Rayzoon Technologies releases Jamstix v1.3

8th August 2005 - KVR Audio News

Rayzoon Technologies has released a version 1.3 update for its virtual drummer VSTi Jamstix. This is a massive update with lots of enhancements, including 40+ new fills and intros, as well as various bug fixes.

Enhancements:

Added 40+ intros and fills.
Added 'Character' control to jam control panel.
Added 'Latinize' character, which reduces kick velocity, switches to snare sidestick and sets some default percussion.
Added 'Aggressive' character, which uses semi-open hats instead of open hats.
Added 'Random' button to free jam style panel to randomize those settings.
Added 'Auto-Foot' setting to hihat panel to control behavior of hihat foot during ride and fills. Can be switched to off, quarters, eighths, or quarters+eighths.
Added special snare and tom accents for shuffle mode.
Expanded cymbal panel with boxes to add cymbals to quarters and eights with velocity and sound control.
Added 'Mute' and 'Lock' controls to the FIE screen for convenience.
Rocker switches can now also be changed by clicking on the labels.
Added toggle switch for snare rimshots to internal engine controls.
Added 'Mute Percussion' button.
Added 'Double Bass' checkbox to free jam style panel.
Added 'loop' option to FIE screen to control looping of previews.
Changing 'No snare ghosting','Always Sidestick' and 'Always Ride' no longer resets the current patterns.
'Toggle Locks' now only locks that have play data.
Reduced chimes volume in Jamstix mappings.
Snare ghosts can now shuffle.
Percussion now shuffles.
Added parameter 'StereoOutputs' to jamstix.ini to switch all Jamstix outputs to mono if needed. Just add StereoOutputs=0 to [General] section.
When changing the name of an existing rhythm and trying to save, Jamstix now allows replacing the existing rhythm.
Controller and program changes are now passed through to subhosted VSTi.
Right-clicking on input velocity map now shows load/save options.
Added 'Jamstix YS Alt Kick' mapping with a shorter/closer kick then the default kit.
Added control of the fill origin bar ('Start Bar') to the arranger to control the placement of fills.
Added 18 MIDI automation parameters for percussion control.
Jamstix now auto-selects the first used rhythm slot during key word jam if the current default slot is empty.
Right-clicking on a rhythm in the arranger now opens the 'load rhythm' dialog box.
Manually changing the start bar in the arranger now disables the automatic start bar detection for the session.
Added arrow buttons to arranger rhythm name display to scroll names if needed for long rhythm names.
Added red status bar message when trying to scroll the arrangement while playing.
Replaced random X-sample selection with round-robin selection logic.
Snare rimshots are now quieter.
Sends MIDI controller 40 when a liveloop changes (data value is # of new liveloop with a range of 1-20).
Sends MIDI controller 41 when the play mode changes (data values are 0-Normal 1-Fill 2-Intro 3-Ending).
Fills are no longer protected in liveloop mode (use locking if a fill needs to be constant).
Program changes now change the default rhythm that Jamstix will fall back on when input goes silent during free jam.
Triggering a fill on the last bar of a liveloop now issues the fill in the first bar of the loop.
When using a bar offset the fill origin is automatically adjusted.
Fill,intro and ending markers are no longer displayed on previously locked bars.
Choices (accents,fills etc.) are not memorized in liveloop mode so that loops can vary realistically.
When exporting to MIDI file, Jamstix now warns if the host was never started and tempo and time signature information is not present.
Arranger color now alternates with rhythms to aid positional awareness.
Rhythms names in the arranger are now black for better readability.
Load rhythm key word selections are now remembered even in hosts that fully destroy the GUI when closed (Cubase).
Velocity and velocity lock status are now saved with the project data.
Added jamstix.ini option 'NoFIERandomization' to suppress randomization of fills,intros and endings.
Double-clicking on a bar in the arranger now also moves the position to that bar.
When previewing, Jamstix now immediately jumps to the beat 1 to make it easier to distinguish between underlying rhythm and fill.
Jamstix now alerts the user when trying to lock an unplayed bar.
Sliders in the mapping panel now output their position to the status bar when changed.
Fill/Intro/Ending editor in the arranger is no longer available on locked bars.

Bug fixes:

Fixed problem loading Jamstix into Project 5.
Fixed problem loading Jamstix into fx bin of an audio track in Sonar.
Fixed problems with 'Back To Arrangement' in Ableton Live popping up when playing back Velocity automation.
Fixed freezing when recording with Ableton Live and velocity dropping below 70%.
Fixed sample list not loading in Live.
Fixed Jamstix not loading in Ableton Live for some users.
Fixed issue with auditing sounds when using DFHS inside of Jamstix.
Fixed problem with DFHS bounce function inside of Jamstix.
Fixed missing BFD GUI when loading BFD mapping when BFD is already subhosted.
Fixed DFHS/BFD extra sounds logic.
Implemented fix for 'no play without GUI' bug that some users experience in FL5 and energyXT.
Fixed issue with some internal timers when running a very long Windows session.
Fixed issue with MIDI input key releases triggering another note event with controllers that send MIDI Note off messages as 0x80h versus 0x90h/zero velocity.
Fixed fill frequency 16 setting.
Fixed first bar in arranger not highlighting when played.
Fixed improper limb transition time logic, which decides how long it takes the drummer to get a specific limb from one drum to another. This fixes things like unrealistic ride during fills where most drummers would not be able to switch so fast.
Fixed infrequent invalid pointer operation error.
Fixed big time window displaying 6/8 rhythms in quarters.
Fixed FIE marker disappearing when locking the bar.
Fixed issue with incorrect pitch when auditing in MIDI-Out mode under certain circumstances.
Fixed sample rates other than 44.1kHz not being reported properly to sub-hosted VSTi.
Fixed demo version playing only with GUI open in certain hosts.
Fixed problems with rhythm suppression in FIE preview under certain circumstances.
Inserting/deleting measures now handles locked bars properly.
Internal engine controls now longer show in MIDI-Out Only mode.
Shuffler logic is now aligning 16th before quarters with 16th triplet grid instead of 8th.
'Toggle Locks' can now fix fully locked arrangements when loading an old arrangement with a newer Jamstix.