Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[geoff_sct]

If I have a few things done on a tune and want JS to jam with what I've done, which track(s) should I put the M8 on? Bass, Rythm guitar, or maybe the master?-- Thanks, I'm just finally haveing time to get into this.

[Doc]

Not the master as it is all the signals summed up.
I´d take rhythm guitar over bass because rhythm guitar is mostly more velocity challenged than bass and I´d expect a more dynamic performance from JS as a result.

[geoff_sct]

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. I guess the rhythm git is more dynamically expressive.

[XoechZ_at]

Hi guys!

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I can't resist to tell my opinion about the M8 and present a much better solution for dynamic drum tracks.

First, the M8 does absolutely not work for me. I have tried everything, placing it on different tracks (also more than one), fiddled around with the settings in Jamstix... but it did not help. To make the M8 work properly you have to crank up the channel you put it into near the 0 dB range. Since I am tracking my instruments at lower levels (peaking about -6 dB) I never get any dynamics from the M8.

Second, let's say you put the M8 on a rhythm guitar track. The guitar plays some paml muting, everything's ok. Then the guitar holds a chord for a bar or two, because the lead guitar plays a fill. Jamstix will immediately lower the dynamics. Useless.

A much better and easier solution for dynamic drumtracks is:

Automate the Volume knob !!!!

Try it and you will see. It gives you perfect control about the drummer's dynamics over the whole song. Just draw an automation lane for it in your DAW and set it like you need it. Perfect.


Greetings,

XoechZ

[Doc]

[Wolff_man]

Automate the volume knob ?

Are you talking about the volume slider/knob of the acc guitar track ?
or the Jamstix power / dynamics knob ?

Would either of you mind posting a simple step by step of your process ?

It would be much appreciated, this is very interesting and something i have not yet tried.


Cheers

[uc_icu]

Would be interesting for me too!
But does the M8 just adjust the loudness in jamstix? Not the way of playing?

[XoechZ_at]

Ok, I'm no expert but let me try to explain.

Using the M8 and automating Jamstix' volume knob is basically the same. It both makes the volume knob in Jamstix move around while it's playing. At lower volumes the drummer plays softer and uses less hits. The higher the volume gets, the harder he hits the drums and he plays more notes and changes some sounds (eg open hats instead of closed ones). My advice here is to play a song or groove in Jamstix and move around the volume knob (the big one on top left) to see and hear how that works. Start with very low volume. The drummer will play hats and sidesticks only. Then raise the volume slowly more and more. Soon he will add kick, change sidestick to normal snare, hit the drums harder, use more hats.... (all depends on the selected groove and your brain settings).

Ok so far? I hope so.

Now there are two ways you can automatically adjust the volume knob while Jamstix is playing. The M8 or host automation.

About the M8:
First, set Jamstix into "audio jam" mode, so it "listens" to the M8 and adjusts volume how the M8 "tells" it. Then put the M8 as an insert FX on a desired track. The following will happen: Jamstix' volume knob will follow the dynamics of that track. That means, if the audio on this track is at low volume, Jamstix will also play on low volume. If the audio on this track gets louder, Jamstix will raise the volume and so on. Sounds cool and easy, but it is not. The general idea behind the M8 is good, but it takes a lot of fiddling and fine tuning to get the desired results - if you ever get it. I never did, but that's me. Try it if you like.

About host automation:
This is the way to go if you want real dynamic drum tracks. Automation is done in different ways. It depends on the DAW you use. Please read the manual of your DAW about automation. I personally use Reaper, so I can just tell you how it's done there. And in Reaper it's really easy. First, leave Jamstix in "normal jam" mode and load a song or groove. Now click on the "env" button on your Jamstix track (the Reaper track in the track list where Jamstix is inserted). A window opens with a list of parameters. These parameters are all values that you can change per automation. Check "Power Level" and close the window. Now you see that Reaper has created an "automation lane" right below your Jamstix track. On this lane you can see a fat horizontal line. This line represents the value of Jamstix' volume knob. All you have to do now is to set this line to the desired value for each part of your song. Therefore right click on this line at a point where you want to change the volume and create an "envelope point". Now drag this point and move it up (to increase volume) or down (to lower volume). You can create as many points as you like and move them around. Try it and you will see that this is really easy (at least in Reaper) and gives you the best results.


Hope that helps. If you have more questions about this, feel free to ask.


Greetings,

XoechZ

[geoff_sct]

Thanks XoechZ for the clear explanation. I'm using Reaper & will do it that way.

[XoechZ_at]

Hi again!

Sorry, I messed something up. That's because I wrote this not on my audio PC. Shame on me.

When you use automation, the correct parameter you have to select is "Power Level", not "Volume", because this would automate Reaper's track volume. I corrected this in my post bove. Sorry again!

[Wolff_man]

XoechZ_at, thankyou for the explanation.

After reading your method and reading the section on audioM8 in the manual i've been messing around with a single electric guitar track.

The problem with my electric guitar track is that it wasn't giving the audioM8 enough signal to get a decent drum track, it was just plain weak, so i adjusted the trim pot and velocity curve on the options page but still the drums were weak.

Then it occured to me to insert a volume control in the fx rack ( in REAPER BTW ) before the audiom8 plugin
Then i adjusted the volume level until i got the meter in M8 up in the yellowish ( im colour blind ) area.
Now adjust the trimpot on the options page until the loudest guitar parts make the power / level knob almost max out.

Doing this seems to work really well, then i recorded the midi into a track in REAER and put jamstix in drum module mode, now i used automation, as you suggested, to control the dynamics of the overall drum track, im still experimenting with this method but it seem it will work very well so far.

Thanks again

Cheers

[paul_46038]

@XoechZ_at: Wow, that's very useful - thanks for posting!

[richardwhl]

Excellent info in this post!

Automating the Power knob is by far the best way of getting the "drummer" to play in the feel of your song.

If it's not already, this post should be a sticky.

[alexis]