distance

About Latency and connections

Optimizing JackTrip Virtual Studio for you and your group

Light moves a lot faster than sound. That's the magic of how JackTrip works- we move your sounds at the speed of light. Then, we mix the sounds together in real time, and send them back to everyone who's connected.

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Latency

When playing together, all participants should all select the same Studio location that is closest to all of you. This helps minimize network latency. Latency is the amount of time a data signal travels from your location to the hub server and back and is typically measured in milliseconds. (ms).

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Cloud Server

JackTrip uses a cloud-based hub server model which manages the magic - we call it the Studio. By using a cloud based approach, the Studio can scale to support hundreds of musicians in a single session, as well as allow you to control the audio mix, apply effects, or seamlessly broadcast to your audience.

Each Studio has a location in the real world, which determines how far the audio will have to travel to get to the other people playing.

Network latency is dependent on your internet connection

JackTrip works by sending full-quality, lossless audio to the other people you're playing with. As you might expect, it works best by having the best internet connection available in your area. Optimal performance is best achieved when the latency is less than 20 ms.

‍If possible, use fiber Internet for lowest latency

We all need a bit more fiber in our diet. Your internet is no exception! You'll get the best latency, range, and stability out of Fiber internet. Fiber optics send internet data at the speed of light, and are super reliable when it comes to sending audio. ‍If all the musicians have a fiber connection, you should be able to connect with others up to 500 miles away (or more).

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Cable or DSL connectivity

However, not all of us are lucky enough to have Fiber internet available in our area! Never fear, people have had great success with using JackTrip on a DSL or Cable internet connection. You can expect a little more latency and a little more audio static when data gets lost along the way. With Cable connections or DSL, you may possibly be limited to a couple of hundred miles to be within the 20 ms delay budget so we recommend a smaller range. But results often vary by internet provider so you can try it out and play together to see your actual results.

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Supported Locations

Studios can be created all over the world! Check out the full list of supported locations.

We're adding to this list all the time as new cloud server locations become available. For fun, check out our shout out on the Amazon AWS "Customers" page.

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