Remote control

Jam Pad supports standard media control buttons, as found on headphones, Bluetooth shutter remotes and Bluetooth media remotes. These usually provide buttons or gestures for Play/pause, Skip previous/next, and Volume up/down. By default, the buttons perform exactly these actions, but you can remap them freely.

A key limitation of generic media remotes is that multiple devices (e.g., a headphone and a media remote) are treated as a single device by your phone or tablet. For example, you cannot assign the headphone’s play/pause button and the media remote’s play/pause button to different Jam Pad actions.

Some media remotes have extra buttons that simulate keyboard key presses. However, due to security restrictions on your phone or tablet, these can usually only be used when the screen is on.

Finally, your device will either just process button-down events (iOS) or button-up events (Android). This prevents the use of Jam Pad’s advanced features, such as short/long press and turbo.

You can connect a standard computer keyboard to trigger Jam Pad actions by pressing keys.

Keyboard control usually works only when the screen is on. Most keys (except above-mentioned media control buttons) send both button-down and button-up events, allowing you to use Jam Pad’s advanced features, such as short/long press and turbo.

If headphones and generic Bluetooth remotes don’t give you the control experience you want, you should look into special Bluetooth remotes.

A major benefit of a special remote is that it connects as its own device rather than masquerading as a headphone or keyboard. This means you can use it alongside your regular headphones or generic Bluetooth remotes! You can even combine multiple remotes of the same type and map their buttons to different actions.

Another benefit is that many special remotes send both button-down and button-up events, enabling Jam Pad’s advanced modes like short/long press and turbo.