Rayzoon Technologies LLC

Robitaille20 · Jamologist Joined: 15 May 2006 Posts: 173

Hey all! Lke so many before me I have taken the plunge and purchased the entire suite of Jamstix products. I've been lurking in other music related forums and have read nothing but sparkling reviews and recommendations on this program. Then I watched these forums for a bit to see the "amazing user support" that I have read so much about...it's all 110% true!

Ordering the product was a breeze! I did the paypal deal and within 20 minutes or so had all the download links and grabbed everything...the install was a breeze as well.

The something happened. Somewhere between buying the program and trying to use it..I think I took a blow to the head and have become "Stupified". LOL

I've heard soooo many other users sample files from what they have done and was blown away, so I figured I'd give it a run for myself and see what I could come up with. I opened up my Cubase...opened a project that I had a simple drum track for and promptly muted that track. Then I added a new audio track and imported an mp3 of some scratch guitar work I had recorded a while back into the track just to get up and running really quickly. Of course I added the m8 input to monitor the guitar track and then added the Jamstix VST....all good....the input in Jamstix sees the audio in the guitar track right off the bat (did I mention that the docs for this program are idiot proof?)

Now it gets funky...I set Jamstix to audio rather than MIDI (I have no midi controllers btw) and set it to Free Jam to get it going. I even messed with some of the settings for "allow double bass" etc....nothing sounds good or even close to other users samples I have heard. By way of comparison, it would be like asking a drummer I know to sit down to a kit and record about 2 minutes of drums and send it to me, then importing it into it's own audio track with the guitar and playing them together and hope the fit. Not even close.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit, I know that there is a LOT to this program I don't understand yet and I will "just play with it"...it just didn't jump out at me like I thought it would based on so many user opinion/reviews. I actually feel a bit overwhelmed at this time, but I cannot wait to get my mind around this program based on the results that I KNOW are possible from what I've heard....

Doc · Moderator Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 663

Welcome to the board. Smile

The first thing that comes to mind now:
Make sure the tempo of yor host (in this case cubase) matches the tempo of your importedpilot guitar to allow Jamstix to get into the groove.

I´m sure you´ll get it going!

Robitaille20 · Jamologist Joined: 15 May 2006 Posts: 173

You know what...I bet you nailed it right on the head!! Off the top of my head I know for a fact that the project tempo was set at 145 bpm....I think the guitar I threw in was 125-130 at best...

Wow..thanks for that! It's so easy to get lost in the fine details! hahah Now I wanna leave work and go play with it some more!

Thanks!

Ralph [RZ] · Site Admin Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 13332

I would encourage you to not worry about the audioM8 part at this time to simplify things until you're more comfortable with Jamstix (in audio jam mode, Jamstix can only use volume information of the signal to adjust velocity anyway). So, leave audioM8 out of your project for now and lock the velocity slider at max.

Now, focus on this: the rhythms played by Jamstix in a free jam are always determined by the free jam settings, not the audio input! Please experiment with the funkiness and complexity sliders as your song plays and see how Jamstix alters the rhythms in response.

Do this until you get a few rhythms that you like. Now, switch Jamstix to 'manual jam' mode, go to the arranger and find the rhythm(s) that you liked. Assign them to bars as you see fit, ususally aligned with the sections of your song. Right-click on bars to remove fills (Reset) or add some where they are needed for transitions.

Finally, use an automation envelope for the 'Velocity' parameter to control dynamics of the drums. Alternatively, add audioM8 and let it control the velocity automatically.

This should be enough for now.
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

Robitaille20 · Jamologist Joined: 15 May 2006 Posts: 173

Sounds good! Thanks for the input. I'll definitely play around with it that way. I'm eager to learn this program because I'm not a drummer and trying to get something programmed as easily as possible is what I'm after!

Thanks again!