I'm not going to try to re-invent the wheel by generating yet another how-to page on Jamulus acquisition and set up. Instead I offer the curated links below. They are the best I have encountered to date, and will hopefully be more than adequate, if followed carefully, to get your own Jamulus client up and running. You will need a computer and a stable internet connection---preferably wired with an Ethernet cable. Wifi will likely disappoint. Buy the cable.
Simon Tomlinson's Idiot's Guide To Jamulus App |
Start here. This is about as straightforward as possible. While Simon strongly recommends the addition of an digital interface/external sound card to your setup, it's not absolutely necessary if you have good internet and the players are nearby. The Jamulus World Jam Facebook Group's Files page is a treasure trove of detailed advice, and the group itself is broadly welcoming and helpful to would be players. |
| "Getting Started" in the official Jamulus Wiki | A Deeper Dive.From the Wiki maintained by the actual developers of Jamulus. This is more detailed and discursive, but is also fairly easy to follow. It is more likely to be updated to reflect changes in the software, though the project is at a very stable point in its development. |
| Jamulus OS | A quick, comprehensive solution, but for the more technically sophisticated, this project provides an ISO image file of a complete Ubuntu Studio linux operating system with Jamulus and Jack Audio (the linux pro sound interface) already installed. You use this file to create a bootable USB thumb drive which you can then plug into one of your compute'sr USB ports and boot from the USB drive rather than your hard drive as you normally would. You will come up in Ubuntu Studio Linux. You can then either just start Jamulus and try connecting to a public server, or run a diagnostic program that will probe your computer hardware, connect to a Jamulus server, and advise you on what the quality of your experience on your hardware will be like. When you turn off the system, unplug the thumb drive, and re-boot you are back in your normal desktop. |
Let's get this out of the way, it's usually the first question after "does it really work?"
| Computer | Laptop, Desktop, Tower. Doesn't need to be super powerful, will an need up-to-date operating system. |
| Broadband Internet | Here in the Bay Area, you are probably on either Comcast or AT&T already. Most of the available plans will met the needs of Jamulus. As low a $20/mo for new users, rising to $40-up after the 1st year. |
| Jamulus | Free Open Source Software (FOSS) When you end up using it, please consider a donation to the software creators and maintainers. |
| Ethernet Cable | $10-20 |
| Headphones | $20 up. Vital to prevent feedback. |
| Microphone | $30 up. Not absolutely necessary, but almost anything will be an incredible boost from the built-in microphone in your computer. |
| Digital Audio Interface | $60 up. Also not absolutely necessary, but will make a huge (10-20ms) difference in play-ability over your computer's built-in sound. Usually a USB device, but there are other connections, depending on your computer's capabilities. |
| Total Outlay | Let's assume you already have a computer and decent broadband access. Minimal cost of cable, headphones: $30 Add Mic: $60 Add DAI: $120 |