Beginner online jam

Azazzell

I'll be online trying Reaper+Ninjam at 10 PM EST on Apr 19.

Join me on the Django room on this Ninjam server: getaroom-na.ninjam.com:2049

Ninjam setup guides: https://djangojazzcalgary.wordpress.com/2020/04/08/setup-reaperninjam-for-online-jamming/

bbwood_98

Hey how did this go?

Curious about latency issues . . .

Azazzell

It was just 2 people, but it did go well. We're learning how to do quarantine jamming :)

There are no latency issues. That's the whole point of non-realtime Ninjam jams.

Ninjam extends the latency by delaying all received audio until it can be synchronized with other players. This is called a BPI interval. Then you set the BPM. So if you wanted to play a 32 bars song at 160 BPM you could:

1. Set the BPI for 32 measures, and the BPM to 40 (160 beats/4) or
2. Set the BPI for 128 (32 measures x 4) and the BPM to 160

Then you jam. Not really sure how to explain it. It's very different from real jamming, and it's weird that you always hear the BPI interval that the other players played before. But it works for Gypsy Jazz because you agree who plays the solos when, and everybody else plays the same 32 bars of rhythm. From an individual player's perspective it works out [if everybody plays on time :) ]. Here is an image of my understanding of how it works:

Things we've learned so far:

• Privacy might be a bit of an issue as some of the public Ninjam servers automatically record jam sessions automatically and post them to archive.org. But if you’d like to be in complete control you can install your own private server.
• It's better to have some kind of live comms going on at the same time and on push-to-talk, so that you don't have to wait a whole interval to say something.
• The Reaper+Ninjam software is a bit hard to set up, but there are lots of Youtube guides being created since COVID19. At least you don't need any fancy equipment, just a microphone or audio interface.
• There is this other program called Jamtaba that is easier to install, but couldn't really get it to work.
• It makes for some really good metronome practice, as you always have to mind the BPI and BPM.
• It's better if the current solo player just calls out the name of the next solo player when they're done. You will be hearing a lot of rhythm only intervals. Maybe there are better ways of running it, but we haven't figured it out.

We'll give it another try tonight.

Hope it helps

https://djangojazzcalgary.wordpress.com/

djangology

I would like to join but I need to sort out my microphone. I get too much latency (~50ms) when putting a microphone through my Scarlet Interface. (discovered that while using JamKazam). So, I ordered a $10 adapter to connect a SM-57 direct to my computer with USB. I just don't have a laptop and so I need this hack. So, if you do one of these jams in the month May, I would join.

Azazzell

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/100855#Comment_100855

You are welcome to join anyways @djangology, since this is just about about learning how to use Ninjam and having fun.

I'm not even sure if your local latency matters, since everybody is synchronized non-realtime to beat 1 of the BPI interval. My understanding is that if you can record a track of your playing in the Reaper DAW properly then you're good to use Ninjam. And there is a setting to adjust for input latency in Reaper.