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Virtual Band Practice ?

jwoiton

jwoiton

Jun 21, 2005
153
249
65
Dallas area
#1
Has anybody been successful with using a video conferencing tool to have rehearsal when we are not supposed to have public gatherings? I know all gigs are cancelled but I would still like to practice.

I have briefly tried Zoom and got 4 of us talking together, not playing. I talked with my daughter earlier today on Hangouts and it worked well. Skype didn't seem to work too well for me in voice conversations.

Are there other tools we could try? I know probably a lot of it boils down to equipment or internet connection speed.
 
#6
ArtechnikA said:
When everybody has gigabit networks end-to-end we may be able to pull it off. Or real 5G. Latency is even an issue live if you have a big enough stage. Not for nothing is the drummer in the middle...
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Gigabit probably won't help. I was at work when we had our first webex meeting. The latency for people who where at work was very very very irritating. And this would have all been gigabit. It would be worse over the net.

Now if you can get over the initial latency... it will then be consistent. But you all have to be separate. You can't have anybody in the room with you.
 
#7
seanm said:
Gigabit probably won't help. I was at work when we had our first webex meeting. The latency for people who where at work was very very very irritating.
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That was video, right? And probably TCP/IP... I'm thinking that if you can deal with something like 16kHz bandwidth audio with a streamlined UDP protocol you could probably pull off something useful. Not broadcast quality but it's collaboration, not audiophile... I worked on an audio/video distribution and archiving LAN for use on surveillance aircraft that (IIRC) used a gigabit backbone and latency was adequate (I think we had a 10mS end-to-end latency requirement - but it was 10 years ago so don't hold me to details...).
Sometimes, the farther we come, the more we have to go. We would have had no problem doing this 50 years ago when an 8kHz analog bandwidth conference call would have worked fine ;-)
 
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#9
Yep, as i understand it the tech / connection speed isn’t there yet.

It would be a great time to collaborate remotely on demos though (record to click, send to next band member, and on from there). Not the same but still fun.
 
#10
The only thing I have come across is JamKazam, which requires you to be hard-wired into your internet (Ethernet cable). The account is free, but everyone has to have it. There may be video accompanied by it. I'm waiting to give it a go as soon as I get some upgraded hardware I desperately need. There are a few other practice apps that I have read about as well. Google it.
 
#12
I assume you are all physically close together. If you all have roughly the same speed of connections, you might be ok. The problem is differing latencies.

Don't use wireless connections!

With the high demand on the internet right now, this is, unfortunately, the worst time to be trying this :atoz: On the upside, if it works now it will only work better when this is all over.
 
#15
Here is something I have found that I wrote about in another forum. I just cut-and-pasted it.

Hi all,

I too tried JamKazam and was not happy with it. In my search I came across this: Online Jamming and Concert Technology - an Online Music Course at Kadenze

It is lead and hosted by Chris Chafe - a composer, improvisor and cellist, developing much of his music alongside computer-based research. He is Director of Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). At IRCAM (Paris) and The Banff Centre (Alberta), he pursued methods for digital synthesis, music performance and real-time internet collaboration. CCRMA’s SoundWIRE project involves live concertizing with musicians the world over.

The course starts in 5 days. After you sign up, you are paired with a cohort who could be on another continent. You get assignments and are graded on them by instructor and peers. There are six sessions of about 8-10 hours each. Not for the faint-of-heart, I guess. I signed up, but am nothing more than an “advanced beginner”, I’ll call it.
slightly_smiling_face.png
Don’t know if I can commit the time because I am still employed and sixty hours of coursework (across possible multiple time-zones) competing with a day-job may not work. I may have to withdraw.

They use open-source software to achieve very low levels of latency. A little more information here by clicking on links: http://chrischafe.net/online-jamming-and-concert-technology-online-course/ 3

I loaded the software while watching the Session 1 video, but at this point, was not able to make it work. Maybe today - if I get my family’s income taxes done.

I hope some of you are able to sign up and actually make it through the course. Once you do, you will be a good resource to help others with it. This is THE cutting-edge presentation of this technology as far as I can tell. Right about now, this is what we ALL want.

Oh - and this course is FREE.

Best regards to everyone!
Robert
 
#16
Another cut-and-paste from same other forum:

More time spent trying to make the “Jack Control” software work for the above Kadenze class I wrote about. I can’t make it work and can’t really spare much more time on this. Meaningful help info on the net is scarce.
So, what I’m saying is that my initial enthusiasm for the course and what it could mean for us isolated musicians is heavily tempered by the fact that it isn’t a slam-dunk software load.
frowning_face.png

But even though I may have to give up, I hope others try – Hey, it seems to work for some of the registered course-takers.
 
#19
jwoiton said:
Thanks VerryBerry for the input. Trying to get 5 band members to get on the same equipment page during a lockdown would be difficult. I am tabling virtual practicing for now.
Click to expand...

I have the same problem with the guys I jam with. I made some progress with the software and will continue on with it until I can't. But the others I jam with are less techy/patient and are not interested in jumping through hoops. That's the way it is until someone comes up with a nice canned solution.
 

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