Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[ckurz_7000]

As you can see from the title of this post I am a bit frustrated. The problem is that I am creating a drum track for a piece which has frequent 2/2 bars inserted between 4/4 bars. So for each change in the measure I have to create a new part in JS.

Experimenting with different styles, players, fill settings, etc. is extremely awkward since I have to make sure the settings are the same for each part. Since I cannot select multiple parts at once to, e.g., paste style&drummer info into, I have to go manually through the list of parts (something like 40 parts to a 3 minute song!).

A verse of this song comprises about 5 parts. The verse is repeated three times but because I can only specify repeats at the bar level, there is no way for me to simply tell JS to repeat this group of 5 parts three times. As a consequence, the three verses alone add up to 15 parts.

So, in essence, my frustration centers around the song editor. I would definitely focus some development time on this rather awkward interface. The functions that would help me (and probably a lot of others) would be:

1) Allow me to specify repeats on a group of parts, i.e., make repeats on a "section" level or else do away with the restriction that changes in measures have to fall on part boundaries.

2) Improve the editing capabilities in the song editor. For instance, let me select several parts at once so that I can paste something into them, delete them or drag them somewhere else.

A solution which would probably make the life of programmers easier would be to let me specify the song structure in a text editor using a simple format. I can then import the song into JS and wouldn't have to edit it in this cumbersome way.

You could, e.g., use a simple CSV format, with a new line for each part:

Part Name, measure, bars, repetition, style, drummer

This would already be a big improvement.

What do you think?

-- Chris.

[Ralph [RZ]]

We're working on some improvements for Jamstix 4, including part linking.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[ckurz_7000]

That sounds like a good step forward. While I`m at it, please allow me to make one other suggestion:

The user interface for the bar editor could also stand some improvement. I would like, for instance, to draw a rectangle around some hits to select them. Then, whatever I do (such as change their sound or velocity, delete, copy, paste, move them, etc.) should apply to them as a group.

As an aside: how do I enter tuplets, e.g. triplets?

What about a cymbal roll with a crescendo ending in a stop and cymbal hit.

BTW, although I am bitching and moaning here, I think JS is the best thing since sliced bread.

Thanks, -- Chris.

[Ralph [RZ]]

[makka_316]

I'm experiencing the part build up issue as well. I have a chorus with 3 bars of 7/8 and one bar 4/4 plus some typical pre-verse/chorus parts so my song structure is closing in on 30 parts so far.

Apart from the obvious issue of having to copy and paste parts multiple times when I make changes to the style or drummer the other issue is that if you edit parts near the end of the list the list jumps back to the top when the changes are applied.

It would be useful to have the currently selected part remain visible in the list. Even more useful would be to keep the currently selected part in the same position on the screen where possible. It's hard enough going cross-eyed looking at a chorus that is repeated 4 times with two parts per chorus:

Chorus1_1
Chorus1_2
Chorus2_1
Chorus2_2
Chorus3_1
Chorus3_2
Chorus4_1
Chorus4_2

without the part list jumping back to the top after every edit

Design wise I like both of ckurz_7000's suggestions. Even more flexible might be to support nested sections with repeats at each level. i.e. a section could contain sections or parts and both parts and sections could be repeated to allow "repeats of repeats".

In any case looking forward to JS4 and part linking.