VSTunnel is a simple and automatic way for laptop musicians to collaborate in real time over the Internet. It seems to be the work of one Martin Miller, from Germany. It’s a neat idea — you just install it and either start a new VSTunnel session for other musicians to join, or join an existing public or private session. Then add VSTunnel as the last plug-in on your VST host’s master insert. All your output audio gets sent to everyone else in your session, and all theirs gets sent to you and mixed into your output for you to hear. Instant global jam session!

There are other useful features like text chat too. As he says: “Start connecting several sequencers over the internet bringing musicians from all over the world to easily play their sessions together. No travelling. No studio bookings. All participants have the opportunity to create or join public and private sessions.”

I’ve heard of similar software before, but not implemented as a simple VST plugin. Here is the full list of features from the website.

Finding Sessions

• get a list of available sessions with name and description
• sort sessions by genre
• pre-listen to sessions before joining

Create A Session

• enter your session’s name and a description
• make your session public or private

Controlling A Session

• adjust each users volume
• mute users
• select a part of audio to be played
• loop audio of another user
• export a user’s audio to a file for offline usage

Networking

• pause upload ( e.g. during a phase of trial )
• pause download
• select download quality
• limit upload to the phases where you have stopped the sequencer

Community

• select your own user name
• see other users by name
• chat with the other musicians
• mark trouble makers to be ignored