Online Realtime Jamming

[thegaltieribrothers]

I have seen BitFlipper's comment 'online jam software over large physical distances was inherently impractical due to the unavoidable network latency' but wonder if there is a Zoom-like app that can handle online realtime jamming with simultaneous video threads.

If not I would be grateful to know the best online jamming applications you have found so far.

Thank you for your help.

regards

paul

[z1812]

Hi,

My friend and I have been trying to achieve this for a few weeks now.

We have tried Skype Audio, Jammr, and Jamkazam without success. All free programs by the way. One can play while the other listens without a problem. When we both play at the same time one of us drops out.

These programs, except Skype, have very poor instruction. They  really need a step by step, that clearly illustrates the process.

I should say that my friend is very, very, digitally challenged, and I have been instructing him remotely. Therefore I cannot have confidence he was setting up his side properly.

I wouldn't mind paying a small amount monthly in order to do this. But I have not found any other providers but for what I have listed. We stopped trying as it was becoming too frustrating for us trying to set it up.

If I find anything interesting, I will post.

John

[slartabartfast]

The latency issue is not an application problem, it is inherent in the internet itself, and to a lesser degree in telephony repeaters. If you need to hear the other players in order to adjust the groove/timing of your play, more that about 20 milliseconds delay will likely cause confusion and errors. In any event no one will actually be able to hear the other players in real time over current commercial internet connections.

https://www.howtogeek.com/138771/htg-explains-how-latency-can-make-even-fast-internet-connections-feel-slow/

 

[StudioNSFW]

186,000 miles per second. It's not just a good idea - It's the law.

Every network hop adds n milliseconds as well.

Latency isn't the same thing as bandwidth. A "fast" connection may have a ton of bandwidth to serve up 1080p netflix but you dont know how much buffering is happening to feed that stream. it could take 5 seconds to deliver the stream from source and you'd never notice  . An extreme case- an old saying Oklahoma is for for data transfer speeds, nothing beats a Ford F-150 with a bed full of hard drives driving through Oklahoma, but latency sucks. Bandwidth is how much you can move - latency is how fast you can get there. 

a mere 200 milliseconds total latency between two players means SOMEONE will be 1/4 second off.

Some people believe that quantum computing will ultimately solve for network latency. And when I was a kid they promised us jetpacks.

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by StudioNSFW

[Keni]

Upload speeds for most people is a tiny fraction of their download speeds further adding difficulties.

 

Equal up/down hi-speed is available, but very costly.

 

Sad, but the internet structure is not currently a very good system to achieve such. The old standard of using a dedicated hi-speed phone line still seems the best choice. Combined with simple internet video conferencing (facetime/skype/etc.) should work pretty well. Phone line not cheap?

[thegaltieribrothers]

Thank you all for your replies.

regards

paul

[Gswitz]

It is possible to add musicians in series...

So you play... I get your feed and add my part... Send the new on to the next person who adds their part... Then out to audience. This works... But each musician cannot hear the downstream musicians... Only the upstream.

You can create some great jams this way.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Gswitz