Ninjam
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| NINJAM | |
|---|---|
| Developed by | Cockos Incorporated |
| OS | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux |
| Genre | Collaborative musical jamming |
| License | GNU General Public License |
| Website | www.ninjam.com |
NINJAM is a collaborative musical jamming software system which has made the concept of "virtual-time" jamming (as opposed to "real-time") well-known, although it isn't the first such system to do this. Groups using NINJAM connect to a common server, and as the jam goes on each user plays a measure. At the end of each measure, whatever each user has played is played to every other user's client, resulting in what some have described as "a mildly strange but engaging experience". NINJAM also boasts a small free web service for musicians to locate other users interested in a common genre or find someone who specializes at a particular instrument to join them in a jam session.
NINJAM is the brainchild of Brennan Underwood and Justin Frankel, with notable work by Tom Pepper, all of Nullsoft, Gnutella and Winamp fame.
[edit] How does NINJAM work?
NINJAM uses Ogg Vorbis audio compression to compress audio, then streams it to a NINJAM server, which can then stream it to the other people in your jam. This architecture requires a server with adequate bandwidth, but has no firewall or NAT issues. Ogg Vorbis is utilized for its great low bitrate characteristics and performance. Each user receives a copy of other users audio streams, allowing for each user to adjust the mix to their liking, as well as remix later. This uses more bandwidth than having a server encode a single stream, but has numerous benefits (including lower server CPU use and the client having the full multichannel data for later use).
[edit] Some Features
NINJAM allows players to use a wide range of digital effects using the Jesusonic software that is built in the client. Musicians can control what they hear or transmit using the provided interface. Each musician can add multiple channels, to add synth effects or other instruments. Anyone can set up a server to play in. This requires a considerable amount of bandwidth. The audio streams are encoded with Ogg Vorbis. All the audio played through the software can be recorded on the local hard drive for post play mixing.
