Jamstix

Jamstix, how do I love thee? Let me count off the ways! Drummer joke!

I use Rayzoon Technologies'Jamstix for about 1/3 of its intended purposes, and consider it invaluable. For those who don't know, Jamstix will allow you to create a drum arrangement (either from pre-existing patterns or those you program yourself). After you create your arrangement, you can have it follow along with your own playing (audio or midi) or export the midi data of the arrangement to your sequencer. It will provide you with drum sounds or host another VST drum module.

I am a singer/songwriter, so I'm not going to use the (admittedly awesome) play-along-with-Dave-Weckl type features. Instead, I program all my own beats and create arrangements which I import into SONAR. I then split each note to its own track and assign sounds from multiple VSTis to the various drums. How cool is that?

In case you're wondering why someone would use Jamstix when they program their own beats, I'll explain. Jamstix will add snare, tom, and crash accents for you, will vary the velocities of your snare and hats, and allow you to add fills (more elaborate than mere accents) to any measure. Intros and endings are also provided. All of this amounts to incredible realism. Jamstix allows you to control how much variation you get, and if you feel a fill or accent is needed in a measure but aren't happy with what you got, a couple of quick clicks will provide a new fill or accent. Sharp.

So for me, Jamstix is like having a drummer who will play what you want without having to discuss every little detail to death. The learning curve is moderate (harder than easy, easirer than hard). It has a few minor quirks, but don't let that stop you from getting it.

UI - I would give the layout of the UI a 10, and the color scheme... less. ;)

Sound - I love the included sounds. I might be more inclined to use them if there were an export to .wav feature (there has been some discussion of this on the Jamstix forum).

Features - Oh, my. Where to begin? To me, Jamstix is like two products in one. As I stated above, the way I use it is as a drummer who does exactly as he's told. It can also do the opposite, and surprise you as much as you'd like! It can assist you in sequencing or take over completely, your choice.

Documentation - Really pretty good.

Presets - Lots of patterns, fills, intros and endings. You can save your own patterns as well. I would like it if a few simpler patterns and fills were included. More of everything would be most welcome! Also, a way to easily create fills, intros, and endings would be nice (I say "easily" because it currently is possible if you want to learn the Dev's method and create them in code).

Customer Support - The best there is. I don't say that lightly. Both support requests and feature requests are handled with care and speed. I've seen feature requests implemented in as little as a few days. Feature Requests!!! If you are a software Dev, the model of Rayzoon's Ralph should be what you aspire to.

Value For Money - I pre-ordered at $89 (the regular price is $99). A pittance.

Stability - Never had a problem.

If you make music and your music has drums and you don't use a live drummer, get Jamstix. If you make a style of music that emulates a drummer, it's a no brainer. If you make electronic music, you should see what jamstix can do for you. Create drum parts and use the resulting midi data to fuel your experiments. Use your imagination.

I don't expect to see a better VSTi for quite some time.Read Review