Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[Sir_Plus]

First: Jamstix is super cool, powerful, & unique. I've been dreaming of something like this for a long time!
But I have some confusion (I have reviewed the manual a few times) and I'll try to be succinct...
I'm starting with complete rock songs, played along a repeating, static loop, later to be replaced with
something similar, but more elaborate. So I'm I'm trying to do is:
1. Import a midi pattern that I like (got that part down O.K)
2. Initially have it play exactly the same way for every repetition, through the whole song (just a starting point)
3. Mess with individual bars later, each one not affecting any of the others.
3.5 Later, further tweak by replacing some verses with other parts (Chorus, Bridge...etc)

I am paying attention to "Core Bars", & the "Full", "Auto" and "Bar" buttons. Also I use the Locking buttons. Still, it's hard to control
when and how Jamstix recomposes stuff.

Let me split this up, with suggestions in next post...

[Sir_Plus]

Despite locking core parts and bars, Jamstix changes repetitions of Core Bars. There does seem to be confusion
about how this works (I'm certainly confused, anyway). So, some ideas:

1. Include an option to have repetitions of a bar remain unchanged by default, and changes/recompostions
of each part apply only to that part- by default. In other words, give the user the ability to work bar by bar,
without worrying about anything else getting changed. (Maybe it's supposed to be able to work this way to
begin with...sorry if I'm just not getting how to make it work!)

2. On another note: Jamstix synchs with host...following it (works perfectly). But it would be great if Jamstix
could have the host DAW go to whatever bar the user selects within Jamstix. Makes sense?
Right now, if one picks a part, say, in the middle of a song to edit and preview, it is not connected
to the playback start point of the DAW. Being able to have Jamstix have the DAW to set its playback
point to whatever bar is being edited would be a super feature!

[Sir_Plus]

"Work-around" employed so far: Copy the "prototype" part. Create a new part,
and paste the prototype part onto it. Edit to taste, and then be sure to LOCK it right away.
This may be a bit ham-handed, but it's working.
Maybe there's a better way?

[Azimuth]

Are you linking your song parts? Locking has no effect on Linked song parts. If Part 1 is linked to Part 2, ANY changes to Part 1 (Parent) will mirrored in Part 2 (child) automatically. If your parts are linked, double click the song part in the Song Sheet and choose Unlinked in the Linked To drop down.

[Sir_Plus]

[Azimuth]

[Grem_Songs]

[Sir_Plus]

What I mean is: I import a midi pattern, which is 2 bars long. If I pick 2 repetitions for the part, (so, 4 bars total now)-
the 1st two bars play like the original pattern, but the brain changes the next 2 bars.

So now I just leave the length at 1 repetition, starting off with the part locked- and duplicate it a bunch of times, working
on the song bar by bar (which is how I like to work anyway). I just re-lock stuff when I'm happy with it. *I also make sure the parts are unlinked, as described before.

[Grem_Songs]

[Azimuth]

If you are importing a 2 bar midi file, choose Bar dropdown>Save Groove as Style. Save the 2 bars as an new style in User Styles after you modify it how you want it and then load that style when using the Song Builder and that 2 bar groove will cover the entire song you build. I think that would be easier and faster than your current method.

But as I said, whatever works for you is all that matters.

[TheSystem]

[Azimuth]

[Grem_Songs]

[filo_01]

Hi, I think this is a right thread for my question.
I've created a simple test song with one 4 bars verse. I would like to change every 4th bar Brain Style from "Default" to "[X] No Snare" and leave first three bars untouched/unchanged.



There are two things I don't understand and probably I'm doing something in a wrong way.

My steps to reproduce 1st one- change of Brain Style for particular bar
1. Song -> Load song
2. Verse Part -> Locking - Lock All Bars
3. Set 4th bar as active and set its Brain Style to "[X] No Snare" (as on the screenshot above)
4. Play all four bars - groove of all of them is OK, but the first three bars have also Brain Style set to "[X] No Snare". Why, while they're locked?
5. Verse Part -> Locking - Unlock All Bars
6. Play all four bars - groove has been changed, all bars is played with "[X] No Snare" Brain style.


My steps to reproduce 2st one- repetition value change
1. Song -> Load song
2. Verse Part -> Locking - Lock All Bars
3. Change repetitions from 30 to 1 on Verse
4. Play 4 bars - sounds OK, all bars are unchanged (thanks to Lock, 2.)
5. Verse Part -> Locking - Unlock All Bars
6. Play 4 bars - at least 4th bar has been recomposed, why? Just by changing value of repetitions?

Thank you for your advice.

[Azimuth]

Hi filo_01,

#1) The reason that occurs is because presets apply to the entire song part, not just a single bar. While you have all bars locked and then change the preset in a single bar, only the unlocked bar is recomposed. Then when you unlock all of the other bars, if you have "Full" active, those bars will recompose with the new preset instantly when unlocked. If you have "Full" inactive but "Auto" active, they will recompose with the new preset when being played through.

#2) I'm assuming that you are doing this with the default lone Verse in the Song Sheet when first loading Jamstix. If you notice the song part is 4 bars, 30 repetitions with TF (transition fills) checked. The reason bar 4 has changed after reducing the number of repetitions to 1 is because now bar 4 is the last bar of the song part and now contains a transition fill and is colored Orange. If you changed repetitions to 2, then bar 8 instead of bar 4 would exhibit the same thing.

Hope I've understood your questions properly.