Friday, August 8, 2003
Retro Electronica Heaven: PocketJam v2.0 Reviewed
Posted by Tim Allen in "SOFTWARE" @ 09:30 AM
Ever wanted to re-create those good old-fashioned squelchy analog sounds of seventies and eighties electronica? Well, you can indulge in some lovely retro sound synthesis action with PocketJam. Whilst you inevitably lose some of the features you get with PC-based synthesizers, PocketJam enables you to make your own music almost anytime and anywhere.
PocketJam, from Silicon Machines, is a slightly shameless copy of Propellerhead's ReBirth PC-based software synthesizer, which in turn emulates the early hardware synths from Roland which were used by the pioneers of electronic dance music. PocketJam made its debut at the beginning of the year; I looked at the recently released version 2 which introduces some welcome improvements. Oh and I ought to mention that I'm not reviewing this from the perspective of a professional musician, because I'm certainly not one, and that doesn't seem to be who it's solely intended for either. Instead I'll assume anyone could use it.
Basics
PocketJam gives you two analog subtractive synths and a drumkit to play with. Subtractive synthesis is where you start with a simple sound waveform and remove some frequencies from it to produce a completely different and usually much more, er, interesting sound.
Figure 1: The main screen
The graphics are very clean and clear, and the controls are simple to adjust by dragging the stylus up and down or left and right - much easier than using a mouse on PC-based soft-synths.
The Synthesizers
The synths are stripped down to the absolute basics: sawtooth or square-wave generators with low-pass resonant filter and decay envelope modulation. If that doesn't mean much to you then don't worry, you don't really need to understand the techy details to have fun, just twiddle the knobs and see what happens.
Whilst this may appear too limiting to those in the know - no pulse-width, no ADSR envelope, no low-frequency oscillator - it's refreshingly simple and more than enough to create some nice squidgy/bloopy/swirly sounds that'll certainly bring a smile to your face.
Each of the synths (and the drumkit) have their own dedicated delay effect, which allows you to get a nice echo or even a ringing effect on extreme settings.
The Drumkit
The drumkit provides slots for ten different instruments, and comes preset with default samples for bass drums, snare, hihats and various other percussion instruments.
Figure 2: The drumkit editor
The default samples are pretty good, but you don't have to stick with them if you don't want to, as a major new feature in PocketJam, v2 allows you to import your own drum samples.
Figure 3: Importing a sample
The interesting thing here is that they don't just have to be drum samples - you could use the available slots for other instruments or even vocals if you like.
Patterns
Sound generation aside, how do you actually put together a sequence of notes to create a riff or even a complete song? In ReBirth (and the original hardware synths) you can only program the sequences a note at a time using the virtual single-octave keyboard on the main screen - a fairly tedious process, faithfully re-created in PocketJam. However, PocketJam goes much further by adding the ability to program the notes in separate pattern matrix screens, so you can see a whole four-beat bar (down to 16ths) at a time.
Figure 4: The pattern matrix for the synths. Five octaves in total are available.
Figure 5: The pattern matrix for the drums. Larger square = louder hit.
Loops
Once you have a few patterns, you can put them together to form a loop, which is effectively the song. The main screen has two modes: pattern and loop, and in loop mode the virtual keyboard is disabled and the Play button plays the entire loop rather than a single pattern.
Figure 6: The main screen in loop mode. Spot the differences.
In version 2 you can now open the pattern matrix screens in loop mode, a major improvement enabling you to see (and edit) the note sequences for the entire loop a bar at a time.
Figure 7: The pattern matrix in loop mode (note the position scroll-bar at the bottom).
When a pattern is copied to the loop the link is lost, so the patterns you see in pattern mode are not necessarily the same as those in loop mode. You can, however, re-initialise the loop or parts of it from pattern mode as many times as you like, or copy and paste patterns between positions in the loop itself.
Recording
Whilst you can just set the various synth and delay controls to preset values when creating the pattern and leave it at that, it's the real-time changes in these settings that really produce great sounds. In record mode you simply twiddle the knobs whilst your loop is playing and all your tweaks are faithfully captured.
When playing back, PocketJam v2 now shows the knobs moving and settings changing in real-time as you record them, which provides some very useful feedback on the effect of various combinations of settings. It can be turned off if you don't have enough CPU power, although my 400 MHz Axim coped well enough.
Output
PocketJam saves your work in a proprietary .JAM file, but once you're happy with it you can export it in mono WAV format, with the added option - new in version 2 - to create a proper loop by carrying delay echoes from the end round to the start.
Figure 8: Output choices
The only other other output option is as a raw SND file; there's no MIDI, but I don't see this as a real limitation.
Other Enhancements
There are several other useful improvements in PocketJam v2, such as the ability to start and stop playback from the matrix screens without having to return to the main screen. See Silicon Machines' Web site for a full revision history.
Gotchas
The software can be purchased direct from Silicon Machines for $19.95. A trial version is also available, along with a comprehensive on-line manual and a demo MP3 album.
Specifications
This program will work on any Pocket PC or Pocket PC 2002 device with a minimum CPU speed of 200MHz, and takes up 1 Mb of storage RAM, but requires 3 Mb to run. It hasn't yet been verified under Windows Mobile 2003 by the developers though.
Conclusions
Overall the sounds you can make with PocketJam are very good, and the sheer ability to create music on the go in such a small package is fantastic. However, I found it difficult to keep track of what's where in a long and complex loop, and editing it even more tricky. The ability to name patterns, together with an overview of the loop showing these named patterns in the various positions, would help a lot.
So whilst it's possible to put together a complete track with PocketJam, it's more instrument than music programmer, and therefore better suited to creating shorter loops for use in a full-blown sequencer. And, of course, for just trying out riffs, rhythms and melodies whenever and wherever they may pop into your head - a job it performs perfectly.
PocketJam, from Silicon Machines, is a slightly shameless copy of Propellerhead's ReBirth PC-based software synthesizer, which in turn emulates the early hardware synths from Roland which were used by the pioneers of electronic dance music. PocketJam made its debut at the beginning of the year; I looked at the recently released version 2 which introduces some welcome improvements. Oh and I ought to mention that I'm not reviewing this from the perspective of a professional musician, because I'm certainly not one, and that doesn't seem to be who it's solely intended for either. Instead I'll assume anyone could use it.
Basics
PocketJam gives you two analog subtractive synths and a drumkit to play with. Subtractive synthesis is where you start with a simple sound waveform and remove some frequencies from it to produce a completely different and usually much more, er, interesting sound.
Figure 1: The main screen
The graphics are very clean and clear, and the controls are simple to adjust by dragging the stylus up and down or left and right - much easier than using a mouse on PC-based soft-synths.
The Synthesizers
The synths are stripped down to the absolute basics: sawtooth or square-wave generators with low-pass resonant filter and decay envelope modulation. If that doesn't mean much to you then don't worry, you don't really need to understand the techy details to have fun, just twiddle the knobs and see what happens.
Whilst this may appear too limiting to those in the know - no pulse-width, no ADSR envelope, no low-frequency oscillator - it's refreshingly simple and more than enough to create some nice squidgy/bloopy/swirly sounds that'll certainly bring a smile to your face.
Each of the synths (and the drumkit) have their own dedicated delay effect, which allows you to get a nice echo or even a ringing effect on extreme settings.
The Drumkit
The drumkit provides slots for ten different instruments, and comes preset with default samples for bass drums, snare, hihats and various other percussion instruments.
Figure 2: The drumkit editor
The default samples are pretty good, but you don't have to stick with them if you don't want to, as a major new feature in PocketJam, v2 allows you to import your own drum samples.
Figure 3: Importing a sample
The interesting thing here is that they don't just have to be drum samples - you could use the available slots for other instruments or even vocals if you like.
Patterns
Sound generation aside, how do you actually put together a sequence of notes to create a riff or even a complete song? In ReBirth (and the original hardware synths) you can only program the sequences a note at a time using the virtual single-octave keyboard on the main screen - a fairly tedious process, faithfully re-created in PocketJam. However, PocketJam goes much further by adding the ability to program the notes in separate pattern matrix screens, so you can see a whole four-beat bar (down to 16ths) at a time.
Figure 4: The pattern matrix for the synths. Five octaves in total are available.
Figure 5: The pattern matrix for the drums. Larger square = louder hit.
Loops
Once you have a few patterns, you can put them together to form a loop, which is effectively the song. The main screen has two modes: pattern and loop, and in loop mode the virtual keyboard is disabled and the Play button plays the entire loop rather than a single pattern.
Figure 6: The main screen in loop mode. Spot the differences.
In version 2 you can now open the pattern matrix screens in loop mode, a major improvement enabling you to see (and edit) the note sequences for the entire loop a bar at a time.
Figure 7: The pattern matrix in loop mode (note the position scroll-bar at the bottom).
When a pattern is copied to the loop the link is lost, so the patterns you see in pattern mode are not necessarily the same as those in loop mode. You can, however, re-initialise the loop or parts of it from pattern mode as many times as you like, or copy and paste patterns between positions in the loop itself.
Recording
Whilst you can just set the various synth and delay controls to preset values when creating the pattern and leave it at that, it's the real-time changes in these settings that really produce great sounds. In record mode you simply twiddle the knobs whilst your loop is playing and all your tweaks are faithfully captured.
When playing back, PocketJam v2 now shows the knobs moving and settings changing in real-time as you record them, which provides some very useful feedback on the effect of various combinations of settings. It can be turned off if you don't have enough CPU power, although my 400 MHz Axim coped well enough.
Output
PocketJam saves your work in a proprietary .JAM file, but once you're happy with it you can export it in mono WAV format, with the added option - new in version 2 - to create a proper loop by carrying delay echoes from the end round to the start.
Figure 8: Output choices
The only other other output option is as a raw SND file; there's no MIDI, but I don't see this as a real limitation.
Other Enhancements
There are several other useful improvements in PocketJam v2, such as the ability to start and stop playback from the matrix screens without having to return to the main screen. See Silicon Machines' Web site for a full revision history.
Gotchas
- The difference between patterns, loops and patterns in loops takes some getting used to, and having to constantly switch between the two modes can become a bit tiresome.
- The lack of a real sequencer-style overview makes editing tricky and creating a whole song challenging.
- Copying and pasting patterns overwrites recorded control changes. I'd like to see an option to copy and paste the note sequences only.
- You can only import samples from My Documents, and not from a storage card.
- There's no 'Save' option, only 'Save As'; and there's no 'New' menu option - to start a new composition you have to manually clear everything (or restart the app).
- It can take up to 20 seconds for the application to initialise - I'm not sure if the one-by-one illumination of the controls during this startup phase is a gimmick but I found the delay annoying.
- I experienced the occasional freeze when playing a complex loop, where the sound would break up and I had to soft-reset to regain control. The developers are aware of the issue and tell me they plan to implement a fix at some point. In the meantime I suggest making sure nothing else is running before starting PocketJam, as it's pretty demanding on the CPU.
The software can be purchased direct from Silicon Machines for $19.95. A trial version is also available, along with a comprehensive on-line manual and a demo MP3 album.
Specifications
This program will work on any Pocket PC or Pocket PC 2002 device with a minimum CPU speed of 200MHz, and takes up 1 Mb of storage RAM, but requires 3 Mb to run. It hasn't yet been verified under Windows Mobile 2003 by the developers though.
Conclusions
Overall the sounds you can make with PocketJam are very good, and the sheer ability to create music on the go in such a small package is fantastic. However, I found it difficult to keep track of what's where in a long and complex loop, and editing it even more tricky. The ability to name patterns, together with an overview of the loop showing these named patterns in the various positions, would help a lot.
So whilst it's possible to put together a complete track with PocketJam, it's more instrument than music programmer, and therefore better suited to creating shorter loops for use in a full-blown sequencer. And, of course, for just trying out riffs, rhythms and melodies whenever and wherever they may pop into your head - a job it performs perfectly.
