PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Strum Machine

I often use BIAB to simply put in a quick backing track to use when I am practicing playing my instruments. It works ok but it is not at all optimal for this in my view.
Mostly I want just a simple clean backing track mainly with only guitar strumming and the bass.
The main issue is to get the Rhythm and Feel right for the song I am practicing.
I find this very complicated to do in BIAB. Everything ends up as very "sophisticated playing" and most times it does not have the feel/groove that I am looking for. (even if I am filtering off everything except guitar, bass and drums).
(I have got some suggestions for this before in this forum, eg use some simple campfire styles etc, but they don’t sound as what I am looking for).

I have just played around with a very simple application “Strum Machine” which sounds and does more or less exactly what I am looking for. It is very basic and intended for practicing playing (not at all for any type of music production).

Strengths are, very easy:
• and quick to put in the chords and song structure
• to set up the band structure (what instruments guitar, bass, mandolin, feet/hands)
• to find, select and audit the strum patterns for the various genres & sub genres (graphic support showing the patterns)
• to find, select and audit the basic Bass pattern for the various genres & sub genres (graphic support showing the patterns)
• to select genre and substyle.
• good enough, simple sounds for strumming guitars and bass (as if you would have your friend sitting around strumming the guitar when I am practicing my instrument)
• library of songs (standards)

It only takes me a few seconds to find a setup that I am very happy with for my practicing. It will take me hours in BIAB to find and setup anything that I feel sounds ok (if at all possible).
There are no mechanism in BIAB to efficiently in a structured way search for variations of strumming guitar type with its variations for different genres and sub genres and more or less the same problem for bass. (yes I can search for strum or boom chick or bass rootfive etc but the result does not match what I am looking for).

Of cause it is nothing for music production, but it seems to be a very good tool for practicing.

Unfortunately nothing for me since they only offering a subscription license.
14 days free trail, no registration only to submit an e-mail address.

https://strummachine.com/app

But maybe BIAB can get some ideas from the graphic/visual search support.

some examples menues:

I do agree, and this subject has been discussed many, many times.
Here is one such thread.

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=106705&Number=821579#Post821579

That's a very nice find, Shlind. Thank you for sharing it with the forum.

Yet another sub service costing probably in US dollars Over $50 a year, could easily be an affordable app, looks like a young guy so looks like he is trying to get as much out of it as he can by going the sub route.

While we are on the subject check out Chord pulse.
https://www.chordpulse.com/

I’ve been subscribing to it for years. Yes, I have many apps and VIs with the same capabilities but this so brain dead easy that, when I want to knock out a quick demo, it’s my go-to. Just like BIAB, certain swing rhythms require math skills to fool the app into playing time signatures that the developer didn’t anticipate.


Nonsense. I use it a lot. The sounds are quite good and I know how to capture the tracks individually for import to my DAW. There, I can syncopate and alter the rhythms in ways not possible on the web site including walking bass lines. One of the tracks on my latest album was built this way—when I asked my band to replace them, the question was, “Why? They sound great.”

I use the free version of Wondershare to capture the audio as m4a.