Identifying spaces..

[Soulwire]

I've been practicing intervals and trying to figure out how to get accuracy with them. For me, if I'm playing the root: Two fingers together: P4 with 90% accuracy. Three fingers: m6 with 80% accuracy. Four fingers: octave with 60% accuracy. I'm hoping to up the accuracy so I can have more control over the polyphony during a live performance. Think the ipad might change things on that front, eh??

I've also tried with both thumbs and that seems to work okay, although there is no kinesthetic way to gauge the distance between. What have you all found? Have you tried to gain more control over multiple note selections?

[Jesse]

Obviously the bigger the vertical note area, the more accurate you'll be. I think with the play area split feature you suggested you'll be able to have the total range you want along with better accuracy.

Also, planned chording features will help as well, if that's what your going for.

[Soulwire]

Yep! I'm treating your program like an instrument. I've got it set to 1 span above the largest. This gives almost a 2 octave range. Being able to split left and right...that would just be killer. Imagining how easy it would be to create harmonies. We could have the left/right split be an octave apart, or perhaps a major 5th from the root note. Imagining the possibilities with the split and having a flexible structure in how they relate to each other!

Chording features...like iShred? I was going to suggest that, but I didn't want to mention too much. #1 thing for me is the split. I'll be performing with this program in a couple of months. I'll try to take a vid.

[Jesse]

I agree, it is a bit of challenge to move past the jam or the mood piece and play covers. Some work better than others when you find that magic scale. To help with that task, I will add an easy way to make a custom scale by just picking out which of the 12 diatonic notes you want to include (a la Bebot), instead of hunting through all the names. As an added bonus it will tell you the name of the scale you create if it exists.

I have some ideas for the chording interface which might make doing backing tracks easier (another slight challenge for TJ). I'll probably also break down and have an optional piano keyboard popout available for those times when it might make people feel more comfortable.

Thanks for the good words, one of the reasons it took so long for me to release is that I couldn't stop playing with it.... that's always the acid test, usually a developer doesn't end up getting to use the software they create enough (at least in my experience).

Oh, so do you think you'll let us listen to your Billie Jean rendition? Sounds like a great demo.....

[eMicBra]

I wonder if you might consider implementing some kind of alternative interface to make it easier to play chords while jamming. Specifically, I'm thinking of the array style keyboard used on the "thummer" instrument that was being promoted by the (now defunct) thumtronics company. Also known as a harmonic table or wiki-hayden keyboard (used on some concertinas). Also some modern button accordions use this style of keyboard.

On these types of keyboards, the keys are arranged such that many chords could be played with one finger. I'm imagining having the ability to move around such a keyboard using swiping gestures to scroll along both the x and y axes and or using pinch gestures to zoom in/out on the part of the keyboard you want to play.

This type of key arrangement makes a lot of sense because the fingering for any chord or scale is the same in any key. I think it has some advantages for an iPhone instrument because a lot of notes could be packed into a small amount of screen real estate.

[AltVader]

I think Thumbjam represents a major breakthough in music- not just for jamming on an iphone, but for music in general. TJ closes the gap between the musician and the music. With the same skill set, you can play a great sax, cello, or any of dozens of other instruments. It's truly amazing! Your limit is your imagination.

In five minutes you can lay down a bass track, add a blues organ, percussion and a little sax. Switch to electric guitar and you're off and jamming. I'm not aware of anything like it.

There are limits, though. I decided to do a cover of Billie Jean to test the depth of the app. Got the bass line and drums easily enough. Then the synthesizer chord progression comes in. It quickly became clear I couldn't play chords with the accuracy I needed, so I had to do multiple tracks to play a chord. One other thing- you need another app to do a full song. I find Beatmaker fills the gaps by allowing you to blend in instruments, switch to others etc.

Congratulations to Jesse for this app. It's a major achievement! You can listen to your iPod all day and enjoy it, but there's nothing like expressing yourself in music and hearing it later. This is the app- ThumbJam rocks!!

[Jesse]

Good idea about the alternative layout... it is probably worth giving a try, especially on an iPad.

[eMicBra]

Hey Jesse,

Thanks for listening. I actually think a matrix style keypad arrangement would be most valuable on the phone/touch platform because of the limited size. Especially if there were some way to easily scroll around to change which octave range you were playing in.

Michael