BJAM
by Malaclypse the Younger
by Malaclypse the Younger
3.9 / 5
(14 votes)
BJAM is a Strat electric guitar rompler.
Blue Jeans and Moonbeams (or BJAM for short) is a sampled S-Type (Strat) electric guitar designed for those familiar with the playing techniques idiomatic to the instrument, and the signal processing techniques used to shape their output.
You can also download the source file for Maize Sampler.
Blue Jeans and Moonbeams (or BJAM for short) is a sampled S-Type (Strat) electric guitar designed for those familiar with the playing techniques idiomatic to the instrument, and the signal processing techniques used to shape their output.
- Sampled S-type guitar with 3 mixable pickups.
- An acoustic guitar is also included.
- Playing range C0-G8.
- Hammer-on/Pull-off/Slide mode.
- Harmonics 2, 3, 5 and 7.
- Noises modes include chucks, swipes and pick taps.
- Controlled by MIDI keyswitches and CC#7 (Master Volume).
- 3 fretting positions.
- 2 palm mute modes.
- Slap and Pop mode.
You can also download the source file for Maize Sampler.
Downloads
Win 32 VST
(73 Mb)
Win 64 VST
(73.2 Mb)
Mac OSX VST
(77.1 Mb)
Mac OSX AU
(77.1 Mb)
Hey, can we play chords on this? I am trying to place two notes at once in the piano roll of my DAW, but it just gives a pop, no chords.
Buongiorno a tutti, volevo sapere se BJAM 2 funziona solo con kontact o è possibile usarlo da solo? L'ho scaricato ma non trova i files.
BJAM 2 was done in Maize Sampler. BJAM 3 and 4 are in SFZ format. You can't use BJAM 2 with Sforzando, and you can't use BJAM 4 with Maize. It's a complete rewrite, although the keyswitch structure was deliberately kept very similar through the transition.
If you're coming here because I left a comment on a Sean Carroll video, say hi! Also, go to my homepage from the button near the top to get the recent versions since the Maize Sampler version is thoroughly out of date at this point.
(4 / 5)
Anyone knows how to open sfz files in kontakt 6?
You can't. You need Sforzando or Sfizz or something similar. SFZ is not compatible with Kontakt.
You can by navigating to the folder in kontakt that the sfz is in. click on the sfz file and there you should see a file you can drag into the Kontakt window.
Another major update has been pushed out for the end of March 2022: BJAM 4.22.03, which you can get through my Bandcamp page. The Maize version also remains available, although I don't understand why you'd prefer it for any new work. This is probably the last major update that won't involve a whole new set of samples. This time I incorporate the fret hand position into how much high end to roll off each note on an individual basis, tuned by ear, and included a CC to determine how much of it comes through. The default is 70%, but turning it down to 0% matches BJAM 3 behavior (no attempt to shape tone by hand position). Have fun! And pick up The Clap while you're there, that's my "all hands" drum kit.
Hi, the sfz script in 64bit cant find Legato.sfz in include folder, there isnt any.
Two fixes: 1- Copy BJAM's legato-solo.sfz to legato.sfz. 2- Or just download it again with the fix in place. You can just copy it over what's already there. I missed this because I never deleted legato.sfz from my folders even though I supposedly no longer needed it. Thank you for pointing it out, and fortunately it only broke legato in Slap and Pop mode.
I tried spontaneously first solution with bjam 3, it was a hunch, but deep in my heart, I know, a neat solution can only be delivered by developer. Thanks, and I am looking forward to your next bjam version with new samples. :-)
As far as I know, your improvised fix should have worked perfectly, but also applying the permanent fix shouldn't materially affect the sound of any projects you already have going. So make the change whenever it is convenient for you, you've done the bigger job of alerting me so I can fix it in the package for everyone.
What bandcamp?
http://mal-2.bandcamp.com/ I have other instruments available as well, but I have to self-host (or use GitHub) because this site doesn't accept SFZ instruments and that's pretty much all I make now.
(5 / 5)
Just add guitar rig to make it sound like complete
You can do it with plugins found entirely on this site if you like, and still get some pretty good results.
Yes, you absolutely have to run inserts after! Those who say it doesn't sound good apparently don't know how to set up an guitar amp or pedalboard either. Even a "clean sound" needs processing. I use Mercuriall Cab and Poulin LeCab (both free) as cab emulation, along with the cabinets in the stock DAW amp plugin. Free amplifier emulation plugins I use in the included demos are LE456, ENDL, Aradazamp, HyBrit, Solar, Boogie Mark III. Even the acoustic can benefit greatly from EQ, compression, and reverb.
(5 / 5)
Hi Mal-2. I have BJAM-2 and have been using it for a while and really like it. Planning to download V3. One question though - I'm trying to do a lead solo with smooth transitions from one note to the next, but even if I use the hammer-pull off key switch the note still always seem to have a very hard attack phase. I even hear it in your examples (when I load the MIDI into my DAW) where you use E flat key switch, still sounds quite hard attack. Am I missing something? Do I need to use an effect of some sort to smoothen it?
Thanks, and really appreciate all the hard work you put into this. Andy
Easiest way to do a completely smooth slur is to use pitch bend very suddenly applied, and not re-trigger the note. You may need to increase the pitch bend range, which you can in version 3. H-P-S mode is more for use in polyphonic playing where that is either not an option, or incredibly tedious to set up using pitch-class bends (which V3 has but V2 does not).
I should have been more specific on the pitch bend thing -- for V3, that is. Set the pitch bend to ±12, which you can either do in Sforzando itself (for a one-time effect), or by changing one value in a detailed list near the top of the script itself (to make it your permanent default). Then to slur up a semitone, you take the pitch bend from 0 to +683. For two semitones, it's 1365, and for three it's 2048 (and so on). Use negative numbers to slur downward. If you need more deflection than that, you can start at a non-zero value for the FIRST note, or you can dial up the PB range even higher (24 is max), but immense bends like that are generally going to end up with an unrealistic timbre because the wrong sample is being used. If you stay with V2, then you're limited to a pitch bend range of ±2, which means the biggest slur you could do this way would be 4 semitones (start at -8192 and swing to +8191, while setting your root note a whole tone higher than otherwise).
Bends don't work with this VST?
Sadly, all Maize Sampler plugins are hardcoded to a pitch bend range of ±2 semitones. In Version 3, you can set this to whatever you want, another reason I wish this site would accept SFZ instruments. The Maize Sampler version will never be free of this restriction.
(5 / 5)
I was a bit frustrated with this plug in at first, until I read the developer's comments and learned what this particular plug in was designed to do. Not being a guitar player (I am a drummer/keyboardist/composer) The "shift on the fly" nature of this plug in is not a feature that is useful to me, as I do everything via MIDI, but I can certainly see where a guitarist would find it quite helpful in emulating an actual playing experience. Since reading the developers comments I have found this plug in useful and I use it A LOT. For chimes, chucks, harmonics and such it is invaluable. I use it along with DVS Guitar and combining the two I get some very believable Guitar tracks. I just have to add the note that triggers the function I need (chime, chuck, harmonic, etc) into the track name so I can call it up each time I load the song. After discovering this little trick I rate this 5 stars. And after listening to the demos I will likely start using it as my CLEAN guitar as well...Thanks Mal-2...
BJAM 3 (the SFZ version) has a further level of fine control. You can specify articulations that lie in between the samples -- say, something in between a chug and a regular mute, or in between a mute and a normal note. In your use case, you probably don't need the per-note pitch bends and per-note mixing, which means you can ignore more than half of the CCs available. Another significant advantage is that loading more than two instances of BJAM 3 won't crash my DAW the way loading more than two Maize Sampler instruments at a time will. I also have other instruments available that can be reached from the demo page that I have never listed here, since this site didn't accept Sforzando instruments. With the name change and all, maybe they do now. I'll ask.
Hey Mal-2. Haven't checked out the BJAM3 yet, but I have found BJAM even more useful than what I originally posted. Using the neck and middle pick-ups in solo mode, run through an amp plugin with heavy boost in the midrange and a tremelo and flange post amp I get this really groovy Trower-esque rhythm guitar sound. I use it for cleaner typre bluesy lead work too. So... Can't live without this plug-in... Thanks heaps...
Although I intended it to sound like a real electric guitar going through any gear, it does seem to work best in the "transparent overdrive" range of gain. No great surprise, I like to play the actual guitar (that I sampled for BJAM) through a clone of a Klon Centaur... Really high levels of gain can get "crispy", but this is likely because of the "straight off the pickups" nature of the sampling, where I didn't even have the knobs in circuit, which usually help take some of that roughness off. A little lowpass filtering before your amp will help take care of that.
BJAM has received an update to both the Ella G half (first in September) and the electric half (in October) to become version 2.20.10 which is linked from the demo page. This is the last planned Maize Sampler version, as I will be moving development to the more feature-laden (and open) Sforzando .sfz format (and calling it BJAM 3).
For all those unable to get BJAM 2 working, I am pleased to announce the release of BJAM 3, which is available from my home page (linked above). This is written for SFZ (Sforzando) format exclusively, but if you already have Sforzando or another SFZ handler installed, you shouldn't have any strange problems getting BJAM 3 to work. There are also a load of new features, including a 3.5 band EQ with selectable center frequencies, pickup mixing controlled by CC including an INVERTED middle pickup to combine with another pickup for that quacky out-of-phase sound, fine tuning of individual notes, and several other details. Also, it is no longer necessary to abuse stereo output for pickup mixing, so a Mix or Pan insert is no longer required. With the tone stack added, there is also no more need for a Tone Booster insert on either instrument. Pitch bend is no longer limited to ±2 semitones, although that remains the default. The instruments also start up with other sane defaults, so they make sound straight out of the box. Overall, BJAM 3 is smaller, lighter, and does a lot more than version 2, without dropping any features (although many have changed how you access them). BJAM 2 will continue to be available for download, but development is closed.
"Cannot find any instruments"
That's Maize Sampler for you. Maybe you'll have better luck with the .sfz format that is in late testing right now, linked from my Bandcamp page.
(2 / 5)
Why put the settings for the guitar on the midi piano itself? Can't access full range of the guitar such as the sixth string
What do you mean? You can access notes all the way down to c0, which i a half step below the NINTH string if you have an extended range guitar. These are extrapolated from my 6th string because that's all I have, but the notes are there.
If you mean the upper end of the scale, there is no limitation there (other than MIDI itself) either. I just didn't want to make the instrument window large enough to accommodate 128 keys, so you can't see them or press them with your mouse, but they still work if you use MIDI input. I felt (and still do feel) it is much more important to have the keyswitches on screen, as they have specific assignments that have no direct relation to pitch.
Where is the installer? Also I don't have a VST or VST2 folder I only have VST3
Please see my reply below from January 12. THERE IS NO INSTALLER. Maize Sampler does not create installers. You have to locate the correct destination for the VST yourself, and manually move it there. I cannot help you with this if I did not cover it in the Quick Start Guide, because the ONLY setting I can test is 64-bit Windows running a 32-bit Cubase 5.1.
(5 / 5)
This is fucking sick. All the different ways to voice the notes fuckin' slaps. After distortion this is metal as hell.
All you need is fuzz. Fuzz is all you need. No, seriously, try putting a Fuzz Face either right after the pan plugin, or maybe insert a wah and then the fuzz, and feed that into the front end of an amplifier for a crunchy lead tone. This is how I got the saturated (and gated) solo for "Who's Lying Now".
(4 / 5)
I've heard this vst in a few indie games, it's pretty good!
Maybe you did, maybe not. I did game music for years first and created the VST to assist in it, so there are plenty of tracks out there that have DSK Electrik Guitarz as their main instrument. I specifically made version 1 to create the track "Cloverleaf", and it did fine for that, but it was a bit lacking for some other purposes so... that's why there's a version 2. Even now I don't always use my own VST for guitar parts even now, particularly screaming metal leads, and pedal steel that rolls each note in.
How do you use key switches. Running in Reaper.
You just hit the key. If you want to make normal plucked string sounds, using a "cowboy chords" hand position, you strike key C-2 and then play whatever notes you want. Or, if you want to use the neck pickup instead of the bridge pickup, then select C-1 (an octave higher). When you want to switch to, say, octave harmonics, then you hit F-2 or F-1. You can change your chosen type of sound immediately after starting a note and that note won't change. I suggest just looking at the MIDI demo tracks provided. That is why they are there.
(4 / 5)
Pretty nice guitar vst, I like.
I tried to get it into FL Studio. It's still scanning and it's stuck on it.
Try the latest version in SFZ format. If you can load ANY instruments into Sforzando or sfizz or whatever you use to handle SFZ instruments, then this one will work too.
I am unable to make it works! In the About "BJAM 2.pdf" file you'r talking about an installer that doesn't exist. So I tried to drop the whole "BJAM2_Win64" folder in my DAW VST folder and nothing happen. I renamed all folders with the same name except I replaced all spaces with underscore. Now it is visible in my DAW (Reaper) plugins list but I got a "no instrument found". What should I do from now?
Put the space back in the name of the "BJAM 2.instruments" folder. That must not change as it's hard-coded into the .dll file.
No matter what I try: my DAW (Reaper) simply does not recognize and cannot find the plugin.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Can't help any more than that, sorry. Every setup is different, good luck.
(5 / 5)
Nah, the Dev is too self-deprecating. This is as stated -everything signal-wise that hits the pickups on a Strat. Slap an amp, some reverb/delay and preferably - some IR, using a Convolution Reverb or a vitual guitar amp like Boogex available here free with an IR slot and the sound is friggin gin-u-wine!
Thanks! I have also found that just like a real guitar, you can set your amp on the edge of crunch and choose your tone with the volume control. This is the only method I used to change the lead guitar's tone in https://mal-2.bandcamp.com/track/found-the-four-chords-of-awesome -- note this uses both BJAM2 (lead guitar, 12-string acoustic) and DSK Electrik Guitarz (pedal steel). With proper inserts, it is not that hard to get them to blend nicely.
I suppose I should have been clearer on the intent when I made this. There are other free guitar VSTs that sound really good, and I use them. I certainly am not offended if you do too. But they often lack specific abilities, like moving up and down the neck or popping harmonics, or they require a bunch of adjustments to the parameters of the instrument. I wanted to make something that would allow access to all of these techniques on the fly, as you would have with the guitar directly in front of you. Such an instrument has limitations (no ADSR controls being among them) but since I designed this to be a replacement for only the guitar instrument itself, it can only behave in guitar ways. Some VSTs start in guitar territory but let you wander well outside it, because they are synths at heart. This is a sampler and only a sampler, and any excursions outside the normal guitar universe will have to be done outside the instrument.
(3 / 5)
Works in both Vst host and Cakewalk By Bandlab. I love the sacred chao - hail Eris! It's a capable plugin and great for a freebie but if it wasn't for the sacred chao and the developer's name (wink to discordians out there) I would consider it nothing special. It is, however a lot of fun and very useable with amp effects. Thank you Malaclypse.
Much appreciated. You're right, it isn't anything special. It's a bog standard Stratocaster knockoff with bog standard Chinese pickups. The only real distinguishing feature is the number of techniques available that either don't exist in other free VSTs, such as palm muting, harmonics, chucks and swipes, etc. If you aren't writing at a level where these things matter, then you probably don't need to jump through all the extra hoops I've set up and there are many instruments better suited to the purpose. I'm not trying to displace them, and I still use some of them myself. To be honest, if this sounded like "anything special", then I would have failed in my purpose. It's supposed to be as vanilla as possible. You're supposed to add all the flavor in the signal chain.
You're right, the cream is in the articulations. Further playing has revealed this to be more useful than I thought.
Got a finished track? It would be interesting to hear how someone other than me uses it.
At the moment I am busy beta-testing two synths and writing a piece of music using only one of them. When I have more time I will explore this and see what I can do. Do you have contact details on your site?
Yes. Toward the bottom of the right column with the Discography and all is a Contact link.
(4 / 5)
This is a great little Electric Guitar vsti the only suggestion/constructive criticism I would make is to add some ADSR knobs Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release then the instrument would be five star awesome.
No such feature is planned. This plugin seeks only to emulate what happens up to the point of the pickup output. Turning the volume up and down is something you're expected to do as part of a performance (MIDI data), or that is applied by an effect in the signal chain. When I plug an actual guitar into the audio interface, I don't have any ADSR controls, so I have no interest in forcing them onto my sampled guitar either. If you're looking for that pedal steel effect with every note rolled in, you can either provide a sequence of volume changes for every note, or you can use a different instrument that was designed to accommodate that purpose. I still use DSK Electrik Guitarz for all my pedal steel work, and most of my screaming metal leads (because whammy bar, a ±2 pitch bend is a real pain). I saw no need to reinvent that particular wheel. Do note that the entire source, samples and Maize Sampler definition files alike, are available for download if you would like to attempt adding such a feature.
Attack time up to 1 second has been added to the Sforzando version for the pedal steel roll-in effect. There is still no intention of ever adding Hold, Decay, Sustain, or Release parameters, but SFZ files are open source by nature and can be edited by you and other users.
Make sure you're matching the bitness (32-bit or 64-bit) correctly between VST and DAW. Even if this isn't the issue, it sounds more like a generic Maize Sampler problem because there's nothing "weird" going on inside this VST.
how to install on fl studio
Tried installing this on Cakewalk. Everytime I do the VST Scan, it freezes up.
(4 / 5)
Всё работает. Win 8.1x64 Studio one/32. - *Товарищь* не правильно, видать, поставил. - Всё работает. Гитарка, конечно не очень, но в *Пачке* сойдёт.
If you believe the guitar is not very good, then you aren't using it properly because you're supposed to put inserts after it for tone shaping, saturation, distortion, amp and cabinet emulation, etc. This is not intended to be a finished sound, it's intended to behave just like a real, naked electric guitar being plugged into a DI box.
GOOD
(4 / 5)
No es la gran cosa, pero sirve y se agradece
This instrument was assembled and compiled with Maize Sampler. There is no point-and-click installer. If you are not comfortable with the idea of asking your DAW where to dump these files, and figuring that out without assistance from a scripted installer (because Maize Sampler does not generate them), then perhaps this (like all Maize Sampler based instruments) is not going to go well for you. On the other hand, if you've gotten any OTHER Maize Sampler instrument to work, you make this one work in exactly the same way.
I'd be the first to admit Maize Sampler could do better at automating the installation process. But it never has and probably never will, so for those not comfortable with manually moving files around, I recommend you just steer clear. I will not be responding to subsequent "it doesn't install" message, as there are only two possibilities: (1) you're doing it wrong, or (2) it's due to some weird interaction between components of your system that I don't have, and I would never be able to figure it out from a distance. Either way, I can't help you.
NO WORK for Win 8.1 32
I don't have Windows 8.1, although there's no reason these shouldn't work with versions going all the way back to XP. I also don't know what DAW you are using, or what your file structure looks like. I'm afraid this is one of those messy things you'll have to figure out for yourself, as it is completely beyond my ability to test for any OS/DAW combo other than my own (Cubase 5.1 32-bit/Windows 10 64-bit).
It doesnt work or even register as a vst in reason, please fix
I don't have a Mac. If the installers Maize Sampler generates don't work, I can't test for or correct that. However, you could get the source code linked above and recompile it in Maize Sampler yourself and see if that works.
If you want demos, they're included in the downloads but you can also check out the demos at https://mal-2.bandcamp.com/album/bjam-demos without having to download it first. They even have the signal chain screencaps to show what effects were in use, if you click on "info" for a particular track.