Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

There are several free (no gimmicks) apps that allow you to access the NINJAM sites. NINJAM is a free jam capability created by Cockos who makes the DAW Reaper. While Reaper is a great DAW you can access the jam sites for free with no strings at all 3 ways. (I have no affiliation with any of these companies. I simply love the app and have used it every week for 6 years)

Keep in mind that NINJAM is unlike any other jam site. It deals with the delay the others cannot deal with by actually delaying for an entire measure then putting it all together live. It sounds odd but works incredibly well. (Singers have to adjust)

NINJAM app itself that can be used alone or with Reaper. The technology is explained here
http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/

Or two free W7/Apple programs.

ZENJAM
http://ninbot.com/zenjam/download/

Jamtaba
http://jamtaba.com/

If anyone has any questions or needs help setting this up let me know. Now you do not have to leave yopur home to practice or jam.

I don't understand how it can delay for a full measure and not create issues - if singers have to 'adjust' any player would, too.

GuitarMikeB wrote:I don't understand how it can delay for a full measure and not create issues - if singers have to 'adjust' any player would, too.

I have used ninjam since its launch dating back almost a decade. The way that it works is that you join a session online and that session will have a meter click or measure click in the background. So each participant play to the meter to line up their instruments. Depending on your location, the amount of latency is varied. But as long as you play on the meter, the music lines up. It goes well with improvisational jams (jazz for instance) where you and the participants select a tempo and a key. But for other types of jams, like one as a structured song, will be difficult to line up.

You need to try it to see. I have several songs with a vocalist. Once the delay is overcome the first time it is transparent. it all sounds live. Hard to explain how it works. But it works very well. ZERO perceived lag

So one person must start out - without hearing the others, of course because that's 2X lag. Then the next person(s) would play along with the delayed signal - but they wouldn't hear anyone else also doing it at the same time .... I don't see any other way around it.

No that is incorrect. I am telling you it is mind blowing in how well it works.

Here is a link to a site you can listen to jams. When you play it sounds exactly like this only with you in the mix. And you sound dead on.

http://ninbot.com/

Here is a link to some of the best jams I have been on. The jam files have the dates and Jam in the file name.

https://soundcloud.com/imispgh