Network music performance has latency thresholds: below 10ms is unnoticed; 10-40ms requires tempo negotiation; above 40ms demands independent tempi

Coordinated network music performance faces fundamental latency constraints from the physics of signal propagation. Rohrhuber synthesizes key thresholds from the literature: below ~10ms latency, performers can ignore the delay (equivalent to sound traveling about 3.4 meters). Between 10-40ms, performers adjust tempo through negotiation. Above 40ms, independent tempi or asynchronous playing becomes necessary. A 20ms threshold governs perception of event order; 2ms separates fusion from separation of events. Algorithmic approaches to network music include: (1) large cycle quantization (everyone aligned at bar boundaries), (2) deliberate local monitoring delay to simulate simultaneity, and (3) accepting latency as a structural musical feature.

Examples

JamKazam sessions between performers in different cities may have 50-100ms latency — requiring asynchronous texture-based playing rather than tight rhythmic coordination.

Assessment

List the three latency thresholds described in the chapter and their musical implications. Then propose an algorithmic composition strategy designed to work well at 80ms round-trip network latency.