After completing step 2 of the audio setup wizard to configure and optimize your audio interface settings, the next thing to do in this step 3 is to configure the audio input ports on your audio interface to create the audio tracks you'll be using in JamKazam sessions. You should now be viewing the step 3 screen of the audio setup wizard in the JamKazam app (pictured below).
We're going to provide a variety of examples of ways to configure your JamKazam audio tracks in this help article, so we'd advise you just read through this whole article to get a good grasp on how this step works, and then go ahead and set up the audio track(s) you want, referring back to the article as needed for details.
Setting Up Your First Audio Track
In this step of the wizard, you are basically just telling the JamKazam application which of the audio input ports on your audio interface you are going to use, and which audio input ports go with which instruments or vocals.
Let's start with an example of setting up an electric guitar track. In this example, let's assume you have plugged a 1/4" cable connector from your guitar or amp or pedal board into the left input port on your audio interface (pictured below with arrow).
If you look back at the screen of the JamKazam app now, you'll see that the app has automatically set up one JamKazam app audio track for you, and has already assigned the left input port to that track (pictured below). Simple two-input interfaces typically label their input ports as either "Left" and "Right" or as "Input 1" and "Input 2". Audio interfaces with more than two input ports typically label their inputs with numbers - i.e. "Input 1", "Input 2", "Input 3", "Input 4", etc. If you look at the details of the audio track below, you can see the JamKazam app has assigned the "Left" input port to JamKazam audio track 1, and that the Instrument for this track is set to a microphone (see icon). In this example, we've connected an electric guitar to this input port, so we're going to update this audio track to reflect the correct instrument. To do this, click the yellow "update" text link on this track (pictured below with arrow).
You now see the "Update Track" dialog box. On the left, you can see that this JamKazam audio track has the Left audio input from the audio interface assigned to it (pictured below with arrow). And you can see the Instrument is set to Voice (pictured below with arrow). Click the Instrument list box to open it.
Now scroll down through the Instrument list box until you find the Electric Guitar option, and select that option. Then click the orange Close button (pictured below with arrow).
You now see that the JamKazam audio track has been updated so that the Instrument is displaying an electric guitar icon.
Let's say that you are an electric guitar player, and you're planning to just play the electric guitar in JamKazam sessions, and you're not going to sing or play any other instruments. The only other thing you'll be doing in sessions is to talk with other musicians in sessions, and you're planning to use the built-in mic on your Mac for this. Then you would be done with this step of the audio setup wizard, and you could click the orange Next button in the lower right corner of the wizard to move forward.
As a different example, let's say that you are a singer, and you are only going to sing in JamKazam sessions. Then you would connect the XLR cable from your microphone into the left port on your audio interface. The single audio track you need would already be set up, and it would already be set to Voice for Instrument. So you would not even need to update the audio track. You'd be done, and could click the orange Next button to move forward.
As one other example, let's say you play the violin. Then you would connect the XLR cable from your microphone (to capture the sound of your violin) into the left port on your audio interface. The single audio track you need would already be set up, and you would click the yellow "update" link to change the instrument value to "Violin". You'd be done, and could click the orange Next button to move forward.
Please note that in all of these different cases, the JamKazam app takes a single audio input (whether guitar or voice or violin) and automatically duplicates it into a stereo audio signal. So you, and any other musicians in your sessions, will hear your audio as stereo audio in both headphones.
Setting Up a Second Audio Track
Let's return now to the original example of a musician who wants to play his/her electric guitar and has the guitar or amp connected to the left audio input port, and has set up a single JamKazam audio track for the guitar, as described above. Let's say that this musician also wants to sing in JamKazam sessions, so he/she wants to also set up a vocal microphone. In this case, you would have connected the XLR cable from your microphone into the second (right) input port of your audio interface (pictured below with arrow).
To add a second JamKazam audio track using this audio input port, click the orange "Add Audio Track" button (pictured below with arrow).
You now see the "Add Track" dialog box (pictured below). Click the second Audio Input Port list box (pictured below with arrow) to open it.
You now see the available "Right" audio input port from your audio interface (remember this may be called something else like "Input 2"), depending on which audio interface you are using. Select this audio input port to assign it to this JamKazam audio track. Then click open the Instrument list box and select the "Voice" option.
You now have configured the JamKazam audio track. Click the orange "Add Track" button (pictured below with arrow) to add this new audio track into your JamKazam setup.
You now see that your second audio track has been added (pictured below with arrow).
Setting Up a Stereo Audio Track
All of the examples up to this point have assigned a single audio input port to a single JamKazam audio track. Let's explore when and how you might want to assign a pair of audio input ports to a single JamKazam audio track.
Let's say you are a multi-instrumentalist, and you have an analog mixer, into which you have connected a bunch of different instruments and microphones. Then what you'll want to do is connect the left and right stereo outputs from your mixer into the left and right audio input ports on your audio interface - to pass the master mix from your mixer into and through the audio interface.
Or as another example, let's say you are an electronic keyboard player. Let's say you want to both play keys and sing in JamKazam sessions. In this case, you would connect just one audio output from your keyboard to a single audio input port on your audio interface (which would be duplicated into a stereo signal automatically by the JamKazam app), and then you would connect a microphone via an XLR cable to a second audio input port. But let's say you don't want to sing in sessions and don't have a microphone. In this case, you could choose to connect the left and right stereo outputs from your keyboard into the left and right audio input ports on your audio interface.
Following is how this would work in the app, starting back from the point where you have just reached step 3 of the wizard, and there is a single JamKazam audio track that has been automatically set up by the app as a starting point. Start by clicking the yellow "update" text link (pictured below with arrow).
You now see the Update Track dialog box (pictured below).
The Left audio input port is already assigned to this JamKazam audio track. Click open the second Audio Input Port list box, and click to select the Right audio input port (pictured below with arrow).
Both the Left and Right audio input ports are now assigned to this JamKazam audio track. Now click open the Instrument list box, and select "Keyboard". And finally, click the orange "Close" button (pictured below with arrow).
The JamKazam audio track is updated, per your instructions (see below with arrow), and your keyboard's stereo audio will now be processed as a single track within the JamKazam app.
Setting Up a MIDI Instrument Track
If you play a MIDI instrument like an electronic instrument or an electronic drum kit and prefer to set your instrument up as a MIDI input (vs. an audio input) and use VST/AU plugins with your MIDI instrument, JamKazam does support this option (pictured below with arrow).
We don't cover instructions for setting up MIDI instruments and using VST/AU plugins in this help article, but you can find the help articles that explain how to do this here. For electric guitar players, these help articles can also be useful if you want to use VST/AU plugins for your guitar tone inside the JamKazam app.
You are now ready to move forward to step 4, in which you can set up a chat mic if needed. To move ahead in the wizard, click the orange Next button in the lower right corner of the wizard (pictured below with arrow), and click here for instructions to complete step 4.
