JambaLaya MIDI Performance Software For Macintosh OS X

I attended Apple's WWDC and got to meet a number of people on the CoreAudio and Cocoa teams. They helped me fix some long standing annoyances and implement a couple new goodies. JambaLaya 1.1.0 is the result. This is largely a bug fix release although it does add a nifty new graphical transition from mixer to lyrics view and midi note message feedback on the range mapper.

Check the appcast for more details. Or just download it and check it out.

JambaLaya 1.0.9 is the first commercial release. The download is the full program but it will refuse to open or save files without a license key. Download it now.

Unfortunately, the paypal and key generation part of the website isn't working yet so if you want to purchase a license, just email and I'll send you a paypal invoice, and subsequently a license.

Keyster keeps your Mac from going to sleep when it is processing MIDI. For instance, I use Digital Performer to do recording, but DP fails to let the Mac know it is busy when MIDI is happening - so the screen occasionally goes dark while I'm just dinking around on the piano. I find this annoying. This functionality is built in to JambaLaya but JambaLaya isn't always running.

We play some songs by some bands that tune flat - somewhere between E and Eb. Not even a whole step down. Retuning all the instruments just to practice along with the recording is a drag.

Fortunately, Apple ships a nice pitch shifting Audio Unit. I put all my songs on an iPod anyhow. To practice, I bring the iPod audio in on one of JambaLaya's channels, then choose 'Pitch' from the first Effect insert. Now play with the pitch slider. If you save the file, the state of the pitch shift effect also gets saved along with the song so you're always ready to practice without retuning.

I've started keeping all my lyrics and chord notes in JambaLaya instead of my 3-ring binder. Now when I'm performing I tend to have the lyrics view up all the time. Which is cool - except I sometimes need to tweak levels and I can't remember which instrument is on what track. So I added a vertical mini mixer view because the lyrics pane was always plenty wide and there was wasted space. Of course, I still move the faders by using the sliders on the Keystation - but its a nice visual cue. Check it out.