Many a times on days ordinary – triggered by happiness, sorrow or sheer boredom – we all have felt the urge to sing. Not many of us are gifted with voices that get the faintest appreciation. Wouldn’t life be good if you could just spread your arms like a certain Bollywood actor and give music to your words, if the singer inside you could finally come out of the confines of the bathroom? For those who have the voice but not the beat, or for those who have used the table as tabla for too long, UJAM has come in at just the right time.
Innovation is an ingredient that is now being used in quantities greater than ever to exploit the power of, and fulfill what internet and computers have always promised. As far as innovations are considered, it hardly gets better than UJAM. A lite description of this service: You sing anything into your microphone. The site gives the song the music of your choice. You have your first song. Now lobby for an Emmy.
In detail: UJAM is a sophisticated service designed to provide a variety of orchestra to not just your words. Even a moody hum or fidgety tapping of fingers can be converted to musical masterpieces with choice of orchestra ranging from grand Rock setups to simple ‘Campfire guitar’. Although the site is perfect match for amateurs or casual singers, the best thing about the service is the scope provided for semi-professionals and creative satisfaction through wide customizability. You can select the instruments that play for your lyrics. You can even change your voice if you think it can put frogs to shame.
The service basically works by detecting the scale or note that you are singing in, and appropriate music is added. The effect can often leave you speechless when all your notes fall in the right place. Lately, the site has also added the feature to manually edit the notes/scale.
The site is in early alpha stage, but the service is extremely promising. The first time we used it, we faced some glitches in uploading the recording. But the latest version of the applet allows you to record the song on your computer and then upload the file, which made it much more convenient. Once the song is uploaded, it shows up in the applet for you to add orchestra to it. Once the effects are applied, you can play the song immediately, or download a copy as an MP3 for narcissistic pleasures later. The end-result was good enough to send us on a mission to get you the invites to the service. Click here to participate in our UJAM Contest to get a chance to try this award-winning service.
A certain quote seems to be the inspiration behind the service. We can’t agree more.
“And make no mistake, there will be great applications of all kinds on the Internet – much better and far more plentiful than the ones available today. Many of tomorrow’s net applications will be purely for fun, as they are today. … You might hum a little tune of your own into a microphone and then play it back to hear what it could sound like if it were orchestrated or performed by a rock group.”
Bill Gates – The Road Ahead, 1996