If you aren't hearing audio from other musicians in online sessions, that problem is addressed in a different help article here. If you cannot hear your own audio in the JamKazam application, this help article is intended to help you troubleshoot this problem.
The first thing to understand is that the JamKazam application will *not* enable your audio gear until you have entered a session. When the JamKazam app is running but you are not in a session, your audio gear is not going to do anything, so you won't hear yourself until you've entered a session. This is how the application works.
If you're in a session and can't hear your own audio, the easiest thing to check first is to close the JamKazam application, reboot your computer, re-start the JamKazam app, and get back into a session to see if it's fixed. Sometimes your audio gear will just get sideways, and resetting everything through a computer reboot is the easiest answer.
If this doesn't work, then the best way to troubleshoot this problem is to get into a private session by yourself, so that you can concentrate on figuring out what's wrong alone without being interrupted by others. To do this, on the home screen of the JamKazam app, click the Create Session tile (pictured below with arrow).
Next click the Quick Start Private button on the session screen (pictured below with arrow).
You are now in a session, and you should see the session screen, looking something like the screen below. Hover your mouse over the volume icon on your audio track in the Audio Inputs section of the session screen (pictured below with arrow).
Troubleshooting Your Audio Inputs
When you hover your mouse over the volume icon on a JamKazam audio track, an input meter is displayed that shows you the audio input level for that track from your audio interface (pictured below with arrow).
Play and/or sing as you normally would in a session, and you should see the meter light up and jump around to different levels. (Note that if you have set up multiple JamKazam audio tracks, each such track will be associated with one or more input ports from your audio interface, so you need to be playing or singing on whatever is attached to the input port associated with the JamKazam audio track you're currently watching.)
Here is how to interpret the meter lights:
- If the meter lights up but only just a little bit at the low end of the green scale, then you probably just need to crank up the gain knob on your audio interface on the input port associated with this JamKazam audio track, as you are not getting a strong enough input signal. The green lights should get all the way up to the top of the green range, and when you are playing or singing loudly, perhaps peak up into the orange/red lights just a bit. You may also find that it helps to turn up the volume on your instrument if you have an instrument connected to the input port on your interface associated with this audio track. See this help article on how to optimize the settings for your audio input levels.
- If the meter lights up and gets toward the top of the green meter range but you still don't hear anything, then you likely have an audio output problem, not an audio input problem. In this case, skip down in this help article to the section covering audio output.
- If the meter doesn't light up at all, then you are not getting any audible input signal, and you have an audio input problem. In this case, check the following things:
- Is your audio interface connected to your computer, and does it show that it is powered on?
- Do you have an instrument or microphone plugged solidly all the way into the input port that is associated with this JamKazam audio track?
- If you have a microphone plugged into this input port:
- Does the microphone have an on/off switch, and if so, is it turned on?
- Does the microphone require phantom power, and if so, do you have phantom power enabled on your audio interface?
- If you have an instrument plugged into this input port:
- Does the instrument have an on/off switch, and if so, is it turned on?
- Does the instrument have a volume control, and if so, do you have the volume turned up high?
- Is the gain knob that controls the input port on your interface turned up pretty high, almost all the way to the maximum level?
If you have checked all of these things and are still not getting an audio signal, try clicking the Resync button (pictured below with arrow) in the session toolbar. Clicking this button restarts your audio interface, and sometimes your audio interface can fall out of sync with the operating system of your computer as it provides high-speed audio processing services. After you click the Resync button, wait for a few seconds and then try playing/singing again to see if your input meter lights start moving and if you now hear yourself in the session.
If you have checked all of the things above and are still not getting an audio input signal, you may have a bad cable connecting your mic or instrument to your audio interface. This is less likely, but still possible.
The one other thing to check on a Mac is your security settings. Mac computers changed security settings recently, and it's possible your inputs are getting blocked by this change. If this might apply to you, start by clicking the Settings application icon in your Mac toolbar (pictured below with arrow).
You now see the Settings application window. Next click the Security & Privacy icon (pictured below with arrow.
You now see the Security & Privacy settings. On the left side of this settings window, find the Microphone option, and click on it. Then on the right side of the window, scroll to find the JamKazam application, and if the checkbox for JamKazam is not checked, click the box to check it. This grants JamKazam the security rights to process audio inputs on your Mac. If this box isn't checked, it will block audio inputs from working in JamKazam at all.
If all of this fails to solve the problem, we recommend closing the JamKazam app, rebooting your computer, and then re-starting the JamKazam app, getting into a private session, and checking your audio again.
And if this fails to solve the problem, then we recommend deleting your current audio profile(s) in JamKazam and setting up your audio gear from scratch using the instructions in this help article. We have observed that sometimes operating system updates, JamKazam app updates, driver updates, and other system changes can cause an audio profile that has been working just fine to suddenly stop working. And when this happens, the best way to fix it is to delete your existing audio gear profile and set up your gear all over again.
Troubleshooting Your Audio Outputs
If the input meter lights on your JamKazam audio tracks are lighting up and peaking at the top of the green and slightly into the orange/red, but you still cannot hear your own audio, then you have an audio output problem. Read on below for tips to troubleshoot this problem.
To restate something from earlier in this help article, the JamKazam app only processes audio while you are in a session. It's not enough for the JamKazam app to just be running. So to troubleshoot audio output problems, first follow the instructions earlier in this help article to start and get into a private JamKazam session by yourself.
Once you've done this, the main thing to check is your headphones:
- Most musicians on JamKazam play with headphones to avoid feedback loop problems. If you are using headphones, then make sure your headphones are connected solidly all the way into the headphone port on your audio interface.
- Next, turn the headphone volume knob on your audio interface up high (be careful with your ears!). Be aware that most audio interfaces have multiple output volume knobs - and often the biggest output volume knob is one that controls the output ports on the back of the interface. That volume knob does *not* control your headphone volume. There is almost always a separate volume knob labeled "headphones" or just "phones" for short that controls your headphone volume. That's the knob you need to adjust to bring up the volume of what you're supposed to hear in sessions.
If you've checked your headphone connections and volume level, and you still don't hear yourself in the session, try clicking the Resync button (pictured below with arrow) in the session toolbar. Clicking this button restarts your audio interface, and sometimes your audio interface can fall out of sync with the operating system of your computer as it provides high-speed audio processing services. After you click the Resync button, wait for a few seconds and then try playing/singing again to see if your input meter lights start moving and if you now hear yourself in the session.
If all of this fails to solve the problem, we recommend closing the JamKazam app, rebooting your computer, and then re-starting the JamKazam app, getting into a private session, and checking your audio again.
And if this fails to solve the problem, then we recommend deleting your current audio profile(s) in JamKazam and setting up your audio gear from scratch using the instructions in this help article. We have observed that sometimes operating system updates, JamKazam app updates, driver updates, and other system changes can cause an audio profile that has been working just fine to suddenly stop working. And when this happens, the best way to fix it is to delete your existing audio gear profile and set up your gear all over again.