Ninjam external

EEight

Hi, I've been playing with ninjam for a few weeks, it's very useful for the current situation (see the date and do a google search if you are from a distant future). I would like to make an external for it, so asking if others pders are interested in collaborating?

Here's some information to kick off this idea.

First of all I have a server up and running for testing the solution. Ask me in PM for the password:
https://ninjam.baldapproved.com

The best client for now is in Reaper or you can use a VST called Jamtaba. Maybe there's a way to simply use the VST (Jamtaba - https://jamtaba-music-web-site.appspot.com/) in PD and then we don't need this external?!

A client close to what we want is the curseclient. I think it's a good starting point for us:
https://github.com/justinfrankel/ninjam/tree/master/ninjam/cursesclient

The Makefile is simple:

CC=gcc
CXX=g++
CFLAGS = -O2

OBJS = cursesclient.o

ifdef MAC
  CFLAGS += -D_MAC 
  LFLAGS = -framework coreaudio -lncurses.5 -lm
  OBJS += ../audiostream_mac.o
  COMPILE_VORBIS = 1
else
  LFLAGS = -lncurses -lm -lasound -ljack
  OBJS += ../audiostream_alsa.o ../audiostream_jack.o
endif

OBJS += ../../WDL/jnetlib/asyncdns.o
OBJS += ../../WDL/jnetlib/connection.o
OBJS += ../../WDL/jnetlib/listen.o
OBJS += ../../WDL/jnetlib/util.o
OBJS += ../../WDL/rng.o
OBJS += ../../WDL/sha.o
OBJS += ../mpb.o
OBJS += ../netmsg.o
OBJS += ../njclient.o
OBJS += ../njmisc.o

CXXFLAGS = $(CFLAGS)

default: cninjam

cninjam: $(OBJS)
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -o cninjam $(OBJS) -lpthread $(LFLAGS) 

clean:
    -rm $(OBJS) cninjam

Ninjam is https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/ (the guy behind Winamp, Reaper). Very smart programmer. It's using WDL (https://www.cockos.com/wdl/) [re]usable C++, modestly].

I think the first step would be to compile njclient, being able to connect to a server (auth or anonymous). If anyone is willing to work on that or if someone have social accounts that can post this call for collaboration please do so. If successful we can then open a dedicated server for puredata.

Cheers!

Jona

@EEight that sounds interesting. At the moment I do not have the time for making an external (also, I never did that before), but I can load the Jam Taba 2 VST with the vstplugin~ external. I can try to test it with your server. Whats the best way for testing (or is it just synced by bpm?)? I already can listen and transmit to the Ninjam rooms from Pure Data

EEight

@Jona Wicked!!! So yes we need to be able to sync PD (both bpm information and start). Jamtaba support this (there is an option Sync to host (Live, FL Studio etc)) but is it doable in PD?

I guess if you can listen you can also transmit! What platform? I am interested in using it on linux.

Jona

@EEight Not sure if syncing is doable with PD, because I do not find the sync function in the Jamtaba VST... Only tested with Windows 10, but at least the vstplugin~ does work with linux. https://github.com/Spacechild1/vstplugin

Jona

When I enter a room I see the metronome and a "sync with vst" button. Perhaps the Jam Taba VST thinks PD is another VST? But when I press "sync with vst" PD crashes (and what should it sync to?). Maybe an external would be the only way to sync Pure Data and Ninjam?

EEight

@Jona Yes it works on linux too, loading the VST (both listening and trasmitting). Very nice, but sadly the sync feature is not working:

Change the BPM to 125 and try sync again meaning the host (PD) should implement a BPM I guess. Not sure how the VST is checking that. Maybe spacechild1 the author of the plugins knows.

EEight

So yes, I quickly checked the source of Jamtaba:

int JamTabaVSTPlugin::getHostBpm() const
{
    if (timeInfo)
        return std::round(timeInfo->tempo);
    return 0;
}

So the host need to provide this information. I think the guys from Max have the same issue: https://cycling74.com/forums/vst-prayer.

We could hack something using the dac~ of the metronome of Jamtaba, trying to detect the BPM (easy) but the downbeat or 1 (beginning of bar), might be tricky. Will see if I can hack something, I am just curious how precise I can get.

Jona

Perhaps I found a solution, it seems to sync now (DSP needs to be enabled). It is from the transport subpatch from the vstplugin~ helpfile:

ninjamPD.pd

EEight

Nice! So bad news for me, there's a bug in the VST (on linux)... I cannot connect to my server using an username / password or even anonymously. The username is not sent to the server or another kind of bug:

234.249.13: disconnected (username:'', code=-3)

But I was able to join an anonymous server and it is working! I will investigate this more (the bug on linux), I think it's a good alternative to writing an external (even if I wanted to learn more about ninjam source code and pd external).

Cheers

Jona

Of course a Ninjam external would be nice(er)... I can try to connect to your server to see if it is a Linux specific problem.

ricky

Solid resource. Thanks, mate!

Jona

We tested a bit, now it is possible to connect and sync to the private server. But it works (for me) only for a very short time, before the connection is lost. I also have some problems with the chat, it updates only if I change something in the metro settings. I also tested the VST with Ableton Live with the same result. Not stable enough for making music like it is. So whether it is a problem with the VST or with the server? But I am quite optimistic that those problems are solvable...
@EEight Did you had a stable connection meanwhile? Actually if I am the only one connected to the server it seems quite stable, but thats not the sense of it.

Jona

installing the older jamtaba version 2.1.10 seems to solve the issues for me (chat is working and dropouts are gone): https://github.com/elieserdejesus/JamTaba/issues/1279
and here is an updated version of the sync patch (the jamtaba vst needs to be in the same folder): ninjamPD3.pd

EEight

I can confirm this too, it works well on linux too. The sync is just perfect:

I think we can simply use the VST, it would be a pain to code the external + the pd gui to manage the connected users (mute, solo, volume, show name etc).

The next logical step is to open a server dedicated to pders. Would like to also stream live (icecast2 or such) when people are connected (maybe embedded the audio player in a dedicated page in the forum).