Typical network engineering practice does not allow for sufficiently low-latency data exchange mechanism even within cities,[1] and the speed of light makes it impossible over regional or global distances.

[2] In order to approach latency-free collaboration, NINJAM extends the latency, by delaying all received audio until it can be synchronised with other players.

NINJAM defines the form in terms of the "interval" - the number of beats to be recorded before synchronising with other players.

"[3] In MIT Technology Review, the software's users are described as "really loyal" due to its free and open source status.

[5] Each player in a NINJAM session feeds audio data from their client to a server via a TCP/IP connection to a specific port (commonly in the range 2049 upwards, depending on the host).

The user must adjust their input level - before the NINJAM client in the signal path - to affect what remote players are hearing.

VST effects are a commonly used option (based on number of posts on the NINJAM support forums[6]) but requires that the user install REAPER.

[citation needed] Hence it is more suited to real instruments, where it provides a simpler alternative to the complexity of running a DAW just to access NINJAM.

RAM 4 MB NINJAM v0.01a ALPHA for OS X It is claimed[8] that the server source code compiles on Linux, FreeBSD, Darwin/OS X, and Windows.