Gigajam News

Gigajam have recently started using the YouTube Video hosting service to promote instructional vidoes of Gigajam in use and How to Use Gigajam. Please feel free to view the growing video channel at:

www.youtube.com/user/ImsLtd

Brian Greene, Managing Director said, ‘This is a quick and easy way of sharing information and we have produced the short videos in an informal and simple manner, reflecting the ease with which the web can be used to communicate. We will also be publishing the videos in a number of areas of the web, which will include our own support section, as well as community and social networking areas such as Facebook, Gigajam Group, www.facebook.com and the UK music education community portal, Teaching Music, www.teachingmusic.org.uk

For further information on How to use Gigajam, then please feel free to contact us at:

T: 0800 055 6797

E: support@gigajam.com

W1: www.gigajam.com

W2: http://schools.gigajam.com

W3: www.gigajamonline.com

W4: www.gigajam.tv

This webinar was archived from a video conference with some schools who wanted a thorough understanding of how Gigajam worked and what resources were available for learners.

Welcome to the launch of the new Xtractor X5, the award winning Gigajam practise engine for guitar, bass, keyboard and drum lessons. X5 is a major re-development from the ground up, offering you greater stability, responsiveness, and compatibility. Not to mention additional functionality.

New MIDI engine

X5 has a whole new MIDI engine at it’s core. We now have an engine with which we have been able to create a fantastic practice and recording experience for our users. It also allows us to continually develop in response to our customer needs.

Easy to connect

Thanks to the new MIDI engine, connecting to instrument hardware is now easier. No longer do instruments’ MIDI clocks have to be configured every time you use them. You can also select both Input and Output devices for ultimate flexibility.

Instrument compatibility

X5 is compatible with more instruments, particularly those that do not allow their internal MIDI clocks to be disabled. X5 is also able to enable General MIDI mode on instruments where GM is not the default.

Customisable views

Built upon Microsoft’s .NET 3.5 and the Windows Presentation Framework, X5 has been adorned with a fresh new interface. It’s possible for the user to toggle various parts of the interface and customise it to their needs.

Automatic updates

X5 has user configurable automatic updates. You’ll now be told when a new version is available and asked if you want to install and download it.

Error Reporting

A big challenge to developers is the constant evolution of software and hardware environments that computers operate in. X5 allows users to automatically report any unexpected errors and stay up to date, maintaining X5’s performance.

Download X5 now

Existing customers download Xtractor X5 now.

Gigajam is an affordable ICT based instrumental tuition programme that provides a scalable solution to teaching and learning the guitar, bass, keyboard and drums. If you would like to know more about Gigajam and how it is helping create musicians, then please feel free to get in touch.

Gigajam can provide stand alone, network and Learning Platform VLE solutions for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Local Authorities.

http://schools.gigajam.com
Freephone 0800 055 6797
brian.greene@gigajam.com
john.hillier@gigajam.com

As of today the DD-55 bundle has been replaced by a DD-65 bundle. Also the PSR-E403 is now replaced with the PSR-E413. The pictures on all our sites will take a little longer to change, but prices and model numbers are now updated.

We are redeveloping our Windows version of Xtractor to address a number of legacy issues, most of which are related to the use of Macromedia Director and the SequenceXtra plugin.

Here’s a sneak preview of what the new version of Xtractor “may” end up looking like.

You may notice a new feature or two in this screen shot, such as the ability to upload directly to your e-portfolio.

Please give us your thoughts.

We have recently cut the production costs of our Level 1 books by a considerable amount. We have decided to pass these savings onto our customers. So a Level 1 book now only costs £13.99 instead of £19.99.

The Level 1 books are a great accompaniment to your computer based lesson notes, allowing you to study away from the computer, laying in bed, sitting on the train, wherever you wish.

Visit our online store to buy them now.

Our
musical instrument partner, One Man Band of Banbury (OMB), has secured a supply of
EZ-AG guitars for UK schools.

OMB’s David Cooper said “We are really pleased to continue to support Gigajam by supplying
the hugely popular Yamaha EZ-AG guitars for Gigajam’s school users. We have made arrangements
to supplement our existing stock with a further 100 guitars arriving in March ‘08.
More guitars can be sourced to meet demand and any school interested in the EZ-AG
for their music department just needs to get  in touch with the Gigajam team.”

Gigajam’s Brian Greene said “We are into our third year now with David and his team
at One Man Band. It is great news for our customers for us to have such a great partner
- we started with the supply of 150 Yamaha instruments to the 30 participating schools
in the Buckinghamshire VLE project and OMB have now become our preferred supplier.
We created an online musical instrument store together for our Independent Newspaper
‘Learn to play the keyboard’ promotion in April ‘07,  and have continued to supply
instruments online through Gigajam’s Online Store (www.gigajam.com)
and TV Station (www.gigajam.tv).

Instruments are available for purchase by retail customers at www.gigajam.com and
by schools at http://schools.gigajam.com.
We like to support our customers in their development of learning spaces in music
classrooms, so please feel free to call 0800 055 6797, or email schools@gigajam.com
to discuss your requirements.

All 45 episodes of Gigajam’s educational TV series for Guitar, Bass, Keyboard, and
Drums are now available online in time for Christmas, free, at www.gigajam.tv.

Gigajam previously broadest theses TV series’ across Europe on the Sky TV network.
Each episode focuses on one of the lessons from Level 1 of Gigajam’s award winning
Essential Skills Courses. The courses teach the fundamentals of music theory whilst
learning to play an instrument.

The skills learned in Level 1 equate to music grades Debut, 1, 2 and 3.

Gigajam felt that many websites, with both professional and user generated content,
provided only small snippets of learning, such as how to play a specific song. Gigajam’s
TV series, and the Essential Skills Courses they are based on, demonstrate a more
structured and progressive pathway of study. Students do not learn to play one song,
rather they develop the skills required to play many more.

Today Gigajam released their new Analyser 2.7 music assessment software.

Analyser is a unique tool that takes music files recorded by a student during a Gigajam
lesson exercise and generates a graphical display of how well the student did, along
with a percentage assessment rating.

It does this by comparing the student’s recorded performance with the professionally
written lesson content supplied as part of the the Gigajam Essential Skills courses.

The courses are geared around contemporary music for Guitar, Bass, Keyboards and Drums
and are ideally suited to beginners and intermediate players alike.

A student first reads through the professionally written lesson notes, watches a video
of the exercise in question and then hears the music played back in the Gigajam Xtractor
software – which also allows the student to adjust the tempo and fade particular instruments
in and out of the mix. They are also able to isolate parts of an exercise by setting
loop points, so that they may focus on a particular number of bars.

If the student is using a MIDI enabled instrument, they can also record their own
performance alongside the exercise, save it to disk and play it back to hear how they
did. They may then push the “A” button to perform an analysis using Gigajam Analyser.

The student can also send the saved performance to their tutor or teacher via e-mail
so that a remote assessment can be performed using another copy of Gigajam Analyser
and Xtractor – without having to have any musical equipment hooked up whatsoever.
The remote tutor is also able to play back the recorded file to hear the students
performance using a PC whilst they visually assess the recording using Analyser.

Analyser forms part of a “closed loop” approach to education as part of Gigajam’s
policy to supply Key Stage 2 and 3 classrooms with an interactive music education
platform – which is also available for purchase using e-learning credits through the
Curriculum Online service.

It is also available on the Gigajam website to the general public as a single user
licence.