| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
DAWgEAR
Junior Jammer
Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Southern California
|
 Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 11:18 pm Post subject: Questions About Rhythm and Arrangement Tabs |
 |
|
First off, Ralph, you are to be commended for the outstanding plugin and your outstanding service!
After owning it for over a month, I've finally had a chance to really delve into Jamstix and I have a few questions.
I'm on X4-7.
1) Is it possible to quickly clear the 16 rhythm slots listed along the left edge of the Arranger so that they are empty or read "No Rhythm"?
In case anyone is wondering why I wish to do this, I like to keep my work area neat and tidy. 
My workaround has been to create and save a blank rhythm and load it into each of the 16 slots that are unused.
2) Regarding the Load and Save buttons on the Rhythm tab, I seem to be unable to change the name of a rhythm I created. As the manual explains, trying to save the same rhythm under a different name is prevented to avoid redundant rhythms, but I cannot seem to get rid of the existing rhythm. I've been using the Manage button and deleting the rhythm from the rhythms folder. I've also tried going into the rhythms folder and changing the file name manually. Am I missing something? Evidently, the name is stored within the file. Are the .rrf files in a format that I can edit myself? And if so, how do I do this? -- Windows Notepad doesn't seem to work.
I have a few other questions, but that's it for now.
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Ralph [RZ]
Site Admin
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 13332
|
| Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 9:13 am Post subject: Re: Questions About Rhythm and Arrangement Tabs |
|
|
| DAWgEAR wrote: | 1) Is it possible to quickly clear the 16 rhythm slots listed along the left edge of the Arranger so that they are empty or read "No Rhythm"?
In case anyone is wondering why I wish to do this, I like to keep my work area neat and tidy.
|
We'll put that on the list
| Quote: |
2) Regarding the Load and Save buttons on the Rhythm tab, I seem to be unable to change the name of a rhythm I created. As the manual explains, trying to save the same rhythm under a different name is prevented to avoid redundant rhythms, but I cannot seem to get rid of the existing rhythm. I've been using the Manage button and deleting the rhythm from the rhythms folder. I've also tried going into the rhythms folder and changing the file name manually. Am I missing something? Evidently, the name is stored within the file. Are the .rrf files in a format that I can edit myself? And if so, how do I do this? -- Windows Notepad doesn't seem to work.
|
You change the name by clicking on the name in the rhythm tab.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DAWgEAR
Junior Jammer
Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Southern California
|
| Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 11:34 am Post subject: Re: Questions About Rhythm and Arrangement Tabs |
|
|
| Zauni wrote: | | You change the name by clicking on the name in the rhythm tab. |
Ralph, thanks for your response.
Please consider this example scenario:
Suppose I create a rhythm, name it MySongChorus, and save it. Later, I decide I want to keep the same rhythm but now I want to have it be called MySongBridge instead.
I can rename the rhythm to be MySongBridge, but Jamstix won't let me save it (because the exact same rhythm already exists under the name MySongChorus).
Obviously, if I delete the file before launching Jamstix, I lose the rhythm pattern as well ...
If I load the MySongChorus rhythm pattern into the Rhythm tab, use the Manage button to delete the original MySongChorus .rrf file, and then try to save as MySongBridge, Jamstix still "remembers" the old rhythm and tells me "This Rhythm Already Exists Under The Name MySongChorus" even though technically MySongChorus doesn't exist anymore at this point.
If I manually change the name of a rhythm in Windows Explorer, the rhythm still appears within Jamstix under the old name ... presumably the name I saved it with is part of the .rff file. (Hence my question about how can I directly edit the .rff file)
In the above example scenario, my workaround is to load MySongChorus, change just one thing (like velocity of kick on beat 1 from 127 to 126), then rename to MySongBridge, and then save as MySongBridge (Jamstix allows this since the rhythms are no longer identical), then go back and delete MySongChorus, ... and finally change the velocity from 126 back to 127, resave, and then delete the "intermediate" copy which had the velocity at 126.
This workaround works, but it is a cumbersome way to change the name of a saved rhythm in the middle of trying to compose a song!
Please either set me straight if I am completely lost (quite possible ) or consider improving this as a feature request for an upcoming version.
Thanks.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ralph [RZ]
Site Admin
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 13332
|
| Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 11:38 am Post subject: Re: Questions About Rhythm and Arrangement Tabs |
|
|
| DAWgEAR wrote: | | Zauni wrote: | | You change the name by clicking on the name in the rhythm tab. |
Ralph, thanks for your response.
Please consider this example scenario:
Suppose I create a rhythm, name it MySongChorus, and save it. Later, I decide I want to keep the same rhythm but now I want to have it be called MySongBridge instead.
I can rename the rhythm to be MySongBridge, but Jamstix won't let me save it (because the exact same rhythm already exists under the name MySongChorus).
Obviously, if I delete the file before launching Jamstix, I lose the rhythm pattern as well ...
If I load the MySongChorus rhythm pattern into the Rhythm tab, use the Manage button to delete the original MySongChorus .rrf file, and then try to save as MySongBridge, Jamstix still "remembers" the old rhythm and tells me "This Rhythm Already Exists Under The Name MySongChorus" even though technically MySongChorus doesn't exist anymore at this point.
If I manually change the name of a rhythm in Windows Explorer, the rhythm still appears within Jamstix under the old name ... presumably the name I saved it with is part of the .rff file. (Hence my question about how can I directly edit the .rff file)
In the above example scenario, my workaround is to load MySongChorus, change just one thing (like velocity of kick on beat 1 from 127 to 126), then rename to MySongBridge, and then save as MySongBridge (Jamstix allows this since the rhythms are no longer identical), then go back and delete MySongChorus, ... and finally change the velocity from 126 back to 127, resave, and then delete the "intermediate" copy which had the velocity at 126.
This workaround works, but it is a cumbersome way to change the name of a saved rhythm in the middle of trying to compose a song!
Please either set me straight if I am completely lost (quite possible ) or consider improving this as a feature request for an upcoming version.
Thanks.
|
Yes, the 'change a velocity' work-around is what we do too and it is cumbersome. We'll have a fix for that in one of the next updates.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DAWgEAR
Junior Jammer
Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Southern California
|
| Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 6:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Ralph, if you haven't guessed already, I'm using Jamstix almost exclusively in manual mode to create arrangements. What I like best is (i) the ease of use of the Rhythm tab for quickly constructing and trying out alternate rhythms and (ii) the ability to add fills, variations, and accents, which, not being a drummer, I am not very good at. 
In the Arrangement tab, I am having difficulties working with and previewing fills and I am getting unpredictable (to me, anyway) behavior.
So I have some more questions concerning previewing fills and how the controls in the Rhythm tab affect how fills play back during previewing. But first, some background ...
Here's what I'm doing: Let's say that, in the Arranger, bars 1 through 8 are the same rhythm and I would like to include a fill in bar 4. I right click the pink box in bar 4 to bring up the FIE box and I click fill. Then I select one of the fill names and click the notes symbol to preview it.
What I would expect/like to hear (in 4/4 time) is one four beat preview of the fill. I would expect the preview to consistent if I previewed the same fill again, later in my session, or on another day. Further, I would expect that if I try to preview a different fill, likewise I would get a different four beat preview.
So, what is perplexing to me is that the "preview" seems to keep going ("loopng"?), but it doesn't repeat in any predictable pattern. I actually have to look at the beat display on the transport bar to have any idea where in the fill playback is occuring. If I were to guess, it seems like something else plays briefly (some sort of count-in?) before the fill begins.
Also, upon choosing a different fill to preview ... sometimes it sounds like remnants of the first fill are still playing. I would expect a fill named "Cymbal Monster" to sound very different from "Bare Snare". Is there some sort of buffer that is not getting cleared out?
Also, when I create a fill, say at bar 4, it seems like fills are occuring in other bars as well.
So ... here are my questions:
3) Does Jamstix improvise and randomize during fill preview? If so, is there any way to turn it off and just hear the basic essence of the fill? I would like to be able to preview all the fills and hear them without other stuff going on, so that, for example, I can make a list of my go-to favorite fills and a list of fills I do not care for. I have tried putting the snare and tom accent sliders all the way to the left in the rhythm tab and the funkiness and complexity sliders all the way to the left in the Jam tab, but then the fills pretty much do not play at all. Is there anything else I should be doing? If not, consider this a feature request: the ability to hear the basic essence of each fill in a consistent manner without other stuff going on.
4) Is there anyway to have a fill preview just play once all the way through for 4 just beats and then stop (without having to monitor the beat display in the transport bar and hit the notes button on 4). If not, consider this a feature request.
5) I seem to be getting fills in measures where there is a pink box and not a yellow box with F in it. If I add a fill to a rhythm only at bar 4 and then double click on the pink box at bar 2, the rhythm tab pops up and, in the Mode panel, the red light next to the fill button is lit. Is this supposed to work this way if I want the rhythm to play straight on all bars except bar 4? Or do I need a distinct and separate rhythm for each variation (fill, different fill, or no fill) of a rhythm?
Did that make sense? 
Sorry to bombard you with all these lengthy and detailed questions but I am trying to master this plugin and I am having difficulties understanding how things should be working from the manual. I do not know if this is due to (i) my stupidity, (ii) the plugin was not designed to do the things I am trying to do, or (iii) there is a bug in the program. Please bear with me! Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
BTW, I'm using Cubase SX 3 and BFD (using midi out from Jamstix, not within Jamstix).
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ralph [RZ]
Site Admin
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 13332
|
| Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 8:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Just a quick note that I will answer your questions tomorrow...
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hippo
New To The Jam
Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 1
Location: Cheshire UK
|
| Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 11:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
"Did that make sense?"
Yea all of the above made sense to me, I've taken the weekend + to learn this software and have found exactly the issues that DAWgEAR has posted here.
I feel somehow its just not consistent enough for song writing and end up recording the midi for bits I like and cutting and pasting them in the sequencer.
I`ve had the unwanted fills thing, the audition not being the same as the fill but misplaced in time and all the other issues DAWgEAR has brought up.
I had one passage triggered by a cut and pasted midi line that in some repeats give 4 wanted fills in a row and at other times when it repeated later in the song only one.
I'm probably just to thick to work it properly but I've printed out the manual, watched all the tutorials and have been around drum machines and sequencers for a good few decades yet still have no feel for even the basics of this jamstix at all!!
The auto jam thing is great but its taking things any further that's proving hard.
It`s probaly possible but I can`t seem to mange even to repeat a section, get it how I like, freeze that section bar by bar by using the lock tool and have it play back the same every time from then on.
Hippo |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DAWgEAR
Junior Jammer
Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Southern California
|
| Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 12:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Hippo wrote: | | I feel somehow its just not consistent enough for song writing and end up recording the midi for bits I like and cutting and pasting them in the sequencer. |
Hi Hippo, good to see you over in this part of the world.
I'm doing the same at the moment: exporting Jamstix arrangements, importing them into Cubase, and rearranging, combining, cutting, and pasting the best bits within Cubase. It's time consuming and cumbersome, but still worlds better that my own attempts at creating realistic drums.
The Rhthm and Arrangement tabs in Jamstix have tremendous potential for facilitating this kind of activity. I think that there definitely an as-of-yet unfilled niche in the market for a "human" drum VSTi where you can build and craft your own rhythms meticulously and finely control what's going on in addition to having the VSTi generate its own rhythms when you are less inspired.
The drawabacks with preset loops and rhythms and VSTis like Groove Agent is that "you get what you get" and, short of meticulous editing note by note in your sequencer, there isn't much ability to custom tailor the rhythms to your songs and bass lines.
From how Jamstix seems to be designed, it looks like it will be THE virtual instrument for working with rhythms. The Rhthm tab is brilliant. It just looks like some glitches need to be worked out.
Ralph: have you thought about including in the manual a brief written tutorial on how to construct your own rhythms and arrangements? The manual covers jamming pretty well, but is a little thin when it comes to using the Arrangement tab.
Then again, I can only imagine how busy you must be. I'd volunteer to write a draft for that portion, but I still need to get my head around how it all works first. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ralph [RZ]
Site Admin
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 13332
|
| Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| DAWgEAR wrote: |
3) Does Jamstix improvise and randomize during fill preview? If so, is there any way to turn it off and just hear the basic essence of the fill? I would like to be able to preview all the fills and hear them without other stuff going on, so that, for example, I can make a list of my go-to favorite fills and a list of fills I do not care for. I have tried putting the snare and tom accent sliders all the way to the left in the rhythm tab and the funkiness and complexity sliders all the way to the left in the Jam tab, but then the fills pretty much do not play at all. Is there anything else I should be doing? If not, consider this a feature request: the ability to hear the basic essence of each fill in a consistent manner without other stuff going on.
|
The fills are put on top of the current rhythm. Some fills suppress the rhythm for some period of the bar, others don't. Some fills also have randomization. We are planning to add to options:
a) Preview without rhythm
b) Suppress randomization
| Quote: |
4) Is there anyway to have a fill preview just play once all the way through for 4 just beats and then stop (without having to monitor the beat display in the transport bar and hit the notes button on 4). If not, consider this a feature request.
|
Well, I personally need to hear it looped for a bit to get a good feel for a fill. We'll see if we can make this an option.
| Quote: |
5) I seem to be getting fills in measures where there is a pink box and not a yellow box with F in it. If I add a fill to a rhythm only at bar 4 and then double click on the pink box at bar 2, the rhythm tab pops up and, in the Mode panel, the red light next to the fill button is lit.
|
Sounds like a bug. We'll check it out.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ralph [RZ]
Site Admin
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 13332
|
| Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Zauni wrote: |
I seem to be getting fills in measures where there is a pink box and not a yellow box with F in it. If I add a fill to a rhythm only at bar 4 and then double click on the pink box at bar 2, the rhythm tab pops up and, in the Mode panel, the red light next to the fill button is lit.
|
I checked this out and I believe this is what's happening. When you are double-clicking on bar 2 and seeing the red light lit, look at the bar display and I bet it still says 4. That's why the light is lit, you're not on bar 2, you are on bar 4 with the fill. Click the bar number (not the pink square) to go to bar 2. We'll change this in the next update so that double-clicking the square is identical to clicking the bar number.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ralph [RZ]
Site Admin
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 13332
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DAWgEAR
Junior Jammer
Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Southern California
|
| Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 12:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hi Ralph,
Wow, you are amazing! Same day service with a new beta that addresses the issues above ... customer support does not get any better than that! Many, many thanks!
| Zauni wrote: |
X4-8
added 'loop' option to FIE screen to control looping of previews
|
This works great. I really appreciate this. Thanks!
| Zauni wrote: |
X4-8
added jamstix.ini option 'NoFIERandomization' to suppress randomization of fills,intros and endings
|
I added the line NoFIERandomization=1 to my jamstix.ini file. It appears to work as expected. Again, much appreciated. Thanks!
| Zauni wrote: |
X4-8
double-clicking on a bar in the arranger now also moves the position to that bar
|
Thanks. It seems that my comment before appeared to be due to user error on my part in not checking to see whether the green position box had moved. However, this improvement makes it foolproof (the fool being me ).
| Zauni wrote: |
X4-8
when previewing, Jamstix now immediately jumps to the beat 1 to make it easier to distinguish between underlying rhythm and fill
|
Works great. Very much appreciated. Thanks!
Ralph, I can't speak for Hippo -- or anyone else for that matter -- but these improvements just made Jamstix 200% more useful for me and my songwriting methods. And it was already very useful before. I am a very happy customer.
Your business is obviously a labor of love and I hope it continues to prosper for you. I will continue to spread the word about how truly awesome you and your products are. As far as I'm concerned, everyone should buy your products and experience for themselves what top notch professionalism and integrity are all about.
Regards,
Alex
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ralph [RZ]
Site Admin
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 13332
|
| Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 12:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Much appreciate your very kind words, Alex!
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ralph [RZ]
Site Admin
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 13332
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:29 pm Post subject: Re: Questions About Rhythm and Arrangement Tabs |
|
|
| DAWgEAR wrote: | I can rename the rhythm to be MySongBridge, but Jamstix won't let me save it (because the exact same rhythm already exists under the name MySongChorus).
|
We just released the X4-16 beta which fixes this issue.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DAWgEAR
Junior Jammer
Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Southern California
|
| Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2005 1:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Many thanks, Ralph. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
