KVR Audio

Polychrome · Post by **Polychrome** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 4:00 pm

Is anyone aware of any current technology/websites/software than allows live online musical collaboration? Specifically, multiple musicians at different locations performing live, essentially functioning as a live online band, via midi, audio files, or other technology.

Polychrome · Post by **Polychrome** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 10:31 pm

bump.

I'm guessing that this sort of technology is not on the market currently...

maximilians1 · Post by **maximilians1** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 10:50 pm

there was something a long time ago, called let me think, livejam just a midi jam thing, it had different jam rooms and stuff don't know why it folded seemed like a good idea to shut-ins like me

never got to try it though

nuffink · Post by **nuffink** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 10:53 pm

There was Rocket Network. But it died.
http://www.digipronet.com/digistudios/rocket-email.html

tjvigil66 · Post by **tjvigil66** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:04 pm

Here's something from SmartElectronix...

http://www.midiweb.org/

Polychrome · Post by **Polychrome** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:27 pm

piranha wrote:Here's something from SmartElectronix...

http://www.midiweb.org/

Ah...this is the sort of thing I was looking for.
Thanks for the usefull info, Piranha.

griels · Post by **griels** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:46 am

Bah, only midi. I want my Rocketnetwork back

It was amazing... People from around the world collaborating on the same project, bits of audio flying in from three continents and patterns being created and rearranged before your eyes. Not just midi - it dealt with audio, mixer settings, plugins and automation too. Midiweb looks nice but a long way short of the miracle that was Rocket.

There was a group called Rocketears who used an ad hoc combination of FtpSync (directory synchronisation software) and Cubase to collaborate on the same project. I'm not sure of the details but they seem to have shut down now.

Bidule appears to have online collaborative features, although I'm not sure how advanced they are... Mainly limited to sharing macros I think.

Then there is Arturia Storm... Apparently it has some sort of collaboration features, and I hear Fruity and Orion are due to get something similar soon (something more advanced than Live Loop - I don't know the full details though).

I remember Steinberg billing Nuendo 2.0 as having network collaboration facilities - the synchronisation of project data and audio via a network. I don't think it had provision for audio compression like Rocket however, so if it exists at all it might require a fair whack of bandwidth. Any know any more about this?

Polychrome · Post by **Polychrome** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:53 am

I'm thinking about starting a music technology company that would go well beyond what Rocket could do when it was around. I think they launched before the correct technology was available. So, I'm sort of glad to find out that nothing comparable is out right now. Gives me a fighting chance to do what I'd like to.

...now all I need is lots of money, power, and influence....hmmm

Spe3D · Post by **Spe3D** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 1:59 am

Polychrome wrote:Is anyone aware of any current technology/websites/software than allows live online musical collaboration? Specifically, multiple musicians at different locations performing live, essentially functioning as a live online band, via midi, audio files, or other technology.

The FL team are now at the public beta stage for such a thing - registered users are testing it out last time I looked (2 days ago) I asume it works like that - not had a go yet. (that's what they call it anyhow

)

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

outsomnia19 · Post by **outsomnia19** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 2:33 am

how bout tobybears VSTNETMID? it' here:
http://www.tobybear.de/p_midibag.html

these plugins and programs are designed to allow a vst host to send midi signals to another computer. I'm not sure how good this works, but it would allow a fairly good level of collaboration through a vst host.. honestly midi transmission is an ideal means of online-group production.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 4:43 am

I'm all with griels! I would want Rocketnetwork back as well.
And it wasn't that bad technologically per se, just that those folks never cared about bug reports and the most imported wishes of their beta testers (I've been one of them...).
OK, their compression sounded WAY worse than MP3 or OGG, but you could get away with it as in the ende you could allways decide to share the files in full quality if required.

The bad thing is that apparently it was hard to find some sort of generic format, so you could never collaborate with someone using a different sequencer (that however might've be the fault of the sequencer companies as the Rocket file sharing format apparently was well documented).
And while it might have some (obvious) advances to collaborate with people using the same host, it'd be great if it was possible to collaborate with anybody, in case all you want is to exchange generic audio and MIDI data.

Spe3D · Post by **Spe3D** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 4:59 am

Sascha Franck wrote: And while it might have some (obvious) advances to collaborate with people using the same host, it'd be great if it was possible to collaborate with anybody, in case all you want is to exchange generic audio and MIDI data.

Someone should make use of Re-Wire and set up a little colab proggy - for cross-host stuff.

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 5:35 am

I think the technology is 'there' now, but it won't realize its full potential until the next groundbreaking technology in information transmission is possible. With our theoretical 'maximum' speeds we can get with broadband, compressed audio formats could theoretically work. But let's face it, the slightest hiccup (a batch of redirected packets) sends the idea spinning. We need faster and more reliable. MIDI collaboration less so, since the data is tiny to begin with. There should be no reason anybody with a fast connection couldn't jam in realtime if they were using only MIDI.

On the other hand, that folder-synched FTP sounds like a great idea, and it should be doable with existing freeware. It wouldn't allow for realtime jamming, but it could still prove to be a quick way to collaborate.

Greg

Alive In Chernobyl · Post by **Alive In Chernobyl** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 5:38 am

The new 4.0beta of n-track has this feature. www.fasoft.com This allow you to transfer an entire project very quickly to a friend.

Good luck.

Alive In Chernobyl · Post by **Alive In Chernobyl** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 5:43 am

Lunch Money wrote: There should be no reason anybody with a fast connection couldn't jam in realtime if they were using only MIDI.

Network Latency. Big reason. Average latency for home use is 80ms. Even with big connection it is 5-15ms. Add to this your soundcard latency. Even with the very fastest system you can only reach sloppy latency time. As we get faster systems in a few years the idea of midi will be possible. Audio is many years away by far.

I can say you can have a home network to do over 144 tracks together with low-latency in SawStudio or more if you have the machines. Home network is VERY fast if you look to compare with internet network.

Live online music collaboration technology?