Many factors can impact an iPad's performance. To ensure the highest quality experience when using the Sunday Keys App you can adopt the best practices described here.
Audio crackles, slow visuals, or app crashes can all be symptoms that your iPad is struggling to keep up with processing demands. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, we recommend considering the following tips to optimize your device's performance
Simplify Setlists and Patches
When a Setlist is loaded, the included Patches and Sounds use device resources to be ready to be played. When building a Setlist try keep it as lean as possible by using only the Patches you need, with the Sounds you need.
Instead of allowing a Setlist to grow to include a large number of Patches or Sounds, export the Patches and Sounds you don't actively need to your User Library for later.
Adjust Audio Buffer Size
The App's Audio Buffer size (measured in samples) determines how long Sunday Keys has to ‘think’ before outputting audio when you press a key.
Higher buffer size values reduce system resource usage, but increase latency, which is the delay between playing a note and hearing it. Each person will have their own ‘latency tolerance’ and even that tolerance may vary from setting to setting or song to song.
The best Buffer size for you will be the one that is as high as possible to reduce system strain, while still feeling responsive and playable.
Not all iPads are created equal. Users with newer, M1-equipped iPads may be able to run their buffer size much lower than someone with a less powerful base iPad that’s a few years old. Each iPad model and model year has different RAM and processor specs.
While there is no one-size fits all ‘magic number’ for buffer size, we recommend 256 as a good starting point for the newest devices and 512 as an option that may work well for older devices, though with greater potential for noticeable latency.
You can adjust this in Settings > Audio > Buffer Size
Reduce Pre-Load Patches Setting
To optimize performance, Sunday Keys will only pre-load a certain number of Patches in the vicinity of your currently selected Patch. This drastically reduces processing requirements during performance while keeping the Patches you’re most likely to select next readily available.
Use this setting to designate the number of Patches to pre-load before and after the current Patch. Higher values may result in smoother transitions between patches, as more Patches are available ‘ready’ at a given time; Lower values may reduce CPU usage, as fewer Patches are kept ‘ready’ at a time.
Because of performance optimizations in Sunday Keys most users will find that Patch selection is virtually seamless, even outside of the “Pre-load” window, so it is recommended to leave the Pre-load Patches number relatively small to improve overall App performance.
You can adjust this in Settings > CPU > Pre-load Patches
Close all other Apps
Closing other open Apps may help to release CPU resources on your device. We recommend closing all unneeded Apps before using Sunday Keys for a live performance.
In some cases where you're experiencing unexpected audio issues, you may also find that closing and reopening the Sunday Keys App will improve performance.
Turn off Wi-Fi
By turning off Wi-Fi, you can ensure that your iPad is not using resources doing unnecessary tasks, such as retrieving emails or syncing files, during a performance.
Adjust other CPU Settings
We have included some additional optimization options that impact Sunday Keys App's visual performance in Settings > CPU. These settings do not impact the audio output of the App, they simply simplify and reduce the visual processing required, which will result in lower resource usage.
If you experience performance issues, try engaging the toggles for Disable Keyboard Visual and/or Disable Sound Level Meters to help reduce CPU strain.
You can adjust these in Settings > CPU > Disable Keyboard Visual/Disable Sound Level Meters
Remove unused or unneeded MIDI and Audio Effects from your Sounds
Similarly to keeping your Setlists and Patches as lean as possible, removing unused or unneeded MIDI and Audio Effects can improve CPU performance. If you determine that a given effect won't be needed during a performance you can open the effect, choose "Replace Effect" and then choose "No Effect" to marginally reduce resource usage.