In a typical Jammer Pro session, you might begin by laying down a chord progression; chord changes are allowed on eighth-note boundaries. Working section by section through a song, you proceed by specifying band and drum styles. We chose one style for an introduction, another style for the 12-measure main section, and yet another for the ending.

Each time you hit Jammer Pro's Compose button, the program creates improvised music based upon the stylistic parameters and probability weights that you set. If you like what you get, you can keep it. If you don't like the results, try again and you'll get something completely different--but still within the chosen style constraints.

If you like only some of what Jammer Pro gives you, you can save it and let the program keep working on the rest. For instance, if it generates a really kickin bass line, you can select to keep just the bass, then click on the Compose button to re-compose everything but the bass.

Jammer Pro and its little brother, Jammer Songmaker, are identical, except that the former lets you edit a song's style definitions. Both versions are extraordinarily versatile, however. Band styles encompass bluegrass, blues, country, pop, funk, jazz, Latin, rock, classical and waltz. You can set all styles to slow or upbeat tempos, and in variants for intros, grooves, breaks, stops, endings, and more.

Jammer Pro's chord editor lets you specify about 60 different chords, plus inversions, on any root. A right-click in the editor lets you hear the chord before committing to it. If you don't know which chords to use, the program will improvise. You can even import a standard MIDI file and JAMMER's Progression Composer will figure out the chords to the song and write them to the Measures window based on a rhythm and or bass track in the song.

Jammer Pro is not a sequencer, and it won't generate inspired melody or write the showstopping ballad. But within these limitations, Jammer Pro produces surprisingly lively and professional music. You can use the program as a starting point for song creation, to create background tracks, or for any other situation in which you need professional-sounding music in a hurry.

Jammer Pro lists for $129, but can be found for $90 on the Internet. Jammer Songmaker lists for $69, and can be found for $40 on the Internet. The program requires Windows 3.1 or higher, 8MB of RAM, and 14MB of Hard Disk space. To order, or receive a free demo copy, call SoundTrek at 770-623-1338, or see their web site at www.soundtrek.com.

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