I am about to delete Jamkazam from my computer and thought I'd throw this out there before I do. I was so pumped when I first discovered Jamkazam but honestly after two months of reading peoples posts and tweaking every setting possible, I just have to ask, is anyone using it successfully? I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most tech savvy guy but geeze.... Anyway it'll be curious to see what replies I get, and honestly I'm am so hoping someone says "yes, it works great" and could possibly enlighten me as to what I'm doing wrong. I've watched so many YouTube vids of people playin together so effortlessly, it's crazy to think that I am doing something so wrong to make it not work at all.
Thank you for your reply Hans and believe me I really want to make this work. I'm using a Dell Latitude Laptop computer. 2.4 GHz, 8 GB of ram. I have Cox Gigablast internet and typically have 650 to 750 Mbps download speeds and 35 Mbps upload. I upgraded my service specifically for Jamkazam. I was originally using my Zoom H6 as an audio interface but purchased a Steinberg UR22 mk2 to see if that would help with the problems I'm having. I plug directly into and Ethernet port. I've watched all the videos and tweaked all the settings per their instructions. The main issue I seem to be having is with input and output jitter. My latency holds steady at 8.1 but the jitter bounces around from 0 (green dots) to 145 or more (red dots). Can't seem to find what the cause is for the inconsistency. I have only tested this with one other person that has similar equipment and similar problems. I would love for someone to shed some light on how to proceed.
(07-22-2020, 05:23 PM)Larry J Wrote: I am about to delete Jamkazam from my computer and thought I'd throw this out there before I do. I was so pumped when I first discovered Jamkazam but honestly after two months of reading peoples posts and tweaking every setting possible, I just have to ask, is anyone using it successfully? I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most tech savvy guy but geeze.... Anyway it'll be curious to see what replies I get, and honestly I'm am so hoping someone says "yes, it works great" and could possibly enlighten me as to what I'm doing wrong. I've watched so many YouTube vids of people playin together so effortlessly, it's crazy to think that I am doing something so wrong to make it not work at all.
Yes Larry,
I share your pain.
J-K works some of the time well - and the rest of the time, it is a 'russian roulette' with incessant resets, resynch, restarts.
To be fare, it is a 'free' program that is still under development.
I have a lot friends that give up with J-K. Some get really frustrated with all the technical dramas and don't want to touch it ever again. And even though I am the furthest thing from a selfish person, I can tell you that if it was easy and simple and everyone got on J-K without a hitch, the service will most likely crash with overload - and probably stay crashed...
So, here is one bit of advice that may help: use FILE / AUDIO PROPERTIES / CONFIGURATIONS / RESET AUDIO SETTINGS
This wipes clean all the audio settings and restarts J-K.
So basically, I am suggesting that starting fresh may help to get a working setup and some joy out of J-K.
Good luck.
Hey Lex, I'm sure I'm being stupid here but where would I type in the audio reset you advise? I would gladly try starting from scratch. One other comment... I thought I read where JamKazam is strictly peer to peer and does not rely on a server. If that's the case I wouldn't think Kazammers could somehow clog up the internet or slow things down no matter how many people were using the software. I pretty sure I read that on the JK site. I guess one of the things that gets me is that many of the example videos you see on the web are many years ago when broadband was non-existent and computers were way less powerful than they are today and somehow these sessions were incredible.
07-23-2020, 12:26 AM (This post was last modified: 07-23-2020, 12:47 AM by Hans Peter Augustesen.)
Thank you, Larry!
I really want to make this work, too. For you and for all - and my self, I want as many people as possible, so to speak.
I also can not understand that "FILE / AUDIO PROPERTIES / CONFIGURATIONS / RESET AUDIO SETTINGS".
The audio and video is going directly between the people in the session. It is not going through the server(s). So-called peer to peer, yes.
The sessions are of course organized by the server(s). And the session chat text is going through the server(s) - I think
07-23-2020, 01:45 AM (This post was last modified: 07-23-2020, 01:50 AM by GDJ.)
Hi Larry. Just adding my moral support response here. For the most part, I enjoy it. Even if you bring the fastest hardware you can to it, you will still encounter disappointment and troubles but at least you reach a point of stability. This is because no matter how hard you try and what you put into it, we are at the mercy of internet latency and an app in need of an overhaul. The devs, as i understand it, are prioritizing their work to improve performance. I have contributed to the gofundme not only for the time spent using it, but for their efforts. They came out of the woodwork due to covid to make a go of it again. I can go on an on.. but when i reset my expectations I have a better experience. We just don't know what we're going to get. I'm finding in the US, it's a hit or miss to find someone in the Yellow for descent latency. While in the UK, i hear some user's tout having a better experience because of fiberoptic.
Also, i would agree online jamming apps make you feel like you have to have a degree in computer science - lol. Hans Peter, Stuart, Lex and others are to be credited for helping people out all the time. They don't work for JK. I do feel all the setup videos and help documents need to updated too. One thing i notice is, even though many folks struggle with the technical side, they can follow instructions very well. Perhaps this explains why we are musicians.
About the videos you see where it appears people are in sync and how amazing that it is. I'll say what you may need to hear. Smoke and mirrors my friend. Let me say it this way. In the past several months during social isolation we have seen an increase in these videos. They are non jamkazamm. And, they are post processed. Recorded at separate times and synced together at the end. I will go as far to express that even with the recent JamKazam live streaming performances, that yes.. i believe these are live and in sync, but there is something else going on we may not be privy too - yet. I'm hoping the Dev's bring this experience to the average JK user. That said, i do believe it is helpful to jam iwth people who are in closer in proximity. I have a better experience with people in my state of California that are 2, 50, and 300 miles away. But at the same time, I had an interesting experience last night. The session had 8 people in it, all in RED. NY, NJ, KS, OR, me California. We played rock songs and sang for about 2 hours and while there were a few times of abrupt latency, something syncd in where we were actually in sync. I was pleasantly surprised by this and everyone commented on it. Something lined up for us just right.
I'm not a windows guy and think you should stick it out since it's also free and you should achieve hardware and OS stability as much as possible. You're in good hands. We should pace ourselves too
I appreciate your comments and honesty. I thought when covid19 closed down all of the venues here in the Phoenix area that I'd get this hammered out so I could convince the rest of the band to get onboard so we could keep rehearsing and working on new material. That being said, I don't think they're going to want to invest in the hardware or time to maybe get to play occasionally without the constant dropouts and really poor audio quality I'm experiencing. It would be a hard sell. I guess I won't give up just yet. Maybe try to figure out what causes the inconsistent jitter problems I'm experiencing. Thanks again...
07-23-2020, 05:12 AM (This post was last modified: 07-23-2020, 05:13 AM by Lex Music.)
OK, here is the 'Audio Reset' function clarified... well hopefully:
- looking at the top left hand side of the J-K window
- MANAGE 'button' (not 'File' as I pointed out earlier - my mistake)
- click 'MANAGE'
- move the cursor to 'Audio Properties' (a selection opens)
- move the cursor to 'Configuration' (another selection opens)
- move the cursor to 'Reset Audio Settings' (second last selection)
That's it.
Cheers, Lex
07-23-2020, 01:16 PM (This post was last modified: 07-23-2020, 09:18 PM by Hans Peter Augustesen.)
(07-23-2020, 01:45 AM)GDJ Wrote: Hi Larry. Just adding my moral support response here. For the most part, I enjoy it. Even if you bring the fastest hardware you can to it, you will still encounter disappointment and troubles but at least you reach a point of stability. This is because no matter how hard you try and what you put into it, we are at the mercy of internet latency and an app in need of an overhaul. The devs, as i understand it, are prioritizing their work to improve performance. I have contributed to the gofundme not only for the time spent using it, but for their efforts. They came out of the woodwork due to covid to make a go of it again. I can go on an on.. but when i reset my expectations I have a better experience. We just don't know what we're going to get. I'm finding in the US, it's a hit or miss to find someone in the Yellow for descent latency. While in the UK, i hear some user's tout having a better experience because of fiberoptic.
Also, i would agree online jamming apps make you feel like you have to have a degree in computer science - lol. Hans Peter, Stuart, Lex and others are to be credited for helping people out all the time. They don't work for JK. I do feel all the setup videos and help documents need to updated too. One thing i notice is, even though many folks struggle with the technical side, they can follow instructions very well. Perhaps this explains why we are musicians.
About the videos you see where it appears people are in sync and how amazing that it is. I'll say what you may need to hear. Smoke and mirrors my friend. Let me say it this way. In the past several months during social isolation we have seen an increase in these videos. They are non jamkazamm. And, they are post processed. Recorded at separate times and synced together at the end. I will go as far to express that even with the recent JamKazam live streaming performances, that yes.. i believe these are live and in sync, but there is something else going on we may not be privy too - yet. I'm hoping the Dev's bring this experience to the average JK user. That said, i do believe it is helpful to jam iwth people who are in closer in proximity. I have a better experience with people in my state of California that are 2, 50, and 300 miles away. But at the same time, I had an interesting experience last night. The session had 8 people in it, all in RED. NY, NJ, KS, OR, me California. We played rock songs and sang for about 2 hours and while there were a few times of abrupt latency, something syncd in where we were actually in sync. I was pleasantly surprised by this and everyone commented on it. Something lined up for us just right.
I'm not a windows guy and think you should stick it out since it's also free and you should achieve hardware and OS stability as much as possible. You're in good hands. We should pace ourselves too
GDJ. You mention UK as a place where "some users tout having a better experience because of fiber optic".
Of course, this may be true for some, but in general UK does not have good internet connections - according to my experience of playing with Brits.
There are about 600-750 miles to UK from where I live (in Denmark, near Copenhagen).
Virtually no connections to UK are below 30 milliseconds, whereas I have several handfuls under 30 for e.g. Sweden, Norway, Germany and Netherlands. And in Denmark, of course (little country).
For example. I have a connection to a place in Norway about 1000 miles away, which is 28 milliseconds.
While I have many connections to UK in 45-55 milliseconds. None of my connections to Sweden and Norway have as high a latency as 45-55. And there we are, after all, talking about up to at least 1000 miles.
I have attached a picture which probably credibly shows internet connections globally.
As can be seen, South Korea has the best connections. Followed by Japan, Scandinavia and Netherlands.
It should of course be taken with a pinch of salt, but as a guide it is probably not entirely wrong.
Here I have taken the picture from:
> https://www.fastmetrics.com/internet-con...ountry.php
It should just be added that there are probably very large variations internally in the UK in terms of internet connections.
While it is much more evenly distributed in e.g. Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Almost all places are covered with the same quality / quantity
