Limited number of participants?

[JiminSalmonArm]

Hi Chris and Vera, I am a new user (2 sessions).  Last night we were moderately successful with a quartet singing - 2 in BC Canada, one in Boston, one in LA.  The latency was high 50 - 100.  It worked for singing short tags, but a longer song just kept slowing down due to the time delay.

We attempted our first quartet rehearsal with no success. We could tell there was much less latency than using zoom or a phone call, but it was still hard to keep together.  We all live in the same metropolitan area and 3 of us even have the same ISP. At most, we could duet. But it took a ton of concentration. As you mentioned earlier, we were only able to get in a slow, short tag.

Since your most recent post, have you found any solutions or have any recommendations?

Hi Scott - sorry for the delay in replying - maybe you have already figured this out.  We have been working with the same group of 3 now - twice a week for 4 weeks.  Tonight was our best ever.  One in Boston, two in BC, Canada  - 3 hr time difference - 50 msec total latency.  We now have 4 songs to a reasonable performance level.  It is a HUGE learning curve just to listen with headphones and sing in the mic without being in the same room - that was 50% of the problem.  The second issue is learning to work with the latency - 50msec is noticeable but there is a work around.  We start our song with one person doing a count in, so each person can tap their foot to keep their own internal metronome going  (the builtin metronome just didn't work for us at all).  Then each person sings in time with their own foot tap.  Do NOT wait to hear the other person start - just start on your foot tap.  There will be some very small variation in when the other singers start a phrase, as heard in your own earphones - but if you keep in time with your own toe tap, overall the song will not slow down.
In my headphones, I hear that I start my notes just a fraction of a second (50 msec ?) before the others.  (If you wait to hear the other start - and then they wait for you - the song slowly drags to a halt   )  The next challenge is the inherent issue with a cappella singing - monitoring your own pitch to make the chord sound good.  Tonight was the first time I was really able to do this - and this skill is independent of the latency issue - so JamKazam  is a great way to practice this!   So this is one report that a trio (and probably a quartet) can really work well.   Keep at it . Good luck.  - Jim