Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[Jason]

hi.

i'm very new at Jamstix and tried setting up the Stop/Start keys on my Midi Keyboard controller (it's not the really small one but not huge: about 50 keys or so i think).

i had to play notes on my guitar find out which keys on my keyboard were certain basic notes, like A or E, etc.

but when i tried pressing the keys to stop and start Jamstix it didn't seem to work. so i tried every key on my controller in case i had the wrong octave or something. no luck.

can someone tell me (or point me to a site) that tells me which key is, for example, A2 or E2 or something. the numbers are throwing me off; i don't know what octave they represent.

BTW, i had the tick box checked. any other Jamstix issue i may have missed?

thanks.

Jason

[Ralph [RZ]]

Just hit a key on your keyboard and then click the keyboard icon next to the selection list. Jamstix will now auto-select the key you pressed so you can see what is what.

Hope this helps!
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Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[Jason]

thanks Ralph, your tip worked and i can change the reset and stop/start keys.

but i'm having problems now. sorry if this sounds really basic but i've fooled around with it and can't seem to figure it out (being exhausted from a new baby doesn't leave me all that sharp late at night either).

ok, i reset the keys. i've got a guitar track recorded and i'm cycling 2 bars (Cubase SX, version 1). when the Start/Stop checkbox is UNticked, the Free Jam seems to work fine.

when i tick the Start/Stop box, things get weird. or i can't figure it out.

the drum beat will NOT play through the entire 2 bars of guitar the way it did when the box was unticked.

i go to Arranger to see if that tells me what's going on (i'm still figuring Arranger out too) and i see that the Intro is placed at a weird bar, bar 5 (in an 8-bar cycle).

and, as i said, there's big gaps in the drums. it'll play the intro and a bit of a beat then stop for a few bars.

i hit the Reset key on my Midi controller; nothing changes.
i hit the Start/Stop key on the controller; again, nothing changes.

what am i doing wrong?

some basic questions about Restart and Stop Start please:

1) to Reset the jam, i don't have to press Stop on my Cubase transport, do i? or Stop on the Jamstix transport?

2) does Stop/Start function the exact same as hitting Stop and Play on the Jamstix transport? will it stop the drums while my guitar loop is still running from Cubase?

3) why is an Intro bar being placed in the Jam when i haven't specifically asked for an Intro? i just want 2 bars of straight beat.

also, some basic Free Jam questions please:

the manual says hitting Free Jam button erases the session and startss new. does this mean it should erases all the old patterns in the Arranger?

and, again, you shouldn't have to stop your sequencer or Jamstix to start a new pattern when you press Free Jam, should you?

sorry for the dumb quesitons and thanks.

Jason

[Ralph [RZ]]

[Jason]

thanks as always for the quick reply!

"It won't erase the patterns but overwrite them as needed. This does not currently work with the Free Jam button as the manual says. Instead, please move the complexity or funkiness slider, which will cause a reset of the free jam. This will be made 'nicer' in a future update with a 'Reset' button in the free jam style panel."

thanks -- i was going a bit crazy trying to figure out if hitting Free Jam was giving me a new pattern. i look forward to the update.



Quote:

'and you shouldn't have to stop your sequencer to start a new pattern, should you? it will start a new drum pattern in the middle of a loop and sync it up properly so that the new drum beat "starts" at bar 1 of the sequenced pattern?'


"I'm not sure what you mean. Please elaborate."

i'm talking about making sure the new Jamstix beat, bar 1, "syncs up" with the Cubase pattern. so if i start a new Jam while Cubase is on bar 5, beat 2, the new Jamstix pattern will "sound" correct and the new beat will sound like it's starting with the start of my loop.

i'm just talking about making sure Jamstix sounds like it starts with the start of my riff. i don't need to stop Cubase and restart my riff when i start a new beat? hope this is clear.

also, if i'm now ignoring the Stop/Start keys on my keyboard for guitar loops, as you advise, the Free Jam mode won't be placing any Intros or Endings on it's own, unless i ask for it in Arranger, right?

thanks for making sense of my troubles and my far-too-long post!



Jason

[Ralph [RZ]]

[togo59]

I guess I have been confused about this as well as Jason. I was hoping to trigger Jamstix to start and stop from key notes in a midi sequence (in Sonar) and I was scratching my head trying to find out which track JS was 'listening to' to get the trigger to start (or stop).

Ans: JS is listening to the omni midi channel not a midi track within the sequencer.

Am I right or just a complete f. idiot?
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[Ralph [RZ]]

VSTi plugins cannot listen to specific MIDI tracks in a sequencer, they have a dedicated MIDI input and the host sends MIDI data to that input from live sources or tracks(s) depending on its configuration.

Jamstix listens to any start/stop notes on any channel of that input.

By the way Togo, did you see my message on the Sonar forum about your Jamstix load issue and trying to disable DEP?
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Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[togo59]

Hi Ralph,

Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't noticed your reply.

I've posted this reply to it.

Jamstix is almost OK. I can do what I want with it (I don't seem to need to load AudioM8 any more) I am not sure it's perfect though as the DXi version doesn't come up with the interface.

I like Jamstix so much.. it really does have a mind of its own.

Re: Above, does that mean that if I trigger Jamstix to start/stop on (say) C1 that any occurrance of C1 in any track should start/stop it? I seem to have no end of difficulty getting this start/stop to behave itself. It even seems to change its mind about what was the last MIDI note I played.

I tend to get on with the music and not let myself get too bogged down in all this.
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[togo59]

FYI: Everything is perfect now. Thanks for all your help. (More info on the Sonar support thread.)

- Togo
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