Anybody tried the chatroom?

[Trapdoor2]

I'm in the chatroom, if anyone else wants to try it out.

[Trapdoor2]

Hey, that worked pretty well. Had a nice chat with "Deuceswilde"...couldn't figure out how to make the microphone work. Anyone know how to get that going?

[Jody Stecher]

assuming the Forum is the chatroom (I can't find anything called chatroom), are you saying we can HEAR each other? WHOA. That means we could play music. And possibly record. We could play a classic banjo piece with players on 3 continents in Real Time. YOW!

[Jody Stecher]

Nope, forum is where discussion topics are posted. Where is chatroom?

[Trapdoor2]

There's a little box down in the right hand bottom corner of the screen that says "chat". Click on it or the little red button next to the "person" icon.

I can't figure out the voice part. Most of these chatrooms with voice are "one-at-a-time", no multiplexing so no duets or trios. :-(

[Jody Stecher]

oh, I thought that was a shortcut to order Indian finger food. My monitor shows a *Green* button. Now what would that mean? As you can tell, I'm unfamiliar with the ins and outs of internet groups. I've had a look from time to time here and there but found the rudeness unattractive to say the least. Nothing like that here, just encouragement and good cheer.
So: no banjos in both Birminghams at once? No Australian/French real time duets. Oh well.
thanks,
js

[Trapdoor2]

Jody, the difference between a forum (such as this one) and a chat room is that in a chatroom, you interact with other people in real time...as opposed to posting a note here and hoping someone will comment on it eventually. It is a bit more personal (even though it may be just text based). Most chatrooms nowadays have voice chat capability and often video as well. The "Banjolounge" chatroom has both and we often have tutorial sessions with great players online (Bill Evans did one last year in the Banjolounge) doing video and audio. Students text in their questions and the teacher responds via voice/video, etc.

The major problem with these things is that they are almost always "one way". You treat the microphone like it is a radio mic, that is, you key it "on" and speak/play your piece and then key it "off" so that someone else may speak/play their piece. Sites like Skype allow multiplexing (two or more voices at once, like a telephone) and even video but distance delays make playing duets impossible. Sort of like talking on the phone to someone at very long distance, there is a bit of a delay and you find yourself talking over the other person, etc.

I'm still trying to figure out the chatroom controls. It seems to have voice capability (it says it recognizes my microphone and lets me test it) but there is apparently no way to key the mic.

[Trapdoor2]

Rob,

I was "experimenting" with adding a photo to my post...and it worked!

That is a pair of close-ups of the neck on my Flesher...the one I'm usually playing in my videos. Lovely thing, ain't it?

[Trapdoor2]

Yeah, I need to upload several. I'll get there eventually. ;-)

[marc dalmasso]

marc said " posting a note here and hoping someone will comment on it "
marc french model say : tchat Live in the mike and hoping someone will understand me ................

P S ; the photos / banjo is wonderful

[Trapdoor2]

Marc, that would probably be a very frustrating session. The English language is full of French words...but as an American, I can tell you that most of us don't know which ones they are. We would pronounce them horribly...even so.

Thankfully the banjo speaks all languages. It would be great to hear any of us live.

[Jody Stecher]

What do you call someone who speaks two languages?

Bilingual

What do you call someone who speaks three languages

Trilingual

What do you call someone who speaks one language?

An American

[marc dalmasso]

Yes , Carl already told this joke .
In fact , i believe that more of 2/3 of the English vocabulary is French
for the banjos , you have " de luxe "
" boudoir " ( a CE model beetween the spécial and the concert Grand )
" grand "

and more ; "garage , village , mariage , rail " ..........