Anyone having any good experiences with the currently popular virtual jam applications? I’ve had some success with using JamKazam although only when it’s two of us playing. Add another member and one of us loses audio. Have been able to use BB as a midi track using the free VST drum set from Spitfire Labs, though which is cool because I don’t have many inputs on my audio interface.
I tried Jamkazam, but was frustrated by both the few number of musicians on there, as well as the level of playing. Lots of dad/cover bands and amateurs, and nobody at the intermediate/expert level that is one of the options. I’m kinda bummed, cuz I’d love to be jamming now, but not at a level that I’d see at the local open mic.
How does JamKazam get around latency?
The app tests your equipment and network quality to make sure your latency isn’t going to effect things. There is always some inevitable latency but when I’ve tried it out hasn’t been too much and has worked well.
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I’m one of those amateurs 
yeah I’m not using it in the same way - to find others to jam with. I organise a session with friends and play songs we know.
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It’s be interested to know if you’d tried any of the others. Jammr, ninjam etc
Interesting and glad you enjoy it, ghostofweedon. Then there is me lol… I would not even want to try it. Old school me needs the other musicians nearby and the entire sound loud and in my face (hard rocker here). I love sports too and I cannot watch old games that are now being televised. If not live, I cannot do it. Just doesn’t feel right to OCD me. I can at least bluetooth youtube to my PA and jam to the original bands/songs that I know. I feel like I am playing with Metallica or Audioslave if I close my eyes. Of course my BB doesn’t get used in that fashion. I guess musicians like us will find a cure ESSENTIAL in our own way!
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I have Jammr installed, but haven’t tried it, yet.
Just wanted to be clear, I wasn’t referring to amateur as some sort of insult, I know a lot of people use these services just to get together and play songs they know. I’m just looking for a bit more than that at a higher ability of playing level, so it’s a bit frustrating. There’s not a lot of jazzers on there or ambient musicians. It’s all really conventional/mainstream stuff.
I didn’t read it as an insult - I understand that you want to play with players at your own level and genre.
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Hi all,
I too tried JamKazam and was not happy with it. In my search I came across this: https://www.kadenze.com/courses/online-jamming-and-concert-technology-x/info
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. 
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/
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
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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. 
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.
Thanks for bringing jack to my attention. I’ve used it before on Linux but didn’t realise it was available on Windows. Hopefully will be very useful with routing audio and vsts with my guitar midi stuff.
I got Jack Control working with the ASIO4ALL driver so within my Windows 10 system, it is working. Not straightforward and you have to go hunting for little tidbits of info that are crucial. Yes, this would be great for routing audio for MIDI and plug-ins.
Now I have to figure out JackTrip so that I can converse with others “out there”. Needed a break from this so haven’t looked at it for the last day or so.
If you’re ever interested in working out the kinks at some point, let me know. We may not be compatible music-wise (no idea), but to get this process figured out means we could help our buddies, who are not techy enough, to link to us.
Just throwing that out there.
Hi, all! I’ve also had some success with JamKazam. I’ve been using it with one of my bands to do exactly this - have a virtual band practice. It’s not perfect, but it works, and we’ve been able to use it (mix of Win and Mac and old & new audio interfaces). Check out the forums, or LMK if more info would help. Good luck!