Can Jamstix sound like Questlove?

Chisel · Post by **Chisel** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:49 pm

I've been trying without success to get Jamstix 2 to play like Questlove from The Roots. None of the styles included with JS2 come remotely close to this (unless I'm overlooking something obvious). I've tried creating bars based on his style and having the different drummers play them, but it just doesn't sound quite right. The link below is a perfect example of his style. Any ideas?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr2mYVqJNNw

Peace \/
chisel316

Post by **Ralph @ Rayzoon** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:53 am

Here is how you can get that crossstick groove:
[list:c3669e4b01]
[*:c3669e4b01]load 8th Rock
[*:c3669e4b01]rename 'Kick' to 'Downbeat'
[*:c3669e4b01]use 'Extract From Other Style' in the brain menu and select the 'Groove -Kick' from 'E-Kustom' in the 'Electronica' folder
[*:c3669e4b01]set BIAS in 'Downbeat' all the way left so it will just create the downbeat kick
[*:c3669e4b01]for the 'Kick' set heavy=0, medium=30, funky=62, BIAS=42
[*:c3669e4b01]in 'Auto Snare', set max power all the way right to force the crossticking
[/list:u:c3669e4b01]

Experiment with the medium, funky and BIAS settings in the 'Kick' to change things up a bit.

Chisel · Post by **Chisel** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:15 pm

Thanks, Ralph! I've been experimenting all night with the different brain controls. I still need a bit more help. This is what I'm looking for:

Always play closed hats on 8ths
Always play kick on 1 and 3
Always play snare on 2 and 4
Sometimes throw in open hat on any of the &s
Sometimes throw in extra kick right before 1 and/or 3 (with a heavy shuffle)
Sometimes throw in extra kick on the 1& and/or 3&

Here's a perfect example of the groove I'm after:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9GRVTpQJzw&feature=related

This would be my ideal groove!

Thanks for all your help.

Peace \/
chisel316

Post by **Ralph @ Rayzoon** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:29 am

Here's an approximation:

- load 8th rock
- turn on 16th shuffle for the part with max shuffle slider
- rename kick to 'Base Kick' or anything else you like
- extract "Kick" from E-Kustom and set it to heavy=0 medium=max funky=0 and bias 45%
- set 'Hihat E' to middle position
- extract '16th Kick' from '16th Rock' and set BIAS=-32 and amount=100%
- load James Stix and set throw-ins in accents to 40% or more

Chisel · Post by **Chisel** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:39 pm

Thanks again, Ralph! That's a pretty impressive approximation. I have a few follow up questions for you:

1) In the last example you gave me, I noticed variations in the snare pattern, but the kick never changes unless I tweak the bias. Is it possible to have variations in the kick pattern without manually tweaking the bias setting? How do I throw in an occasional extra kick right before the snares?

2) Is it possible to apply a Groove Weight to a single element? For example, when I load 'Heavy on 1 and 3', it affects all of the elements, where as I'd like it to affect only the kick.

3) Do the Groove Weights always represent the same ticks or do they differ from groove to groove? For example, does Heavy always represent 1, 2, 3, & 4. Medium &s, Sync/Funky 16ths? If they differ, how do you know what they are?

4) Do all the included styles use only the brain to generate their parts (v.s. using fixed MIDI notes)?

5) Can I save the customized brain so I don't need to go through the steps to set it up everytime?

Jamstix is one of those programs that I never feel I'm using to its full potential. It would be great to have a Jamstix Brain Guide that goes more into depth on each of the brain controls, what grooves contain which controls, and examples like the ones you've given me. I'm sure there are others here that would benefit from this as well.

Peace \/
chisel316

Post by **Ralph @ Rayzoon** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:51 pm

1. Add 'Synco kick' from 'Spirit Funk'. You can also raise the funky knob in the 'Kick' element and see if you like that.

2. Groove weights are indicators for all brain elements.

3. Groove weights can be assigned to any tick. When you load a new groove weight map then you can see how 'heavy' ticks etc. switch away from the 1,2,3,4 scheme. If you look at the tick row, you can tell heavy, medium and neutral by the icon used behind the tick#.

4. All style are rule-based, there are no fixed MIDI notes.

5. Not in JS2 but you can save style presets in JS3.

Chisel · Post by **Chisel** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:15 pm

Is there a list of all the controls and what styles they are from? How come you took the approach of hiding the controls within styles instead of having one menu for loading all controls? Has this changed in JS3?

Thanks!

Post by **Ralph @ Rayzoon** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:28 pm

There are no hidden controls. JS2/3 have 'elements' that can be configured to do specific jobs. The selection and config data for these elements is in the style files. Setting these up is very complex. As a way of mitigating the lack of 'roll your own', we started the 'Extract From...' function to let you merge elements.

I'm thinking about giving the extract tool some more oomph by adding the help info for each element and/or a linear list selection versus the tree. We'll see what we can do in JS3...

Chisel · Post by **Chisel** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:40 pm

I have to get my terminology right.

IMO, it would be more intuitive to have an 'Add elements' menu selection for adding any of the elements rather than extracting them from styles. I understand the work-around approach for JS2, but it would be a nice feature to have in JS3.

Update: Adding that synco kick was just the thing to make this beat sound perfect! Thanks so much for all your help Ralph. This is truly an amazing piece of software. I'm going to make a beat and post it for you!

Peace \/
chisel316

Jason_Spatola · Post by **Jason_Spatola** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:40 pm

Amazing thread!! Thanks to both Chisel and Ralph!