Here a brief summary of my learnings, current setup and my pernsal conclusion.
I'm a keyboarder in a rock band located in Munich, Germany. All Band mates are in the same area.
We use a prvivate Jamulus server for band rehearsals. (5 band mates + Click-Track = 6 Jamulus clients connected.)
Server:
With a lot of tests and installations I'm finally ended up with a root server at IONOS (located in Frankfurt) running WIndows Server 2019 Datacenter Edtion and the latest Jamulus Release (currently Version 3.5.8)
Ping time: 12-15 ms, overall delay: 24-28 ms. Recording is activated. Costs: 58 € / Month.
(If someone has a tip how this can be improved - your welcome to tell me more.)
Client:
My setup is the most complicated one therefor I skipped the desprition of my bandmates.
I use a Lenovo P53 (2019) with i7 CPU and 16 GB RAM running Windows 10, Sound Module is MOTU M4. (Mic is connected to In1)
Reaper is in place to do all the Audio Routing needed.
Cantabile is a VST-Host for all my Keyboard Plug-Ins (all Sounds on PC) and routes the Output to dedicated ReaRoute channels to Reaper.
Cantabile also homes the Click-Tracks (audio files or via Metronome) and routes the output to other dedicated ReaRoute channels to Reaper.
Mic (from Sound Module) and Cantabile Keys output in Reaper is grouped and routed to ReaRoute a stereo mix to first Jamulus instance "Keys".
The Click-Track from Cantabile output in Reaper is routed to ReaRoute a 2nd stereo mix to 2nd Jamulus instance "Click".
The 1st Jamulus instance output is routed to ReaRoute - back to Reaper. This stereo pair is routed from Reaper to the Main output (my Headphones).
This setup assures that I only hear the the output of Jamulus "Keys" with the mix I ajusted there.
The output of Jamulus "Click" ends nowhere (there is no need for it).
During rehearsal a Jitsi Meeting is running in a Browser (Mic's are muted and output is routed to Laptop speakers (muted as well)) and gives us the opportunity to see us live via Cams. Jitsi Meeting is recorded with OBS Studio with Audio from Reaper to Main out.
Theoraticly this rehearsal could by live streamed now - but we don't do that for several reasons.
After rehearsal I download the recorded session from the Jamulus server and do a track-by-track export from Reaper. Then final audio mixing takes place in Cubase (my primary DAW since I can think). Shotcut is used to bring a AV-sync'd rehearsal to our NAS for all band mates.
Conclusion:
It took me roughly one month to come to this stage and a lot of sleepless nights to come to this setup.
Jamulus is a great peace of software and a big thanks to all contributers and of course to the "program father".
We still face some jitter and drop-outs. I found out that the server recording is not sample accurate (drop-outs?) and troubleshooting with the audio stream to/from server is somehow on try and error basis.
I wish Jamulus would nativly support own mixer with more then 2 channels, a metronome track and integrate support for live-video. That would extremly reduce the complexity of setups like mine.
Attached you find a high level diagram of my routing. Maybe it helps others with compareable requirements.
What do others think? Am I on the right path? Are there easier/better ways? Let me know what you think about my solution to a modern virtual rehearsal via Internet. :-)
What makes my setup realy easy is the "loopback" capability of my rme audio interface. with this, i can easily route my signals like
MICs -> DAW -> Jamulus -> DAW -> Headphones
without the need of additional software. This allows me to add click, backingtracks, etc. only to my personal headphone mix, or on request to the rest of the band.
Hi,
communication is always key - regardless online or offline. ;-) Therefor I fully agree with you in this case!
My audio interface provides a loopback as well. The problem with that is, that the Jamulus output is also part of the loopback signal and that produced an echo. (Well I didn't return to the DAW from Jamulus...)
But my band mates have also gotten used to the "luxury" of having their own channel for the click track, which everyone can level themselves. That is not possible with your setup.
Regarding Azure: I tried your deployment, but our ping times were much higher (~20-30 ms) and the audio quality (drops and clicks) much worse than with the current IONOS server. Unfortunately more expensive but in this case it is worth it. Sadly I had to give up on your azure solution. :-( Where are you located tigabeatz?
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Does anybody know what's the roadmap from a development side?
Would love to see more channels on the client side (at least to send) to the server and the ability to integrate video. Are there any plans?
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Here a brief summary of my learnings, current setup and my pernsal conclusion.
I'm a keyboarder in a rock band located in Munich, Germany. All Band mates are in the same area.
We use a prvivate Jamulus server for band rehearsals. (5 band mates + Click-Track = 6 Jamulus clients connected.)
Server:
With a lot of tests and installations I'm finally ended up with a root server at IONOS (located in Frankfurt) running WIndows Server 2019 Datacenter Edtion and the latest Jamulus Release (currently Version 3.5.8)
Ping time: 12-15 ms, overall delay: 24-28 ms. Recording is activated. Costs: 58 € / Month.
(If someone has a tip how this can be improved - your welcome to tell me more.)
Client:
My setup is the most complicated one therefor I skipped the desprition of my bandmates.
I use a Lenovo P53 (2019) with i7 CPU and 16 GB RAM running Windows 10, Sound Module is MOTU M4. (Mic is connected to In1)
Reaper is in place to do all the Audio Routing needed.
Cantabile is a VST-Host for all my Keyboard Plug-Ins (all Sounds on PC) and routes the Output to dedicated ReaRoute channels to Reaper.
Cantabile also homes the Click-Tracks (audio files or via Metronome) and routes the output to other dedicated ReaRoute channels to Reaper.
Mic (from Sound Module) and Cantabile Keys output in Reaper is grouped and routed to ReaRoute a stereo mix to first Jamulus instance "Keys".
The Click-Track from Cantabile output in Reaper is routed to ReaRoute a 2nd stereo mix to 2nd Jamulus instance "Click".
The 1st Jamulus instance output is routed to ReaRoute - back to Reaper. This stereo pair is routed from Reaper to the Main output (my Headphones).
This setup assures that I only hear the the output of Jamulus "Keys" with the mix I ajusted there.
The output of Jamulus "Click" ends nowhere (there is no need for it).
During rehearsal a Jitsi Meeting is running in a Browser (Mic's are muted and output is routed to Laptop speakers (muted as well)) and gives us the opportunity to see us live via Cams. Jitsi Meeting is recorded with OBS Studio with Audio from Reaper to Main out.
Theoraticly this rehearsal could by live streamed now - but we don't do that for several reasons.
After rehearsal I download the recorded session from the Jamulus server and do a track-by-track export from Reaper. Then final audio mixing takes place in Cubase (my primary DAW since I can think). Shotcut is used to bring a AV-sync'd rehearsal to our NAS for all band mates.
Conclusion:
It took me roughly one month to come to this stage and a lot of sleepless nights to come to this setup.
Jamulus is a great peace of software and a big thanks to all contributers and of course to the "program father".
We still face some jitter and drop-outs. I found out that the server recording is not sample accurate (drop-outs?) and troubleshooting with the audio stream to/from server is somehow on try and error basis.
I wish Jamulus would nativly support own mixer with more then 2 channels, a metronome track and integrate support for live-video. That would extremly reduce the complexity of setups like mine.
Attached you find a high level diagram of my routing. Maybe it helps others with compareable requirements.
What do others think? Am I on the right path? Are there easier/better ways? Let me know what you think about my solution to a modern virtual rehearsal via Internet. :-)
Last edit: JoschiC 2020-07-06
Hi,
some notes for band rehearsals https://sourceforge.net/p/llcon/discussion/rehearsalroom/thread/2cde249da3/#060b . i find working with a band online realy prone to communication errors so taking time learning to communicate "right" in your band context online seems equally important to get your setup right. ;-)
What makes my setup realy easy is the "loopback" capability of my rme audio interface. with this, i can easily route my signals like
MICs -> DAW -> Jamulus -> DAW -> Headphones
without the need of additional software. This allows me to add click, backingtracks, etc. only to my personal headphone mix, or on request to the rest of the band.
server is on azure (A1_v2, https://tigabeatz.gitlab.io/jamulus_server_on_azure/), ping times about 9-11 ms, for ~25€/Month (if run fulltime) + Storage for the recordings.
Last edit: tigabeatz 2020-07-06
Hi,
communication is always key - regardless online or offline. ;-) Therefor I fully agree with you in this case!
My audio interface provides a loopback as well. The problem with that is, that the Jamulus output is also part of the loopback signal and that produced an echo. (Well I didn't return to the DAW from Jamulus...)
But my band mates have also gotten used to the "luxury" of having their own channel for the click track, which everyone can level themselves. That is not possible with your setup.
Regarding Azure: I tried your deployment, but our ping times were much higher (~20-30 ms) and the audio quality (drops and clicks) much worse than with the current IONOS server. Unfortunately more expensive but in this case it is worth it. Sadly I had to give up on your azure solution. :-( Where are you located tigabeatz?
;-) Mainz, so thats pretty close to the server location, i guess
Does anybody know what's the roadmap from a development side?
Would love to see more channels on the client side (at least to send) to the server and the ability to integrate video. Are there any plans?