Beat Input

2. BEAT INPUT

Input Selector

Djazz plays a beat each time it receives a message (a “tap,” or “click”), if it is engaged (how to engage Djazz will be explained below). When not engaged, it will not play when a beat message is received. When this is the case, you can click on bars or chapters (“cells” of the grid) in the song grid without triggering playback. Once engaged, djazz will begin playing on the next beat after a cell has been clicked on.

The cells of the grid change color depending on whether Djazz is engaged and whether a cell is currently playing or not. The colors represent the following:

• Light gray: not the current measure/chapter of the song
• Dark gray: the current measure measure/chapter of the song, but Djazz is not engaged
• Blue: the current measure measure/chapter of the song, but not playing
• Orange: the current measure measure/chapter of the song, and playing

There are three ways to send Djazz a beat message; you select one from the dropdown menu: manual, metronome, or remote. Selecting from the dropdown menu will change the controls on the left side of this box. When one option is selected, the other two are not responsive.

The right-hand side of the window lets you change the sound and output port of the click.

1. INPUT SELECTOR: Select if the input beat will come from one of the following:

1. Djazz’s metronome
2. a manual tap from the user
3. a remote source, such as another DAW.

2. OUTPUT CLICK MIDI PITCH: Changes the pitch of the click. The number indicates the MIDI value of the pitch.

3. OUTPUT CLICK MIDI CHANNEL: The MIDI channel of the click (1-16). 4. SELECTED INPUT VIEW: metronome, manual, or remote.

5. OUTPUT CLICK VOLUME CONTROL: The volume of the click. When muted, this will be gray.
6. OUTPUT CLICK MUTE BUTTON: Mutes/unmutes the click
7. OUTPUT CLICK MIDI PORT: The output port of the click.

BEAT INPUT VIEWS

Metronome

1. The button marked with a triangle turns the metronome on and off. When you turn this button on and then select a grid cell, the metronome will trigger a new beat each time it clicks, beginning with the beat represented by the grid cell. No beat will be triggered until a grid cell has been selected.
2. The number selector sets the metronome tempo. This is automatically set when a new song is loaded, but you can change it.
3. This flashes each time the metronome sends a beat.

Manual

1. The triangle button engages Djazz.
2. Clicking on the circle button sends Djazz a beat message. You can also press the space bar to send a manual click.

Djazz expects the starting tempo given in the song file!

Remote

This will send a beat message to Djazz every time a MIDI note on message is received (i.e., with a non-zero velocity) on any channel.

1. The dropdown menu selects the MIDI input port for the click.
2. The triangle button engages Djazz.
3. This flashes each time a beat is received.

Song Grid

When a song is loaded, its grid will appear. The cells of the grid change color depending on whether Djazz is engaged and whether a cell is currently playing or not. The colors represent the following:

• Light gray: not the current measure/chapter of the song
• Dark gray: the current measure measure/chapter of the song, but Djazz is not engaged
• Blue: the current measure measure/chapter of the song, but not playing
• Orange: the current measure measure/chapter of the song, and playing

1. Chapter Select

At the top are listed the “chapters” of the song–different sections like verses, choruses, and bridges. Clicking on a chapter will take you to the first measure of the chapter. If Djazz is engaged, it will start playing from here when the next beat is received.

2. Bar Select

When a chapter is selected, the bars in the chapter are shown below it. Each bar contains the number of beats given by the song’s time signature. Clicking on a bar will take you to the first beat in the bar. If Djazz is engaged, it will start playing from here when the next beat is received.

3. Rewind-to-beginning Button

Click to go to the beginning (first bar of first chapter) of the song.

4. Lock button

When the lock button next to the rewind button is on, Djazz will rewind to the beginning of the song every time it is disengaged (i.e., when the metronome is turned off, or when the engage button is unselected in manual or remote beat input.)

5. Loop Button

When selected, Djazz will loop the current chapter or the whole song, depending on the choice selected to the right of the button. That is, it will start from the beginning immediately when the end of the current chapter or song is reached

5. Loop-Chapter/Song Select

Selects whether to loop the current chapter or the whole song when the loop-chapter button is on.

MIDI Input Selector

1. MIDI Flush

This will clear any sounding MIDI output.

2. MIDI input port selection menu

This menu will update to list all possible MIDI input ports, from other applications like Logic or Ableton, for instance. Default is “none:” no MIDI input will come through.

3. Computer keyboard window open/close

When selected, the computer keyboard window will open.

4. MIDI input monitor on/off

When illuminated, MIDI in will be heard. This does not affect nor is not affected by the recording status in the Live MIDI Input window .

5. MIDI monitor output port selection menu

This menu will update to list all possible MIDI output ports to send MIDI monitor output. Default is “none:” no MIDI output will be sent.

6. MIDI volume meter

When the monitor button is on, this will show the MIDI input volume level in green, orange, and red. When the monitor is off, it will be grey.

Computer Keyboard Window

1. Output Port

2. MIDI Channel select

3. Number keys enable

When enabled, the computer keys 0-9 will play the MIDI values C3-D4.

4. Mode selection menu

Select between monophonic and polyphonic mode

5. Keyboard

Click a key with the mouse to play it. If the mode selected is polyphonic, you must click the key again to stop it playing.

MIDI Live Input View

You can record MIDI input into Djazz, and then inmprovise on the recorded input using all the effects and the improviser. Live MIDI input, like live audio input, is recorded only when a chapter or a song is looped . Each time a chapter (or the song) is looped, a new oval representing this repeition will light up in the bar next to the record button. From the two tracks below the record track, you can choose any oval beneath an illuminated oval to play. This will play the corresponding recorded repetition.

When clicked and illuminated, the record button arms the buffer for recording. It does not start recording until the first beat that advances the grid.

1. Save/Load/Clear Live Input Session

Save the current a MIDI live session. These sessions are saved as folders (see [saving and loading files]({{ .Page.Dir }})) containing - a MIDI file - a JSON file containing beat, note, label, and repetition metadata, so that this can be reloaded into a Live Input session. This is not the same format as score files, and will not load into the [score file loader].

2. Input Track Repetitions

Each oval in the track represents a repetition of the current looped section. When recording, each time the end of the section is reached, a new oval will illuminate.

3. Maximum Number of Repetitions

This selects the maximum number of repetitions that can be recorded. The default is 16.

4. Output track repetitions

There are two MIDI live input tracks. They use MIDI outs are 1 and 2. Ovals can be selected to be played if the corresponding input oval is illuminated.

MIDI Scores View

Score Player/Loader Window

MIDI scores are made up of multiple MIDI tracks. They are saved in a special format. When a score is loaded, the corresponding MIDI tracks will load.

Djazz uses two scores. They correspond to the following tracks:

Score 1: Tracks 8-15

Score 2: Tracks 3-7

Effect controls in each score bar will change all the effects in the tracks belonging to the score.

Score Loader

Scores can be loaded by dragging a score onto the button with an icon of a folder. If a song folder is loaded that contains scores in its new and new2 subdirectories, these scores will be available in the dropdown menus. Choosing a score from the menu will load it.

MIDI Out Bank

The MIDI out bank contains 15 tracks output controls.
1-2: Live Output
3-15: Tracks/Score output

Volume Dial

Changes the volume of the MIDI track. If you click just above the dial, the dial will reset to its default value of 80.

Active Button

If not illuminated, the MIDI track will not be audible, and its volume in the volume meter will be gray. When illuminated, the MIDI track will be audible.

Solo Button

When illuminated, this will “solo” the MIDI track. If a single track is soloed, it is the only track that you will hear. If several MIDI tracks are soloed, only these tracks will be audible. If no tracks are soloed, all the tracks will be audible.

Volume Meter

Shows the level of the MIDI output. When a track is inactive, this will be grey. When active, the output will be green, orange, and red, depending on the volume level.

Channel Select

Allows the user to change the MIDI channel of track. Options are 1 through 16.

Port Select

Allows the user to select the output port of the MIDI track. These are usually Max’s internal MIDI playback (which will be called something like “DAC synth”), and outputs to other applications (called “from Max 1” and “from Max 2”).

Global Port Select

This changes the output port of all the MIDI channels.

MIDI Tracks View

Track effects

See effects .

File/track info select

Selecting either the folder button or the information (i) button will open the view to either load a track, or see the current playback data of the track.

Load MIDI track

You can load a track that does not follow the chord progression in the song file. If the track contains chords that are used in the song file, though, the improviser will use this chord information to create a harmonically correct solo!

Track info view

This displays the current beat, the current tempo, and the current transposition that the improviser has found , if this setting is on.

Live Input

These controls are similar to the MIDI live input controls.

When clicked and illuminated, the record button arms the buffer for recording. It does not start recording until the first beat that advances the grid.

1. Save/Load/Clear Live Input Session

Save the current a audio live session. These sessions are saved as folders (see saving and loading files ) containing two (2) files:

• an audio file in WAV format
• a JSON file containing beat, note, label, and repetition metadata, so that this can be reloaded into a Live Input session.

Note: to save and load an audio file, you actually save and load a folder. Just name the folder in the dialog window, and the folder will be created and appropriately named files (.wav and .json) will be saved in the folder. For loading, choose the folder from the dialog.

2. Input Track Repetitions

Each oval in the track represents a repetition of the current looped section. When recording, each time the end of the section is reached, a new oval will illuminate.

3. Maximum Number of Repetitions

This selects the maximum number of repetitions that can be recorded. The default is 16.

4. Recorded repetitions

There are two audio live input tracks. They use audio outs are 1 and 2. Ovals can be selected to be played if the corresponding input oval is illuminated.

Audio output repetitions are selected and played the same way as MIDI output repetitions .

Audio Out Bank

The audio out bank contains three (3) audio output controls. These are similar to MIDI output controls.

Volume Dial

Changes the volume of the MIDI track. If you click just above the dial, the dial will reset to its default value of 80.

Active Button

If not illuminated, the MIDI track will not be audible, and its volume in the volume meter will be gray. When illuminated, the MIDI track will be audible.

Solo Button

When illuminated, this will “solo” the MIDI track. If a single track is soloed, it is the only track that you will hear. If several MIDI tracks are soloed, only these tracks will be audible. If no tracks are soloed, all the tracks will be audible.

Volume Meter

Shows the level of the MIDI output. When a track is inactive, this will be grey. When active, the output will be green, orange, and red, depending on the volume level.

Making a Song File

Djazz uses a song file to play a song, whether you are plaing back scores or using live MIDI or audio. A song file is not a score file. It does not contain any notes to play. Where a score file contains the notes in each beat of the song, a song file contains all the metadata for each beat: its label, its position in the song, and what chapter of the song it is in, in order to make the grid and send the master clock and factor oracle the appropriate data. Djazz uses labels that represent chords. In this way, a song file is like a chord chart.

To create a song file for a new song you want to play with Djazz, the make_song_file Max patcher is provided for you in the tools folder.

SONG NAME

Enter the name of the given song; this will be displayed when the song file is loaded, and will also appear in the song dropdown menu if it is placed in the djazz_user/scores/ folder

BEATS

Enter here the total number of beats in the song.

TEMPO

Enter the song tempo. This tempo will be loaded into Djazz’s metronome when the song is loaded, and is also the tempo that will be expected if manual tap entry is performed

TIME SIGNATURE

Enter the number of beats per measure, i.e. the top number in the time signature. The duration of the beats, i.e. the bottom number in the time signature (4 for quarter note, 8 for eighth note, etc.) does not matter; do not include it.

CHAPTER START BARS

If the song is divided into chapters, enter here the bar (i.e. measure) numbers at which the chapters begin. For instance, if a song contains four chapters of 16, 16, 32, and 64 bars, in that order, the chapter start bars will be 1, 17, 33, and 65. Enter these numbers without commas

Putting all this together, here’s what you would enter for a song in 4/4 time, with chapters of duration as above: 16, 16, 32, and 32 bars. The number of beats is the total number of bars multiplied by the time signature; in this case (16 + 16 + 32 + 64) * 4 = 128 * 4 = 516

BEAT LABELS

Beat labels are input in a text-based format. They can be entered directly into the tool’s window, or cut and pasted from a text editor.

A chord label has two parts, the root and the quality. The way of entering labels is as follows:

  (< chord root >   < chord quality >   < number of consecutive beats >)

< chord root > can be the symbol C, C#, Db, D, D#, Eb, E, F, F#, Gb, G, G#, Ab, A, A#, Bb, or B.

< chord quality > can be any symbol that does not contain an underscore ("_") or a semicolon(";").

The improvisation algorithm functions in part by matching these symbols with the symbols on the beats in score files, so if you want it to work correctly, keep the format of these symbols the same. For instance, the preloaded songs in Djazz use the following symbols:

  maj7, min7, 7, dim7, maj6, min6

But you can define any symbols you want:

  dom7#9b9#11, maj6add9, min6withanextraweirdnoteatthetop, etc.

< number of consecutive beats > is how many beats this particular label is repeated.

So for instance, the chord sequence

  Amaj7   Amaj7   Dmin7   Amaj7
  Amaj7   Dmin7   E7       Amaj7

would be entered as

It could also be entered as

if this is easier to read.
Indentation and carriage returns are ignored by the tool.

MAKING A SONG FILE

In summary, to make a new song file, follow the seven steps listed below.

1. Open the patcher “djazz.make_song_file.maxpat” from the folder “patchers/data_conversion_tools” in the current djazz folder.

2. In the appropriate fields, put in the song name, beat count, tempo, time signature, and the starting bars for each chapter.

3. Fill in the “Beat Labels” box.

4. Press the “save” button.

5. Save the song file in the folder of the same song name that contains the subfolders “new” and “new2.” The file name and the song folder name should be exactly the same.

6. That’s all. If you put the song file in a folder with scores in “new” and “new2” subfolders , this song can now be played as usual by Djazz.

7. Press the “clear” button to clear the data.

Making a Score File

Score files contain preloaded notes, formatted so that Djazz can play them and use them to improvise. Djazz comes preloaded with many score files of jazz standards and songs from Madagascar. You can also convert your own MIDI files into Djazz scores with the make_score_file Max patcher, located in the tools folder.

1. Load a song file

If you haven’t yet made a song file for this song, make one using the make_song_file tool. Import the song file by pressing the LOAD button. If the file is loaded properly, the light on the left side will illuminate.

2. Load a click track

A click track is needed to divide the notes in the MIDI tracks into the proper beats. A click track must be imported from a MIDI file in which eat beat is designated by a single MIDI event at pitch C1 and non-zero velocity The click track be exported at the same tempo as the notes.

Import the MIDI file by pressing the “IMPORT MIDI” button and selecting the file from the dialog that opens. Once imported, you can save this file to a JSON format using the “SAVE JSON” button. If the click track file is loaded properly, the light on the left side will illuminate.

3. Load a single or multiple tracks

If both the song file and click track have loaded successfully, the regions for loading MIDI tracks will be activated. You can load either a single MIDI track, or multiple tracks at once. If you import multiple tracks, the resulting JSON file will represent a Djazz score, which you will need to put into a folder in order to play it in Djazz (see below).

NOTE: Tracks available for Djazz are 3 through 15, because tracks 1 and 2 are used for Live MIDI. Make sure the MIDI tracks are exported from your DAW with appropriate track numbers.

Once you have imported, either in the single or multiple MIDI track format, save your import by pressing the “Save” button. The resulting file will be a JSON file.

To play a single MIDI track, see these instructions.

To play multiple MIDI tracks, you need to put your saved file in an appropriately named folder.

MAKING A SCORE FOLDER

Multiple MIDI tracks saved together are called a score in Djazz. Score files and their corresponding song files need to be organized into a certain folder structure–a song folder–for Djazz to read them.

The format for a song folder is this:

MySongFolder
├── MySongFolder.json
├── new
│   ├── score_1.json
│   ├── another_score.json
│   ├── another-score_1.json
│   └── ... 
├── new2
│   ├── some_score.json
│   └── may_song_score.json
│   └── ...

The song folder must have the same name as the JSON song file. The top level of the song folder contains three things: - the JSON song file - two directories for score files. These directories must be labeled “new” and “new2.”

A song folder placed into the djazz_user/scores folder inside the Djazz directory will appear in the song dropdown menu .

The contents of the two score directories will be loaded when a song folder is loaded and their contents displayed in the respective dropdown menus .