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Trevor · Jam Meister Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 73

Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded Reaper and am having trouble configuring it on my soundcard. I am getting a lot artifacts in the sound even though my bitrate and everything seems to match...

Anyway, I can get that worked out (I factored that in to the 10-hour estimate).

I am wondering, though, is there a really easy standalone (non-vst) midi editor that I can download?

If not, do you know of any good resources to teach myself Reaper? I know this stuff is real intuitive to folks who are around recording software 24/7, but if you are a kinda spacey guitar player it really is a major event to learn all this crap.

Doc · Moderator Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 663

Trevor · Jam Meister Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 73

So, if anybody's interested, I found a Fix.

In Ableton, I changed the time signature of the entire song to 2/4. That means that JS will only play the first two beats of each pattern and fill. I alternated a second pattern with the first in order to create a 4/4 rhythm. Actually, I kept the 2/4 feel in several sections of the song.

This strategy doubled the bar-length of the song. The 2/4 gives it sort of a March feel. The song is sort of a rock power ballad and the march beat adds a little bit of irony to the composition. Actually, I am quite happy with it so far. I work slowly so I still have a some things to polish up.

A couple other things. I opened Mr Cabreira's Accent Creator. I can see the thing and I understand how to input drum hits (very similar to the Rhythm tab without the fancy GUI). However, I don't understand how I can listen to my work? How do I play the thing while I am creating fills?Also, I tried to load fills from my accent folder to modify and it shows no data in the folder. The folder appears empty though I know they are there.

Also, If I created a pattern and selected Intro, Fill, Ending when I saved it, wouldn't it also show up in the accent repertoire? Why would I create acccents in the Accent Creator?

One third thing that crossed my mind. I reviewed Pro Tools Strike today. It uses canned loops as Ralph pointed out in a previous thread. It has nothing that Jamstix and your favorite Drum program (BFD, etc) doesn't have -- WITH THE EXCEPTION of one very intriguing feature: an intensity slider that changes the tone of the drums as well as the volume in real time!

If I had that I feel I could create drum tracks that were absolutely indistinguishable from the real thing.

Can Jamstix 2 do that? Very Happy

Ralph [RZ] · Site Admin Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 13332

Trevor · Jam Meister Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 73

Oh. Can I automate that for a mix? I can hear the volume changes when I slide it but my ear isn't good enough to tell right away whether there are tonal changes in the drum hits.

Can you explain how that works? My understanding is that each drum hit is recorded several times at different velocities and which particular recording (level) gets triggered is dependent on the velocity data reported to Jamstix. Is that right? In other words, when I slide the velocity fader up, a different "recording" of the drum hit gets triggered?

Thanks for pointing that out.

Ralph [RZ] · Site Admin Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 13332

Yes, you can automate it. Use a VST automation envelope in your host on the 'Velocity' parameter.

Jamstix reacts to changes in velocity in various ways, including using lower/higher power samples for playback so you will different drum sounds just as in Strike or other tools.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

Trevor · Jam Meister Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 73

Thanks, I appreciate your patience. Actually, I experimented with it. Ableton allows you to physically move the fader in JS while the track is moving and it is recorded as automation with no other hassle.

One more thing and I'll leave you alone today. Recording fills. I see I can manufacture fills using the Jamstix Accent Creator but I don't see how I can play them so I can hear what I am creating? Also, is there anyway to create fills, intros and ending without using that tool?

Doc · Moderator Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 663

In Live I love to let JS create jams with intro, ending, and fills. I record them.
Later on I just let the part(s) of the loop play that I want to hear (e.g. fills etc.). This is very convenient in Live.

El Taube · Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 11:05 am Post subject:

Doc · Moderator Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 663

Well, there´s really no mystery about it.
Once I know how the song is going I record JS´ output for a lot more bars than I actually need, just to have variations and more variations..
Often I let it generate fills every two bars (just to have more recorded fills available later).
Later on in Live I create a scene with 7 bars JS groove and another scene with 1 bar JS fill.
The accompanying arrangement can be sliced accordingly. Thanks to Live´s powerful audio engine it´s all seamless.

Trevor · Jam Meister Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 73

Thanks for the tip, Doc.

I'm wondering about the Accent Creator. Sometimes there are very particular fills that I want to create and be able to trigger. Is there a way that I can listen to what I am inputting in the Accent Creator?

Ralph [RZ] · Site Admin Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 13332

The 'Accent Creator' does not allow listening, it only creates the RAF files that JS uses for fills.

In Jamstix 2 you can edit/create fills in the new bar editor but it is still a few months out..
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com