TL;DR: SoundJack is the future of music.

Technological advances have made many seemingly impossible musical feats possible, and even routine. We buy tickets to watch live concerts online. We Google to find song lyrics and chords. We learn music theory through apps. We create music together online (I use SoundTrap.) I’ve been doing Zoom and Skype voice lessons for years. All of this is especially helpful in a pandemic.

All this tech works, up to a point. But music goes faster than modern computer connections can handle. There’s usually a lag or delay if we try to play together, like we would onstage. The fancy word is latency. It means that no matter how talented the players are and how powerful their computers are, they haven’t been able to truly play together using a computer connection — there’s going to be lag and it’s going to sound like a bad echo.

UNTIL NOW!

I’ve found the Holy Grail of online musicmaking, and now I’m doing the impossible —playing in real time with musicians across the USA. I’m using a free program called SoundJack. SoundJack is an application I use in my computer to build a fast connection to another person’s computer. This reduces the latency and makes real-time music possible, and even routine.

There are several different P2P (Peer to Peer) programs that do what SoundJack does, and I’ve explored many of them. SoundJack is the most reliable program out there. And it’s been around for . . . DECADES. No one really needed it until now. Better late than never!

It’s been thrilling to get to jam with my pro musician friends in real time, even though they’re hundreds of miles away! I won’t dare get on a plane to jam with them but I can sit at my piano and play to my heart’s content.

Here’s me jamming with blues/rock singers Sarah Potenza of “The Voice.”

Here’s me jamming some musical theater with soprano Anne Slovin.

Here’s me singing some Andrews Sisters trio music! We are in North Carolina, Texas, and Rhode Island. But it sounds like we’re in the same room together!

SoundJack and other low-latency programs will transform music forever. You won’t have to fly to New York for an audition; you can stay where you are , send your sheet music by email, and the NY pianist will play live for you. Jam with your band in the comfort of your own comfortable garages! You can have a cabaret night anytime you want; just hire the piano player and sing for your friends in your own living room. Rehearse your next musical online and only set foot in the theater for tech week.

The hardest thing about SoundJack is going through the setup steps. It’s like trying to put together a piece of furniture from IKEA — it might go quickly, or you might have to slow down and read the instructions many times, buy a special hammer, and re-do one of the legs you screwed in wrong. Either way, it’s worth the investment, and you’ll still end up with something that’s useful.

SoundJack and other low-latency programs will revolutionize musicmaking in the next few years. Be on the cutting edge! Try out SoundJack and other low latency options with me, and together we’ll not only get you set up, we’ll figure out how you can make it work to your professional advantage. Book here.

Want to learn more? Check out Dr. Ian Howell’s white paper.