MIDI import issues

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I found two issues concerning the groove importer (Jamstix 4.4.3).

(1) The [i:91c0a1cce7]Preview[/i:91c0a1cce7] function in the "Load MIDI Groove" dialog does not work for me. It just always seems to play a single tom hit on beat 5 and nothing else, regardless of the MIDI file selected and regardless of the MIDI mapping.

(2) In the BFD3 mapping, BFD's "Hihat Open Tip" maps to jamstix' "Hihat Closed".

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(2) In the BFD3 mapping, BFD's "Hihat Open Tip" maps to jamstix' "Hihat Closed".

I can probably fix this myself by editing BFD3.mdmap. I will give that a shot.
It appears that jamstix' MIDI note values are shifted by an octave (12); is that correct?

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It appears that jamstix' MIDI note values are shifted by an octave (12); is that correct?

Now I am totally confused. BFD names note [b:dff5f49463]A#2[/b:dff5f49463] for Hihat Open Tip, but when I import the MIDI file exported by BFD3 into Cubase, it shows the note as [b:dff5f49463]A#0[/b:dff5f49463], and in jamstix' mapping file, there's

[code:1:dff5f49463]54=34 ;Hihat Open[/code:1:dff5f49463]

where 34 corresponds to [b:dff5f49463]A#1[/b:dff5f49463].
Assuming that the octave shift works out OK, the mapping would be fine, but somehow I get the closed hihat.

[Azimuth (Archive)]

It appears that jamstix' MIDI note values are shifted by an octave (12); is that correct?

There are 2 different "standards" for midi note designation, Roland or Yamaha. There is an option in Jamstix: Options>User Interface & 3D Kit> Use Yamaha pitch convention for note values to switch between them. Try toggling that and see if it helps.

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I found two issues concerning the groove importer (Jamstix 4.4.3).

(1) The [i:e498c772db]Preview[/i:e498c772db] function in the "Load MIDI Groove" dialog does not work for me. It just always seems to play a single tom hit on beat 5 and nothing else, regardless of the MIDI file selected and regardless of the MIDI mapping.

(2) In the BFD3 mapping, BFD's "Hihat Open Tip" maps to jamstix' "Hihat Closed".

The preview function started working today, which revealed that the mapping is indeed fine, as the open hihat plays correctly in the preview. However, [b:e498c772db]it is impossible to get the open hihat to play once the groove is imported[/b:e498c772db]. Jamstix always composes the groove with a closed hihat, even if all brain elements except the groove importer are disabled and regardless of the drummer selected (I tried a few).

Unfortunately, the [b:e498c772db]preview function is rather volatile[/b:e498c772db]; it broke again minutes after I started writing the above paragraph. I just played around with Jamstix a bit, loaded a different kit, went back to the groove importer and the preview was broken again, playing only a single hit approximately on beat 5. This should be investigated. If I can reliably reproduce the issue, I will report further.

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@Ralph: I have now gathered enough information to update my bug report. I found [b:8995496ec7]two issues pertaining to MIDI groove import[/b:8995496ec7]:

(1) The [i:8995496ec7]Preview[/i:8995496ec7] function will not work if the bar currently highlighted in jamstix (shown in the bar editor) is beyond the MIDI groove's length, i.e. if the MIDI groove is 2 bars long and the selected bar is bar 3, the preview function will not work. In other words, it works as expected only if
bar 1 is selected. (Quite an evil hack to implement the preview this way )

(2) Although open hihats in MIDI grooves are correctly played in preview mode, any parts composed by the brain after the groove has actually been imported will convert open hihats to closed hihats (tested with Import style and several metal/rock drummers).

I hope you can address these issues in a future update.

I also have some [b:8995496ec7]feature suggestions[/b:8995496ec7] regarding the groove importer:

(F1) Add a filter to the groove importer which allows to retain only certain drum groups/cymbal groups in the imported groove, discarding all others (groups being, for example: snare, kick, toms, hihat, crashes and other cymbals - each with its own checkbox). By retaining, for example, only the kick & snare pattern or only the hihat pattern, one can use Jamstix' brain elements to mix & match. This makes a lot of sense, imo, as one can use Jamstix to add to a groove, but adding stuff really is useful only if the imported groove doesn't already contain everything.

(F2) UI improvement: In the groove import dialog, use an ellipsis ("...") to shorten long paths in the list of groove folders, such that one can see the tail of the path (which typically is more informative than the prefix). Alternatively, widen the whole dialog to provide for quite a bit more space.

Let me know what you think.

[Ralph @ Rayzoon]

Thank you for you research, I'll see about looking into the importer issues.

Your FRs make a lot of sense and will be considered for a future update. Thank you so much!

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I found one further (minor) issue with the Groove Importer: If the Groove Importer brain element is disabled, the type of groove can be changed and changes take effect in the UI but are not in effect when subsequently trying to pick a groove of the new type, i.e. the dialog will show elements of the previously selected type.

While we're on the subject of disabled brain elements: I always had a bit of trouble identifying which elements are disabled in JS4 with a quick glance, because the strike-through is quite subtle. Perhaps the line thickness and/or transparency could be changed to make the status more clearly discernible.

[Ralph @ Rayzoon]

Jamstix 4.4.4 is now available, which fixes the import preview issue as well as the import hihat open issue for BFD3.

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Thanks for also addressing the display of disabled brain elements. Great update!