Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[mikeon_b4c]

Hi

I've bought the full Jamstix pack and have played around with it a bit (a few months back so at my age I'm having to remember what I worked out as I don't find Jamstix especially intuitive or quick to learn). I put a lot of music on Soundcloud, and one example where I think Jamstix delivered beautifully is a remake of My Back Pages, which can be heard here:

https://soundcloud.com/clana_boys/my-back-pages-dylanclana-boysmp3

However, this song is a simple pattern that just repeats over several verses and a guitar solo. I'm currently trying Jamstix out on The Beach Boys 'In My Room'. For the main part this too is simple enough (drumming requirements even simpler, minimal stuff wanted!). But, the intro uses variations on the signature so I have to set a tempo map in Reaper (the DAW I use). Also, the drums (such as they are) don't even come in for a while, so in the Jamstix composition I just want silence until then. Overall, my attempts so far are proving fruitless and Jamstix seems to want to loop round the Intro section for some reason. Its not helped by me being poorly skilled at working out time signatures other than 4/4!

So my big question is whether the Jamstix AI approach is the wrong tool for arrangements with time signature variations etc and that need to be controlled tightly. For this song, it would be very simple to just use Jamstix's drumkit potential and tap out for myself the MIDI I require to be played. But it would be fun (for want of a better word!) to see what new twists Jamstix AI might bring to the drum part in a tight arrangement if it could be put to work without hours of fiddling.

If anyone has any thoughts to offer I'd really appreciate it as although In My Room has such low requirements it could be done without AI, there will no doubt be other songs that use a lot more drums where the same challenges arise.

Thanks in hope!

Mike

[Azimuth]

In my room is in 12/8, about 70BPM. The bar with the Harp Glissando in the beginning is in 6/8. The drums are just a basic 8th rock beat on the Ride Cymbal. There is also a Wood Block in there. HTH

[mikeon_b4c]

[Azimuth]

What I said is based off of the sheet music I have for the song. If I get some time I'll see if I can figure the riddle out but I've got a few things going on at the moment.
Jamstix can definitely do what you are seeking it to do, I've done it myself with a few songs. What I find usually throws a wrench in the works is time sig changes or partial bars once you've got the tempo map correct.

[Azimuth]

Here's a link to OneDrive folder containing a Reaper project of the song tempo mapped with Jamstix.
[url]https://1drv.ms/u/s!Anu7Lv7j8w8ghNk-rFsSPEbRchuCFA?e=VZMBvG[/url]
The drums are just simply to show it will play along in sync with the song, not a track intended to be used. Hope this helps you out.

EDIT: I don't know why the URL tags aren't working. Just cut and paste everything between the tags into your browser.

[mikeon_b4c]

[mikeon_b4c]

[Azimuth]

1) I used a program called Sonic Visualizer and a Python script that one of the Reaper forum members (LCipher) wrote. The process is described in this post on the Reaper forum: https://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php?p=2221411&postcount=18. It is the fastest, most straight forward method I've found for tempo mapping standard structure songs. I still use manual methods for songs with crazy structures and timings when needed.

2) In my opinion, it just goes to show that you can't always trust sheet music. LOL I'm a complete hack as a "musician" and have no idea how whoever transcribed that came up with 12/8. It could be, but it sure didn't work for me. Maybe someone will pop in and explain it to us.

3) The ruler in Reaper shows the correct number of beats in the different regions. It is probably the zoom level you are viewing the project at. Reaper does some strange things when zooming in or out.

4) The Hi-hat foot is responding to the CC4 data that Jamstix is generating but the Power Hand comp filter is redirecting the Hi-Hat to the Ride cymbal so no Hi-Hat sound is generated.

5) For a song as straight forward as this "drum-wise" I would just hand edit the beats I needed then "Save Groove as Style" then build the song using the saved style(s).

6) That most likely is just audio buffer lag. Do you have a large audio buffer set in Reaper? The audio is likely lagging behind the graphics.

7) I just used the "Silence" song part type when building the song. There are actually 3 silent parts. I renamed Silence [3], the 3rd one as "Verse 1". The other 2 were necessary to cover the different time signatures. You can only have one time signature per song part. So one bar of 4/4 and one bar of 6/4.

8 ) Fills can be eliminated by using Song Menu>Global Actions>Disable Automatic Fills In All Parts or un-checking the boxes in the Song Sheet. The fastest way to eliminate Accents that I've found is to go to the Accent window, slide the "Overall" slider to minimum in the first bar of each song part. That will affect all bars in the entire song part. You could also just go to a single bar, click the "Clear" button and then lock the bar (the white padlock icon) to prevent it from recomposing. It is always a good idea to lock parts after you get them the way you want them and to use the Save Revision icon ALWAYS.

Hope this helps you out.

PS. That Line 6 Variax sounds killer emulating the 12 string Rick. I was thinking of getting one of those (Variax) a while back but never pulled the trigger.

EDIT: I see the tags are working again.

[mikeon_b4c]

[d_steinschneider]

Hey Mike,

Every once in a while, I catch up on the Jamstix forum to learn something new and stumbled across this thread.

I first played your "My Back Pages" and then other covers you put up on SoundCloud. Then I found your originals. I really like your song "In My Own Age". "Strange Sounds" is great also.

I know how much work goes into recording covers, ones at the quality level you're achieving boggles my mind.

If you're ever interested in sharing how you build tracks I would be all ears (and probably many others). I also have EZ Drummer and do some "paint by numbers" drum editing but some of my best tracks have been drummed by "Charlie S."

It took me a good while to teach Jamstix restraint and groove but it's doing a good job for me now. One of my favorite uses is playing B3 in a duo with Jamstix.

[mikeon_b4c]

[mikeon_b4c]

[d_steinschneider]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the more detailed reply, it gives me the overview I was wondering about. I know what you mean about not getting into the weeds drum wise. I'm going to re-read your threads to see what kind of suggestions you got for creating parts for covers.

I got tips from Ralph and Azimuth that were very different from what I expected such as this one from Ralph that helped me get a hammond trio swing beat:

----------------
STYLE: Jazz Swing
- set 'Swing Ride' to 100%
- set 'Kick' to 0% Amount
- set 'Snare' to 0% Funk, 0% Power Range and 50% Amount
- BRAIN->Extract From Other Player: get 'Main Kick' from 'Custom Rock' style
PLAYER: Roger with preset 'Restrained'

In the accent tab, use 'Early One' to control the frequency of jazzy early downbeats (4+) and you probably will want to turn the tom accents down.
----------------------

That got me into playing with the "Brain" and Power Range to tone down the fills.

[d_steinschneider]

BTW, I use this YouTube video to be able to adjust Reaper's tempo map to recordings we did without a click. It requires installing SWS extensions which wasn't too difficult:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ryz7BfQnzg

[mikeon_b4c]

Good stuff. Will check that out. Currently taking a break from music making to indulge in my other hobby of model aircraft!