Online jamming

[jaimeiniesta]

Hi folks!

With all this social distancing thing I’m unable to rehearse with my band so I’m investigating if it’s possible to jam online.

Standard videoconference tools like Skype, Whatsapp, Google Duo etc. are good for talking but not for playing due to audio latency – the instruments won’t be in sync so it’s impossible to play together.

There are other platforms out there like Jammr, JamKazam, Jamulus… I’m beginning to try them and they look promising although a bit hard to set up.

Do you have any experience with this? I’ll keep you posted on my investigations.

If you want to join me in these platforms, my username is normally “jaimeiniesta”.

[JoLa]

That’s a very creative idea, Jaime! I guess nothing is impossible 🙂

🎸JoLa

[sunburst]

Hello Jaime, not exactly sure about lose of your jamming etc.. I don’t jam.. I learn here what Brian teaches and it is fun.. what more you ask I have no idea.. you are a newbie so what your asking is weirdo dude sorry imho.. Jola is right though lol

[jaimeiniesta]

Hey Sunburst I’m just checking if anyone can recommend a tool to jam online.

I’m confined at home as everyone in my country so I can’t play with my friends as usual, that’s why I’m searching for an alternative to let me keep jamming on the internet. Just like I use videoconference with my family, but for playing music with friends.

I’m not saying that this is a replacement to Brian’s lessons or this forum! I keep learning the lessons and preparing for the showcase and challenges in the forum as usual 🙂

[sunburst]

jaimeiniesta wrote:

Hey Sunburst I’m just checking if anyone can recommend a tool to jam online.

I’m confined at home as everyone in my country so I can’t play with my friends as usual, that’s why I’m searching for an alternative to let me keep jamming on the internet. Just like I use videoconference with my family, but for playing music with friends.

I’m not saying that this is a replacement to Brian’s lessons or this forum! I keep learning the lessons and preparing for the showcase and challenges in the forum as usual 🙂

I’m in new jersey, understand but honestly do the lessons here and presentations are welcomed.. think that’s what this is about to answer in response.. i never jammed online..but i do enjoy learning and doing lesson presentations here and some.. enjoy.. just saying… plenty enough here

[Aussie Rick]

Great idea Jaime. A lot of musicians are going to be looking for ways to be able to continue to have jam sessions without having to leave home. Looking forward to hearing what you’ve been able to find out.

Rick

[Richard G]

Yes, good idea Jaime, playing with others is the lifeblood for musicians whether from a professional or purely amateur standpoint.
Any positive results you get from your on-line research, I’m certain would be welcomed here.

Richard

[Billy]

I brought this idea up with a few of my guitar playing buddies, I thought of using skipe but as you said there may be a latency problem.
It must be overcomable( is that a word) as there is already an established online choir here in the U.k., I’m interested to see how this pans out as it may well be the only interaction we will get outside of our own homes for quite some time.

..Billy..

[Laurel C]

Jaime, some of the ukulele groups here have started using Zoom for a virtual jam. One group reported that they were able to get 63 participants joining in from their homes, everyone could see each other, interact between songs and they had a blast. This is one way to keep the players active as the meet-ups and activities have been cancelled.

[jaimeiniesta]

Laurel C wrote:

Jaime, some of the ukulele groups here have started using Zoom for a virtual jam.

Thanks, I’ll try Zoom. This is what we use for online meetings at our work but I think it’s more oriented to voice chat, not direct music I guess. In the sense that it’s good for taking turns at playing (like a conversation, only one person speaks at once), but not so much for playing together several people like in a jam.

Today we tried live Instagram video streaming. Works fine for one person but can’t sync 2 people. I’ll keep investigating.

[jaimeiniesta]

Hey friends!

Today I tried Jamulus and I’m quite surprised. When playing with other people using good internet connections, it sounds and works quite well, in sync and good quality.

It’s quite simple to install and connect to an existing server, if you want to try it you can get it at http://llcon.sourceforge.net/ – it’s free and open source.

It will work better if you can connect your guitar to the computer using an audio interface, but it can even work with the integrated microphone.

Enjoy!

[nomini]

Jaime, I’m very interested and glad you are doing the research. I will give Jamulus a try and post results.

[jaimeiniesta]

Hey you’re welcome!

In case you want to launch your own server, I think that’s pretty easy on Windows but not so much on Mac / Linux.

I recorded this video to help set it up on mac (it’s in Spanish but I’ll try to add English subtitles, it’s quite short and straightforward anyway).

[Richard S]

Yes great idea Jaimie.
Reaper has a VST called Nimjam that can accomplish this as well. Then you can use Skype or Zoom because you can route the Reaper output to Other apps using soundflower on a mac to achieve multiple output sends.

Good luck.I am going to give Jamulus a shot

[jaimeiniesta]

Thanks Richard, I didn’t know about Nimjam, it looks awesome – maybe more complicated than Jamulus but also more complete. I’ll give it a shot as well.

[jaimeiniesta]

Hey there! I found another software for online jams: http://jamtaba.com/

It runs on Ninjam but the interface is nice, it even has video. Anyone knows about this one? I’m getting a weird error “bound address already in use” when trying to host a private server.

[jaimeiniesta]

So by now the easiest software I’ve found to jam online, including hosting your own server, is Jamulus. Check out this video, it gives a nice overview:

[Billy]

sounds like a lot of hastle to set it up

..Billy..

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jaime I’ll check it out.

David.

[Author]

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