Disappointing tests (maybe because of my fault)
I too, like many others, have been recently and… spontaneously interested in the so called "online jamming". So I've been testing NinJam (through JamTaba, actually) with some friends.
I have to admit, however, that I was quite disappointed. Maybe I'm wrong, but I really can't understand how, in describing the features of such a software, we can talk about "jamming together" or “jamming with other people”.
As far as I understand, NinJam intentionally introduces a considerable delay in sound delivering, in order to "compensate" for network delays so that the sounds of the various sources reach their destinations in a coherent and synchronized manner.
However, if on the one hand this is an advantage in terms of listening, on the other hand it greatly penalizes the perception itself of "playing", because while you play you don't listen to what you (and the others) are actually playing: you listen, instead, to what was played many seconds before. Likewise, the notes you play right now will be heard (by both you and the others) much later.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but it seems to me that the "feeling" of playing itself (that is, the direct link between what you do and what you hear) is missing to a large extent. Which is, at least, quite unnatural.
The issue becomes even... trickier if you play an acoustic or semi-acoustic instrument, such as a sax, a guitar, a drumset (also an electronic one) or... your own voice; an instrument, namely, that "sounds" even without any connections to sound equipment.
In that case, indeed, in addition to hearing through the Internet the things done (by you and by others) some time ago, YOU also hear through your ears (even if muffled somehow) the things you are doing now, on top of the rest. A kind of weird continuous... overdubbing, where everyone almost plays... blind (or, to better say, deaf).
Not to mention what you "feel" with your hands, fingers, throat...
Undoubtedly when playing some looping groove, with little variations and steady rhythm (not by chance NinJam includes a metronome), the “overdubbing” gets somehow covered up, but you still are quite far from the idea of "playing an instrument" and very far from that of "jamming together".
I'm sure that such a system can be useful and even fun in particular situations, but I really wouldn't call it suitable, no way, for those who hope to simply “jam together” with others through the net.
Or maybe my friends and I didn't understand how NinJam works and made some serious installation or configuration mistakes…? :]
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