Unleash Your Inner Musician from Anywhere with Aloha - The Ultimate Tool for Remote Rehearsals!

COVID-19 has changed everything, including the music industry. With the global pandemic, it has become quite challenging for musicians to connect and collaborate with each other. Many communities have implemented social distancing measures that have forced individuals to stay indoors and away from groups. This has made it almost impossible for musicians to enjoy a fruitful rehearsal, a process that optimizes their potential before finally taking their music to the world.

The good news is, technology is here to save the day with Aloha. Aloha is a web-based app designed to facilitate remote rehearsals between musicians. It allows people to connect virtually from anywhere in the world, regardless of their device or platform.

The Ultimate Remote Tool

Aloha is the ultimate remote tool for music rehearsals because it allows musicians to connect over video and audio calls. All that is needed is internet access and an account on Aloha.

Once users logged in, they can create, join or host a rehearsal remotely, or jump on board with an open session with other rehearsals. Aloha makes remote music collaborations feel seamless as if musicians were in the same room together.

With Aloha, musicians benefit from the following features to enhance their remote rehearsal experience:

• Screen-Sharing - Musicians can share screens with other members to improvise during rehearsals. This feature is perfect when the musician requires valuable feedback from others, and it is impossible to be there in person.
• Control Bandwidth - Aloha provides users with adjustable bandwidth settings to help optimize performance while avoiding unnecessary lag during remote rehearsals.
• Real-Time Collaboration - Aloha offers real-time synchronization of audio and video signals between musicians. It allows musicians to hear each other or record together as if they were just in the same room.
• Mute and Unmute Controls - Aloha allows users to mute and unmute themselves, other members of the band, or a specific instrument. This gives musicians complete control over rehearsals, especially in giving or receiving feedback.
• Record and Save - Aloha allows Users to record rehearsals, save, and share them later for others to review, or just for safe-keeping.

How Aloha Works

Aloha works on any device with an internet connection, including desktops, laptops, tablets, or mobile phones. It is compatible with all major operating systems, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, making it easy to set up remote rehearsals irrespective of the device used.

To get started with Aloha, simply sign up for an account and start setting up remote rehearsals with other musicians. The app uses advanced audio and video technology to ensure that you can play music with others in real-time and have enjoyable rehearsals. Once done, Users can record the rehearsal and save the recording on their device for later use.

The Benefits of Aloha

Aloha has made it possible for musicians to rehearse remotely without the traditional limitations imposed by distance or COVID-19. Remote rehearsals allow musicians to take advantage of technology to connect and collaborate on their music, know each other better, and improve their creativity level.

Musicians who use Aloha enjoy several benefits, including the following:

• Flexible Timing and Accessibility: With Aloha, musicians can quickly set up remote rehearsals according to their schedules and convenience, irrespective of their geographic location.
• No Barriers: Aloha removes all barriers preventing musicians from collaborating. Musicians no longer have to travel long distances or converge in one physical location to rehearse together.
• Enhanced Creative Freedom: Aloha allows musicians to express their creativity better because they can collaborate effectively at any time and from anywhere in the world, regardless of the genre or style of music they are working on.
• Better Quality of Sound and Vision: Aloha offers the quality of sound and vision required for a perfect remote practice. The app uses sophisticated technology to transfer audio and video signals effectively without any loss of quality, latency, or interruption.

Final Thoughts

Aloha is a perfect solution for musicians looking for a convenient and flexible way to collaborate remotely on their music. With advanced audio and video technology, Aloha offers superior quality that makes it feel as if the musicians were in the same room.

Whether you are a professional musician or casually interested in creating music in your downtime, Aloha is the tool you need to unleash your inner musician from anywhere. Sign up today, and start your first remote rehearsals with other musicians across the world!

For the past year, musicians have had to shift their in-person rehearsals to remote sessions, but latency issues with Zoom are always a problem when making music in real-time. Elk Audio is trying to change that with its ultra-low latency Aloha system. 

Key Takeaways

• A new tech by Elk Audio allows a low latency connection to help musicians rehearse together in real-time. The San Francisco Opera has used Elk Audio’s Aloha system to prepare for their first live performance in over a year. Elk Audio set Aloha’s tech commercial release for this fall.

While still only in beta testing, Elk Audio’s Aloha makes it possible for all types of musicians to practice playing music together in entirely different cities, effectively eliminating the lag time that interrupts the creative flow. 

“Our final goal is to be able to connect every musician out there,” Michele Benincaso, the founder and director of Elk Audio, told Lifewire over a video chat. 

Low Latency Music-Making 

Elk Audio began working on the Aloha technology more than five years ago. Still, the company didn’t see the immediate need for something like this until last March. 

When everyone—including musicians—transferred their lives to Zoom, it became clear the platform wasn’t the best place to practice music in real-time. 

“There’s only so much you can do with Zoom,” Bjorn Ehlers, the chief marketing officer at Elk, told Lifewire over video. 

“Zoom is great for talking, but you can’t use it for singing or playing music when you want to make sounds at the same time.”

Enter Aloha, which lowers the latency rates from 500 milliseconds (your average Zoom call) down to 10 or 20 milliseconds. The Aloha tech works in three parts to get the latency down to the same time as if you were in a room with someone about nine feet apart. 

Playing music together live is what musicians really need to do to perfect their art.

“First, when you send the signal, it’s taking your order and converting it to code and preparing it for the network. The second part is the actual network, which is the internet,” Ehlers said. “And the third part is taking that code and converting back to audio on the receiving end.”

For the musicians who have so far used the tech, Ehlers said they’ve received feedback that it’s a very “familiar feeling” to playing with each other live. 

“I think a lot of musicians, when they try it out, think it’s going to feel very awkward and different from what they used to,” he said. 

“But when you start playing, you can get captivated by the music, and you forget that you’re not in the same room.”

Virtual Rehearsals Made Possible 

For the musicians and singers in the San Francisco Opera, Aloha has been a game-changer in their virtual rehearsals during the pandemic. The opera’s resident artists, known as Adler Fellows, have not performed in person since December 2019, so to gear up for their first performance since then, they’ve relied on Aloha. 

“What Aloha has enabled us to do is to do the kinds of coaching that you would have leading up to live performances,” Matthew Shilvock, the San Francisco Opera General Director, told Lifewire in a video call. 

“We have our coaches and our voice teachers working with the singers [through Aloha] so that once we hit that first day of in-person rehearsal, they are ready to go.”

The San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows will be performing in a drive-in series starting April 29. Shilvock said without the Aloha tech, he doesn’t know if the opera’s classically-trained musicians would have been adequately prepared to perform. 

“I’ve just been blown away by just the very smallest things [using Aloha]—like a pianist hearing a singer breathe and being able to respond to it,” he said. 

“I think [Aloha] has a real ability to transform the way that people think about music-making. Certainly during the pandemic, but beyond it as well.”

‘Aloha’ to the Future 

In a post-pandemic world, Benincaso said he sees Aloha applications could possibly include gaming and virtual and artificial reality. Even sooner than that, he wants to expand Aloha tech to combine both audio and video elements for live-streaming capabilities. 

“So you can take this virtual rehearsing and make it into a virtual stage in a way to perform for audiences on social media or whatever platform of your choice,” he said. 

Aloha will be available for commercial release this fall, providing musicians that much-needed connection that has been lacking. 

“Playing music together live is what musicians really need to do to perfect their art,” Ehlers said. 

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