RAYZOON

I have an idea that I think could be really useful for Jamstix.
Right now, if you just want to experiment with grooves and sounds, etc., you have to create a project in the host, (or load an existing project and remember not to save) which isn't really a problem but...

Wouldn't it be great if Jamstix could open as a stand-alone program?

You could then load different kits, grooves, styles, drummers, etc., in Jamstix and edit, experiment, etc. If you found something you really like, you could save it as a song or "scene". You could then drag those songs or bars or whatever directly onto a MIDI track in a DAW for use with another sampler or create a project in the DAW and load Jamstix and then load the saved song settings or start from scratch to re-create. A lot of options for a "workflow".

One place where this would save time is if you are experimenting with different time signatures. Currently, you have to change the time sig. in Jamstix and the DAW. Also, if you want to try different tempo settings, you have to go back to the DAW.

It seems like there could be times when it would be useful to just open up Jamstix and start playing without bothering with the DAW.

I don't know how much is involved so maybe it is not worth the effort required but it is just an idea.

Thank you. Yes, stand-alone is on the back-burner for investigation. Aside from needing to use an audio framework to operate within, time sig changes are currently driven by host logic so we'd need to build all that as well. We'll see what we can do in the future.

jas_lan wrote:It seems like there could be times when it would be useful to just open up Jamstix and start playing without bothering with the DAW.

I'd love a quick-to-open Standalone version that I could fire up to jam or practise with when I have no plans to record. Way smarter than any hardware drum machine I've used (and some of the flesh'n' blood drummers! )

Best of both worlds would be if I could still save a song if inspiration struck, then open that up from a DAW later...

Wouldn't using a lightweight VSTi host be a good solution for such applications. I know Steinberg used to offer something like that with V-Stack, which started up in a matter of seconds. I'm sure there are some modern alternatives, perhaps even free ones.
That way, Ralph can focus his development time on the core jamstix features.
I realise your workflow suggestions go beyond the DAW thing, but it seems like quite a bit of work...

opcode wrote:Wouldn't using a lightweight VSTi host be a good solution for such applications.

I highly recommend Cantabile Lite - it's free - it pretty much works out of the box:

1. Install Cantabile
2. Choose Audio interface (recommend ASIO4ALL if you don't have an ASIO USB interface)
3. If you don't see Jamstix check in Options that it scans for VST's where Jamstix VST is.
4. Double click on Jamstix to open it's interface.

Another option is Tone2 NanoHost, it's also free and works great: https://www.tone2.com/nanohost.html

By renaming the .exe file identical to the vst .dll, you can have it run a specific VST by default, and as such set up quick shortcuts to numerous different VSTs.

TommyC81_ wrote:Another option is Tone2 NanoHost...

NanoHost seems to have no transport functionality (Start, Stop e.t.c). Jamstix starts playing right after loading. No way to stop and build a song.