Is there any sort of collaborative music software out there? Where one person can be playing in America while the others are in Ireland and Germany, etc.? All being recorded on their local computers via midi, and then combinable afterwards for a full-spectrum sound?

I guess it could be cobbled together via some sort of net-phone, as long as all are using the same editing software and have the same vst's. After they're done playing they could send their work files to one person for importing and combining.

But I was thinking that if the midi data was all that was being sent via the net, then it would take a lot less bandwidth (and therefore less lag/latency), and all would be able to hear full-quality sound and record simultaneously.

The first net-enabled vsti anyone?
Or perhaps it would have to be a special host.

Doug Nelson wrote:

But I was thinking that if the midi data was all that was being sent via the net, then it would take a lot less bandwidth (and therefore less lag/latency), and all would be able to hear full-quality sound and record simultaneously.

Nice idea, but it doesn't work that way. Network latency is independent of the quantity of data you send over it. On net gaming servers you're lucky to get a <20ms ping. I was told that the use of subscribed routes and IPV6 or some latency-conscious networking protocol run by an ISP (would have to be the same as you used to connect to the network with, i.e. your ADSL , cable or dialup provider) might allow this kind of thing to work, but only amongst subscribers to the same service. Apparently its possible to have a 6ms latency conversation between England and Germany if you buy time on an exchange as well. Realtime jams with Putte anyone?

While 20ms is pushing it for local latency, it would probably be acceptable for hearing someone else play. Some rooms probably have more lag than that

Plus, there could be a timing sync included so that any actual lag during recording could be compensated for on playback. It could even be tunable.

And even if it is limited to users on the same ISP (or even on the same LAN), I think there's a market for something like this.

Pd has all kind of network options.
I'm a total n00b as far as Pd is concerned so I can't tell you how this works.

Groet, Erik

Doug, come jam with us man. www.rocketears-online.net . The software is free and all you need is a little ftp space. I'll see you over there

Doug Nelson wrote:

While 20ms is pushing it for local latency, it would probably be acceptable for hearing someone else play. Some rooms probably have more lag than that Plus, there could be a timing sync included so that any actual lag during recording could be compensated for on playback. It could even be tunable. And even if it is limited to users on the same ISP (or even on the same LAN), I think there's a market for something like this.

I agree!

Re: timing sync.. Maybe you could have jam over a loop of N measures and the system would play back what it received from the other jammers N measures after they played it.

That way, everything would be in sync, but it would retain some of the spontaneity of live jamming. One measure lag might even work well.

Bigg John... I thought Rocketears had gone offline

I'll check it out again now I have broadband.

griels wrote:

Bigg John... I thought Rocketears had gone offline I'll check it out again now I have broadband.

you are probably thinking of the original rocket network. it went belly up and digidesign bought the technology (and to this day, they are just sitting on it). rocketears is the disembodied musicians who try to keep online collabaoation thing going. the software is not as slick as the original rocket but it gets the job done.

It is not "real time". with it, sombody posts a session on any ftp server. the next guy downloads the session and adds his stuff and uploads. then the next guy does the same. it's quite easy to get people all over the world to collaborate together.

I think what you guy's are talking about is quite impossible. imagine if you and your band mates were jamming at a football stadium. now, let's imagine that the guitar and bass player set up on the north endzone and the drummer singer and keyboard player set up in the south endzone. this would be imposible to get together even when your only 100 yds away from each other. in reality, your jam mates online might be several thousand miles away. although your connection may be broadband, it's still not fast enough to jam "real time".

Mabey you folks know of some awesome tricks to make this happen, but i sure haven't heard of it. remember, if get to 30-40 ms latency on your local machine (without any network involved) it becomes almost impossible to play live. even though you have a fast connection to the internet, there will still be latency. data may be pouring into your machine at an incredible speed, but there is still a good deal of latency in fast internet connection.

I'm not all knowing though, you guy's might know some tricks that i do not.

anyway, collaboration over the internet is alive and well at www.rocketears-online.net

I'm sure I read somewhere that Storm has some kind of internet collaboration feature like a sort of built in chatroom but for music - I might be wrong though.

FL Studio does have a collaboration app in public beta currently. Registered FL users can get a copy on looptalk.

-Blake

You can also do it in Reaktor using OSC-but it only works with event data(such as MIDI or Reaktor event data)and not audio-and,needless to say,the other machines have to be running Reaktor.Because of the time tags and bundling,everything's synced up tight.If the other machines aren't on the same subnet,you just enter the IP address,port number and identifier tag of the other machines involved.
ew

Then there's this...

http://www.midiweb.org/

Don't know much about it though. Just found it by accident.

andywanders wrote:

Then there's this... http://www.midiweb.org/ Don't know much about it though. Just found it by accident.

cool, thanks for the link andy