Jamm Pro is a music production and remix APP for I-pad, and the only digital APP I’ve used in my digital music since 2012.
Matt Black and Jonathon Moore are two halves of Coldcut, a music production and performance duo that have been at the seeding edge of electronic dance music culture for four decades. Besides their musical output and live DJ performances, Coldcut have consistently produced tools made for DJ’s, both analogue tools, such as the 12” vinyl–DJ Toolz–series from 1993.
JP is a part of a lineage of open-source tools for independent music producers and DJ’s. Matt Black in particular has helped manifest this Coldcut ethos in APPs aimed at the I-Pad touch-screen interface, intuiting how the innovations made at Apple could be repurposed for music production and performance. Accordingly, with each major update to the I-Pad comes updates and extended functionality of the APP. This lineage of the development from Coldcut–and by association the groundbreaking independent label NinjaTune–is important to me as it distinguishes them from many other APP manufacturers by their consistent, core artistic values.
A prospiracy is the coming together of forces for the betterment of all parties. What I see as the challenge or aim of the game with Jamm Pro, is both playing and creating TunePacks, seeking harmony and coherence, searching for the perfect beat. Jamm Pro forces anybody with ears to reconsider musical genres and try to figure out where one spills into another. Make it new, make it cohere.
There’s a host of instructional videos and demonstrations at Youtube, plus the APP itself features a detailed manual and on-screen “help” overlay which I found very useful. Matt Black does a weekly live Jamm Cast under the Pirate TV moniker, broadcasting on Twitch, Youtube, and Mixcloud where you can witness Matt hammering and pushing the APP to the outer limits, plus soothing visual candy and positive news items blended in.
If you’d like to hear some of my remxies, visit my vimeo account and Jamm Pro youtube playlists.
Equipped with four main channels, each with nine sequencers — six modulation sequencers, a slice sequencer, a pitch/reverse/drill sequencer and a gate sequencer — and up to 64 patches per set, Jamm Pro allows for a possible 2,304 sequencers per Sound Set in the app.
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- Record in via Mic, Soundcard, Inter App Audio. Audiobus/AUM are supported, giving you access to the extensive range of iOS IAA apps like drum machines and synths to work with Jamm.
- Multitrack Stem recording: Transforms Jamm Pro into a production tool: recordings are saved with all channels individually recorded. You can then load these into an editor/DAW such as Ableton, Logic or Pro Tools to work on further.
- Multi-touch tip control: Use small finger movements to simultaneously and expressively control multiple FX at once.
- Individual per channel FX: 5 Distortion/Crush units, 5 Filters, 5 Delays, 5 Reverbs, 5 Sidechains. All with full recallable control.
- 64 Total Recall Patches: instantly Store and Recall the total state of what you’re doing with 64 Patch memories.
- In-app help: Access help overlay screens from wherever you are to explain all the page’s functions… no need to stop to read and dig into the manual!
- Coldcutter module: Buffer shuffle and modulation matrix for sophisticated beat manipulation. Users can trigger automatic call and response between channels, algorithmic evolutions of samples and modular synth-like patchable modulation sequencers.
- Sub-bass module: Automatically generate super heavy bass kicks and basslines from drum samples — a feature dril fans will adore.
- Loopstation/Resampling functions: Use Jamm Pro as a Loopstation — perfect for vocalists to loop and layer vocals as well as beatboxing via instant recording.
- MIDI input: MIDI Learn allows easy connection of MIDI hardware to trigger and control Jamm Pro.
- Slice sequencer: Unique and highly interactive feature allowing users to simply draw on the screen to restructure any sample.
- Smart pitch bends: Change the pitch of any or all of the channels in real-time to inspire musically apt progressions.
- Scratch: Experiment with the iconic hip hop technique by applying the effect to any sample.
- Ableton Link Support
- Note: Ninja Tune says that “Jamm Pro is a very powerful app and will perform best on newer iPads. The iPad Pro is the ideal device for the best experience with Jamm Pro.”
- Pricing and Availability. Jamm Pro is available now for US $9.99.
READ FULL ARTICLE @ Synthtopia
DEEP SCRATCH 