Google’s Jam with Chrome Lets You and Three Friends Rock Out Remotely

We just had our first rehearsal with our new band. I played drums from Boston, Matt played keyboard from Ann Arbor and Jared played guitar from Cincinnati. We didn't pick a band name, but The Kiss n' Kill Keyboard Kidz is probably perfect.

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We just had our first rehearsal with our new band. I played drums from Boston, Matt played keyboard from Ann Arbor and Jared played guitar from Cincinnati. We never decided on a band name, but I think The Kiss n’ Kill Keyboard Kidz is probably perfect.

We used Jam with Chrome, a Google-developed diversion meant to help you procrastinate for a good chunk of the morning or demonstrate how far web technology has come. Google says Jam with Chrome “makes use of several web technologies and Google products,” but that part is housed behind a little “Technology” link at the bottom of the page.

You load up the site, pick your instrument and then either set it to Pro mode, which lets you strike various keys, guitar strings or drums with your keyboard, or opt for Easy mode, which lays out a basic, in-time progression for you. On the drums, for instance, Easy mode lets you pick between four basic beats and then use your mouse to hit the drums and cymbals to spice up the beat here and there. I may or may not have sounded like if Neil Peart and Buddy Rich were fused together.

There’s enough lag in Pro mode that truly jamming with multiple people each manually playing instruments is a no-go, but the idea’s there and should hopefully evolve over time. Matt said he wished he could hook his actual keyboard up via the MIDI interface to really play (maybe that feature will get added someday). I wish I hadn’t left my drumset in Seattle back in 2001 (it’s gone, man).

JAM with Chrome [Google]

[youtube=http://youtu.be/YkvKICWaRT4]