FarPlay Blog

We’ve been amazed to see so many of you using FarPlay to make music together in large groups. We’re listening to your feature requests, and FarPlay 1.2.6 makes multi-user sessions easier by introducing collapsible user subpanels, persistent multi-user pan and gain settings, an audio limiter, as well as other design improvements. Upgrade here. Upgrading is always free!

Collapsible user subpanels

We’ve introduced the ability to collapse user subpanels. For larger ensembles, this means a lot less scrolling when navigating pan, gain, and latency settings for remote participants. FarPlay displays 10 collapsed user subpanels without scrolling.

To switch between full-sized and compact views of a participant’s subpanel, click the triangle next to that participant’s name.

To collapse all subpanels, hit Command + Left arrow (on Mac) or Control + Left arrow (on Windows). Expand all subpanels using Command/Control + Right arrow. You can also use the Session menu, as described in our tutorial for multi-user sessions.

Persistent multi-user pan and gain settings

FarPlay 1.2.6 can remember pan and gain settings from multi-user sessions. If you meet regularly with an ensemble, this feature lets you avoid readjusting pan and gain for each session.

To use, go to the Session menu and verify that Auto Load Last Multi-User Pan & Gain is checked. You can also save pan and gain settings to a file or load pan and gain settings from a file using the same menu. Learn more at our tutorial for multi-user sessions.

Audio limiter and 3D panning

FarPlay 1.2.6 helps make listening to multi-user sessions more comfortable.

When doing sessions with multiple people, the combined audio from everyone involved can sometimes get loud. To prevent clipping in your headphones, we’ve introduced a gain limiter to the output monitor. We’ve also added the limiter to the input mixer, mix recording, and broadcast output.

By default, FarPlay applies standard panning as found in most DAWS. We’ve also included the option to add a 3D effect to the panning so that remote participants can be positioned in space around you. If you choose to use this, you can adjust the strength of the 3D effect in preferences.

To explore settings for the limiter and 3D panning, go to the Preferences window and choose the Advanced tab. To learn more, see our instructions for the limiter and 3D panning.

Get in touch

We’ve been loving featuring our amazing users. If you’d like to be included — whether you use FarPlay for lessons, rehearsals, jam sessions, or conversations — we’d love to talk to you. You can let us know by emailing us at contact@farplay.io. For tech-support questions, our forum is the fastest way to reach us. If you need to reach us privately, email us at support@farplay.io — we’re happy to help!

We hope you enjoy FarPlay 1.2.6!

—David Liao & the FarPlay team

We’re hard at work getting the next version of FarPlay ready for you. If you haven’t yet, upgrade to the latest version of FarPlay. Upgrading is always free!

User spotlight: MJ Williams and Ann Tappan

Vocalist and trombonist MJ Williams explains that when she and pianist Ann Tappan use FarPlay, “it really does take us to a different level of listening.” MJ and Ann are world-renowned jazz musicians based in Montana who have appeared together on Montana Public Television’s 11th and Grant series. Watch their user spotlight video to learn more. 

Next monthly support session: March 23

We were so glad to meet everyone who came to our fifth monthly support session on February 18th. Kathy Schneider is the director of the New York City Bar Chorus and explained that they use FarPlay for all their auditions. Diana Leverington, in Sweden, and our own Dan Tepfer, in Brooklyn, played a saxophone-piano duet 3800 miles apart. Watch our highlights reel to learn more. 

If you’d like to join us, sign up for our next session, Saturday March 23rd 2pm–3:30pm New York time (7pm–8:30pm Central European time). Monthly tech-support sessions are available at no extra cost to paid subscribers. 

Spread the word about FarPlay

We’re grateful for your steadfast help with growing our social media community. We invite you to share how you use FarPlay and to tag us at @farplayapp on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter.

We’ve been loving featuring our amazing users. If you’d like to be included — whether you use FarPlay for lessons, rehearsals, jam sessions, or conversations — we’d love to talk to you. You can let us know by emailing us at contact@farplay.io. For tech-support questions, our forum is the fastest way to reach us. If you need to reach us privately, email us at support@farplay.io — we’re happy to help!

We hope you’ve been enjoying FarPlay 1.2.5 and FarPlay For Teachers!

—David Liao & the FarPlay team

We hope you’ve been enjoying FarPlay For Teachers and FarPlay 1.2.5. If you haven’t yet, upgrade to the latest version of FarPlay. Upgrading is always free!

#rondeauchallenge: FarPlay style

We love to see the amazing things people do with FarPlay! How do you participate in the #rondeauchallenge trending on social media? If you’re world-class Italian trumpet player Marco Pierobon, you use FarPlay to rehearse with three of your friends in Italy and Switzerland. Watch Marco, Francesco Gibellini, Stefano Ammannati, and Aldo Pizzagalli perform in tight rhythm together from four locations across 200 km. 

Hochschule für Musik Dresden features FarPlay

Under the direction of Anselm Vollprecht at the Hochschule für Musik (HfM) Dresden, students experimented with performing music online as part of the two-year project “Online Music Making and Teaching in the Digital University Space.” The project produced an illustrated setup booklet, setup tutorial videos, and samples of low-latency performances. FarPlay features heavily in these resources—all the performance samples were made with FarPlay. Access these free resources, which are fantastic for our German-speaking musicians, by visiting the project’s page.  

Project graphic design and layout: Tobias Retschke (bureau.fm)

Stay in touch

A heartfelt thanks to our users for helping us grow our community on social media. 

We invite you to share how you use FarPlay and to tag us at @farplayapp on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter.

You can still sign up for our next monthly tech-support session, Sunday February 18th 2pm–3:30pm New York time (8pm–9:30pm Central European time). 

We’ve been loving featuring our amazing users. If you’d like to be included — whether you use FarPlay for lessons, rehearsals, jam sessions, or conversations — we’d love to talk to you. You can let us know by emailing us at contact@farplay.io. For tech support questions, our forum is the fastest way to reach us. If you need to reach us privately, email us at support@farplay.io — we’re happy to help!

 —David Liao & the FarPlay team

Today, we’re introducing a new FarPlay tier. Ever since we introduced recording, we’ve had a recurring request from teachers. Many of you would like for your students, who may not have a subscription, to be able to record their sessions. FarPlay For Teachers allows this and more. Compare plans at our pricing page.

In addition to letting students record without subscriptions, this new subscription plan allows you to create up to 10 Personal Meeting Rooms. To enable full support for these new features, upgrade to FarPlay 1.2.5, out today. FarPlay For Teachers also features the same attentive support you’ve come to know through our Standard and Standard+ subscriptions.

All participants can record multitrack audio and video in sessions created by FarPlay For Teachers subscribers. Teachers no longer need to remember to make recordings for their students: teachers can leave it up to students to record their lessons.

Also, with a subscription to FarPlay For Teachers, you can create up to 10 Personal Meeting Rooms.

How will you keep track of so many rooms? Standard and Standard+ subscribers (who continue to be able to create 1 Personal Meeting Room) and FarPlay For Teachers subscribers can now give their meeting rooms any names they like–yes, even with emojis 🥳🎵!

Next monthly tech support session: Feb 18

Thanks to everyone who came to our fourth monthly tech support session on January 7th. Watch our highlights reel to listen to pianist and author Annik LaFarge explain how FarPlay is great for lessons and to enjoy Martin Waugh’s improvisation from Scotland with our own Dan Tepfer, in Brooklyn, over 3200 miles away!

If you’d like to join us, sign up for our next session, Sunday February 18th 2pm–3:30pm New York time (8pm–9:30pm Central European time). Monthly tech support sessions are available at no extra cost to paid subscribers. 

Early Music America features FarPlay

We’re proud to be featured this month in EMAg, the magazine of Early Music America. World-renowned classical vocalist and acoustic vocal pedagogy researcher Ian Howell argues that we don’t have to make music exclusively in person (or exclusively online) – “we can pick the solution that is financially, logistically, and artistically preferable on a case-by-case basis.” He writes, “today there are low-latency apps, like FarPlay, where it seems like you’re in the same room. I use these apps every day as a voice teacher and coach, and it is amazing.” Dr. Howell’s latest book is Advice for Young Musicians.

Research opportunity at Northwestern U.

You’re invited to share your experiences using FarPlay in a research study! Seth Adams, a PhD candidate at Northwestern University, is seeking English-speaking participants with 25+ hours of experience making music with others using FarPlay or other apps. Each participant will sit for a single interview conducted online. To learn more, please contact Seth at seth.m.adams@u.northwestern.edu.

Spread the word about FarPlay

We are a small company. Four people make up the core of our team: Dan Tepfer, Anton Runov, Martyna Goralska, and yours truly. We rely heavily on word of mouth to grow, and we invite you to share how you use FarPlay and to tag us at @farplayapp on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter.

We’ve been loving featuring our amazing users. If you’d like to be included — whether you use FarPlay for lessons, rehearsals, jam sessions, or conversations — we’d love to talk to you. You can let us know by emailing us at contact@farplay.io. For tech support questions, our forum is the fastest way to reach us. If you need to reach us privately, email us at support@farplay.io — we’re happy to help!

We hope you enjoy FarPlay 1.2.5 and FarPlay For Teachers!

 —David Liao & the FarPlay team

FarPlay just got even easier to use. We’re thrilled to release FarPlay 1.2.4 today, which provides an input mixer, a waiting room, and invitation links, as well as other design improvements. Upgrade here. Upgrading is always free!

Input mixer

This release introduces an input mixer, which makes it easy to bring audio from three or more inputs on your audio interface into a FarPlay session. The mixer is available to all users.

Open the mixer by using the Channels: pull-down menu to select Mixer.

Add tracks and adjust gains and pans to create a custom mix. For details, see our mixer page.

Waiting Room

Version 1.2.4 provides a Waiting Room for Personal Meeting Rooms (for subscribers). This is great for teachers who want to prevent the next lesson’s student from interrupting the current lesson.

In your Personal Meeting Room, click the open padlock to lock your session, which sends participants to the Waiting Room when they arrive.

The Waiting Room lets you individually admit participants to your session.

To learn more about the Waiting Room, visit our step-by-step instructions.

Invitation links

FarPlay 1.2.4 introduces invitation links. Just click the link to join the session! You no longer need to paste Session IDs.

To invite participants to an active session, click Invite and choose Copy Invitation Link. Share your invitation link (for example, using text messages and emails).

For sessions you create in free mode, the Invite button is disabled once you and one other participant are in the session. To create sessions with more users, subscribe.

Get in touch

If you’d like to be featured and share how you use FarPlay — whether it be for lessons, rehearsals, jam sessions, or conversations — we’d love to talk to you. You can let us know by emailing us at contact@farplay.io. For tech support questions, our forum is the fastest way to reach us. Thank you to those who’ve started using the forum. If you need to reach us privately, email us at support@farplay.io — we’re happy to help!

We hope you enjoy FarPlay 1.2.4!

 —David Liao & the FarPlay team

We’re thrilled to release FarPlay 1.2.3 today, which provides two new important features—screen sharing and automatic adjustment of video layout. Upgrade here. Upgrading is always free! Today, we’re also formally announcing our tech support forum.

Screen sharing

This release provides a feature many of our users have asked for: built-in screen sharing, which is available for all users. Screen sharing is useful for sharing sheet music and walking friends through FarPlay features.

To get started, click the Camera icon in a video chat and choose Share desktop screen. For details, see our step-by-step instructions!

Automatic adjustment of video layout

Version 1.2.3 automatically readjusts the layout of participant videos as the video chat window is resized. It’s no longer necessary to click the Cycle layouts button to switch between layouts manually, so we’ve removed this button, cleaning up the video session interface.

Support forum

One of the things that makes working at FarPlay a joy is our enthusiastic user community. We’re delighted to unveil our new support forum, which you can always visit by clicking the Forum button in the navigation menu at farplay.io.

Use the Search feature to find answers to your questions—we’ve pre-populated the forum with an extended FAQ with nearly 100 answered questions so you can find answers to many of your questions right away!

To sign in to ask tech questions, click the Log in button. We — or other FarPlay users — will answer as soon as we can.

We are still here to answer your questions. We’re moving tech support to the forum as much as we can to create a public record so that an answer that helps one user helps other users with the same question.

Get in touch

If you’d like to be featured and share how you use FarPlay — whether it be for lessons, rehearsals, jam sessions, or conversations — we’d love to talk to you. You can let us know by emailing us at contact@farplay.io. For tech support questions, our forum, announced above, is the fastest way to reach us. If you need to reach us privately, email us at support@farplay.io — we’re happy to help!

We hope you enjoy FarPlay 1.2.3 and the forum!

 —David Liao & the FarPlay team

We’re excited to release FarPlay 1.2.1 today, which provides two new important features—combined video recording for Standard and Standard+ subscribers and cleaner audio from users with limited upload capacity. Upgrade here. Upgrading is always free.

Combined video recordings for Standard and Standard+ subscribers

This release provides combined video recording for Standard and Standard+ subscribers. Combined video displays individual video feeds from multiple participants in a single view. Available export resolutions for combined video include resolutions ideal for social media—be sure to mention us @farplayapp when you post your recordings! Standard+ subscribers also get a separate video recording for each participant in a recorded video chat, maximizing flexibility for video editing.

To get started, go to the Tools section and click Start Recording. Choose record multitrack video (for Standard+ subscribers) or record mix video (for Standard subscribers). Learn more about video recording using our step-by-step instructions.

Video recording is just one of the benefits of our upgrade from legacy video to our current video engine, which we introduced with FarPlay 1.0.7. Support for legacy video is ending soon—another good reason to upgrade (for free!).

Audio sent by users with poor upload performance is cleaner

Version 1.2.1 makes it possible to enjoy clean audio under some network conditions that produced particularly crackly audio when using previous versions. This should reduce some of the crackling that is noticeable in audio received from users with limited upload capacity. This improvement is accomplished by automatically adjusting the size of the audio packets that each participant transmits. We remain committed to supporting a wider range of network conditions.

For details, visit our updated tutorial on latency.

Getting in touch

You can still sign up for the first of our monthly tech support sessions, which takes place Sunday, September 17 2pm–3:30pm New York time (8pm–9:30pm Central Europe time). If you’d like to be featured and share how you use FarPlay — whether it be for lessons, rehearsals, jam sessions, or conversations — we’d love to talk to you. You can let us know by simply answering this email. If there’s any question we can help you with, please email us at support@farplay.io — we’re happy to help!

We hope you enjoy FarPlay 1.2.1!

 —David Liao (FarPlay’s director of communications)

We’re thrilled to release FarPlay 1.2, a major update that works over a wider range of connections, makes it easier to manage latency, and lets Standard+ subscribers record multitrack video.

Works with a wider range of connections

From the very beginning, FarPlay has been great for making music with the best latencies possible over Ethernet connections. This isn’t changing, but now, with version 1.2, FarPlay also gives you the best latency that a connection can give you even when you’re using a less stable connection. This is great for having natural conversations over Wi-Fi! This new flexibility is thanks to major improvements under the hood to the way FarPlay manages latency.

Improved user interface for managing latency

One of the features that has made FarPlay so easy to use is the latency slider, which lets you find the balance between latency and audio glitching (or static) that sounds best to your ears. Version 1.2 makes the latency slider even easier to use: in Auto latency mode, the green bar that shows you the recommended range of slider settings now zooms in to fill the slider. This is more intuitive, and guarantees that any slider position you select in Auto mode gives you a recommended balance between latency and static.

According to the balance between latency and audio glitching you choose, FarPlay now also tunes the Auto latency adjustment parameters that are used to provide a consistent experience while network conditions change. In Auto latency mode, drag the latency slider to the right to prioritize clean audio (FarPlay tries to keep buffering latency high for a longer amount of time after a burst of network instability), and drag the latency slider to the left to prioritize the lowest possible latency (FarPlay tries to reduce buffering latency quickly after a burst of network instability).

It’s easy to learn what you can do with the latency slider: just click the latency slider information button ⓘ to open FarPlay’s new built-in illustrated instructions! To learn more about what causes latency and how FarPlay helps you manage it, visit our expanded tutorial on latency.

Record multitrack video (beta)

Standard+ subscribers can use multitrack video recording, a major feature that we’re introducing in beta. This feature exports a separate .mp4 video file for each video channel (convenient for video editing!). Use this feature by clicking Start Recording in the Tools section of the main FarPlay window and then choosing “record multitrack video (beta).” For more details, go to our step-by-step instructions.

We hope you enjoy this update. If there’s any question we can help you with, please email us at support@farplay.io—we’re excited to help!

—David

We’re proud to be releasing FarPlay 1.1, with an important new feature we’ve been wanting to add for a while: session chat.

Chat functionality is only available in sessions initiated by a subscribed user. Chat history, though, is always available for all users who participated in the chat. So, if you’re a teacher for example, and you have a subscription, and you teach a lesson to a student who doesn’t have a subscription, they will be able to chat with you during the session you initiated, and they will also be able to refer to the chat history even after the session is over. Chat history is saved locally on the user’s device.

Chat is useful during setup, particularly if a participant has not yet connected their audio; it’s also useful for behind-the-scenes communication during a live performance. To open the Chat window, click the 💬 Chat button in the main FarPlay window, or the 💬 icon in the Video window. By default, FarPlay opens the Chat window automatically when a new message is received, but this behavior can be disabled if preferred by unchecking the “Open this window when chat is received” checkbox.

Improved design

This version also features an improved design. On the welcome screen, we’ve added icons for ethernet and headphones, to remind users of the importance of these elements when using FarPlay:

And we’ve reorganized the FarPlay session window, grouping buttons that open specialized FarPlay windows (Video, Chat and Preferences) together into one row:

We hope you enjoy using this version. If you have questions, please email us at support@farplay.io and we’ll be happy to help.

—Dan

Today, we’re introducing FarPlay 1.0.7, an important update. We’ve worked hard on this one — for many months, in fact — and we’re excited to put it in your hands.

Personal Meeting Rooms

This version adds Personal Meeting Rooms, allowing you to use a permanent, dedicated session ID for all your sessions. You still have the option, of course, of creating a one-time session ID if you prefer. This feature is particularly useful for teachers, who no longer have to send individual session IDs to their students: you can give them your Personal Meeting Room ID once and keep using it for as many sessions as you’d like.

To use Personal Meeting Rooms, first go to farplay.io/myAccount, then click Account Preferences:

This will bring you to the Account Preferences page. If you’re subscribed to either Standard or Standard+, you’ll find a new option there:

Click “Create my Personal Meeting Room”, and you’ll be given a session ID that is permanent and unique to you. If, for whatever reason, you wish to change it, you can simply delete it and create a new one. Once you’ve created a Personal Meeting Room, you’ll notice that a menu now appears when you click New Session in the FarPlay app, allowing you to choose between using your Personal Meeting Room or a one-time session ID:

Brand-new video engine

FarPlay 1.0.7 also introduces a complete re-implementation of our video engine, offering lower latency, better connectivity, and greatly improved performance, particularly for multi-user sessions. This is a behind-the-scenes upgrade that we believe will have a profound impact. The new video engine is used by default in this version, but if someone joins the session using an older version of FarPlay, the entire session is automatically transitioned to the legacy video engine. You can switch between the two engines manually, if you wish, in the Video Options menu:

We hope you enjoy this update, and please let us know at support@farplay.io if we can help in any way.

—Dan and the team