On Line Jam Session

Hydroman52
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Sat Apr 09, 2011 11:06 am

Has anyone tried this (eJamming, Skype, etc.), yet? I am trying out some of the Bose gear from the Green Lake jam session in order to connect my mics and guitars to the computer, but I need to get it to my other house where i have a better Internet connection. My only Internet option at Green Lake right now is to tether to my Android phone, and this wouldn't support the connection needs. I'm sure of that.

I am trying to talk bass player, Jerry, into trying this with me. He lives only a few miles from my other house and the physical distance issues that I have heard about should not be an issue. If this looks promising, the $7.00 - $10.00 monthly eJamming fee is not an issue with me at this time. Any thoughts?

Hydroman52


sws626
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Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:04 am

Hi Hydroman,

I've been meaning to write something more about this. Tony and Rick and I have tried a couple of times to get ths working. Skype was easiest to set up, but really not good enough to play together. I think Tony and Rick are still trying to sort out some equipment issues, but I was able to spend some time with a random bass player in Sacrament (8 time zones away) on eJamming. It's the most complex to set up, but it worked extremely well. If you want start a trial subscription to eJamming, get the software installed and ports open, and want to have a go, let me know.

-Stuart


Hydroman52
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Sun Apr 10, 2011 6:41 pm

Hey Stuart,

Thanks for the information. I will jump in, but have a few questions for you all first . . . . see below.



Stuart, Tony, Rick,

I could use a little guidance here. It sounds like you are having some success with eJamming. I know all the promises that are made by these services, but sometimes they don't always work as designed. Here are my questions . . . . I know you're all busy people so I asked them in the easiest to toughest to to answer . . . . . . If you don't have time to answer, that's okay.

1. Are you connected wireless or are you hardwired to your DSL/Broadband connection (eJamming recommends hardwired)?

2. Are you still on the 30-day trial, or have you subscribed?

3. How long did it take to set it up?

4. Have you done a speed test on your computer for DSL/Broadband connection? If so, what's the upload/download speeds? I'd like to compare with mine.

5. I see they have the port opening software on the eJamming site. Did you use this?

6. Can you give me any specifications on your computer? Operating system, memory, speed, etc.

7. How are you connecting your equipment to your computer (microphone plugged directly into computer mic jack, mixing board with USB connection, guitar cable with 1/4" to USB converter, etc.)?

8. What is the biggest problem you have encountered so far?

9. How is the sound quality? From what I understand, you may need to sacrifice quality for speed?

10. Have you had a chance to use the session recording feature that eJamming supplies?

11. Any hidden costs that you can see? Example: Maybe if you want to record the session in CD quality, you need to pay extra for a special feature?

Okay, that's enough for now. What I am trying to do is evaluate my current equipment and DSL connection to see what I need to upgrade before I tackle this. I also need to get rid of my annoying job, because it's taking up too much of my time that I could be spending on this stuff. HA!

Thanks,

Hydroman52


sws626
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Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:51 pm

Hi Hydroman52,

This will have to be a quick reply, but I'd be happy to talk with you about this at length some time.

1. I made a point of using a hardwired connection to a DSL router. I work in the WLAN industry and wouldn't recommend using a wireless connection.

2. Still on the 30 day trial, unless it has already expired. I haven't subscribed.

3. 10 minutes to install the software, maybe 1/2 hour to remember the password of my router, then another 1/2 to figure out how to open the ports.

4. I haven't done a test of the uplink speed, but will let you know when I'm back home next week. It's the standard British Telecom service, so probably much lower rates than anything you have in the US.

5. Yes, I used the Portfoward script and it worked fine.

6. I'm running from my laptop since my desktop has very noisy fans. It's an Intel L9600 2.13GHz processor with 3GB or RAM running 32-bit Vista Business (yeah, I know, but it's my company's computer, so can't do anything about that). But I think the software would run on a simple netbook, so long as you had a decent hardwired connection wth good throughput.

7. I'm using an RME Babyface USB interface, a Rode large condensor mic for both my voice and the guitar, and a pair of Sennheiser HD650 headphones. A woman I talk to on Online Jamming Sessions was running her acoustic pickup directly into the interface because she said she got an echo otherwise. But I didn't have any problem with this setup on eJamming.

8. Biggest problem so far is finding any time to experiment with this. Rick and Tony can probably tell you more interesting stories about their problems.

9. For just jamming around, I found the quality on eJamming to be very good. Probably not what you'd want to record, but better than the compressed sound on audio on Youtube.

10. I recorded myself and played it back just to see if it worked. And it worked. Haven't tried to save anything, though.

11. I don't know about any extra services of fees that might be associated with them. I do't think I would use this for anything other than casual recording, though.

I guess I ended up answering most of your questions after all.

Stuart


RicksPick
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Mon Apr 11, 2011 4:43 am

Well for me I had more problems because i had no equiptment to hook up to the pc,
apart from a very basic mic (pc Mic £2) plugged straight into mic port on sound card but seemed to be ok on skype( well nobody said otherwise).

My pc is 6 years old and noisy,
Specs- Duel core 4Ghz (AlthlonX2), 2 gig Ram,1.5 Tera HDD,756meg video card and 8 year old sound card, windows 7 ultimate 64

hardwired to router on a 10meg line, I get 10meg down, but only 0.98 meg upload

I tryed to connect to the different jamming sites without much sucsess,( Thanks Stuart for your patience) I used the port software for my router, link from ejamming and it worked fine,

So I could use my very cheep mic hoping that would be fine, but the buzzzy interferance from my pc was terrible, got some advise from a kind gent on there
about equiptment,

To separate my audio input from my pc, I got a usb interface device (M-audio Fasttrac) and my mistake a cheep mic but xlr
( Im not cheep honest,Just a tight budget :P )

Guitar input is fantastic, clear as a bell using an electric or preamped semiAcoustic.
Im just waiting for a delivery of a better mic and cable (Behringer XM8500) so I can speek aswell as strum, and possibly mic a straight acoustic

So this should now give me a quality xlr input too, good to go this weekend
Im on the free trial too(ejamming), had problems with online jam sessions login, but will try again sometime.
On these site's there doesnt seem to many people on most I have seen is a dozen at one time,And of those 2 people ceating rooms for themselfs seems to be the norm
Quality wise seems good(ejamming) of what I have been able to try,Guess the next update after another try will be a true test.

Yes I had to buy some equiptment but my audio set up is poor with a noisy PC, there are cheeper equitment ( usb-Guitar) that probubly work just aswell.
As Im far from knowlagable in audio setup, had to do a lot of reading.
Stuarts audio was good by the way, I was the weak link :side:

RicksPick


Hydroman52
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Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:32 pm

Hey Stuart and Rick,

Thanks for the information. It’s proving invaluable. It looks like I need to do a few things before I attempt this. First, move my router closer to my guitar gear or get a really loooooooong network cable (just when I was getting really comfortable with my wireless world). Next, it looks like I may need to up the speed of my broadband DSL service. I am currently only getting 1.5MBps download and 256kBps upload. The absolute minimum that the eJamming people recommend is 250kBps for just two people jamming with lowest quality.

Hey Tony . . . . . . . if you get a chance, would you put in your 2 cents, too?

I'm rolling into a busy time of the year right now and am sort of like you all . . . . . on the go, and always seem to be at the wrong place to get these things done. But I'll be working on it when I can.

Thanks guys!

Hydroman52


tovo
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Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:14 am

Hey Hydro. Happy to put in my 2 cents mate. I've been nothing but frustrated with ejamming. I'm not a tech numpty (nor a nerd) but I just can't get the damn port open on my Mac. I've let Stuart down badly! I will need to try again.

My other problem is that I do all my guitar related stuff in a quiet part of the house away from the kids..but that involves wireless. My cable-connected computer sits in the TV room where my kids are generally being very noisy. Not sure how I will overcome that problem. Moving the cable isn't an option. I will just have to get up real early on a Sunday I guess.

I haven't given up completely as I think this is a very good initiative. More to come.

OK an update: I have both ports open now, so with a very early start on Sunday may be able to give this software a try.


Hydroman52
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Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:23 pm

Hey Tony,

Glad to see you are still hanging in there on this. If you have more information after you try it again, and you have time, don't hesitate to post the results here. You, Stuart, and Rick are the original pioneers on this site for investigating this technology and I see it has great potential. I hope to join you guys as soon as I can get to the other house and get things rearranged. On Wednesday, I have my weekly jam session with bass player, Jerry, and we will be talking about it some more. He is really interested. Even though we only live a few miles apart, it still takes me about 15 to 30 minutes to pile my guitar into the truck, drive over, get settled into the studio, and check my tuning before we actually start playing a song. And I already have my mics and music stand set up there. So you can see that I have one-half to one whole hour of total bop-around time in just getting to a session and back. This would be time better spent playing.

I don't see this as a substitute for our weekly practice session, but it could be used for "in-betweeners" if we have a half-hour to an hour to spend blocking out a new song or working on riffs and harmonies. And it could be very flexible, too.

So I hope to be up and running for a trial this week (maybe the weekend) if any of you want to try a connection with the USA. May have more questions, too.

Hydroman52


sws626
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Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:18 am

Hi Rick & Hydroman,

I'm flying back home on Thursday. Tony says he has his ports sorted, so we'll try again this weekend. Let me know if any of you want to join in.

-Stuart


RicksPick
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Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:38 am

Can I have a ticket please, lol

Just got my new Mic (Behringer XM8500)
WOW this is something on another level, It picks up so much.
I can play acoustic through it no problems
For £15 its amazing :woohoo:

RicksPick


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