to another, and then back again. That "there and back again", in a musical context, must be below a certain length of time or it becomes very difficult and distracting to play in time.

Sessionwire's CTO Robin Leboe has written a great article that explains how latency builds up in a typical call over the internet - you can read it here.

In short, there is latency in the internet connection between two users, there is latency in each machine (video and audio encoding/decoding), high buffer sizes in DAWs result in latency, etc. Before you know it, there can be over 100ms in latency between users - which makes it quite impossible to jam or rehearse live with another person.

At Sessionwire, we promote workflows that help facilitate the recording process - workflows that accommodate the latency.

Recording on the performing side of a Sessionwire connection while the other side listens and gives "real time" feedback, just like being on the other side of the glass in a studio. 

The finished files or stems are then transferred to the "producer" or engineer via Sessionwire's file transfer system.

Until the human race makes a breakthrough in the field of quantum entanglement, live jamming over the internet will remain a pipe dream!