Hi everybody,

I'm brand new to this app. Very cool app and a lot of good players.

However, most people like and want to dive in playing so much, that they have failed to take the time to understand a fundamental about how Jammr works.

This is really important but a lot of good players have missed it and therefore end up missing the full satisfaction of being in sync properly.

Please, please, read the “sticky” in the “technical support” area,
“Sticky: Do I have to set BPM when there is a drum beat? by stefanha”

From this forum post, I learned that for any given jam, everyone needs to be playing at the set BPM in order for Jammr to sync everything up. It seems that the session BPM is running in the background as a sync clock for the session, even though you do not have to listen to it.

If you want to hear the BPM, highlight the “metronome” button.

If you have a drum beat, set the tempo on the drum machine and BPM in Jammr to the same number.

Anyone can vote for a tempo change in Jammr. If others in the jam also vote for the change, the tempo will be changed in Jammr and can then be matched to the drum beat tempo.

PLEASE read the “sticky” mentioned above. You'll be glad you did, and so will everyone else.
Music only works if all the players are in sync.

WS

Curious to know if playback of click source needs to be synchronized to Jammr's start time.

i.e. instead of using the built-in metronome for a click, I plan on starting a synth sequence that's in-line with the BPM/BPI requirements, say 90 BPM and 8 BPI for a 2-bar loop. Do I need to start/stop that in sync with Jammr or just having the same settings in place good enough?

captaincancel
Curious to know if playback of click source needs to be synchronized to Jammr's start time.i.e. instead of using the built-in metronome for a click, I plan on starting a synth sequence that's in-line with the BPM/BPI requirements, say 90 BPM and 8 BPI for a 2-bar loop. Do I need to start/stop that in sync with Jammr or just having the same settings in place good enough?

You don't have to stop and start in sync, but there IS the possibiity of “drift” over time since your box(es) and Jammr are using two different clocks. That being said, I've gone quite a long time with my box set to Jammr settings (and not connected via MIDI) without having experienced that issue.

julian_vickers

cool. I think I will send MIDI clock from Jammr though. I think I read it can do that.

I read that from the horse's mouth on the forums here - I just… haven't had a lot of luck. I'd be interested to hear your experience with it.
-J

Thank you so much for helping out julian!

My pleasure andhai. The way i figure it the current situation has a lot of musos at their wit's end between the inability to get out and jam/work and the forced isolation. I imagine many of them are looking for any and all ways to help get the jam-bug out of their system. Jammr is potentially a way to help, and I'd love to see more people find it and be able to use it.

Things like MIDI, USB audio, and the electronic side of “the business” in general are new to a lot of musos and it can get intimidating. If there's any way I can help out there I am certainly willing to try.

Thanks for offering such a great service in a time like this. You're doing more good than you probably know.

-J

julian_vickers

I've joined jams where someone is playing a drum machine, and after a while things start to sound really out of whack. Then I listen to the recordings in my email and they're definitely off.

Using the JAMMR metronome is pretty much required for everyone to hear everyone else in sync. When I'm looking for a session, I skip anyone who is still at 120bpm, and if people aren't following the click I will play a four to the floor drumbeat and try to get everyone onboard, or I'll find another jam.

eb_liveDrums

Yeah, I'm a little confused by the BPM/BPI metronome and what it means from an algorithm/technical perspective.

Is it used just as a guideline for the room? I've seen people say “you have to follow the click” which totally makes sense to me, but is that same BPM/BPI used at all in the latency compensation mechanics of Jammr or is it just to give some structure to the room?

You say that a drum machine went out of whack, but your four-to-floor did not. I mean, let's assume you're half-man/half-machine with impeccable timing: how is that better than a drum machine?

Now, if that drum machine was following the room's metronome – by using the MIDI out and “send tempo to external apps and devices” checked – then I could see how that drum machine would go out of whack. I had the MIDI clock driving my REV2 straight through via USB (I selected “REV2” as MIDI output device) and the clock was all over the place, ~+/-20 BPM and that would totally screw up a drum machine.

captaincancel
I had the MIDI clock driving my REV2 straight through via USB (I selected “REV2” as MIDI output device) and the clock was all over the place, ~+/-20 BPM and that would totally screw up a drum machine.

Wooooow… OK so that informs me a little more re: my last post about Jammr MIDI. I was suggesting that if the Jammr drift was a BPM or two, then slave the MIDI system to Jammr and let them drift together… but TWENTY? No, that won't be workable at all!