Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[Robus_1]

I've had Jamstix 3 since December 2013 and use it every day in arranging and recording my original compositions. I wish I could say that this has given me a detailed insight into how the program works, but the inner workings of the brain and style features remain a mystery and the results of twisting this or that dial on the interface are usually unexpected. Rather, I have learned how to zero in on the aspects of the program that work best for me and work around the rest.

The way I use the program most often is this: I record a bass of guitar part against a click track. Then I set the DAW to loop over that part and fire up Jamstix. Then by trial and error, auditioning different styles and players and adjusting the groove, shuffle, and strength settings, I create a drum part that fits well. 90% of the time I use the pre-Jamstix 3 styles that allow me to specify the location of kick and snare hits manually.

When I hear something I like, I immediately record the MIDI output into the DAW and move on to the next part of the composition. I don't use the Jamstix song editor anymore. It is easier to make fine adjustments to the drum part inside the MIDI editor of the DAW than try to do it in Jamstix. It is also easier to build up the overall drum track inside the DAW, where I can do things like drag and drop that are not currently possible within Jamstix.

Used in this way, Jamstix works well for me. However, there is one problem that I am constantly having to work around. This is the implementation of the "pocket" feature.

In the current version, increasing the pocket slider will move notes behind the beats by variable amounts. I notice that more adjustment is applied to snare hits, less to kick and hats. The problem is that applying pocket will move the location of the downbeat (by the downbeat, I mean the note that falls on the 1 of any measure). The effect is that the entire measure sounds like it is arriving late. To me, pocket feel is more about the relationship of notes within the measure. To give an example, say I apply a pocket of 20%. When I look at the results, I see that Jamstix has applied a 20% pocket to the snares on 2 and 4, and a 10% pocket to the kick on 1 and 3.

When I listen to the part, I do not hear a 20% pocket. I hear a measure that is out of sync with the song by 10%. Within that measure, I hear a 10% pocket on the snares.

There is a workaround. I could compensate by adjusting the timing of the part -10%, either within Jamstix or using the MIDI editor in the DAW. Now the kick on 1 arrives on the measure. I hear a properly synced measure with a 10% pocket on the snares.

My suggestions for Jamstix 4 would be these: An option to disable the pocket adjustment for the downbeat of the measure. Better yet, an option to disable it for certain elements, for example kicks, or crashes that fall on 1.

A second suggestion would be for the pocket adjustment to be applied to accents and fills. A far as I can tell, this doesn't happen currently. If you are working with a large pocket, then the fills and accents will sound out-of-sync with the groove. This is one reason I don't use the fill feature on Jamstix much.

If I were to make another suggestion for Jamstix 4, it would be to improve the fills. But that is another thread. This one is too long already.

[Robus_1]

I wanted to clarify my previous post. I have never seen images posted on this site and hope it is not against the rules. If so, please delete this post.

This is a measure from a song I am working on at the moment. I created the part in Jamstix and then recorded the MIDI output into the editor of my DAW. I've applied maximum pocket for a behind-the-beat feel. Some notes are shifted more than others, but all the elements have been shifted to some degree. This sounds to my ears like the drum part is out-of-sync with the song.



Here is the same part. In the MIDI editor of the DAW, I selected all the notes and then snap quantized the kick on the downbeat to the 1 of the measure. This didn't change the timing of the drum notes relative to each other. It now sounds the way it should: in sync with the song, with a behind-the-beat feel on some of the notes (notably the backbeat on the snare).



Then I recomposed the part, adding a fill. I've highlighted the fill elements in red. Notice they line up more or less with the subdivisions of the measure, while the non-fill elements are behind the subdivisions. So the pocket has not been applied to the fill. When I quantize the part to get the downbeat back on the 1 as above, the fill will be ahead of the subdivisions. I'll need to correct that manually.

[Robitaille20]

How is your "Humanize" setting set up? That can also affect the placement of notes as well.

[Robus_1]

I haven't experimented to learn how the "humanize" function might affect the behavior of the pocket function.

Thanks, I'll do that.

[Ralph [RZ]]

Thanks, Robus, we are reviewing downbeat timing logic for Jamstix 4.
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Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com