Tap the ⓘ in the top left of the screen. Tap How To Play. An overlay with feature highlights will cover the screen. This is your “Quick Start.” At the upper right, tap Online Help. This will open the Help page on our website. Once there, tap the circle with the arrow to play a video showing Bandojo in action, and read about Bandojo’s interface and controls.

On the iPhone or iPod touch:
Select Toolbox Icon→Group Play.

On the iPad:
Select Options→Group Play.

Tap one of the three player modes.

• Solo: network connection for Bandojo is turned off
• Maestro: leader of networked collaborators
• Member: collaborator networked to Maestro

 

Set up a Group Play session:

1. On the host device, set the player mode to Maestro and the Group ID to a number (1-20) not already in use by another Bandojo group on the same local area network (LAN) or wireless area network (WAN).
2. On all remote devices, set the player mode to Member and the Group ID to the same number as the Maestro. All devices in a group must use the same Group ID.
3. (Only on Maestro device) Allow Band Members to set accompaniments: if this is de-selected (slide button to left), only the Maestro will be able to choose or change accompaniments during play. Select (slide to right/green) to allow members to set accompaniments.
4. Select Apply.

Member devices do not produce any sound. The Maestro’s device will emit the combined audio for the group. The group will share one accompaniment, which will provide the pulse for Rhythm Lock, allowing all ensemble members to synchronize rhythms (any participating Bandojo player has the choice to turn off Rhythm Lock). The accompaniment will also determine the musical scale for the entire group.

Note that all computer devices participating in a Group Play session must be connected to the same local area network (LAN) or wireless area network (WAN). For iOS devices, before starting Bandojo, go to Settings→Wi-Fi to activate Wi-Fi and select the network router.

If you use an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch as Maestro, you may only be able to host one or two other members, depending on the accompaniment. Run BandojoPlus on your Mac or PC (available for purchase on this website) to host up to 16 members on any combination of Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch(es).

• Use a dedicated router that is not connected to the Internet.
• Connect the Maestro host computer directly to the router through an Ethernet cable.
• Have the Maestro host device be a laptop or desktop computer running BandojoPlus, rather than an iOS device running Bandojo.
• For a classroom, wonderful resources for teaching with Bandojo include an interactive digital whiteboard (such as a Promethean ACTIVBoard), speakers, headphones, and audio splitters. You may need appropriate video adaptors to drive an external display, such as a digital whiteboard or large monitor, from the Bandojo host computer.

Quit the application by double-clicking your device button (it has a white square on it). Swipe the application window up and away. Tap the Bandojo icon to restart.

On a Mac or PC running BandojoPlus:

• Select Notes Off, which is below the bottom right corner of the Melody Palette.
• Alternatively, press the ESC button on your computer keyboard.

 

On an iPad:

• If running Bandojo in Solo or Maestro mode, tap Mute in the upper right corner of the screen. This will immediately silence Bandojo. Bandojo will continue to create music, but you won’t be able to hear it until you tap Unmute. This Mute/Unmute sequence will also stop any stuck notes, whether on your Bandojo session or being caused by the Bandojo of someone else in your Group Play ensemble.
• If running Bandojo in Member mode, tap Notes Off, which you’ll find in the upper right corner of the screen, where you would find Mute when running in Solo or Maestro mode. This will immediately stop a stuck note on any of the Members within your Bandojo Group.

 

On an iPhone:

• Our apologies. There’s nothing to do but throw it away and buy a new one.
  No, wait! Did we really write that?
  Actually, the only times we’ve seen a stuck note on the iPhone were when we were pressing a Melody Button button while entering a control menu. In those cases, the button will still be highlighted. Just tap it again to release the stuck note. If you cause a stuck note in any other way, please send us a description so that we can investigate and fix the problem.

Possible reasons:

1. You accidentally activated the Mute button (located in the top right corner for iOS Bandojo and below the bottom left corner of the Melody Palette for BandojoPlus). Select Unmute to restore sound.
2. You played too many notes all at once or in rapid succession, especially with certain melody instruments that are resource hogs, and have overtasked the audio synthesizers. (This is especially an issue with the iOS devices, which have limited audio synthesis power. The instruments that particularly task the synthesizers are the shimmery ones with lots of echo and reverberation, such as Fantasia, Crystal and Space Voices. Depending upon how high-powered your host device is, you may need to use less of these Instruments, for instance, one note at a time rather than five fingers’ worth at once.) Often, the sound will come back after a period of complete inactivity. Other times, it can’t recover and you will need to restart Bandojo.
3. You changed Group Play mode from Solo or Maestro to Member, causing the audio to now be synthesized by and emitted from the Maestro device. See which Group Play mode you’re in at Options→Group Play.
4. Your device volume has inadvertently been turned very low. Your device volume is controlled externally to Bandojo, and will affect sound emitted by all apps, not just Bandojo. On iPads, the controller is a flat bar on the lower edge of the device. On iPhones, the controller is the pair of buttons marked + and – on the upper left edge of the device. Also confirm that the device has not been put into “Silent” or “Airplane” mode. On Windows, adjust the system volume through Control Panel→Hardware and Sound→Sound→Adjust the sound→Volume Mixer or click on the Speakers icon to bring up a Mixer. On Mac, adjust it through System Preferences→Sound Output or click on the Speakers icon on the main menu or use your keyboard volume keys.
5. Your Bandojo volume has inadvertently been turned very low. On iPads and iPhones, tap the Volume icon to bring up a Control Panel. On BandojoPlus, select Volume at the bottom of the main window to bring up a Control Panel.
6. Your Emphasis slider has inadvertently been moved to the far left. Try moving it to 7 or 8.
7. You’re playing Bandojo in a noisy environment. Bandojo is actually making sound, but it is being drowned out by the ambient noise. If it is not an option to move to a quieter environment, we recommend listening to Bandojo through headphones. In fact, if you can afford it, we recommend acquiring a really nice set of equal-response headphones for your Bandojo listening pleasure, regardless! The speakers built into iPads and iPhones can’t do justice to the audio quality of the signals output by Bandojo.

Note: Many of these issues are due to the Player accidentally changing a control setting–a common occurrence when the Player is a child or has limited motor control. For iPads, make this less likely by putting the Bandojo interface into Less mode, which will hide everything except the Melody Palette and a More control.

If none of these turn out to be the cause, please send us as much information as you have about the sequence of events leading to the problem, including the operating system and model of the device on which Bandojo was running when the problem occurred.

• This is a feature, not a problem! In all likelihood, you have Rhythm Lock switched on. Rhythm Lock is a feature that helps players synchronize rhythmically with the accompaniment and each other. It aligns the playing of a selected note with rhythmic boundaries, such as Rhythm Beats (indicated by the blinking dot at the center of the Melody Palette), Rhythm Pulses, or fractional subdivisions of Pulses, delaying the sounding of the note as needed. If you tap the Melody Palette during a narrow window of time surrounding a rhythmic boundary, the tapped note will play immediately. If your tap does not fall within that time window, however, the note will not play UNLESS you sustain the press until the next rhythmic boundary. Slide and glide from button to button!
• Or, switch Rhythm Lock off to have Bandojo always respond immediately.

Check out the iPad or iPhone Help page’s entry on Rhythm for a more detailed explanation.

Note: This will never be an issue for BandojoPlus, because its Melody Palette interface is based upon hovering and only considers the x-y location of the mouse.

You need to raise the Record Signal Delay, a value from 1 to 20, which can be set from the Options→Recording menu. The required value depends upon your host computer, operating system, and a variety of other parameters. So experiment until you find a value that works for your setup. (Start with 6 for the Yosemite MacOS and 1 for everything else.) For this experimentation, you may find it easier if you use an accompaniment that opens with a sharp attack, such as Chase In 7 from the Bandojo Accompaniment File. Note that you can start the accompaniment from the Record window.

This lag is probably due to latency in the network communications between the Maestro and the Members. The general solution is to reduce the round trip time. Try the following:

• Connect the Maestro host computer directly to the router through an Ethernet cable. (The Member computers can still connect to the router through WiFi.) Moving just one side of the pair of communicating computers from a wireless to a direct connection to the router can have a profound effect. We’ve seen it reduce the round trip time to 1/10 of the time taken when both sides are wireless.
• Use a dedicated router that is not connected to the Internet. When the router supporting Bandojo Group Play is also being used to download large files from the Internet, you may intermittently experience lag.
• Tune the geographical layout of your wireless network to ensure high signal strength. For example, locate the wireless router centrally to the classrooms or other locations where Bandojo will be used for Group Play. Keep it off the floor and at a distance from walls, metal furniture, and other electronic devices. Adjust the position and orientation of any computer device running Bandojo to have an excellent Signal Strength, for instance, by moving your device so that there are not any signal blocking obstructions along its line of sight to the router. Keep other wireless devices far enough away from your router so that their signals don’t interfere with each other. Use diagnostic tools to determine the best channel to use…
• Minimize the number of network hops.

 

Throughput is not an issue. The quantity of transmitted data is quite small.

Please read the entries for the iPhone. They apply to you, too.

There are online help files for iPhone and iPad at https://www.bandojo.us/ios/iphone and https://www.bandojo.us/ios/ipad. You can also access help through your iOS device by clicking ⓘ→Online Help or ⓘ→How To Play→Online Help. This will bring up the online help pages in a web browser (if your device is connected to the Internet).

There is extensive in-app help for BandojoPlus, accessed through three main channels.

• Main Help: Select the button labeled i in the upper left corner of the main window to bring up the Help window. Select a Help Topic from the top menu bar, where the choices are General, Accompaniment, Melody, Scales & Tuning, Audio, Keyboards, Record, and Playback. This will change the lower menu bar to a set of relevant subtopics. Select one to bring up help on that subtopic. Select the red X to close the Help window. Note that the controllers embedded in the help pages are live (except for a few cases as noted within the help text) and identical to the ones found on the main BandojoPlus window. Practice using each controller while the explanation for how it works is up on the screen.
• Program Options: Select the button labeled Options in the upper left corner of the main window to bring up the Program Options window. The primary function of this window is to provide expanded and consolidated capability for the user to control BandojoPlus, where each tab provides “one-stop shopping” for some control domain. The available domains are General, Accompaniments, Audio, Scales & Tuning, Group Play, and Recording. In addition, however, the Program Options window provides instructions for using the available controllers.
• Introduction: When BandojoPlus starts, as soon as you select a Group Play mode (Solo, Maestro or Member), the initial window is replaced by an Introduction window. It offers to take you through an interactive tutorial on elements of the user interface, such as the click-less “hover” paradigm. Once you select Continue, you will be taken to the Audio Test page, where you can set up and test the audio output. From there, once you select Skip Audio Test, you will be taken to a page from which you can instruct BandojoPlus to skip the Introduction in the future, continue to the main program, or return to the Introduction.