BandHub: The Internet recording studio.

Remember Res Rocket Surfer and Google Jam? This one is a new thing to collaborate with people over the Internet. (If you sell your soul to a Mac-only application.) Technical discussion (for computer geeks). If this doesn’t suck, expect a clone that won’t gouge you down the line.

edit: dunno how this post became the unofficial BandHub support thread. But anyway, while you’re here, why not check out my book, it’s got a music industry chapter.

49 thoughts on “BandHub: The Internet recording studio.

  1. David, thanks for the review!

    I am co-founder of BandHub. We are working on a PC version and will have it ready in a few weeks! Sign-up at http://getbandhub.com and we’ll let you know when it’s ready.

    BTW – the app will always be free. We might introduce a “pro” tier in the future (TBD), but it will always have all the core functionality for free.

    Thanks!!

  2. There’s also Ohm Studio from Ohm Force (who make Minimonsta, Oddity and effects VSTs) which has been in Beta for several years and is going “1.0” on October 15. I bought the lifetime membership a year or so ago when it was offered relatively cheap (it’s only available until the Beta closes) but there’s also a free version. Ohm is not only online collaboration but a DAW application you can use by yourself and online storage too, which I think is intriguing from a backup perspective. I haven’t used it much but theoretically my future projects should go there.

  3. Riccardo, that’s great.

    BandHub is also a DAW application, with the added tweak of supporting video.
    It also provides all the online storage, which is backed up automatically.

    You should give it a shot! It’s completely free, and it will always remain free (we may introduce a ‘pro’ version in the future).

    Thanks!
    Pablo

  4. David – just wanted to let you know that BandHub is now completely open for anyone in the web ( no need for Macs )…. You can play and interact with songs directly in the web.
    For recording tracks, the recording app is available for both Mac *and* Windows…
    Check it out!!
    http://bandhub.us

  5. musistic.com uses a plugin for online collaboration that works with any recording software. I’ve been using it and it works great.

  6. Pablo – I have a StudioLive 16.4.2 that I’m trying to use as my audio interface, but I get no audio in the recording app… sound comes through fine on my DAW… any idea what the issue might be?

  7. Mark: do you have a Mac or PC? When you say no sound comes – do you mean the monitor? Or are you actually recording and not hearing anything? Does the audio interface show up in the list of audio devices in the Bandhub recording app?

  8. Hi Pablo, It would be great to have vst support on bandhub!! So i can record directly from kontakt or ezkeys. thanks!

  9. Hi Pablo,
    we are musicians (singer and drummer) and are super excited about Bandhub!
    What a brilliant idea!!

    But how disappointed to see the recording app never opens once we click on Record…
    We are using a Mac Air, once we click on Record, the pop up window comes up, showing ” installing update – this might take a few minutes” and we never go past this point.
    it’s very frustrating!
    What do you think is wrong? Thks for your help!

  10. Gaston: You can try using VB-AUDIO “Virtual Cable” software which helps you route audio applications in Windows ( so you can set your software’s audio output into Bandhub’s audio input ): http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/index.htm

    Josie: I am sorry about that. Can you please send email to osi getbandhub com and we will figure out what’s going on and solve the problem.

  11. I’m working with Mac 10.8.5. with external sound card connected with firewire to my Mac. If I open the window where I want to record music on band hub, the sound I hear is distorted. A hard terrible sound which doesn’t bring me any motivation to gig. If I listen to a song from the info page window it all sounds great. How can this happen and how can I resolve the problem. Greetings from The Netherlands Allard

  12. Hi Pablo,

    I’m using Bandhub (on Mac) and I love it, no problems at all, great concept!
    My friend tried Banhub, using a Mac+mixer via fire-wire, somehow (I was a witness) all the sound output in the recording app is getting mangled and transformed. I suggested disconnecting the fire-wire and sure enough it worked just fine. Is this a know issue or is it something with updating the mixer? thks

  13. Bandhub Review.

    It’s fun, easy and good to try out things against other musicians in private, work out what I did sucks, and discretely delete it. Some bandhubbers seem ok copying their audio files out of their memory cache into their DAW of choice, otherwise in within Bandhub sound quality is not near recording quality. It’s acceptable to jam with though.

    Downers for me…. Loading times at times, or a lot of the time. The sound quality is not near recording quality, but it’s online data consideration.
    The other thing is important but please hear me out..

    You say in interview above.. “any audio interface woks with Bandhub – you can even record using your computer’s mic – or just plug in any audio interface you have and use it.”

    Now people do this, that actually can sing or play.

    Picture this.

    They are sitting in front of their laptop, listening to the song coming back at them through the system speakers or from their mp3 player, and then recording their vocal. If you listen you can hear the song playing in the background, with a whole lot of hiss.They don’t get essential of a metronome or backing song track.
    The worst thing is that this person can actually sing, strum, etc.
    They do maybe half a dozen dismally recorded tracks, singing or strumming in time and in key, but impossible to collab and get even reasonable results. So they feel ignored, then quit. Good musos quitting, dilating the quality. Bad musos whatever, but good ones, man that’s what will make BH successful longer term. I note the prompt for backing tracks is more obvious now, which helps even beginners consider starting with a backing track, tick.
    How about some simple page and picture on sign up, showing ideal setup if all newby has is a laptop and bud earphones, so at least the backing track spill will be minimised.

    I’ll trade you this opinion based on fact for the upgraded bhub recording app functions so I can mess with my tracks. I think this is where Bhubbers raiding the cache comes in and going away from bandhub for all the time it takes to process the audio in their other DAW, for what might be days or weeks depending on number of songs. I am surprised there is not advertising on Bandhub. I think many would accept a small amount for improved functionality and faster servers perhaps. Maybe some ad popup when you first sign in, but honest and clean no trojan adware rubbish.

  14. I guess I should add that this is a review really addressed to Pablo, but also a bit of sincere advice based on real time experience using the site.

  15. I cannot download the recording app!!! I’ve had an account for a while and used to have the app a while ago. Due to issues and hardware failures, my pc was wiped and the OS reinstalled (windows 7 64bit) i had no problem with it until now, when i go to reinstall it and I keep getting an error code. Did you guys update it, remove it? Are there new system/ browser requirements that im not aware of?

  16. I am using a Digidesign 002 Rack into a new iMac via FireWire/Thunderbolt adapter. Works perfectly for everything else but, despite a level showing up in green in Bandhub’s recording app, no sound is recorded. From Bandhub forums I see I am not alone in this problem. How can it be that the app’s meter registers the sound but the app doesn’t record?

  17. Can i upload video like on youtube in bandhub,.. ?,Without using bandhub recording Aps,.. I have just fix video of my guitar session, but recorded by using another software

  18. App does not work for me, just says loading but never loads. I am on mac with sierra 10.12.2.

    Does anyone know how to fix this?

  19. When I download the app and lunch it it goes to another download from s3 amazonaws and it fails can somebody help me

  20. @Pablo Osinaga: I came across this thread after trying to find out a bit more about Bandhub. I signed up and had a browse, but my initial concerned impressions are only being validated further by this comment thread.

    My first alarm was when I checked my profile – it had somehow filled in my location despite me not having been asked for that information. I don’t know if you deduced it from my IP address (in which case more fool you, because many people use VPNs or Proxies which would give an incorrect -location anyway, so well done on the sloppy work!) or you snooped in some other manner I can’t think of. I’m sure someone who understands these things can fill us in, but however you did it, it is WRONG and disturbing.

    Secondly – this comment thread, which as another user has pointed out appears to be the unofficial customer support thread, appears to be the only way to contact anyone at Bandhub. And you expect people to hand over money for PRO tier accounts? Pfth I don’t think so, Mister!

    Thirdly, there is absolutely NO company information on the Bandhub website- no “About Us”, no “FAQs”, no “Privacy Policy” or any mention of what you may or may not do with user content in the future. Most importantly as I mentioned above, no method of contacting someone in the company.

    I had hoped to recommend this platform to some friends so we could collab together from across the world, but from the issues I’ve raised and the amount of comments I’ve seen around various sites about the site seemingly spamming for sign ups – I’ll definitely be giving it a miss and recommending others who bring up the site do the same. You need to seriously improve your privacy policy (if you even have one), transparency and contact availability.

  21. When I launch the Recording app on my Windows 10 desktop it stops and Windows looks for a solution, which it can’t find. I’ve tried running in Chrome and IE with the same effect.

  22. Bandhub must have the worst recording app in living history, the completed collabs sound like they have been recorded using an old tape machine. I would stay clear of it and by no means pay for a subscription as their service and response is very poor. There are some really good musicians on there but the recording app lets it down and the owners do not want to do anything about it.
    If your looking to collab with other musicians then Jamgle is 10 times better and totally free.

  23. Hi Steve, I am one of Bandhub co-founders. Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Did you have a specific problems with the recording app? If so I am happy to help.
    Regarding your comment, the quality of the vast majority of completed collabs in Bandhub is excellent. Most of the quality difference across collabs is in the way people record (e.g., what equipment, microphone, how they setup, etc.), rather than related to the recording app.
    Happy to help in any way I can.
    Pablo

  24. As a pro member still running I have contacted you and never got a reply and I am paying for that service but I will not be subscribing again when my current subscription runs out. I am also a experienced guitarist and the quality of recordings has nothing to do with my set up or the way I record it is 100% down to the inferior recording app of Bandhub. When I record using my DAW without the use of plug ins or when I record on Jamgle the finished product is 10 times better than Bandhub so your point is not relevant. Another thing that is unbelievably poor about Bandhub is that you cannot use any plug ins. If you are a MAC user then you can use Garageband but if you are a Windows user Bandhub says “Hard Luck”. They also have a phone app but if you are a Android user you cannot use it which is totally crazy. Finally Bandhub has more glitches than anything else I know which is very frustrating for their members. Take it from me folks if you want to collab with other musicians were you will get good recordings choose JAMGLE and not BANDHUB.

  25. I’m new to Bandhub and need some technical help with my connections. I am running my mic to a delay pedal, to an amp then into the input jack. The sound is dreadful and no matter how low my settings are it seems I am over shooting volume limits. I’m not sure if the input jack can handle the output from my amp. –

    Flautist

  26. First I would like to say thank you for this program!!!!
    I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Studio, And I suffer from latency! How can I correct this??? Buffer speed has already been tried.

  27. Bandhub has never worked properly for me. The one recording I did manage to make, the sound was slightly behind the backing track and I could not correct it. Hopeless.

    My main objection is that in Windows I am forced to use Chrome browser which I would never use otherwise.

    In additon, it doesn’t work on Linux which is my main OS. I re-loaded my laptop to dual-boot Windows / Linux, but now when I boot into Windows and run Bandhub in Chrome, the recording app hangs consistently and I get an error saying Bandhub doesn’t support my hardware (Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB microphone interface). How is this possible since I made a recording on previously (despite said recording being out of step).

    More trouble than it’s worth in it’s present state, although the functionality it promises would be awesome if it would just work.

  28. I also have just given up on Bandhub for similar reasons. I encountered terrible lag using a laptop. I was able to remedy that by using my PC which has a much faster processor etc. However I could not get an acceptable quality recording. I am returning the Scarlett 2i2 that I bought next week. I was very disappointed. The concept has great potential. The equipment couldn’t handle the higher frequencies of a flute and the effect of the delay pedal I was using was at some point cancelled out. I tried every solution, spoke to audio experts etc and finally gave up in frustration.

  29. Janet – please reach out to support (at) getbandhub (dot) com and we will help you out.
    Pablo

  30. Just wanted to put up a comment as a balance to that which has been posted previously. I’m a moderately technical person and have pretty reasonable, budget home recording gear, I find Bandhub hits the mark between simple and useful. I’ve been using Bandhub for a few years and love it, it’s a massively supportive environment and it’s made me a better musician. Occasionally I’ve encountered technical glitches or slowness but these have been isolated incidents. Regarding what can be done on BH, it matches your effort, if you want to thrash on the guitar and just see what comes of it you can or spend a year on a masterpiece. Myself and BH friends (and I really would call them friends) have managed to produce amazing sounding original songs using the site, after some processing outside BH I’ve put out four of these on Itunes, Spotify et al. I’m not going to give up the day job, mostly because I don’t have to….

  31. Wondering if you can describe your interface with your computer. I solved the lag time by using my PC (faster processor) but was experiencing dreadful issues with the sound cracking, killing high frequencies, volume control issues, effect pedal enhancement not in final recording. I trialed a Scarlett 2i2 with a direct box but have returned it. I would dearly love to participate on Bandhub. Significant other thinks I might have ground loop issues.
    I am using a Shure mic to record my flute. I am connected to a delay pedal into a small amp.

  32. Hey Janet, my signal chain is – bass guitar into sansamp DI pedal so I can ‘model’ my sound, into 2nd generation Scarlett 2i2 usb into Mac Book Pro and using the Chrome ‘Canary’ browser to run BH. I monitor through headphones from the Scarlett headphone socket with ‘direct monitor’ set to on.
    It’s easier for us ‘wired’ instrument players, but there are certainly lots brass/wind instrument players active on BH.

  33. Thanks James! I’ll if my tame physicist can sort me out. I really wasn’t doing anything much different than you are except at the beginning of the audio chain.

  34. Won’t upload. Doesn’t matter if new recording or collab, after stopping the recording I get an upload progress bar that does nothing. This happens every time. Anyone have any ideas?

    And FYI I’m running Windows 10 v1703.

  35. Bandhub must have the worst customer service on the Internet. You pay for Pro membership and they totally ignore you. There has been lots of Pro members who have posted their complaints on Bandhubs Facebook page and the owners cannot even be bothered to answer them. My advice to anyone thinking of paying for Pro Membership is “DON’T DO IT”. The only things you get for being a Pro member over a free user is priority help which is no existant, statistics which are pointless and the use of a EQ for your tracks. The EQ can be used by non paying members by asking a fellow collabarator to EQ your track for you, so save yourself some money and frustration by not paying as you can still get all of the benefits that a Pro member gets.
    This is my second Bandhub review on Rocknerd and I will continue to leave truthful feedback as long as Bandhub keeps giving their paying members such dreadful service. Someone has to stick up for the paying customer because the guys at Bandhub Marcello Brimbach and Pablo Osinga won’t.

  36. Pablo Osinaga,
    I paid for Bandhub Pro, and I can’t get ANY support. Zero. No response. WTF???
    Advanced help setting up?? That’s laughable!
    Anyone considering signing up for Bandhub Pro, DO NOT DO IT OR YOU ARE STUPID.
    Bandhub makes promises they simply don’t keep.
    They are lying thieves.
    I have a scarlett solo 2nd gen, and a lightning fast Windows 10 machine, huge ram, and the latency in recording is horrible.
    Just looking for some guidance, so I signed up for Bandhub Pro. And…….crickets.
    Nobody works there.
    No
    Body.

  37. I have a problem with the recording App. Bandhub downloads it and then fails to open it. It used to work.. it keeps downloading the App.

  38. Hello people, can anyone help me, i have a Bandhub account, i have’nt been on it for a couple of months because i was getting another Computer, i finally got a new Imac and tried to look for Bandub but i cant find the download page for Mac, i even tried different browsers, and even when i downloaded it on my Iphone it wont even open, does Bandhub still exist?

  39. and so ends probably the most bizarre and most commented on post on all of Rocknerd: the Unofficial BandHub Support Thread. Goodness me.

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