Collaborating On Music Live Over The Internet?

April 11, 2008 8:10 AM

I want to collaborate in real time (or not far off) on some music with someone who lives far away from me.

I am working on a project with someone in another country. We've traded files back and forth a bit. However, that's proven to be somewhat limiting for a couple reasons. If we can find a way, it would be better to set things up so that he can hear (and possibly even see) what it is I'm doing in something approaching real time.

I know I can route audio from whatever program I'm using in to Skype, but I think the sound quality when doing that would not be worth it. I also have a copy of Nicecast, and can set up a stream that the other person can listen to while we work. I've streamed DJ sets to small groups of friends before, but I kept the stream there relatively low-quality. So, I'm not sure what kind of sound quality I can get from a Shoutcast stream before lag becomes an issue on either end.

Does anyone have any suggestions for doing this sort of thing?

As far as seeing what I'm doing goes: Does anyone know of a good cross-platform way to show the other person what's on my screen? I'm on a Mac, which I know has built-in VNC stuff, but I've never tried to make that work over the Internet, just on my home wifi. Tips on doing that? Recommendations for PC VNC clients?

posted by sparkletone to computers & internet (5 comments total)

I use TeamViewer all the time - it is free for personal use. It is by far the easiest way to share screens and transfer documents and is compatible with Mac and PC. The newest version has VPN, so this might assist you with your sound options. In conjunction with TeamViewer, some kind of folder sharing service provides a very robust solution.

I use dropbox (since I am in the beta test), but Microsoft has a similar service called folder share (which works on Macs, too) where two users can keep a synchronized folder between two computers.

Hope this helps!
posted by yoyoceramic at 9:10 AM on April 11

Ninjam. It's fun when you can get over the inherent time delay(the time delay is what makes it work!). The public servers are still in use. Best to set up your own Ninjam server for this application. There's a learning curve as far as getting your audio routed through it.

On MeFi previously
AskMe about internet jamming
posted by mnology at 10:33 AM on April 11

Also see NetJam, similar concept, different implementation.
posted by hattifattener at 12:47 PM on April 11

i've had some slight fun with jamglue, although i'm not sure how quickly the turnaround is. you might want to test out a file transfer just to see.
posted by garfy3 at 12:53 PM on April 11

File transfer isn't really an issue. We've both got gmail, web space on which we can host things, and there's always just sticking a zip file up on Sendspace or Zshare or something.

Some time delay isn't an issue either, just as long as it's not, "Tell me when you start hearing the filter sweeps..." And then we wait for 30 seconds.

Ninjam and TeamViewer both seem worth looking into. Thanks for the suggestions.
posted by sparkletone at 3:08 AM on April 12