I had been manually putting my drums together before I bought this, and after hearing a few pieces put together by people stating they used Jamstix, I had to go out and buy it!

It creates variations and fills in real time rather than rely of stringing MIDI files together, and it will jam along with either MIDI or audio from another track in your DAW which is a great feature. You can also put together your own patterns, either from a MIDI file or by dragging and dropping in a cell matrix.

First impressions were that the UI is not that user-friendly. This seems to be a common criticism of it and one that most people hope will be addressed in future versions. It's not that it's difficult to use, it's just that it's, well...ugly...

The sounds that come out of this are fine - very well sampled drum kits with a very realistic sound. If I had to criticize the sound it would only be that there is not enough variation between kits - maybe a broader range of kits would have been more useful. However, if you don't want to use the Jamstix kits, you can always get it to trigger another sampler that does have the sounds that you want.

Nothing wrong with the documentation that comes with this, but it is maybe a little difficult to understand because it uses screenshots of the UI. If the UI itself was more clear and well laid out, then I'm sure the documentation would seem a lot better.

For presets you get the various kits, the various drummers, and various styles. I think these could be expanded greatly, particularly the variation in kits and more than one example of each style. Having said that, there are plenty of tweakable parameters, so if you don't like it you can change it.

Customer support from Rayzoon is excellent - they have got it exactly right - if the customer has an issue they address it. There are far too many companies out there who are more interested in selling their product than dealing with customers.

Value for money? Absolutely! This is a steal at less than $100!

As for stability, I've had no problems with this at all. It's rock solid and isn't too resource hungry, even when you load some of the larger kits.

I'd recommend this software to anyone looking for a flexible, virtual drummer.

Jamstix 1 was developed from the idea of an "intelligent" jamming buddy, responding to the intensity of your playing in a life-like manner. In time it grew well beyond that, incorporating an arranger section enabling you to give your drummer detailed instructions of what to play, and when to play it. However, as a result of this organic growth the user interface was a bit convoluted, to say the least, and much labour was required to get the results you wanted.

Jamstix 2 has been redone from the ground up -- it's got the same basic ingredients and capabilities, but done in a completely different and much more user-friendly manner. In the transition, it has gone from being jam-centric to arranger-centric, a very good thing for me personally since I don't use the jamming features (much). Instead, I now have a number of competent session drummers I can really sit down and talk arrangements with.

THE DRUMMER(S)

Leaving the live input (jamming) capabilities aside, there are a huge number of things that affect the way a certain part (one or more consecutive bars) in the song structure is played:

- Load a style to decide the basic rhythm -- there are about 50 styles included at the time of writing. These styles are not just patterns: Each style is customizable through a set of controls that is unique to each style. Some styles offer only minor variations, others are really a package of similar styles where you need to go exploring thoroughly in order to realise the possibilities. The March style, for instance, have both foot and snare settings of "March", "Baiao", and "Gadd" -- allowing you to use it for everything from western marching band music to Brazilian Baiao to a creditable emulation of Steve Gadd's famous drumming in "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".

- Within the style, the playing for a bar is layered into "groove", "accent", and "fill" aspects: Each aspect has its own set of customization controls, and fills can be played in solo or in combination with the other aspects.

- As if this didn't create variety enough, now it's time to choose between the 9 available "drummers". These are models of real-life drummer behaviours that greatly affect the end results. Each drummer has his own ways to add syncopation, accents and fills to the drumming. In addition, you also have access to a totally "brainless" guy, and one who is a machine. The latter is the only one not taking human limitations into account when playing, but does things you would normally need a trained octopus for.

- Still not satisfied? Then go into the bar editor and edit drumming events individually to correct those small annoyances in an otherwise good performance. Manual edits, as well as entire bars, can be locked from further changes by Jamstix.

- Are we done yet? Not quite - you can also add groove maps to all or part of the song, and make global shuffle and general timing adjustments. In addition, there is the possibility to load your own MIDI files and have Jamstix modify those instead of using the built-in styles.

Yes, Jamstix 2 is deep - VERY deep - but in comparison to Jamstix 1, you can get the overall structure of a song together and the drumming in the ballpark much quicker. It is also really easy to move things around in the song structure without as much fear of destroying what you already have and like.

THE SOUND(S)

How does Jamstix 2 sound? The answer is, any way you like. You can use only its included drum kits, or sub-host a drum sampler of your choice within Jamstix 2, selecting drums from both sources to work together - use the percussion from Jamstix 2 together with a percussion-less kit in Battery 3, for instance. You can also go MIDI-only out from Jamstix into a drum sampler loaded separately in your host/sequencer.

The basic version of Jamstix 2 contains just one kit, but it is very, very good and "live sounding", although it will not suit all production styles. The XL version also contains all add-on kits released for Jamstix 1, including brushed kits (necessary for some jazz & swing styles) and close-miked kits. Overall, the drum sound quality is really good, competing with the best of the dedicated drum sample libraries, although naturally a bit generic in nature. You should really consider the XL version standard, and the basic version a "stripped down" one.

THE DOCUMENTATION

Ah, the old stumbling block... This product really needs a lot more readily accessible how-tos and tutorials. Besides, the sheer rate of feature add-on and improvement means it's almost impossible to keep the manual up to date. But let's face it, the Jamstix users are an enthusiast crowd, and some visits to the Rayzoon support forums should be obligatory!

There, I've run out of space already with nothing more than scratching the surface. So I'll end just by saying that Ralph Z of Rayzoon is the friendliest and most dedicated man in the entire business. There! Go Buy 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.

Jamstix is the only program that I tried that actually sounds like a real drummer, complete with fills and random hits. The built-in sounds are okay, but you get the best result with a proper drumkit in a seperate sampler (like Battery or Kontakt).

I haven't used its real-time capabalities much, since I am not such a great keyboard player. I use it in Cubase SX and found that the program really shines when automating its parameters, most notably the probabilities of snare variations and crashes.

What I would like to see in this program is a better way to program new rhythms. The interface right now is a bit confusing and doesn't offer features to drill down to the low level bits. I'd love to simply have a pattern-editor in which I could assign the probabilities of each hit. This would be especially handy for programming fills, which are now derived from mostly unreadable text files. For now I usually just render the results to MIDI and then tweak them in my sequencer's drum-editor

Saving your own rhythms is a bit weird, since they use a keyword-based system that I find rather clumsy.

In conclusion, this program is a great way to quickly make drum patterns with a live feel to them. It could even replace a drummer for demo-purposes, as long as you're prepared to do some manual programming as well.

Oh man, im so honored to be the very first person to review Jamstix 1.2 here at KVR.

First of all let me just say that before getting Jamstix, I dreaded turning on my PC to play music with. Period. I know many folks out there feel the same way because many programs are just so un user friendly and so unstable that instead of inspiring you, they get in the way and there goes all your music inspiration. You feel that you just spent your whole time making something work, instead of making the most beloved thing we love to do, and that is music.

Having said all that, I can honestly and whole heartedly say, Jamstix is everything I have always dreamed of in a virtual Drummer. I have the full version and this program is so easy to use and understand, that I no longer feel afraid of making my drum tracks for my songs. For once, I feel happy to turn on my PC and start making music. The program is so stable and even since the demo, it has yet to lock up my PC.

I can go on and on, but I think you guys get the idea. Jamstix will get your inspiration juices flowing. I gurantee it !! If you are finding it harder and harder to get you to make music with your PC, oh man, you have got to check Jamstix out. I can tell you, for once, you're going to feel like I feel. You will look forward to turning on your PC, and start making music.

One awsome thing about any company is its customer service.
I personally give Ralph at Rayzoon Tech, a Perfect 10+++ !!

And if you look at the forums everywhere, I am not the only one that feels this way. This to me is the best customer service ever !! From any developer. If you wonder what all the fuzz is about this drummer program, well, you can stay by the fence and wonder for ever, or you can do yourself an awsome favor and go get the most awsome VSTi for drummer ever made !!! Updates are constantly being made, and Ralph actually does look forward for customer ideas, and guess what? he actually does include them on updates. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Because I feel that this was the best money I ever spent for any VSTi and because of all the awsome customer service and support, I can humbly say that I nominate Jamstix as the VSTi of they Year !!!!

Peace,

Musikman