No Audio (most of the time) in sessions

[vdrums]

I've been trying to get this up and running in a reliable way for awhile now.  It's unbelievably frustrating.  Hoping someone can shed some light here. I've tried about every network config I can come up with to no avail.

My current config is 64 bit Windows 10.  I disabled the firewalls on both Windows and my router.  I also have uPNP enabled and have a static IP configured on my internal network with routing rules applied at my router for ports 12000-12020 to this PC.  I don't have a static public IP (dynamic IP) so my router should take any traffic directed to these ports and route them to this PC.

When I try to join a session, 90% of the time I get no audio from peers.  Occasionally, 1-2 people will connect fine but most of the time it just says No Audio (and I get all the warning that there is no audio stream to the peers).

Network tests all say there are no network tests available (assuming this has either been disabled by JamKazam or they just can't handle all the people trying to test).

I've tried without port rules, using a single UDP port, smaller range of ports, etc.

I have a fiber connections which is very fast.  It's hard wired.  The troubleshooting tools are useless.

Using a Presonus AudioBox 96 USB which seems to test out at about 3-4 ms (good).

Any idea why I can't seem to get audio from 90%+ of the sessions?

Thanks!

[Hans Peter Augustesen]

Yes, it is likely a router issue

I strongly assume it is about that phenomen, where tracks are grayed out and labeled "no audio".

Here comes some text from
Frequent topics, in short
> https://forum.jamkazam.com/showthread.php?tid=284

"1. General loose tips - if technical problems in sessions; "NO AUDIO" - grayed out ...::

Author unknown - maybe or probably Eric McQuaid:
"the person seeing no audio usually has a router not letting audio in"

Try RESYNC-button
Try leave session - and come back
Maybe restart JamKazam
- and computer
- and router

ROUTER SETTINGS:
> https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index....g.1504869/"

Also try to search - no audio - grayed out - router settings - test network

And/or wait for better guidance

[vdrums]

Thanks. I've tried all the suggestions with no luck. May try to see if my provider allows me to use a third party modem/router. Unfortunately, seems all the firmware updates for this device are controlled by the ISP. This is an ARRIS TG2472G device which handles VoIP and Internet.

I've never had any other issues with the router itself and have configured port forwarding (with ranges) for other apps. Conferencing, streaming, etc., all work pretty well.

I wish JamKazam errors were a little more helpful to indicate where things might be breaking down or having a working network test that could help. They just don't give much meaningful diagnostic info to go on.

It's odd that for random sessions, it works fine but most simply fail with No Audio. I wish I had some way to understand how the working ones were any different from the failing ones. Gotta be some kind of network fluke or config problem.

[Hans Peter Augustesen]

In fact, I don't know much about routers

"My" router is not mine, but the ISP.

Fortunately, it has almost always worked for me, so I didn't need to change anything.

Alone today, during a two hour session, there were 5-7 people whose tracks showed "no audio" and grayed out.

Some of them became good. While others did not - and they left the session.

It's complicated at all - I do not actually understand it ...

[Dimitri Muskens]

Thanks.  I've tried all the suggestions with no luck.  May try to see if my provider allows me to use a third party modem/router.  Unfortunately, seems all the firmware updates for this device are controlled by the ISP.  This is an ARRIS TG2472G device which handles VoIP and Internet.

I've never had any other issues with the router itself and have configured port forwarding (with ranges) for other apps.  Conferencing, streaming, etc., all work pretty well.

I wish JamKazam errors were a little more helpful to indicate where things might be breaking down or having a working network test that could help.  They just don't give much meaningful diagnostic info to go on.

It's odd that for random sessions, it works fine but most simply fail with No Audio.  I wish I had some way to understand how the working ones were any different from the failing ones.  Gotta be some kind of network fluke or config problem.

>>>
Do you have by any chance IPv6 enabled on your router, on your computer and in JamKazam?
If so, please disable any instance - also in JKZ - it does not do well (yet)
You could even have a DS-Lite tunnel to give you IPv4 through IPv6. This gives the same sort of errors.

NB - using UPnP - and - port forwarding is not bringing anything. Just pick one method.

[Hans Peter Augustesen]

Sometimes I can even hear people and they can hear me - while their tracks are grayed out and labeled "no audio".

It is very confusing

[vdrums]

Thanks.  I've tried all the suggestions with no luck.  May try to see if my provider allows me to use a third party modem/router.  Unfortunately, seems all the firmware updates for this device are controlled by the ISP.  This is an ARRIS TG2472G device which handles VoIP and Internet.

I've never had any other issues with the router itself and have configured port forwarding (with ranges) for other apps.  Conferencing, streaming, etc., all work pretty well.

I wish JamKazam errors were a little more helpful to indicate where things might be breaking down or having a working network test that could help.  They just don't give much meaningful diagnostic info to go on.

It's odd that for random sessions, it works fine but most simply fail with No Audio.  I wish I had some way to understand how the working ones were any different from the failing ones.  Gotta be some kind of network fluke or config problem.

>>>
Do you have by any chance IPv6 enabled on your router, on your computer and in JamKazam?
If so, please disable any instance - also in JKZ - it does not do well (yet)
You could even have a DS-Lite tunnel to give you IPv4 through IPv6. This gives the same sort of errors.

NB - using UPnP - and - port forwarding is not bringing anything. Just pick one method.

>> IP6 is disabled on both my router and PC.  I have tried with no port forwarding, but I haven't tried disabling UPnP and just using port forwarding.  I'll give that a shot.  Thank you.

[vdrums]

FWIW - tested disabling UPnP and just port forwarding - same behavior. All firewalls disabled.

Most sessions fail with everyone grayed out and "xxx is not receiving audio from you". Then one randomly worked fine (only one person in the session though). Dumped netstat just for kicks to see if that might give some clues... everything was connecting upward of 60000+ on ports and no UDP. I kind of expected to see it staying in the dedicated port range and/or some UDP activity.

Installed ASIO4All just for kicks (some people report that helped them). No difference here. I've seen a lot of threads with people reporting this same type of problem. If I figure it out, I'll report back but I'm not sure how much more time I'm going to waste on this. Can't complain - it's offered as a free app. Appreciate the devs doing the work and putting it out there. Glad it's working for lots of folks. My guess is that it'll get better with time and proper funding.

[Rob Talbert]

Thanks.  I've tried all the suggestions with no luck.  May try to see if my provider allows me to use a third party modem/router.  Unfortunately, seems all the firmware updates for this device are controlled by the ISP.  This is an ARRIS TG2472G device which handles VoIP and Internet.

I've never had any other issues with the router itself and have configured port forwarding (with ranges) for other apps.  Conferencing, streaming, etc., all work pretty well.

I wish JamKazam errors were a little more helpful to indicate where things might be breaking down or having a working network test that could help.  They just don't give much meaningful diagnostic info to go on.

It's odd that for random sessions, it works fine but most simply fail with No Audio.  I wish I had some way to understand how the working ones were any different from the failing ones.  Gotta be some kind of network fluke or config problem.

I have exactly the same problem.  I can connect with one musician but if more musicians join, they are grayed out although they can all hear each other. I am on an iMac and my AirportExtreme is set up with public and private UDP ports both set to 12000-12010 and private IP address is correct.

---

Interesting product but seems to be very much in garage start-up mode with no actual support function.

[vdrums]

I wanted to follow up on this thread after figuring this out.

I all but gave up, but recently started revisiting my network config after dealing with some other issues trying to map ports for gaming.  The clue came when Xbox Live and PS4 configs kept reporting NAT Type as strict ... XBOX network test reported "double NAT".  Why the hell would I have double NAT?  Just about every home network is going to have NAT in place, but double NAT?

So here's the deal- some time ago, I gave up my static IP address because I didn't really need it.  Turns out, my provider started implementing CGNAT (Carrier Grade Network Address Translation) for dynamic addresses to help them deal with growth.  This adds another layer of NAT to anything you have configured in your own network and it really screws up your ability to do any kind of direct communications -- even if you map ports and tweak your router every way you are supposed to.  

So I changed back to my static IP and it fixed ... everything.

Jamkazam just works now.  First try -- connections work, audio works.  It was always a gamble before.. sometimes it would work, sometimes not... always had trouble with audio even when sessions would get setup.

Related - It also seems to have fixed a lot of issues we had with calls over wi-fi (if you have this turned on you cell phone) where the first or second call attempt would always fail and we'd miss calls (would never ring).   Games consoles will now report open or type-2 NAT and all the manual port mapping works as expected now. 

So ... long story short, if nothing else is working for you, check if your provider is using CGNAT (both xbox and PS4 network tests may give you a clue here).  Double NAT will seriously screw you up.