Collab — the jam-session app that’s also the latest project from Facebook’s experimental New Product Experimentation (NPE) team — is finally out of its beta.
[referenced id=”1506700″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/09/this-shit-again/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/23/aiiqwsk3loposicaruzt-300×168.jpg” title=”Facebook Is Attempting To Copy TikTok, Again” excerpt=”Today in things that nobody asked for: Facebook is testing the waters with yet another app that copies one of TikTok’s core features. Those keeping track at home might notice this marks the third time this year that Mark Zuckerberg has slyly attempted to rip off the same app he’s…”]
The gist of Collab is this: folks can record and upload a fifteen-second clip of them, say, singing, or riffing on a keyboard. Other users can either accompany them with their own musical stylings, or simple pull together existing clips to create unique renditions of these tunes.
As we pointed out back in our initial review, the premise looks and feels not unlike a souped-up version 0f TikTok’s native Duets feature, with a few core differences: Duets are suited for memes and music-making alike, while Collab is clearly more geared towards the latter. And Collab has three whole panels — an upgrade from TikTok’s measly two-panel structure.
According to the NPE team’s blog post about the rollout, some things have changed since the beta we got our hands on a few months back. Among them, improved audio syncing, and the ability to use “external audio interfaces to bring music from electronic instruments […] into your recordings” (though the post does not state how exactly that will work.)
Another new feature allows you to “favourite” a particular creator, so you can be notified when they upload a collab-ready clip. Favoriting that person’s content means that their clips will also the first ones you’ll see as part of your feed — which again, feels somewhat TikTok-esque.
Naturally, the first creator I hit fave on was self-described Long Island guitarist Ben Ash, who uploaded a clip of his very sweet cat alongside clips of people singing “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan.
There’s a lot of reasons to rag on Collab, the same way there’s a lot of reasons to rag on just about everything that comes out from under the Facebook umbrella. But even without the cute cat clips, this actually feels like a nifty app to play around with — especially if you, like me, are a bit of a music nerd while who lacks any musical ability.
If that sounds like you, then head over to the App store and give it a download.