In the years before downloading mp3's was as easy as checking your e-mail, musicians looking to collaborate online worked with MIDI. (see Wikepida for a definition) I became very active in using this technology, finding other players around the world to make music with.

The journey began with a project of my own called the MIDI Jazz Network.

The goal of this site was to work with other net musicians to create quality jazz MIDI performances via e-mail and share them free to the public online. As technology changed and my own career kept me busy, I stopped developing the site, but I'm very proud of the music we made and the impact it had.

If you google me, you'll find a lot of the resulting creations scattered across the net. I'll soon be posting an archive of these files here.

Rocket Network was at one time the "next big thing" in music technology. From it's humble beginnings as a simple MIDI client which allowed people from all over the world to jam, to a full-blown Virtual Studio sytem that functioned with such professional apps as ProTools, Logic and Cubase.

I became involved soon after "Resrocket" was started and quickly formed close friendships with other musicians in the U.K, Dublin, and elsewhere. We all believed in the potential of a global-band... a virtual world where people all over the planet could make music together.

Unfortunately, this vision was perhaps a bit ahead of it's time. While the ResRocket MIDI client worked nearly flawlessly, the high bandwidth demands of using pro-apps with audio limited it's functionality for many. This and many other reasons resulted in the eventual dissolving of the company, though some of the server technology is now a part of Digidesign.

If you're interested in learning more, you can read about the history of Rocket Network.

I'll soon be posting an archive of MIDI & Mp3 files that were created with this incredible technology.

Other companies have since entered the "internet jamming" game. I have yet to really experiment with them, but I do hope someday the dream once held by Resrocket Jammers comes to fruition.

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