The Virtual Garage Band

The band has a gig. Great! There’s only one dilemma. The singer is in San Francisco, the keyboardist in California, and the guitarist in Chicago. This was the case with a project I worked on last year. The immediate question was: How do we get together to write and rehearse? The first thing that came to mind was "Skype", a word that has now become a verb similar to "Googling". However, the capabilities of regular videoconferencing platforms are limited when it comes to handling issues such as latency, audio interference, and audio interface compatibility that can occur while playing music together in the virtual world.

After a bit of research, our keyboardist (and also IT guru), suggested eJamming and Musician Link, two different platforms that could deliver low latency and handle the more complex technical requirements for musicians. Both Musician Link and eJamming work similarly, and with very few competitors, they are forerunners of this new evolving technology that helps connect musicians around the world online.

The easiest way to understand this is to imagine that instead of a garage or rehearsal space with drums, guitars, and microphones strewn about, musicians have access to a virtual rehearsal room. The musician at home, or anywhere in the world, would use an audio interface to plug their instrument or microphone into the computer, log on to the platform, and play with others while listening through headphones or speakers.

Musician Link has a proprietary interface, which they sell for a one-time fee with discounts on multiple unit purchases. There can be up to four users five hundred miles away playing at once without significant latency issues. There is no subscription fee and all one must do is purchase the device and create an account on their website. 

eJamming does not sell a proprietary interface. Rather, it is a platform with proprietary software that would be installed on one’s computer. The software provides access to your computer and audio interface drivers as a peer-to-peer network with the platform. This also allows for compatibility of third party audio interfaces such as Presonus or M-Audio. Another feature of eJamming is that it has a recording function. There is a subscription fee of $10 per month for eJamming services.

Both companies have the same objective – to get people playing music over great distances. They also have the same issues to overcome, mainly, physics and the speed of light. Regardless of the device used to connect, there will always be minimal latency with audio signals. Though anything beyond a 20ms delay can be quite annoying to people trying to play “together.” Additionally, Internet connections must have enough bandwidth to handle a jam session. The minimum recommended upstream and downstream speeds are 1000 Kbps (1Mbps), which must increase as more players are added.

With the advent of this technology, more music groups and instructors are creating a demand for virtual solutions to instruct, rehearse, and perform online. We’re only at the frontier for the possibility of uses, and as demand increases, so will the technological advancement. This new technology is great for helping the traveling artist stay in touch with artists back home, and helping the artist back home stay connected to the world.