Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[J van E]

I like to have control over my basic patterns. I usually work with a repetition of a single bar that has the main groove. I specially like to have control over the placement of the kick and snare. I used to make the patterns myself from scratch, but the last days I used a method to get convincing (and far better) results mighty quick.

1. Load a style that comes close to what you want.

2. Let JS2 come up with a few bars of patterns. A lot of styles will give different results in each bar!

3. Pick the bar the comes closest to what you have in mind and edit it to your liking. I found out that JS2 often comes up with nicer ideas than I could have thought of...! Which can be very inspirational!

4. Problem with edits, is that you will lose those edits as soon as bars are recomposed (for instance when you load another drummer to test 'him'), unless you lock them. But then repetitions and added parts may revert to the unedited style again. Apart from that, as I said, a lot of styles result in various patterns spread over a few bars. So to avoid all this save the bar you've edited.

5. Load the Import style and then load the bar you just saved.

6. Now you can load any drummer and change any setting you want to see what he makes of 'your' pattern. Your pattern will always be the foundation of all the JS2 does.

This way I can get very nice results YOU want very quick! This is just one way of many ways to get things done, but I like it.

My tune Carter's dream was made this way (it uses only ONE part with repetitions only!) and so is a new tune called Personal anthem: this one also uses only ONE basis pattern in ONE part throughout the song. Both songs rely heavily on the automation of the Power function. Ha, who needs 18 parts if ONE can do the trick...

Carter's dream:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=459796&songID=5714067

Personal anthem (not really finished yet):
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=459796&songID=5718121

P.S. A great way to get some more control over the fills is to simply copy the ones you like to other bars which have fills that don't sound that good. In Personal anthem there were a few awesome fills, but also a few not so good ones. I copied a few nice ones to the spots I wanted them (making sure they weren't all the same, of course). This way I got the exact drumtrack I wanted without having to lock things and so on. It all works pretty quick and easy (even though this long post might make it all look complicated... )

JS2 is awesome!!!

[fulvia]

had a listen...sounds nice...

[Hewitt Huntwork]

Thanks for the tips, J van E.

I have long been a huge cheerleader for Jamstix, but JS2 has me feeling some frustration. I want to spend a little more time with it before I make any comments about what I like or don't. But so far, no usable results.
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Rock softly and carry a big stick. Wait, what am I saying? Don't Rock softly. - Rock Churchill

[Ralph [RZ]]

J van E has gotten it down now. That's one way to work with Jamstix 2 that we envisioned.

Hewitt, let's approach it from this point: how would you like to work? Do you want fine control over the groove like J van E or a full track that you just hand-edit a few notes in etc.? Based on this I can tell you the best way to use JS2.

By the way, J van E, have you tried the shanked JS2 hats in the anthem? They have more body which might work well with this song.
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Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[Hewitt Huntwork]

Thanks Ralph! What I want to do is give JS2 a kick/snare pattern and have it add everything else: Fills, accents, embellishments (including kick/snare but without losing the groove), pocket, humanization, etc. I also want to be able to tell JS2 where to add fills, no matter what bar.

Ultimately I might add cymbals manually in my host if JS2 doesn't quite nail them, but that's a minor thing. During the time it takes you to respond to this (quick as it may be) I'm going to go play some more. I just can't believe I'm having this much trouble. Me! A Jam Meister!
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Rock softly and carry a big stick. Wait, what am I saying? Don't Rock softly. - Rock Churchill

[Ralph [RZ]]

It sounds like J van E's approach is perfect for you:

- download 2.0.13 hotfix
- load a jam quickstart song to start off from
- uncheck all Fill LEDs for the part since you want to place them yourself
- go to the jam part, pick any bar
- hit the trashcan to clear the groove
- hit the rounded arrow to start previewing the bar in a loop
- now add your kick and snare to the bar editor until you have what you want
- save the bar with the bar editor menu

- stop previewing and click the style of the part, select 'Import'
- in the brain select 'JS2 Groove' and then click to load your saved bar

Start the host and listen to what JS2 is doing with your groove. Load drummers to change things up, use the 'Accent' tab to control embellishments. Some drummers also add new groove controls.

If you need a fill, go to the bar, click FILL in the brain and then COMP. You can also preview the fill with the loop arrow and then hit COMP repeatedly to try various fills. Adjust fill settings to your liking as you do this.

It sounds harder than it is. Once you get the hang of it, is is quite natural.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[Mark Blair]

Now THIS is the sort of advice that I'd prefer to even seeing a glitzy graphical tutorial (I though I'd like to have that, too!).

But, it would be great to have a list of the top recommended strategies to get usable results with Jamstix (perhaps something like a list of the top five "recommended" JS2 workflows) -- along with a step-by-step detailed description of how to get those result for each of the strategies.

And this should be a "living" (continuously updated/tweaked) document -- like FAQ.

Or am I perhaps the only one who'd like to see this?

Either way, the info above really good!!!

[Hewitt Huntwork]

[quote="Ralph [RZ]

If you need a fill, go to the bar, click FILL in the brain and then COMP. You can also preview the fill with the loop arrow and then hit COMP repeatedly to try various fills. Adjust fill settings to your liking as you do this.

It sounds harder than it is. Once you get the hang of it, is is quite natural.[/quote]

So, I absolutely know what I've been doing wrong, and you guys have really helped. The problem was that I wasn't using "Import" for the style. I definitely had a "d'oh!" moment. Things are working better now in terms of creating parts.

Unfortunately, I'm now getting a lot of stuttering the first time I play through a part. I also get silent bars where I can see hits greyed out in the bar editor (can't remember which tab). The stuttering seems better when I play through the second time. Any thoughts?
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Rock softly and carry a big stick. Wait, what am I saying? Don't Rock softly. - Rock Churchill

[Ralph [RZ]]

Make sure you are running 2.0.13. If so, send me the rzdlog.txt file after you have stuttering.
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Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[J van E]

[El Taube]

What about creating a sticky thread where users explain thier "reccomended workflows" I guess it would be VERY appreciated by most of us:)

BTW: thanks for the tip!

[Milt]

Whenever I come across a great tip or a good description on how to get something practical done, (like J Van E's) I save the thread page into the folder where my Jamstix manual resides. I have quite a few for JS2, and they have already proved to be invaluable. +1 on the 'reccomended workflows' sticky!!

[Mark Blair]

I see J van E's point about Ralph not publishing/endorsing something like a "Top 5 Recommended JS2 Workflows" list right now because it might stifle our own creativity at coming up with our own solutions for now.

That's a geat point that I didn't think of -- and I think I agree!

But I also like the idea of eventually having a stiky topic of all the best JS2 workflow ideas/suggestions -- which we would all then all be "challenged" to add to and refine over time.

Just a thought...

[scottieboy]

[Hewitt Huntwork]

Scottieboy, he should have said uncheck BOTH fill LEDs, not ALL. They're on the SONG sheet (underneath the word SONG) labeled "R" and "T".

Anyone else on the other issues?

I am having a MUCH better time of things now, thanks to everyone here. I was loading a style and drummer, and it was stomping all over my original groove. Making the groove the style was just the ticket.

Ralph, I'll get back to you about the stuttering.
_________________
Rock softly and carry a big stick. Wait, what am I saying? Don't Rock softly. - Rock Churchill