I've also been on the verge of getting Jamstix several times. Like everyone else, I really could use a good drum sequencing solution.

It may be my imagination or I'm listening "too hard" but when listening to the demos, they sometimes feel a little stiff/robotic (in comparison to other software drum solutions). Maybe its from playing with a real drummer for so many years but there is something small that just doesn't sound quite right to me. Once again, it may be my imagination.

Best,

urock

ORIGINAL: martinlemonkiss

I'd just like to add finally to this thread that i have downloaded the full version of Jamstix and i have to say it's money well spent i can allready see so many ways i could use it..in terms of song writing and recording....once you play around with it and get it too how you like it's about the best drum software / sounds i've come across...i like the way you can jam along..then add some fills to your jam..then you can import into sonar piano roll and finr tune if you like....for the price of the software i would recommend..plus the brush drum kit is very good

Would you post a tune as soon as you feel you've accomplished a good drum track. I wanted to buy it but I haven't heard a single Jamstix produced drum track that I thought approached what I've heard produced by audio or midi clips.

Yep will def post some stuff soon..as a non drummer can't promise it will be spell binding...but it sounds good to me

OK guys,

I purchased Jamstix yesterday, tried it last night for about 3 hours, and FWIW, heres my anylsis:

Installation is easy, but you must install sound in same folder as software, DLL can be in vst folder, but everything else has to be in the Jamstix folder or you won't get any sounds out of it.

Included samples are good, but not excellent-I prefer sing jamstix to trigger DFHS, it even has mappings included for DFHS, and also BFD

Jam mode works fine for someone who doesnt know drums, licks, accents etc. It provides you a click track(drumstick click) and a pleasant female voice on first beat. You set up another synth to play and midi echo the synth and the midi track of Jamstix (which by the way is inserted as a soft synth itself) If you pre-program a tempo change into an existing midi file, it will follow it. When you play soft, it has a slider to set up the threshold of when it should change dynamics, it switches to a sidestick and plays a very simple beat along with you, instantly. As soon as you play a louder passage, it instantly switches back to snare.

It comes with many styles and beats, fills, intros, and endings, all of which have to be inserted into the midi file accordingle through the arranger.

You can also use it as a drum machine and program everything yourself, but as before stated, the sounds, in my opinion are just average. I listened to some user demos of the add-on kits, and those sounds are much better.

I spent about 10 minutes setting of a midi file in arranger mode, played it through DFHS, let it play along with a song I had previously created, and was very impressed with the results. I decided to change the fills it inserted with other fills, you have many to choose from, and the final product was much better than the drum track I had created, which took me 25 minutes to produce myself.

Jamstix gives you control of everything. You can control complexity, it even has a funkiness slider. You can control dynamics, cymbal use, frequency of fills, and a slider to controls the "human" element of the beats it creates.

In my opnion, its well worth the money, just in the time it saves me by not having to make drumtracks myself. In most cases, the demos of Sonar users music created and posted in this forum would benefit from the use of Jamstix. I wouldnt use it on a multimillion dollar project, but for the stuff I record and distribute, with a little tweaking, you get very usable results.

Again, this is just my humble opinion.

Digi

I just bought Jamstix while it was still on special. After fooling around with it for a few hours, I'm quite happy with my purchase.

I will not post any tracks because of my limited abilities with all this stuff. I'm a hobbiest, not a pro.

But here's my take on why you would want Jamstix. It's basically an instant drummer. If you like to play guitars and keyboards like myself, and don't have a real drummer, you switch to Jamstix. It does a great job. It totally blows away session drummer both in sound and in realism.
I don't believe you would want to use Jamstix for serious piece of work destined for production, but as an 'instant drummer' it's fabulous. Easy to learn, very flexible and the price is very, very fair.

I can tell after a few short hours of using it that Jamstix will get a lot of use in this house.

Also, if you check out the forums at Rayzoon.com, you'll find a company that is extremely responsive to it's customers. I think these folks have done a brilliant job.

I have been putting down tracks for Dreams by Fleetwood Mac because my daughter wants to sing it. Just for laughs, I inserted Jamstix to see how well it would interpret the drums off of the midi tracks I have built so far. After moving a few sliders in Jamstix, the results were bordering on spooky. Mick Fleetwood himself would probably raise an eyebrow.

It's a fun program and in my opinion, well worth the price.

Happy New Year to all.

Precisely. The overwhelming majority of users here are "hobbyists." Some more serious than others, of course. But absolutely no reason to be shy.

FWIW I too bought this software but have yet to play with it. Too busy fighting other equipment at the moment.

But keep in mind many of those drum samples are more than likely unprocessed just like Ddrums. They are dry so you can taylor your own processing later. But I haven't heard them yet other than the samples from the websight. But I have heard the BFD stuff and this program is compatible with it. In fact a friend of mine does session drum tracks pretty cheap for songs or whole albums. (he he I said albums).

The sound you can always alter. I got it to help put into perspective songs that I've been struggling with playing without any drums. I just cant get into that groove without it.
There is no way I can replace the insight of a real drummer but if I can come up with at least some form of ideas then I'm ahead of my handicap.

Cram,

If I had something mixed down, I would signup with Soundclick and post it. But I don't have anything mixed down with Jamstix. I just got it.

I'm sure you can find examples on their site, or simply download the free demo. You'll see exactly what it can do. It's easier for you to download and install the demo than it is for me to mix and post a song. Not to mention, it's a holiday and I'm gonna party tonight.

I'm not trying to blow anybody off, it's just so easy to try the demo and it doesn't cost a cent.

Like I said above, I don't think anyone would be interested in it for a full production piece, but for an instant drummer, it's excellent. It's as excellent as you make it. As far as sound quality goes, if you're not happy with the sounds that come with it, port it over to BFD.

Mod Bod --

I noticed your comments regarding the demos posted by the users. Same thing. If you're not sure, just grab the free demo. You'll see what it's capabilties are.

Also, I believe they're working on the same type concept for a virtual Bass player. If they can pull it off like they have with Jamstix, it'll be fabulous for people that just like to play but don't have any other musicians to play with.

I think this guy's gonna make a million bucks with this software. And I'm glad for him because he's done an excellent job with it.

ORIGINAL: JoePaz

There's some demo songs by owners on the rayzoon site if you want to hear some.

http://www.rayzoon.com/downloads.html

JP

Thanks. These gave me a better idea of what the program can do. Is it me or do these guys seem to bury their drum tracks in the mix? I must admit that I don't like the sound of the stock Jamstix kit but I plan to use my DFH kit anyway. Looks like I've missed the special but I'd rather spend the extra money an be sure it's a winner.

ORIGINAL: Mod Bod

ORIGINAL: JoePaz

There's some demo songs by owners on the rayzoon site if you want to hear some.

http://www.rayzoon.com/downloads.html

JP

Thanks. These gave me a better idea of what the program can do. Is it me or do these guys seem to bury their drum tracks in the mix? I must admit that I don't like the sound of the stock Jamstix kit but I plan to use my DFH kit anyway. Looks like I've missed the special but I'd rather spend the extra money an be sure it's a winner.

Did you eventually buy Jamstix and was it worth it?

I actually decided to buy it (unfortunately, my hestitation led to me missing the $79 sale) after messing around with the most recent demo for awhile. I haven't begun to master Jamstix yet, but there appears to be a lot under the hood and I'm hopeful that I can get it to do what I want. The aspect of Jamstix that convinced me to go ahead is the arranger. I think as I become familiar with it, the arranger will make my drum programming much easier. Also, I thought the included samples sounded pretty decent, and if I ever buy BFD, jamstix is compatible with it.

Best,

urock

ORIGINAL: Mod Bod

EDIT: There are users in the Jamstix Forum publishing their work:
http://rayzoon.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=537
They don't sound very professional to me. See if you can get there without being a member, I don't know if you can.

Honestly, I was ready to place an order till I visited that site. I just want to make sure that it isn't typical of what you can produce.

Mod, I understand your caution. It was pretty hard to get past the performances to figure out what the drums were doing. Then I realized, when they were making those tracks, it was probably hard for jamstix to get past them too! So, it's probably way less than fair to judge jamstix by these way-poor examples.

I took a look at the videos and they are interesting. Whether I actually ended up using jamstix or not, I think that it could teach me a lot about drumming fundamentals, too.

ORIGINAL: munmun

ORIGINAL: urock

How do the included samples compare with BFD or other sample kits?

The drum sounds that are included with Jamstix are good enough for me for now. I should mention that Rayzoon (which sells Jamstix) has been coming out with additional drum packs on a regular basis that sell for pretty cheap ($15-25). From the demos, they sound better than the included sounds. Go to rayzoon.com to listen to samples of the drum packs.

From the audio demos I have heard of BFD, BFD sounds more realistic as compared to the included Jamstix sounds. I'm not saying I'll definitely get BFD, just that it's nice that the two will play together, given the enthuasiatic reviews of BFD.

Best,

urock

Hey Tom,

Do you have that Directixer, Jamstix and Sonar 5 all working together seemlessly on your setup?

Or are there still glitches?

Regards,

J

Hi just wanted to update..having spent a few months playing around with jamstix and having someone who knows how drums should sound has been valuable...i'm come to the conclusion that you have to take down the complexity ,funkiness ect in jamstix to zero but work on the snare style and high hats..then use the arranger for fills and then to get a real good sound go to output and route to the #4 and up the compressor on one of the tracks and i work in sonar so pan one drum track 60% left and the other one 60% right and i think it sounds pretty close to a natural drummer..and if not that a drum machine sound you could never hope to programme...i'm just finshing off some tracks and will post them to my website when i've finshed at www.lemonkiss.co.uk

Bottom line is i recommend jamstick 100%....you just need to play around with it for a while if you just play along to it as it is it sounds like the guy next door trying to impress..so take down the complexity and you get a drum machine that's still intuative but in e real world