ThumbJam Forum

Jesse,

This is the first time I’m actually writing and sending my thoughts on an app.

I’m kind of at a loss for words. As a musician, I’m thrilled to have such a playable & compositional tool. In my phone, in my pocket, always. You’ve provided practically everything needed, in the right priorities. I can’t say enough about Thumbjam.

And of course, I want more…

And as Feature Requests are the largest section of the forum, it seems requests evidence quality. So in the hopes that these are helpful down the road, I share my own.

- “Mixer Mute Sets” seems a simple solution for providing an A, B, C, D, song structure. Along with a track to select them.

(I don’t miss quantization, loop or note editing, or even tempo change (ok, maybe), because I love the musician’s approach. What you play is what you get, and it emphasizes a “live” approach instead of the “editing” producer’s approach. For me, it’s the key to the simplified complexity of TJ. You’ve kept it in the now.)

- And on the playing side…
Velocity sensitivity…
I use X-axis volume, but harder hits for more sound is a universal law of sound and music… and it’s always weird when e-thingies don’t do it. I know it’s tricky with the iphone, but may just be possible…

- The last of my top three: saving customizable scales from the Chromatic scale.
I’m a drummer…
I hear a song and then seek out the most efficient scale for the small screen. But it’s a long, fascinating list, and it’d be great if right below “Create Instrument” there’s a feature to tap in and save my own scale.


- Well, after those three, chording buttons sound interesting, though I wish for a chording interface where you can still play all the keys. … but I trust you harmonic guys know best how to handle this.

- And there’s Undo… always good to have…



Small, ignorable, stuff:

Easy-access volume for each instrument.

An optional 1-2 seconds to “pinch” (spread and shift) the span, octave & key after choosing a new instrument seems intuitive.
Unsure if the settings (span, octave, key, fx and control) are remembered for each instrument when last used, but it would be (or is) very useful.

Track naming, and select & merge two or more loop tracks. Solo buttons.

Auditioning Instruments without closing the window (just like with scales). Though with experience, the immediacy of “choose and play” is nice. But with new instruments or just to see what instrument sounds good over a loop, it 'd be nice….

Double-tap to hide menus as well as reveal them. (Can still keep in menu for newbies). Possible triple tap to show/hide Key Controls.

More motion-controlled fx? Wah, Distortion, Flanger? Vocoder using different directions?? Simple compression for each track? I know, too much…


But finally, a question or two: I’ve played with a 3gs and a 2g and they’re out of tune. My guess is it’s the limited 2g power (the looper also sometimes plays super slow).

Secondly, I can’t seem to get Bluetooth collaboration between the two, I imagine again, 2g issue. Do phones have to be “paired” in General Settings, before Thumbjam pairs (they don’t see each other)? (And just to be clear on it’s function, Bluetooth Collaboration allows the follower player’s loops to change tempo to sync with the leader’s loops?)

Okay, so much for being at a loss of words. Anyway, please consider the top three wishes, all of them, or none... You’ve done an incredible job, and Thumbjam has exceeded expectations.

I look forward to a very creative future…

In thanks,
Howard

Thanks for the good words feedback!

As for your top 3 requests:

1) Was there a description of "Mixer Mute Sets" somewhere else in the forums? If not, feel free to give some more details about how you think it could work.

2) I might revisit a few approaches here, I can see how nice it would be.

3) This is already implemented in my version here, so at least you're 1 for 3

Do you mean volume for the currently active instrument?

The pinch/drag approach to changing the span and octave will also be implemented for the next version.

I didn't keep the instrument chooser up because it usually takes a little too long to load an instrument to make it as useful a browsing feature as it is with scales.

Do you mean double-tap any menu button to go into "Hide Menu" mode? Not a bad idea.

A resonant low-pass filter (wah) is in the works.

You've actually experienced a new and old device being out of tune when playing the same instrument? That I've never seen. Yeah, the slower device sometimes glitches if you try to play too many loops, but nothing super slow or out of tune that I've seen. Can you describe what happens more clearly? What version of iOS in both cases?

With BT collaboration, you just need to make one the Leader, then on the other choose Follower, and a window should pop up and show the first device in the list, select it and they should be linked up. If it isn't working try rebooting one or both devices and try again. Also make sure Bluetooth is enabled in the System Settings app.

Wait, by 2g do actually mean a first generation iPhone? If so, there are known issues with TJ on those.

Hi Jesse,

Thanks for covering it all...

And it's 3am but I gotta answer.

1) Mixer Mutes Sets: Like others I'm sure, I build a lot of loop layers and I was thinking if, at the top of the Loop Mixer, there were A, B, C, D checkboxes that each called up a different configuration of mixer settings (mute, volume) along with a dedicated track which turns them on/off at different bars, (for example, selects B at bar 4, then C & D at bar 8...) I thought it might be a simple way to create sections to build a complete song from existing loops. (As well as open up all past compositions to B, C & D parts...)

2) That'd be great. (And free the X-axis up for that wah!)

3) Goody. Though last of the three, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how useful it would be, to really open up playability on that liddle screen, and easing composition, lessen wrong notes and retakes...
-
Do you mean volume for the currently active instrument?
-Yup.

The pinch/drag approach to changing the span and octave will also be implemented for the next version.
-Wow.

I didn't keep the instrument chooser up because it usually takes a little too long to load an instrument to make it as useful a browsing feature as it is with scales.
-Gotcha.

Do you mean double-tap any menu button to go into "Hide Menu" mode? Not a bad idea.
-Or double-tap just the "Edit" button.

A resonant low-pass filter (wah) is in the works.
-Yum.

You've actually experienced a new and old device being out of tune when playing the same instrument? That I've never seen. Yeah, the slower device sometimes glitches if you try to play too many loops, but nothing super slow or out of tune that I've seen. Can you describe what happens more clearly? What version of iOS in both cases?
-Yeah, strange. Iphone 2G running 3.1.2. Same instrument, same scale. His F#4 was near my C#2, tried a couple of days in a row - very strange. I tried restarting both, turning down graphics & delay - couldn't think of much else to free up the device. I'll look at it again tomorrow. Also, a friend did a loop on a different 2g and when I played it the next day, it was maybe quarter speed. Sounded like a cool ambient film soundtrack. Still nice...


With BT collaboration, you just need to make one the Leader, then on the other choose Follower, and a window should pop up and show the first device in the list, select it and they should be linked up. If it isn't working try rebooting one or both devices and try again. Also make sure Bluetooth is enabled in the System Settings app.
-did all the above, never got the list. Stuck on "Looking for other ipads, etc..." Tried it with two different 2g's with my 3gs.
But is linking the two phones via Bluetooth (in System Settings) necessary? (If possible?). It is strange... I have a feeling it'll work with another 3g or 3gs though...

Thanks again, Jesse.

[correction: the Iphone 2G is running ios 3.1.3]

The ability to change volume for the current instrument would be helpful, I think.

This week, I imported a drum .wav that I generated in Funkbox and massaged in Filtatron. The level of that sound file may have been somewhat low, but in any case, the current instrument's value was noticeably higher. If you're just mixing recorded tracks, that's easy to fix, but when you're playing it can be a problem. In this situation, I couldn't make the drum .wav loud enough without making the current instrument TOO loud.

Yes. 2g meaning the original. Saw mention of tuning issue (on original iphone) but nothing definitive on it (or BT collaboration). So thanks for clearing that up, Jesse.
(I must have been searching for "2g"...)

Hi Jesse,

Just wanted to check in on what you thought about "mixer mute sets" or, in general, what the future holds for TJ's looper in terms of building song structure.

Thanks,
Howard

Yes, something very close to what you describe is what I intend to do first. We'll see how the interface turns out... it might be a little different to reduce clutter....

Mouth-watering. Could you use another beta tester?

Btw, have I mentioned how much I love your app?