mayfly
Epic Member
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ok, so I'm trying to find a way to conduct rehearsals with the band. Typical video conference software (zoom, facetime, skype) do not work because of the latency - you just can't play together. I did hear of a project called LOLA that is supposed to offer real-time networked rehearsal, but for that you need special hardware and, get this, a 1Ge network connecting everyone. Yea we just don't have that. In addition, my band-mates are not at all technical and would not be able to make that work (especially since I'm not there to help).
So I took a step back and thought "ok, what communication thing has zero latency, is simple, and everyone has it". The answer is the telephone. Land lines to be precise. I'm thinking if we can get instruments and vocal mics into it, and if everyone can hear it, we should be able to practice. Now, it will sound like crap (only 3kHz audio bandwidth), but if I did it right at least YOU would sound great.
More than two people will need a conference all, but that's do-able.
Enter the Phone Jam. At least that's what I'm calling it. I'm imagining a box where you plug a mic, your instrument, and a set of headphones into it, then connect it to a household phone jack. You make a call using your phone, get connected, then start using the Phone Jam box to play music together. You hear yourself well, and the other people well-enough.
I'm at the prototyping stage and have some initial schematics. More to come.
So I took a step back and thought "ok, what communication thing has zero latency, is simple, and everyone has it". The answer is the telephone. Land lines to be precise. I'm thinking if we can get instruments and vocal mics into it, and if everyone can hear it, we should be able to practice. Now, it will sound like crap (only 3kHz audio bandwidth), but if I did it right at least YOU would sound great.

Enter the Phone Jam. At least that's what I'm calling it. I'm imagining a box where you plug a mic, your instrument, and a set of headphones into it, then connect it to a household phone jack. You make a call using your phone, get connected, then start using the Phone Jam box to play music together. You hear yourself well, and the other people well-enough.
I'm at the prototyping stage and have some initial schematics. More to come.