Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[kevin]

Free huh? I'm in. Hell, I'll tip ya.

[Ernst]

Looks great, sounds great.

With the continued excellent support you will excel again and competition will look quite poor.

If you had a market-machinery behind or in front of you, you would be market leader IMHO.

I only can comment: Please continue the way you do, it is really a role model for others!

Ernst

[audiotrax2000]

Is that really true about the free up-grade?? I bought mine and all the expansion packs over 6 months ago - am I still in line?

Just a bit of constructive feedback here:

Thanks for the screenshot of the mixer interface. Nice overall- I like the simple non-market trendy approach, but the design looks a bit uneven in some respects. I like the color scheme, but the 3d effects are inconsistant, which makes it look kinda homemade. For instance the outline around the interface looks a bit...well...thrown together. Dodgy. The different edges should come together more smoothly, so it looks like a real object, and the different side textures should look more like they belong together.

Some surfaces have 3d/texture, while others look like flat planes. The graphic fader knobs don't seem to throw off a shadow. This should be uniform with all the objects including the border.

Even the flat green background could use a tastfull hint of texture. Maybe a subtle paper, felt or leather grain?

And those round green EQ knobs look like an after thought thrown in at the last second. Please! Jamstix deserves much better. It's the best drummer software out there, it needs to look like it's ready to take on the job.

The microphone looks nice on the side, but something isn't quite right about it. Maybe because it's shown at an angle, but the control surface on it is facing straight forward? Maybe the Mic could be faded into the background, or shown in silloette. Or maybe I'm being too picky and should just be quiet now....

I agree with the other poster; the control label colors should stand out more in contrast to the background.

There's alot of VERY design savy art school students that would love to have a go at this. Just reign them in so it doesn't go into artistic design overkill (like Strike....aaagh). Have you thought of giving students a shot at this? Might be worth a very affordable try.

From the current design of the software, I would suggest taking a look at the GUI for the human figure tool: "Poser". It has that nice, textural, "invite the user to touch it" vibe. Try this for an example:

http://www.e-frontier.com/imagecatalogue/customimageview/2197/

It looks like they did most of the design in a real 3d modeling program, and rendered it using soft lighting. Also notice the cool way they did the interface using folders. Makes it very easy to get around to different areas without clutering everything up, and it's easy to always find where you are. Classy.

Whatever you do, I'm sure it will be great, and can't wait for Jamstix 2. Keep up the good work!

[thomasross20]

Hey, GREAT news!! 60% off!?!? Totally awesome!!!

Looks vs. guts:
Personally, I like it the way it is now! Maybe some flashy colours would be cool... or the ability to change the application's coour... I'd love a cool black/red swirl thing going on

I know some folks who are looking for the whole drum package. Despite my constant plugging of jamstix (and I do it a LOT! ), they've decided to go with EZDrummer.. Their reasons? They say it's easier to use (though I'm not sure about that.. jamstix is PACKED with features, velocity variation, jam mode.. can't beat it, IMO)... they like the look of it (I like jamstix look better, noy just saying these thing, you know!).. and they like the sound of heavier drums.. Now, I'm sort of mid-way on this. I find the hardest drum sounds I can get are from the yamaha stage-custom kit and setting the character to aggresive.. However, it sometimes still can't satisfy the 'heavy' sound that I look for at times. I think the drum sounds are great, and seeing as I play a bit of jazz and flamenco as well, the more mellow sounds, and the brush packs,truly rock! But for heavy fusion-type material, perhaps some new sounds for the future? I don't know what the other packages use..? Some guy from Meshugga plays some clips, I'm sure.

On the whole, I'm 90% happy with jamstix It's great that you keep coming out with the updates, as I constantly find myself using more CPU space!

[thomasross20]

[Ralph [RZ]]

[Ralph [RZ]]

Just updated the Jamstix 2 mixer screenshot. Remember: it is all work in progress...

_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[chardin]

Very nice! The screenshots are your hard work are greatly appreciated.

[lucky]

Hi there,

thanks very much for keeping us informed on the progress of JS2 and the GUI in particular. I see that you are making excellent progress, and appreciate all the effort that is going into this great application and the new GUI.

I like the new color scheme, the silver/gold brushed metal is a good choice and puts JS2 right between other modern music applications.
Some suggestions, I hope I am not being too blunt with these:

* There is a difference in length between the 'sliders indicators' and the velocity indicators. I think that when making them the same size it becomes clearer and less dynamic. This might be less like in real life fader systems, but for computer screen interfaces it is more common to do. It will also improve the fitting of the red indicators at the bottom, as it becomes clearer that they are in the middle of the fader/indicator combination.

* the green LEDs(?) on the left look a bit squashed between the top and bottom container. Maybe it might help to give them just a little bit extra vertical space. Also you could add a little extra space between the LEDs, which will give them a bit more body and fit better with the round buttons. Alternatively it might be an idea to get rid of the rectangular container completely and use very thin divider-lines, similar to the big vertical one in the middle of the GUI. It might be an idea to extend these very thin divider lines from the bottom of the faders to the bottom of the word EQ.

* The container around the top of the LEDs might look better if it has a reverse look to it, e.g. sunken into the surface. Alternatively it might be an idea to try without this container, and just have 4 pairs of LEDs with enough spacing around. Similar to the direction you went for with the Voice Load object, which now looks really good!

* Another suggestion for improving the right side of the interface is making it simpler. In general I like the Ambience Mic and the Subhost graphics, nicely done, but I believe they are too much for this interface. In this case I believe that the graphics have become more important than the function. I hope you are not offended by my following suggestion, as it is clear that a lot of work went into it, but what if you would get rid of the large mic and subhost symbols. You could use the same type of labelling as you did on the left side with the words COM/EQ, e.g. AMB/SUBH. In general it is always a good idea to try and use a consistent type of labelling where possible. You will get a lot more white space on the right side of the window and it will make it clearer and less cluttered. You could try and use small mic/host symbols to left of the objects. You could have small symbols for Voice Red, Audio Out, Ambi & Subh, all on the left, acting as an anchor. Alternatively if you think that there is too much white space on the right without having any big symbols and things might start to float, you could increase the numbers of Com/EQs/faders to 6, and move the divider window to the right. It doesn't need to be in the middle, actually it will look even better if it is not in the middle, it will make the interface more interesting.

* The ceramic container around the edge doesn't look that bad, but if you have some more time it would be interesting to see an alternative border. The current one does look a bit cheap compared to the now flashy brushed metal top! What about extending the metal top over the edges?

I hope that I have not been too blunt in my suggestions. I really like what you are doing and looking forward to the day JS2 is out.

[Ralph [RZ]]

Thanks for your suggestions, Lucky!

[andrewwright67]

I'm liking the new style, very cool

[Mekanik Zain]

Hi Zauni !

I'm disapointed a little bit by the "new" GUI of JS2 !
It's look very close from JS1 ...
Same colors, overloaded dialog box, lacks of readability (particulary about typographic approach)....
Why don't you a more simple, "zen" but carrefully GUI ? Like Ableton Live or EnergyXT for example ......

Of course, I'm always a JS fan but the GUI is a very important part of software feeling especially for potential users target ....

[RonF]

I like the new GUI.

Nice work!

Ron

[KiLLiN-TiMe]

I think the new GUI looks fine; however, you have the opportunity to make it much more “idiot proof”. Now, is the time to do it since you’ve got a clean slate to work with so to speak.

One of the things everyone likes about EZ Drummer is that it’s very straight forward. Especially when it comes to the drum mappings. Each drum in the kit has a drop down and it’s very visual. Choose the snare you want. Presto! You’ve got it. It’s a very visual setup and that makes it MUCH easier for us noobs like myself!

Don’t get me wrong, I love your product and it will do 1000 times more than what EZ Drummer will. That’s why I bought it! But EZ Drummer has an edge over you because of it’s very straight forward and “Idiot Proof” approach.

I wish your product was much more visual. I believe this would make it much easier to use. Especially when it comes to mapping the kit, and the mix. You have the best product on the market as far as I am concerned. But it’s not very intuitive. I tend to play with sliders until I get something close. And I don’t always know what those sliders are actually doing. I know… NOOB! LOL

Again, I love your product. I hope you succeed so that your around for many years to come. I just believe you could open yourself up to many more people if your product was easier to use and understand.

I hope you don’t take this the wrong way and just take it as constructive criticism.

FWIW
KT

[Ralph [RZ]]

Absolutely agree, KT. A major focus of Jamstix 2 is to provide a GUI that is easier to use and more 'communicative'.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com