Online Rehearsals Service - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
About this service
This service is available free to all University staff and students. However, due to constrained resources support will be on a best efforts basis by the Music faculty.
The service has been set up as ‘private’, restricted to University IP addresses only. This is because if it was opened up to all IP addresses it would create an unsustainable burden on the server, the support staff, pose extra security risks, but also mean that unwanted participants could join rehearsals.
If a non-University member (e.g. part of a University-led orchestra for example) wishes to be part of a rehearsals they will need access to the University network by either: a) coming on site to a college or department space (with suitable agreement); b) being located in a place off-site where there is access via VPN (e.g. a shared household with a University member participating in the rehearsal).
Yes but you will need to use the University’s VPN service http://help.it.ox.ac.uk/network/vpn/index. This may create a latency issue which will affect performance.
Yes. The further you are away from Oxford city centre the worse latency may become. We cannot guarantee that performance will be good enough for people outside of Oxford (but you are willing to try!).
It will be in place for the duration of the academic year 20/21 at which point the future of the service will be reviewed. It will be supported by the IT team at the Music Faculty but on a ‘best-efforts’ basis due to limited resources.
No. Jamulus is purely about audio and offers no video feed. If you believe you will require this it is best to use a video-conferencing tool in parallel (e.g. Teams or Zoom) for a video feed but with audio turned off. However, there is a risk with this that it will affect the latency and if you run the video-conferencing software on the same computer as the Jamulus client there may be a clash with both applications seeking to use the audio interfaces.
Booking FAQs
Booking slots will by the hour. To book go to http://link.music.ox.ac.uk/jamulusbooking.
You can find your connection details in the confirmation email that you recieved after booking.
Feedback
If you can't find the information you are looking for, or just want to let us know how you find using the service, then please use our feedback form. Alternatively you can email us at online-rehearsals@music.ox.ac.uk
Equipment & Software FAQs
See the published recommended equipment document.
We hope to have a small range of equipment for people to test out the services soon, but unfortunately during the pandemic we are unable to offer any loans at present.
This is our detailed guide: ORS User Guide
If it is available, please try your best to use one. But Wi-Fi will still work.
Yes, but it is not recommended due to quality and latency issues.
Support FAQs
In terms of setting up or using local facilities in your college or department then you should contact your local IT officer. In terms of the overall service there is an open channel on Teams for users to provide a community of help (available soon) but you can also email online-rehearsals@music.ox.ac.uk, but please note support from the Faculty is on a best efforts basis.
Mellowmax offer 1 free hour booking per day. link: melomax.live
You could try using one of the public Jamulus servers which are spread globally. These are accessible through the app by clicking on connect. Please be aware that these are public servers and anyone can join your session at any time.
Identify suitable rooms across their estate that can be used by individuals or groupings with: a) wired connections to the backbone (preferred); b) with good WiFI connections (fallback).
Source (either already available) or procure the interface package (Recommendation 1 https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-solo-studio) and extra microphones, headphones, and cables. You will need one bundle for every room you allow to be used. You may have facilities that could allow groupings of individuals to be in the same room and join an online rehearsal. Either you will need the basic package (and computer) for each participant in the room, or consider buying the multi-user interface (Recommendation 2 https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-18i20).
Decide whether you will rely on the user to bring their own laptop to use. If not then you will need to supply a basic machine with Windows 10 or Mac OS 11.x. You will need one machine for each audio interface.
Consider what support you will offer in terms of setting up the room (and computer as appropriate).
