Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[paul_girdler]

Hey just wondering, does anyone use Jamstix for EDM, Hip Hop, Trap, Grime etc? Would love to hear your tracks and tips about using Jamstix for these genres and similar genres!

[sharke_]

I'm working on some electronic based tracks with Jamstix right now. I wouldn't say they fall neatly into the genres you specify, but they are electronic beat based for sure (probably more of a Floating Points/Four Tet/Burial sound than anything).

Jamstix is amazing at playing electronic drum machines. I've used it to drive Battery, Geist, Tremor, Polyplex and other assorted drum VST's.

First of all I load a MIDI only GM kit. I then send this kit out on channel 10 (my preferred channel for drums, simply because I've always used it for some reason). Once I've got this MIDI successfully routed to the VST and have tested it by clicking on the drums in Jamstix, I then choose a style and a drummer and follow either of these approaches:

1) Just send Jamstix MIDI as it is directly to the VST without worrying about which note is triggering which drum in the VST. This is a sort of "pot luck" exercise which sometimes yields some weird and wonderful results, especially with large kits in Battery in which you're not guaranteed to get the mapping you were expecting (i.e. the Jamstix kick will be triggering some other kind of drum in Battery and so on). It's great fun to go through all of your drum kits and happen across some amazing accidents.

2) I will take the time to map the Jamstix MIDI kit to the correct drums in the VST. For this purpose, I generally delete any of the Jamstix kit that I don't need. Oftentimes I will only need a very pared down kit consisting of kick, snare, hats, ride and maybe a cowbell or shaker. I frequently delete the toms because I don't need them. Then, I set about changing the MIDI note of each Jamstix drum so that they correspond with the correct drums in the Jamstix VST.

From here it's a matter of constructing your song in Jamstix's song builder, choosing the right styles and drummers and configuring the parts to taste. It's worth getting comfortable with copying and pasting parts in the song builder and taking full advantage of its flexibility. For instance, don't be afraid to throw in a part consisting of just a few measures using an alternative style and drummer, it really adds interest to your track.

As for using the styles in Jamstix, you can either use the included styles (and I find I can usually get what I want in terms of a breakbeat, four to the floor or some more esoteric styles), or you can create your own basic MIDI pattern to set out a groove "template," and import this as a style into the Jamstix brain so that Jamstix can work its magic on it.

I find that for electronic styles, you'll want to keep the pocket as close to the center as you can. Experiment freely with the brain to get the groove you're looking for, don't be afraid to remove brain elements or import brain elements from other styles. For instance, I sometimes find that the hats aren't working out how I like them, so I will trying importing a hat groove from another style (do this in the brain menu).

Also don't be afraid to roll your sleeves up and edit individual hits in the bar editor. In fact you will often find yourself correcting the hits that Jamstix has composed, especially the kick and the snare. And you can delete entire limbs in certain parts - ideal for creating "sparse" parts in an intro or middle section, for instance.

Basically it's probably a lot more work than simply creating a simple beat in a piano roll or step sequencer and dragging it out throughout the whole song, but the results are infinitely more interesting and it's really nice to hear a human element in these types of electronic styles.