Analog Lab with JamKazam with Focusrite Interface

Software Instruments Analog Lab
#1

TIA for your help.

I’m jamming a few times a week with musicians spread around the USA west coast using JamKazam. Until recently, I used actual instruments only (a Nord and a Hydrasynth) routed through a mixer and into my PC via a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4. I connect a mic to the Scarlett, too, for chitchat and “singing.” That all works fine as long as JamKazam does.

Then I got a Keylab 61 mk2 and started discovering the world of Arturia virtual instruments. As a person who grew up with Wurlitzer, Rhodes, and other electric pianos, ARP, Moog, and the rest of the world of analog synths and string emulators, etc., I can’t believe the quality of sound and expression these tools make available. Naturally, I want to use them in my online jams. That’s where things get tricky.

JamKazam provides a UI one uses to select however many channels of one’s interface are needed into the software, control their gain, and send them off to the jam. Via controls in the Focusrite UI and JamKazam, I was able to use a loopback feature to route the output of Arturia virtual instruments to JamKazam, and my collaborators could hear them. Yay - sort of.

Using loopback also loops the other jammers’ audio back at them - it creates an echo loop. Not yay.

I’m hoping someone familiar with these pieces - particularly JamKazam and Focusrite - can provide pointers on signal routing.

Thanks again,
Ben

#2

Hi @benshemmy and welcome to The Sound Explorers Forum!

I’m not familliar with either JamKazam or your interface i’m afraid, but making a couple of assmumptions based on what you’ve posted, could you not create another stereo ‘virtual output’ and feed that to JK instead of your main outs, or vice versa? You could route the other jammer’s audio to that one then to keep it out of the return signal?

HTH!

Ps,
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#3

Thanks for diving in, MatJones. Here’s my foggy impression of what’s going on and what I want to do.

Because I’m trying to route from a virtual instrument (Analog Lab) to an application with a mixer (JamKazam), I think I need some kind of purely internal route between them.

Analog Lab offers DirectSound, ASIO, and various flavors of Windows Audio as audio drivers. When I use Analog Lab standalone - to play the keyboard and make sound in my studio, I use ASIO as the driver and then Focusrite USB ASIO as the Audio Device.

I wonder if I need a driver that JamKazam will see as an input - essentially an internal conduit from Analog Lab to JK - probably like going from Analog Lab directly to a DAW.

Make sense?

Ben

#4

This is what the loopback function on the Scarlett does. You’ll need to make sure that Analog Lab and JamKazam are using different output channels to avoid looping back the output from JamKazam as well.

I don’t actually have one of the newer Scarlett interfaces myself, but according to this guide, you can select the loopback source in Focusrite Control:

It defaults to Playback 1-2, which will be your default system output. You’ll want to change that to Playback 3-4. Then, in Analog Lab’s Audio MIDI Settings, change the output channels to 3 + 4. Hopefully, that will do the trick.

I’m not familiar with JamKazam, but it looks like it can also host plugin instruments directly, which might be a more straightforward option:

1 Like
#5

Thanks for diving in and digging up the details on the various pieces. I’ve got a new computer of the opposite variety on the way, and I’ll have to set it up with a new version of JamKazam, so everything will probably be different.

I’ll report results back here in case they help someone else or in case I need further hand-holding.

Ben