Jam with Chrome / Illustrator unknown, Google, 2012
Google have bloody well gone and done it again.
‘Jam’, their latest Chrome Experiment, is simply incredible. Just go and play with it, and tell me you don’t grin from ear to ear.
The concept is simple, but the execution is perfect. Pick an instrument (there are 19), and start clicking around to make sounds. This might not sound exciting, but flick on the ‘auto play’ settings. Tune starts sounding pretty good, huh? You can start mixing things up by changing the chords, key, tempo, and effects. It’s intuitive, responsive, and immensely satisfying.
But where things get really, really cool, is when you invite a friend to your jam. In real time, the two (or three, or four) of you can play together. And it sounds awesome.
It works seamlessly too, if you have a decent connection. Throw into the mix some really gorgeous illustrations (I can’t find who did these anywhere! If you know, please tell me in the comments!), nice typography, and really satisfying UI touches, you’ve got yourself one hell of a project.
Bravo indeed.
***UPDATE: from what I can find on the web, the superb illustrations were handled by Rob Bailey from Manchester***
More illustrations below:
Oh yeah, and there’s a really sweet video to promote the whole thing. Boom.
