JAMKAZAM

[Rockybottom]

Has anyone come across this yet? Found it through a small article in GUITARIST Mag.  Its new and most seem to be in the states at the moment. I am trying to whip up interest amongst BGU in the UK so I can try it.  Only sent the e mail out last night and already seeing some interest.

One issue is you need to get a total latency of below 50 ms when you add all members of the jam together.  Mine is about 5ms so it should be possible.

Its free unless you use above a certain level(not specified!)

 

[SHarpo]

Rocky, JamKazam looks kinda interesting...thanks for posting.

http://www.jamkazam.com

 

[John-G]

Cool Rocky !! I like it. The world has become a global village !

 

[Elio]

I think Paparaptor and a few others here experimented with Jamulus a year or two ago.  Similar concept but it uses open source software to create a group server.  http://sourceforge.net/projects/llcon/

 

[MikeS]

Several of us have tried a few of these real-time jamming "solutions" and they all seem to fall on their faces in one area or another.

Some that I've seen have latency issues and most lack a scheduling feature that would allow you to know when your friends will be on-line.

JAMKAZAM seems to solve the scheduling issue very nicely with their "Upcoming Jams" feature, but I'm getting awful latency with it.

I have a pretty high end PC with loads of memory, fast processors (I7) and the highest speed internet connection that Time Warner offers to its residential customers and I still can't make it work. (In fairness, I haven't spent a lot of time debugging the problem)

It would be pretty cool if something like this ever works out the kinks.

 

[PapaRaptor]

I just installed it without issue, but I haven't done anything in the way of testing.  They have a function to record, but it keeps telling me that it can't record anything.  Might be fun to play with for a little while...

I've tried llcon (now called Jamulus) and it's not practical unless you're a computer geek.  eJamming wasn't bad, but latency is a major issue with both of those.  I'm not sure how this can get solved using today's internet, but I'm open to the idea.

 

[Rockybottom]

Got it working last night with their CEO. Only issue was bandwidth restriction due to connection with hub over house power cables.  changing to Ethernet trailing cable today to see if I can get up to 5 connections.  I like it !!!

 

[Rockybottom]

Sat in on a jam in texas yesterday and after chatting I played some bass to see if they could play in time.  It worked to all our surprise even though the system said it would be poor and I could only support two people.  We ended up having a short but good jam......I was hungry !!!
We are just kicking off trying it in the UK amongst BGU guys so watch this space.  Finding, scheduling and joining jams is easy, the key is having some decent hardware as an audio interface for instrument and mic and a decent broadband connection, computer speed isnt really much of an issue.  You do need approaching 1Meg upload speed although I seem to be getting there with only half that.  I dont have fibre optic to house so he last 300yards of copper wire slows everything down !!!  That should be solved next year when fibre optic to house goes in.

I dont have any experience of other systems but on face value I like this one.

 

[PapaRaptor]

Sat in on a jam in texas yesterday and after chatting I played some bass to see if they could play in time.  It worked to all our surprise even though the system said it would be poor and I could only support two people.  We ended up having a short but good jam......I was hungry !!!
We are just kicking off trying it in the UK amongst BGU guys so watch this space.  Finding, scheduling and joining jams is easy, the key is having some decent hardware as an audio interface for instrument and mic and a decent broadband connection, computer speed isnt really much of an issue.  You do need approaching 1Meg upload speed although I seem to be getting there with only half that.  I dont have fibre optic to house so he last 300yards of copper wire slows everything down !!!  That should be solved next year when fibre optic to house goes in.

I dont have any experience of other systems but on face value I like this one.

Good to hear that Rocky!  Since I already have it installed and got the welcome letter from them, I should probably try it out!

 

[Rockybottom]

Why not.  Jut had a UK jam and also a four way session with the owner plus a guy in texas and one in Maine !!!

 

[MikeS]

I don't know if this is gonna work, but I created a band called BGU on JAMKAZAM, so maybe some of us can try to get together. Let me know if you can or can't find it.

 

[Rockybottom]

Mike, I did the same and called it BGU UK.....great minds and all that.  But I now think the band thing is more for people to follow and look at recordings. You just need to set up a session and open invites for it to work. 

 

[PapaRaptor]

If anyone is interested, JAMKAZAM is hosting an open jam night on their website.

This interface seems to be a lot better than anything else I've seen for online jamming.  I haven't yet gotten together with anyone else, but I've listened to a couple of sessions and it sounds like JamKazam has a pretty good handle on getting it right.

It's free to sign up and as of right now, there is no subscription fee.  I suspect that will change if they can get a decent sized base of musicians online.  That fact not withstanding, if you think you might have an interest, drop by the website and check it out.

Here's a quote from the email that was sent out over the last few days:

"We’ve also scheduled our next Open Jam Night for tomorrow, Thursday Sept. 25, starting at 8:00pm ET, 7:00pm CT, 5:00pm PT. We had a great turnout for last week’s jam night, and a lot of sessions up and running. "

Disclaimer:  I have absolutely no affiliation with JamKazam.  It just looks like it might be something of interest to BGU members.

http://jamkazam.com

P.S.  I will probably be around there hosting a session.  I will be equipped for both bass guitar and electric six stringer.  If you look through the sessions and see Paparaptor, please feel free to drop in.

 

[MikeR]

Just signed up for it, but I haven't installed the software yet.  I'd like to do it on the laptop I always use in my music room, but it's on the wireless network, so I'm not sure how well it will work.  Had no hope with Jamulus.

 

[PapaRaptor]

Thanks to Chuck and MikeS for making this a short term sticky post.  If we get some interest among members, we might be able to use this thread as a heads up when people are going to be on.

 

[david moon]

Our New England BGU jam group is considering trying this for some rehearsal. I just created an account but haven't tried it yet. They recommend NOT using wifi because of latency.

I have my doubts because of the latency issue. If 50 ms is acceptable, maybe you can adapt your playing and play a bit ahead of the beat you're hearing. Something around 100 ms is a "slapback" echo, like something you would hear off the back wall of a school gym. And everyone in a group will experience slightly different latency from all the others.

They do emphasize in their videos that you can collaborate with musicians "in your area".

 

[PapaRaptor]

I've been in there this evening for a while and I'm amazed at how low the latency is on the stuff I've heard.  I'll probably be around for a bit longer, but my Geritol has about worn off for the day.

 

[Bluewater]

Our New England BGU jam group is considering trying this for some rehearsal. I just created an account but haven't tried it yet. They recommend NOT using wifi because of latency.

I have my doubts because of the latency issue. If 50 ms is acceptable, maybe you can adapt your playing and play a bit ahead of the beat you're hearing. Something around 100 ms is a "slapback" echo, like something you would hear off the back wall of a school gym. And everyone in a group will experience slightly different latency from all the others.

They do emphasize in their videos that you can collaborate with musicians "in your area".

David just invited you to be a "friend" on Jamkazam. Just went over 5 songs with DVS (Doug) on Jamkazam. Latency did tend to make you play at a slower tempo than you'd like but I think we made some significant progress toward the NE BGU III jam. I'll set up an RSVP jam session for tomorrow and see if that works for you and Doug.

Dave AKA Bluewater

 

[dvs]

Thanks, Dave! Yes, that was pretty cool, Before we got started I sat in with Paparaptor for a short while (once I got the settings and all that sorted out). Sorry to run out on you, Lloyd - that was fun!

David Moon, I also sent you a friend invite.

This was way more usable than I expected. Dave AKA B. I wonder if you were hearing more latency than I was, since my connection was probably the cause of most of it. Anyway, it was fun and helpful, looking forward to more.

 

[PapaRaptor]

Thanks, Dave! Yes, that was pretty cool, Before we got started I sat in with Paparaptor for a short while (once I got the settings and all that sorted out). Sorry to run out on you, Lloyd - that was fun!

David Moon, I also sent you a friend invite.

This was way more usable than I expected. Dave AKA B. I wonder if you were hearing more latency than I was, since my connection was probably the cause of most of it. Anyway, it was fun and helpful, looking forward to more.

No worries Doug.  You were there for your meet-up with Dave.  I was just killing time.  Glad it seems to be working out for you!  I had a couple other people drop by, but it was mainly a click-in, click-out.  Guess I should have used some mouthwash!