eJamming AUDiiO

by Robert Tapia

If you are a musician, there have inevitably been times when you wanted to play with someone, but could not find anybody. Whether the reasons were geographical, artistic, or technical, you know the feeling of not having somebody around for inspiration. So what can you do about it? Well, you could sign up for eJamming AUDiiO (www.ejamming.com), which offers musicians the chance to play online at any time with others from across the planet.

The company, which started two years ago as a service that lets musicians play together using General MIDI sounds in real time, has recently launched a new service called eJamming AUDiiO that enables users to hear the live audio from up to three other musicians playing together over the Internet. The service also allows users to record jam sessions. To use eJamming AUDiiO, users download the software and set up an account, connect the mics and instruments to an ASIO soundcard, and sign in. Users then enter "the Lobby," where they can search for other musicians by instrument or style of music. They can then invite others to jam and initiate recording sessions. Once in the session, users can run through any material and get a feel for playing with the other person before deciding to record. The recording component of the software is reminiscent of many other digital audio workstations and easy enough to learn on its own. After recording, a copy is saved to each user's hard drive.

The real trick with eJamming AUDiiO is dealing with the latency issues inherent to both digital recording and the Internet. The musicians are connected over a peer-to-peer network on its own port and, using what eJamming calls their Sync Delay System, the software actually delays the output from everybody in the session so that they all get it at once. The advice eJamming gives is for each musician to play along to the music coming in through headphones, which is what everybody else is hearing, so that they can all be in sync. It sounds awkward, but the company states that it is easy to adjust.

As with most advances in music technology, a late-model computer and fast Internet connection are required. Even if you are not a vocalist, having a microphone is necessary, as that is how you will communicate with the other musicians. Headphones are recommended as well. The service is free while in beta, but will charge a monthly fee afterwards. As more people sign up for eJamming AUDiiO, and as the company fine-tunes its software to speed things up even more, the idea of musicians feeling alone in this world will soon be merely a personal problem.