| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
alexis
PhD in Jamology
Joined: 13 May 2005
Posts: 454
|
 Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:15 am Post subject: Reality Check/Feedback welcomed - How I'm Using Jamstix |
 |
|
Hi - I've probably put 50 hrs or more into working on projects with Jamstix. I've gotten to the point where I've developed some work habits, but not so much that they are ingrained and can't be changed. I've noticed that I am spending a LOT of time hand programming, so I thought maybe I'd ask the board if there is something I'm not doing that I could be to minimize that.
Briefly before I get to the detailed drum editing, I've already tracked/programmed all the vocals and other instruments (using a Jamstix "Metronome" slapped on the tempo track). The drums are the last thing I "create" before the final mix. At this point I also have a full song created in Jamstix (in the window on the left). Finally, I don't think it matters for this post, but my tempos are variable throughout the song, sometimes even with pauses.
** Then I choose the drummer/style in JS.
** At this point is where I sit back and listen and roll my sleeves up for a lot of hand editing of the drummed song. This is where I could use some perspective and advice, where I wonder if I may not be using JS as fully as I can!
What I realize at this stage is that though I may have a very nice sounding drum track, which tracks the big picture of the song with the power knob ... in reality, the drummer can't be expected to understand the song in terms of things like, "It gets sad here, then happy there", or "let's play like the sun just came through a rainstorm". Or, even something more concrete, like, not having a crash cymbal solo right on the part of the song where the hook is delivered in a whisper (I exaggerate, but you know what I mean).
So I find that my workflow at this point involves clearing a lot of beats in the bar editor and replacing them with hits by hand (or leaving them blank to leave room for the other instruments), based on things specific to the song at hand. Maybe to have him play a duet with the keyboard player for a few bars, or match his kick to the bass player ... etc. etc.
Is this pretty much what the result of not having a real drummer over is? At least my beer bill is lower with JS!
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I'm happy to keep using JS in the way I've talked about. I don't mind at all, and I am SO grateful for what JS does lay down for me (SO much easier to edit than create from scratch!) - ESPECIALLY those fills, OMG, thank goodness for those fills!).
But if there are any time saving tips anyone can pass along after reading through the above, I'd be grateful - please send them my way!
Thanks much -
_________________
Alexis
JS 3.6.1x64; Cubase 7.5.40 64 bit; i5-4570 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM; W7 SP1 64-bit on Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB; Seagate 1TB SATA 600 Audio Drive; UR28M; Motif8; UAD-2 Solo, BCF2K; TC Helicon VoiceOne; RevoicePro3 |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
sonicviz
Grand Master Jam
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 287
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 3:04 am Post subject: Re: Reality Check/Feedback welcomed - How I'm Using Jamstix |
|
|
| alexis wrote: |
What I realize at this stage is that though I may have a very nice sounding drum track, which tracks the big picture of the song with the power knob ... in reality, the drummer can't be expected to understand the song in terms of things like, "It gets sad here, then happy there", or "let's play like the sun just came through a rainstorm". Or, even something more concrete, like, not having a crash cymbal solo right on the part of the song where the hook is delivered in a whisper (I exaggerate, but you know what I mean). - |
I primarily use JS for Live gigs over the internet, and my style is very much Jam band approach so this is a common issue for me.
I just create different parts for the mood I want and trigger them on the fly "as the mood strikes me" when jamming via Live Loop from my Launchpad. Works for me! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kevin_W
Jam Meister
Joined: 28 Dec 2012
Posts: 55
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
| What I've experimented with is having different drummers and/or styles at various parts of the song. That might not be in keeping with the concept that "Charlie" is the drummer for this song, but it works for me. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Robus_1
Jammer
Joined: 18 Dec 2013
Posts: 40
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 4:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
I'm very new to Jamstix but have spent many hours with it over the past few days. I'm doing a lot of hand programming too. Usually the kicks. As a bass player I'm picky about those. Sometimes the snares as well. I'm finding that once I get those parts in order, Jamstix does a good job of improvising things like cymbals and accents around them.
The other thing I'm having to micro-manage a bit is the fills, usually to tone them down. I'm far from having an intuitive understanding of how all the brain parameters affect the fills. Often they are a bit over the top. Even Charlie and Will, who seem to be more laid back than the rest, can get hyperactive. How about a global "chill pill" button in some future edition?
Once I've got a part nailed, I hit that lock button and don't have to worry about it being recomposed. I took me a while to figure that out.
Despite the learning curve, it is fascinating and useful program. I'm getting better drum parts than I could program myself, by far. I feel that I've barely scratched the surface. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
minerman_1
Jam Meister
Joined: 28 Nov 2011
Posts: 68
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'd like to see how more of you guys/gals use JS to make your drum tracks myself....While I do love the software, I'm still a newbie after over a year with it....I do find myself doing a lot of hand-editing, but I suppose that's just part of it....
I'd like to see an explanation on the brain functions (IE: what moving each knob might do to a particular beat/fill/etc....), as it's overwhelming for me at times to say the least....
Still a great drum program though, any chance more users might chime in & give me a few pointers on how you're using JS???? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Robus_1
Jammer
Joined: 18 Dec 2013
Posts: 40
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| minerman_1 wrote: | | I'd like to see how more of you guys/gals use JS to make your drum tracks myself...Still a great drum program though, any chance more users might chime in & give me a few pointers on how you're using JS???? |
Still pretty new at this. I have put a lot of time into it in the past couple of weeks or so and am starting to get a feel for it.
You didn't say what you are using it for. Let's assume you are doing a home recording of a rock song and you want a drum track. That's what I'm doing. I find it helps first to sketch out the song by recording a guitar or bass over a click track or a very basic drum loop.
It doesn't have to be a great take, as I'll re-record it later. The point is to capture a groove so that I'll have something to build a drum track against.
At that point I bring in Jamstix. If the song is already composed, to the point where I know what parts I'm going to use in what order, then the Wizard works well. If I'm composing as I go, I'll start with a few verse and chorus parts and then add more as needed.
Next step is to build a drum goove for each part of the song. I do a lot of hand programming at this point. I'll find a kit I like, usually one of the Rock kits (I'm liking Hodge Podge) and set everything else to "silent" (no style, no drummer). Also, no fills or accents yet.
Save yourself heartache at this point by locking every measure of every part. Then unlock them individually as you work on them later, and immediately re-lock them. Trust me on that!
To build a drum groove for a part, I'll set the DAW to loop over my bass or guitar, a measure at a time. While I'm hearing that, I'll add kicks by hand, sometimes a snare, a crash--anything I want to micro-manage. Though I haven't done it much yet, here would also be to place to add any timing shifts to the part of the individual sounds.
When I'm satisfied with a part, I'll save what I've done as a groove. Then I can bring in a drummer. I'm liking Charlie as he's a level-headed guy who's not too prone to flights of fancy. If I've done everything correctly, Charlie will leave alone the sounds I've composed by hand and add the rest.
I'll also add fills at that point. Lot of trial and error there. Again, go a measure at a time. Loop the DAW over that measure and hit "compose" as many times as necessary, while adjusting the parameters in Charlie's brain, until to you hear what you like. Then, don't forget to re-lock the measure.
Once I've got a good drum track for each part, I'll just copy and paste where the parts repeats later in the song.
Once you've got everything together, double check that all the parts are locked. If you want, you can audition different drum kits, change individual drum sounds, play with the mixer.
Anyway, this is how I've been going about it. There is a fair amount of composing by hand and trial-and-error. But, there's no avoiding this if you have definite ideas about how the the drum track should sound, until Ralph manages to build a program that can read your mind.
I think a lot of the learning curve and mystery of Jamstix relates to two issues: 1. Understanding the relationship between Styles, Grooves, and Drummers and how they interact each other. I've not seen this explained very clearly. Maybe a revised version of the manual will help at some point. 2. Understanding how the brain parameters influence the performance. There you just need to experiment, or as the motto says, "just play with it."
From one newbie to another, hope that helps. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
minerman_1
Jam Meister
Joined: 28 Nov 2011
Posts: 68
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2014 1:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Robus_1 wrote: | | Still pretty new at this. I have put a lot of time into it in the past couple of weeks or so and am starting to get a feel for it. |
I've owned JS for about a year & 1/2 now, but still get overwhelmed with it at times....
| Robus_1 wrote: | | You didn't say what you are using it for. Let's assume you are doing a home recording of a rock song and you want a drum track. That's what I'm doing. |
I do the home recording thing, that's mostly hard rock I suppose, there are some elements of the 80's hair metal, but also other stuff influences me too (70's classic rock, 90's grunge, etc)...
This song is the last thing I finished with Jamstix, using Rock Solid from Toontrack for the drum sounds....Just an idea of what kind of music I write/record....
| Robus_1 wrote: | I find it helps first to sketch out the song by recording a guitar or bass over a click track or a very basic drum loop.
It doesn't have to be a great take, as I'll re-record it later. The point is to capture a groove so that I'll have something to build a drum track against. |
This is how I start too, I'll usually find a simple midi beat & just drop it in the timeline until I get the scratch track(s) finished...
| Robus_1 wrote: |
At that point I bring in Jamstix. If the song is already composed, to the point where I know what parts I'm going to use in what order, then the Wizard works well. If I'm composing as I go, I'll start with a few verse and chorus parts and then add more as needed. |
I usually add my parts of the song one by one by right-clicking in the wizard (left side of the gui), making sure I get the bar/length right for all the parts...I usually name my parts a little differently than anyone else, but it helps me to know what's up with my song/workflow (IE: riff 1, riff 2, chord change 3, etc...)
| Robus_1 wrote: |
Next step is to build a drum goove for each part of the song. I do a lot of hand programming at this point. I'll find a kit I like, usually one of the Rock kits (I'm liking Hodge Podge) and set everything else to "silent" (no style, no drummer). Also, no fills or accents yet. |
I don't usually use the JS kits, I use the midi-out function for other drum vsti's myself, nothing wrong with the JS kits, I'm just more used to/more comfortable with my other sounds....
Lately, I've been using the import function a lot, that way I've already got the main beat for the song "there", unless it needs something different for a different part....
| Robus_1 wrote: |
Save yourself heartache at this point by locking every measure of every part. Then unlock them individually as you work on them later, and immediately re-lock them. Trust me on that! |
Good point, I've learned the hard way on this too, another way you can do this is to right-click on each part, & lock the whole part at once to keep from locking each bar one by one...Didn't know if you knew this or not, again, I learned the hard way/on my own for this...
| Robus_1 wrote: |
To build a drum groove for a part, I'll set the DAW to loop over my bass or guitar, a measure at a time. While I'm hearing that, I'll add kicks by hand, sometimes a snare, a crash--anything I want to micro-manage. Though I haven't done it much yet, here would also be to place to add any timing shifts to the part of the individual sounds. |
On the timing shift thing, I'm assuming you're talking about a drummer maybe speeding up for the chorus, or slowing down a little for a bridge, right??? I've been using automation for this lately, but also using the sliders under the "timing" tab too, seems to work ok for me....I don't use the "pocket" knob as much as I should though I suppose, I'll have to get around to trying that more often too...
| Robus_1 wrote: |
When I'm satisfied with a part, I'll save what I've done as a groove. Then I can bring in a drummer. I'm liking Charlie as he's a level-headed guy who's not too prone to flights of fancy. If I've done everything correctly, Charlie will leave alone the sounds I've composed by hand and add the rest. |
This is where it gets foggy for me, I know I can save as a style, groove, etc., but how do you save your parts & name them??? I'd imagine it could get quite tedious if you have a lot of songs, with a lot of different parts (IE: naming the parts the same, overwriting them by accident...)...Do you make a folder for each song, & save the parts/grooves/etc there??? And, what do you name your parts/grooves/fills???
And, while the stock "drummers" are really good, I probably need another expansion or two for some more drummers that would suit the music I do a little more....Or maybe I'm just not "getting" it with the drummers I have...."Carmine" is my favorite, but I usually remove the "rudiments" box in the brain immediately...You can tell the different drummers do play very differently though, if I could just get a handle on each one's strong/weak points for my style/type of music, I'd probably do much better with JS....
| Robus_1 wrote: |
I'll also add fills at that point. Lot of trial and error there. Again, go a measure at a time. Loop the DAW over that measure and hit "compose" as many times as necessary, while adjusting the parameters in Charlie's brain, until to you hear what you like. Then, don't forget to re-lock the measure. |
I have a hard time getting JS' fills to sit right too, you're right, trial/error...I do understand what some of the knobs/sliders do, but some I don't...Again, probably my fault, as I really don't know much about drumming (the technical side of things that is) other than "I need a fill here, that ends here, & the main beat starts back here".... 
| Robus_1 wrote: |
Once I've got a good drum track for each part, I'll just copy and paste where the parts repeats later in the song. |
Got that down too, really helps to be able to do this IMHO (the copy/paste thing)...
| Robus_1 wrote: |
Once you've got everything together, double check that all the parts are locked. If you want, you can audition different drum kits, change individual drum sounds, play with the mixer. |
I'm fairly good at making sure the parts are all locked now, it took me a while...
On the different kit thing, I've noticed I usually end up using the kit I composed the song with, as even if the mapping is correct, the kits that I use sound very different with the same song/performance from JS, especially the hi-hats...(IE: Toontrack Rock Solid hats sound & feel very different from say, Rock/Pop kit in EZ Drummer...sure, the midi is sending the correct "info" to the vsti, but it's just way different...)
| Robus_1 wrote: |
Anyway, this is how I've been going about it. There is a fair amount of composing by hand and trial-and-error. But, there's no avoiding this if you have definite ideas about how the the drum track should sound, until Ralph manages to build a program that can read your mind. |
Yes, trial/error & hand-editing, but it's ok, I don't mind, I just wish I could get my head around some of the things I've mentioned above...I've went over the manual lots of times when I hit a snag/wall, but it seems I keep hitting the same things....Maybe it's just me...
| Robus_1 wrote: |
I think a lot of the learning curve and mystery of Jamstix relates to two issues: 1. Understanding the relationship between Styles, Grooves, and Drummers and how they interact each other. I've not seen this explained very clearly. Maybe a revised version of the manual will help at some point. 2. Understanding how the brain parameters influence the performance. There you just need to experiment, or as the motto says, "just play with it." |
^ This....would help me tremendously IMHO, an explanation (like explaining it to a 4 year old...  ) on how everything works together styles, grooves, drummers, along with the brain knobs/parameters....
Great post man, I really appreciate the detailed info, been wanting/needing someone to do this for a long time... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Robus_1
Jammer
Joined: 18 Dec 2013
Posts: 40
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2014 3:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
Groovy song. I've heard it before, recently. You must have posted a link to it on one of the other forums (I'm on marshallforum, mylespaul, talkbass, etc.). I like to hear people's original stuff. I'll probably post some of my own at some point.
About the grooves, I usually save them in a sub-directory of the directory where I keep the song it's part of. That way they don't get mixed together with grooves from other songs and I know where to find them. I usually give them some title with the name of the song, the part they belong to, and the number of measures in the groove in case I forget. So for example, the song I'm working on right now happens to be called Jenny Jones. So a groove would be titled something like: JJ_verse 1 groove_4 bars.etc.
When I build the skeleton of a drum part around, say, a kick and snare that I program manually, I'm finding it isn't always necessary to save as a groove anyway. There seems to be an option to lock the sounds that you compose manually, which lets the drummer compose around them. I haven't experimented enough to be sure when this is adequate or when it's safer to go ahead and save as a groove. Still learning.
I haven't yet given the Midi Out feature a try. I've been using EZDrummer for about the last year and had gotten bored with those sounds. I'm also frustrated with the limited number of sounds in the stock EZDrummer package (come on Toontrack, can't we at least have a tambourine?) and the addons are expensive. So for now I'm using the Jamstix sounds and liking them. When I bought it a couple of weeks back, I took advantage of the Christmas sale to buy most of the expansions too. There's a lot to work with there. The Bonzo pack is a blast to play against Jimmy Page riffs!
Regarding the fills and the difficulty of getting them to fit into the song, I couldn't agree more. I've been spending more time on the fills than all the rest of it put together. They can be a little bit hyperactive. Once I've gotten a fill that sounds close, I'll sometimes fine-tune it manually by adding or more often subtracting some hits. There are three boxes up at the top of the brain part for the fills: Start Crash, End Crash, and No Groove. I always un-check the first two and place the crashes manually. I usually un-check the third one as it helps keep the fill a little more connected to the goove.
One thing that really seems to help with fills is to compose them while the DAW loops over the measure. That way you can hear how the fill is going to work against the other tracks in the song. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
minerman_1
Jam Meister
Joined: 28 Nov 2011
Posts: 68
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Robus_1 wrote: | | Groovy song. I've heard it before, recently. You must have posted a link to it on one of the other forums (I'm on marshallforum, mylespaul, talkbass, etc.). I like to hear people's original stuff. I'll probably post some of my own at some point. |
Thanks man, I posted that song here, at the Marshall forum, & a few other places...Would be cool to hear some of your stuff also....looking forward to it!!!
| Robus_1 wrote: | | About the grooves, I usually save them in a sub-directory of the directory where I keep the song it's part of. That way they don't get mixed together with grooves from other songs and I know where to find them. I usually give them some title with the name of the song, the part they belong to, and the number of measures in the groove in case I forget. So for example, the song I'm working on right now happens to be called Jenny Jones. So a groove would be titled something like: JJ_verse 1 groove_4 bars.etc. |
Thanks for the tip/info, that makes sense saving 'em with the song, that way I wouldn't get everything all mixed up...I wasn't sure how anyone else was doing this, as I thought it might be best to save the parts/grooves/etc in the Jamstix default folders that pop-up when you hit "save"....Thanks, I'll give your suggestions a shot...
| Robus_1 wrote: | | When I build the skeleton of a drum part around, say, a kick and snare that I program manually, I'm finding it isn't always necessary to save as a groove anyway. There seems to be an option to lock the sounds that you compose manually, which lets the drummer compose around them. I haven't experimented enough to be sure when this is adequate or when it's safer to go ahead and save as a groove. Still learning. |
Good info here too, I'll give this a try & report back with my opinions...
| Robus_1 wrote: | | I haven't yet given the Midi Out feature a try. I've been using EZDrummer for about the last year and had gotten bored with those sounds. I'm also frustrated with the limited number of sounds in the stock EZDrummer package (come on Toontrack, can't we at least have a tambourine?) and the addons are expensive. So for now I'm using the Jamstix sounds and liking them. When I bought it a couple of weeks back, I took advantage of the Christmas sale to buy most of the expansions too. There's a lot to work with there. The Bonzo pack is a blast to play against Jimmy Page riffs! |
The midi-out works great, I'm pretty fortunate to have a ton of drum sounds, I bought most of them before I got Jamstix, but again, the midi-out works really good...I think my next purchase drum software-wise will be another JS expansion pack, simply to get more drummer models...
| Robus_1 wrote: | Regarding the fills and the difficulty of getting them to fit into the song, I couldn't agree more. I've been spending more time on the fills than all the rest of it put together. They can be a little bit hyperactive. Once I've gotten a fill that sounds close, I'll sometimes fine-tune it manually by adding or more often subtracting some hits. There are three boxes up at the top of the brain part for the fills: Start Crash, End Crash, and No Groove. I always un-check the first two and place the crashes manually. I usually un-check the third one as it helps keep the fill a little more connected to the goove.
One thing that really seems to help with fills is to compose them while the DAW loops over the measure. That way you can hear how the fill is going to work against the other tracks in the song. |
I'll give this a shot too, & report back....
I really, really appreciate you taking the time to help me out with all this, & the detailed info is a blessing for me, I've been wanting someone to do this for a long time now, maybe some of the more advanced users will chime in with their workflow....Thanks again!!!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
speed_tom
Jammer
Joined: 26 Sep 2013
Posts: 28
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2014 3:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
great tips gentlemen! I will make sure to try some with my next songs.
regarding my workflow, I usually use the song builder until I have the song figured out, at least in regards to the length of the song itself and its parts. I then save the midi file, load this into Superior Drummer and hand edit the kick/snare pattern, then simply copy/paste them around the fills.
that said, I believe I will change this workflow soon: the u-dial metal 2-bar seems to be the solution! I will simply put the kick/snare pattern into this style and hope to avoid the hand editing afterwards. I have only played around with it a little, but it seems to work great, even though I do not write metal song. It appears to be suitable for any rock genre! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
minerman_1
Jam Meister
Joined: 28 Nov 2011
Posts: 68
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2014 7:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Keep the tips coming guys, there are things mentioned in this thread I'm gonna try (I've copied/pasted some of it to a notepad for refrence when I'm not online/working on my songs...)...
There are so manyvariables to make JS do different things, it's unreal....Still got a lot to learn, but I've came a pretty long way in just the last little while....
Thanks, but again, if anyone else has anything to share, please do!!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
alexis
PhD in Jamology
Joined: 13 May 2005
Posts: 454
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 5:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
It's been a while, so bumping here if anyone new wants to give their workflow tips and ideas!
_________________
Alexis
JS 3.6.1x64; Cubase 7.5.40 64 bit; i5-4570 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM; W7 SP1 64-bit on Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB; Seagate 1TB SATA 600 Audio Drive; UR28M; Motif8; UAD-2 Solo, BCF2K; TC Helicon VoiceOne; RevoicePro3 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
d_steinschneider
Jam Meister
Joined: 13 Feb 2017
Posts: 78
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Bump again.
I've been taking advantage of a quiet week between Christmas and New Years to deep dive Jamstix. I searched the forums for "pocket" and found some great threads like this one.
I've also been watching some great YouTube lessons such as this one on Soul Fills by Joe Crabtree:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyjPVfQ_pY8
Part of my work involves database work. Sometimes I peek under the hood of development projects. I noticed there is a rudiments.ini file with different rolls like one I learned in the video above, the Six Stroke Roll.
I'm wondering if there is a way to specify which "x Stroke Roll" is used in a fill?
EDIT - Just read section 18.1.10 in the JS4 manual - Rudiment Generator which answered my question above
This is more out of curiosity, I'm a bass player, I've been creating the drum parts first, then playing the bass, then keys, then guitar for my overall song workflow. Although I like Robus_1's ideas about doing the fills by looping the part in the DAW and working on them in Jamstix until you get how you really want it I've been pretty happy with the fills JS4 is coming up with lately as I've learned more about the JS4 Brain. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Azimuth
Moderator & Beta Team
Joined: 19 Nov 2010
Posts: 2131
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 8:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
I do fills last when I'm working on a song. I almost always build my song with all parts linked to save having to make numerous adjustments to the basic groove of the song. Any changes made are reflected automatically between parts which are linked, as you probably know.
Once I get my song structure set as far as Time signatures, # of bars in a given part etc. I then take one of 2 different directions to deal with fills, which are all the same at this point since song parts are still linked.
Before you do anything, click the Bar Editor Floppy disk icon to save a restore point so you have a known starting point to return to if things head into left field on you while making changes. Do this often! The Fill window Brain controls are the most unpredictable elements in Jamstix by far.
1) The fast way: Go through the Song Sheet and Unlink all song parts. (Where's that Unlink All button Ralph? LOL) Right click each individual song part>Recompose>Recompose Fills Only. Now your song parts will each have unique fills.
2) If I want the fills to be more tightly "syncopated" and accented with the groove: Unlink all song parts, Song menu>Global Actions>Lock All Parts. Switch to the Fill window and mousewheel to the Pink and Orange fill bars. Click the red Lock icon under the songsheet to unlock that bar and use the Brain controls while Previewing the bar to dial in the type of feel that I'm looking for and keep hitting the Recompose button until I'm happy. Re-lock the bar and move on to the next one you want to change. Rinse, wash & repeat.
Don't forget to check out the options in the Fill window "Character" control. They make a HUGE difference. Also sometimes, I will convert the bar before the Transistion Fill bar to a manual fill by clicking Recompose while in the fill window. I find this very effective having a 2 bar fill leading into a part transistion as if the Drummer is building anticipation of a key song part. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
d_steinschneider
Jam Meister
Joined: 13 Feb 2017
Posts: 78
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 1:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks for those tips, I tried them the last hour and they work great. When I first started using Jamstix I was apprehensive about the fills ever being what I'm looking for in a song.
Backstory: When I first loaded Jamstix I built a song structure and hit "Create Song". The default Brain on Category "Rock" with Prest "Basic Rock" with Drummer "James Stix" plays fills that span two beats which, to me, loses the groove of a song. I was busy getting up to speed on Reaper at the time and didn't have time to learn enough about Jamstix to control it so I would do the above and then export out to Midi and reduce the fills by hand. I shouldn't have assumed that was just the nature of Jamstix to play such long fills but I did.
Now that I've learned how the Brain controls work and how adjustments in the song sheet (PWR, SWING and TIME) affect the groove I love what Jamstix is playing for both groove and fills.
I have a recommendation for Ralph to improve a Jamstix user's first experiences. I think a "helper" that asks questions to determine, among other things but in my case , if you like groove playing that stays in the pocket with tasty transition fills and then presents you with brain settings where the Fill Length is dialed back to 25% and more focus on the snare and maybe "No Groove" unchecked. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
