Basically, the title. After years of inactivty, I’ll be taking music (cello) lessons again, with my teacher of yesteryear, from whom I’ve moved half a country away.
She has suggested Zoom but is open to alternatives. I don’t particularly like Zoom, plus I have a feeling better quality can be had through a custom solution - but I’m at a bit of a loss as to what exactly would be a good fit for this project.
Maybe Jitsi? Does someone here have experience with it and could tell me if it’s possible to set something like a “target” audio quality?
For hardware, I basically have two options. Both are already in use, for different things, and have sufficient processing capabilities - albeit no GPU:
- host everything at home. Plus: lowest possible latency from me to the server. Not sure how much that is worth though.
- root server in the Hetzner cloud: much faster network speed. Again though, not sure how beneficial that is, the ultimate bottleneck will always be my upload speed (40Mbit)
OK, I realize that this post is a but of a random assortment of thoughts. I’d be really happy about suggestions and / or hearing about other’s experiences with similar use-cases!
You must log in or register to comment.
You’ll be hard pressed to match Zoom. Audio and video quality are very good. There’s even a mode for musicians, so it won’t try to filter the instrument out as ‘noise’.
It’s definitely the fallback option if DIY doesn’t pan out. The no-filtering can definitely also be enabled in the Jitsi config, so at least in that regards I’m not too worried.
Throughout the pandemic I’ve largely been able to avoid both Teams and Zoom, but Zoom did cause a number of problems on Linux, so I’m not too hyped to give it another try :/
Consider your teacher’s experience with technology here. They may not understand other setups as well as zoom. Plus if there is technical trouble, that may cut into your instruction time. I’m not a huge fan of big-company services like zoom, Skype, teams, or similar, but unless you and your contacts have the time and know-how to troubleshoot issues if they arise, you may want to stick with a known thing like zoom.
I run real-time full band rehearsals with jamulus.io for low latency audio, plus any video tool of your choice (with the audio muted). we use muted Jitsi Meet for the video feed, but it really doesn’t matter. it’s all about the Jamulus audio
THanks, that’s the second recommendation for Jamulus - I assume it’s really that noticeable of a difference? In terms of latency and quality?
in my opinion, yes.
Jitsi works, and they have open relays to test with, but as the thing here is very much analog and I’d assume she’d just need to see your position, how hands move etc, the audio quality isn’t the most important thing here. Sure, it helps, but personally I’d just use zoom/teams/hangouts/something readily available and invest in a decent microphone (and audio in general) + camera.
That way you don’t need to provide helpdesk on how to use your thing and waste time from actual lessons nor need to debug server issues while you’ve been scheduled to train with your teacher.
I’m not sure if this solves your problem, but it’s an opportunity to plug Jamulus . It’s FOSS, and one of the best solutions if your target is uncompromising sound quality/latency. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do video. I’ve jammed with a band on it and was very successful. Vide was on a phone or separate machine. When we performed, video was mixed by another user using OBS, and streamed on Zoom
THank you for the suggestion! It looks like a great option for playing together. I must say though, what would probably kill it for me/my teacher is the complexity of the setup. Separate video, and from the docs, it seems like a bit of an involved setup to get good results?
Besides, we will probably not be playing together at all 😅
It’s a bit involved to host the server but easier than most self-hosting services, in my opinion. Then there’s the audio setup which I think is super easy for digital audio folk but may be a challenge for folks who haven’t had to mess with digital audio much. The biggest thing people had problems with was turning off wifi and connecting via network cable. Reduced latency by leaps and bounds
Like I said, video was a separate device for my playing so it was kind of a non-issue. Mixing and production in OBS is way over my head.
I tried Jitsi, but was unable to match Zoom’s audio quality.
The difference between Jitsi and Zoom was noticeable, but less important than the difference between the mic built in to the webcam and good mics. I use an SM58 for voice and an SM137 pointed at the cello just below the bridge, through a UMC204HD.
Oh wow, someone with the exact same usecase!! :D
Thank you for the hardware recommendations. Tbh that is not something I have put any thought into yet.
Can I ask you, is the UMC204HD necessary only because you have to mics, or would you recommend something like it regardless?
I have been thinking of just using a pair of headphones with built-in mic for talking/hearing my teacher, but yeah, it seems like at least something additional for the cello would be beneficial. Do you have any experiences with pick-up mics for the cello? I saw that there are some comparatively well-priced options around
You could use multiple USB microphones and do the mixing in software. I prefer using an audio interface (e.g. UMC204HD) because it is simpler to set up and adjust levels, and because it lets you use any widely available microphone, or plug in an instrument (e.g.: electric guitar, electric piano). You can plug your headphones into the audio interface and adjust the relative level of your own sound and what is coming from the computer (e.g.: your teacher). sweetwater.com has the UMC204HD and the UMC404HD on sale right now.
I do not have any experience with pick-up mics.
