Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[pjano_PJ]

This might be very basic for most but I am actually very interested how people are using Jamstix in a scenario where You have a finished track, and would like to add realistic, humanlike drums to it. Believe it or not I have not found one single YouTube video that would showcase a practical application on how to use Jamstix with your musical ideas!. I could not believe that. Not a single one. Even the excellent and in depth tutorials made by djbolivia don’t show that . Are really most people composing by starting with just drums? I find this hard to believe. So when You have a basic song structure, recorded instruments, maybe even vocal, a simple scratch track with static drum loops from the typical Drum VST’s how do You proceed? Initially I was thinking that the Audio Jam function is something similar to Logic X Drummer’s „follow track” option. Although Logic’s drummer might seem like a toy compared to the complexity of Jamstix this follow function works actually pretty well. I usually go with the bas track and Drummer instantly gives me options that fit the groove. The Audio Jam option only seems to react to the velocity of the musical performance but does not adopt to the groove of the bas. I work mainly in Cubase so I don’t want to be limited to Logic.
Please let me know how You approach this scenario and what your workflow are. I downloaded the demo but I must say that the noise option was so annoying that I stopped using it. Is there really no alternative to protect a demo than this annoying noise option?
The features of the software and the positive reviews however made me brake my own rule and I bought the program without testing it extensively in demo mode first. I hope I did the right thing

Thank You
Piotr

[Azimuth]

Hi Piotr, I actually do start with drums like I'm working with a real live drummer. I outline my basic song structure in the Song Wizard & choose a style, like I would in explaining it to a drummer, and then set out to find a "groove" that feels right. Once I have a pretty solid drum track formed, then I'll tweak mainly the fills to dial in what I'm looking for. If I have to go back after the fact and add sections, I approach it the same way. Sometimes I'll choose a completely different drummer model or style for the new section and it can really create interesting (and unexpected) dynamics. Once you get your bearings on how to make the Brain Controls steer in the direction you want to go, it really can come together surprisingly fast. Hope this helps.

[keys_reaper]

Hi Piotr,
I usually write long tracks with lots of tempo and time signature changes in them so my way of working may be quite different to others, but this is what I do..

I create music using VST's and a USB controller keyboard in REAPER.

I put a few musical ideas down to get the general feel of each part of the overall piece and then add a JS track.
In JS, I then create parts which correspond to my musical parts - they typically will have diff times sigs so this currently has to be done manually in JS.
Each time sig change is a new JS part.
Now I just hit 'play' and let JS compose the drum parts. I do prog rock so i like using drummer Mike (Portnoy) which adds quite a bit of rhythmic variety straight off the bat.

This JS track now kind of serves as my click track for the piece.

I then do lots of tracking and editing then manually tweak JS parts if i want it to re-compose or set fills etc. If I get a good rhythm from the other tracks, I might manually create a part in JS to match the other track then import it as a style for Mike to play with. (see tutorial videos for that).

Hope that helps.

Keys.

[pjano_PJ]

Hi!
Thank You!
Its's great to know the different approaches and workflows to such a complex software. Getting good drum parts down with my songs has always been my weak spot. I have most Drum VST's SD, EZD, BFD3, SSD, but I was never really happy with what I could get. The problem was not the sounds (BFD3 is my favorite) they all are excellent. The problem was the static loops, copy pasted all over my track. Then someone showed me Logic's intelligent Drummer and this opened my eyes. I don't work in Logic, mainly Cubase and PT and Jamstix seems ideal because it's let's me work in different DAW's.
Cheers
Piotr

[Dewdman42]

I agree with you, the Logic follow track feature is very outstanding and more sophisticated then Jamstix's audio input. Hopefully in the future JS4 may improve upon this aspect.

In the meantime, what you can do is use Logic to generate some basic pattern that follows your music. Then export that as midi from Logic, import those into JS as grooves, then apply whatever drummer model you want and twist all the knobs to make something new and original and more sophisticated then what Logic can do, but that is following your music.

But its also not that difficult to just create your own patterns in JS as you listen to the music. all you have to do is establish a few key patterns of the kick, snare and the hi hats in a way that matches the rythmn of your music. Then let JS do the rest to make it sound like a real drummer.

[sharke_]

A lot of my tracks are quite long and sprawling affairs which grow organically wherever the mood takes me. I almost never write an entire song and lay it down exactly how I like it, that's not the kind of composer I am. So I'm constantly adding stuff, going off on diversions, revamping sections and taking the piece in entirely new directions. My stuff is very much electronic/synth based, not exactly EDM but definitely electronica of sorts.

For the drums I use a combination of Geist, Jamstix, Tremor and Battery. Sometimes all 4 in the same tune. If it's a mechanical sounding drum part I'm looking for then I will either use the pattern sequencers in Geist and Tremor, or I will program MIDI in the DAW's piano roll. But whenever I'm looking for something more intricate or human sounding, I will use Jamstix's MIDI output to drive Geist, Tremor or Battery. I find that it sounds absolutely fantastic when used with electronic drum kits, even some of the more far-out space age sounds. It's quite unusual to hear such sounds played with a natural human style of drumming. I mainly use Jamstix's funk and breakbeat styles but have even used a country style in a techno tune. It's amazing how different these styles sound when you have them driving an 808 or a 909 drumkit.

So basically I'm writing the music of the tune and every now and then I will decide that I need, say, 16 measures of intricate Jamstix rhythms. So I fire up Jamstix, insert a section of silence for the measures before I need Jamstix, and then just insert a section of 16 measures in Jamstix's section sequencer. Once I've gotten the number of silent measures and non-silent measures set up, I will go through the (sometimes laborious) process of setting up a Jamstix MIDI-only kit to output the correct notes for whatever drum machine I'm using. I've gotten quite fast at this though. Once I'm satisfied that everything is set up to my liking, then the fun of tweaking the Jamstix brain begins. I will usually tweak that 16 measure "song" structure into smaller parts, like maybe 4 measures of one style and then 4 measures of another, or whatever. I even change drummers between sections. Once I have a basic structure and feel down then I will tweak things on a measure by measure basis - deleting hits, adding others, editing groove weights, editing fills and the like. Once I'm happy with a measure I will lock it. And I constantly save the Jamstix song to my hard drive just in case.

Occasionally I will then record Jamstix's MIDI output to a MIDI track in my DAW so that I can tweak it even more intricately.

[Azimuth]

Hey sharke_,

Just curious, why don't you save the set up midi only kits in Jamstix so you can just reload them when you need them. I do that with custom kits I set up all the time. It saves a lot of work.