Hi everyone,
I just posted this request in another section by mistake so now I think I have found the right place.
I am a guitarist/vocalist who plays mostly solo and duo and I (like many thousands like me around the world) have the need for backing tracks as our accompaniment. Most of us use lap tops, net books, mini disc players and iPods and now droid devices. With the arrival of the Android Tablet, many musicians like myself are moving across to this media.
I am just a simple musician who has no clue where to even begin to write such an app, but I do foresee and huge need in the market for an app like this. Because of Droid Tablet technology I am expecting a huge swing to this type of device for musicians using backing tracks and possibly a nice little earner for the person who gets in on the ground level with it....That’s if it hasn’t been done yet which through my searching, I highly doubt.
The biggest problem is having software to play backing tracks in a live situation. Virtually every player I have seen, downloaded etc has major drawbacks for live use.
The biggest being the need for AUTO PAUSE after each song. We need a song to finish so we can do stuff like talk to the audience, tune up, take a quick swig of drink between songs without fluffing around for a pause button every time.
Other things like album art, shuffle, visual effects are simply not needed at all. The simpler the player the better!
I have plenty of ideas for this app including a visual of what it could possibly look like but can't post it as I am a new user.
Please let me know if anyone is interested in taking this on.
Device(s): Samsung Galaxy S II, HTC Evo 4G, Amazon Kindle Fire
Thanks: 52
Thanked 199 Times in 144 Posts
Why not just put the backing tracks on the SD Card and play them with a music player? I really don't see the difference between what you need and the millions of music players already out there.
jonbonazza, my problem with using a "music player" is that every music player I have seen in designed for "listening to music" and not a tool designed for the specific purpose of playing and selecting tracks in a live gig situation which is very different to using players for our "listening enjoyment"
I can't find one that has an auto pause funcrion the pauses the track after it has finished playing and I have found only one music player that has scalable fonts which is needed to make seeing the playlist on stage a whole lot easier.
if you know of one please tell me as my searches have come up with nothing.
Non musicians may find it harder to understand the requirements of live playing but be assured a player that is as basic as it can be with auto pause would be a far better too that a standard player with all the bells and whistles.
I want one, I'm rehearsing a lot of my own stuff and would love to be able to choose between backing tracks or not, depending on how I feel. Your idea is good, though I'd be happy to just have the playlist large and perhaps just tap the song to start it. All good.
Using a music player at a live gig is what a lot of solo, duo and trio performers do.
We (guitarists, keyboard players etc) use a MP to play backing tracks (like drums, bass, other instruments etc) as we don't have the full band as backing.
I will break it down to some basics as an example live gig that I do.
BTW I have been using a 10" netbook for that past few years and now have an Acer Iconia Tablet........
I play guitar and sing & have 300 or so MP3 backing tracks.
When playing live I need: A layout that is uncluttered and easy to read....
scalable large fonts, no album art, no file extension etc. (See image in previous post) Easy to navigate....
folder selection on LHS of screen and contents of folder on RHS (See image in previous post) Auto Pause at the end of each song....
I have other things to do whan a song finishes like talk to the crowd, quickly tune my guitar or even sometimes I might not even be next to my Tablet at the end of the song. No Auto Start....
No song starts automatically at any time. Even when a new folder is selected. Song always starts when the play button is tapped. Note that while the current song is playing, I need the ability to tap another song title (called queing up the next song). Then when the current song finishes, I just have to hit the play button when it's time and the next song starts. No Album Art, No play by artist....
This is a working tool not a visual / listening app. Playlists or folders....
(The Windows program I use is structured for folders).
Either one is ok. I usually make my folders up as sets on my PC then copy them as folders to my Tablet. Shuffle option os ok... Alphabet down RHS of screen to find a song quickly...
I hope this is enough at this stage to give you a concept of the player.
There are may many thousands of muso's out there who may have their own special requirements but this is basically what it's all about.
BTW the windows program I use on my net book is called 1BY1
It has all the functions I have mentioned and a lot of options in the settings (a lot of which aren't needed).
The App I am using at the moment is 'MusicFolderPlayer' by ZorillaSoft.
It was the closest thing I could find in the market place that even came close to what I could use live. The author (Steffen) very kindly made a couple of enhancements to it like add 'Musician Mode' which is auuto pause at the end of each song and fonts that are able to go above 40.
Steffen may or may not delv into creating something like this but at this stage he has other things on his agenda i believe.
I'm sure that if there's apps out there for working musicians they will cross over to Tablets and start jumping on an app like this. I'm sure who ever creates this app will be in a situaltion to sell it in the market place and make a few bucks!
I have about 5 or 6 fellow muso's who would love this App and would help in beta testing it so it gets more than just my opinion of how useful it is.
Hi Gascat I know exactly what your talking about as I am in the same position, I use winamp onstage on my laptop and want to try useing a tablet occasionally, now I dont know if this is any use to you but Apple have an App called Backtrax which does exactly what we need, you can create playlists and save them and it auto pauses after every song, I just hope that they bring out an Android version at some point because I'm a little hesitant to purchase a Transformer Tablet until they do as it would be pointless, I have an iphone abut am fed up with apple and a little bored so I really do want to explore the android, If I knew how to write the code etc I could make a killing with a good functional and simple app for us.
A few years ago there was a program called "Onstage Performer" made exclusively for professional performers but because it wouldn't run on the new Windows 7 (or vista) the company has disappeared..... I am still using it on XP...... It does all the things you want (and more) Including!!! you could insert lyrics on a time line, to play in time to the music if required.... which is brilliant for learning new songs. I am also using a "double" sd + usb mp3 player which is a 2U, 19" rack mountable (if required) By Citronic..... Its made for the DJ market but is perfect for solo singers or giging muso's using backing tracks...... at the touch of a button you can access either player, with either sd card or USB stick... even have both players playing the same imput at the same time..... another button selects single play or Continuous play on each player, changeable at anytime even when playing a track + id3 tags in large bright letters for even poor sighted people (like me)...... check it out on ebay...... Citronic SD 2 (There are other makes available)
Hope this has been helpful although nothing to do with Android!
I am going to take this on. Any chance you could give me a dot point list of what features you want, and once you have that I should have a beta version done in a couple of days.
I too was looking for a program to do exactly what you were after. I couldn't find anything I wanted so decided to write my own windows application.
It also has a programmable lyrics display function. Programmable in so much as you can create the files in a text editor and change the font, size, alignment etc even within a song.
Also you have the ability to save and load playlists.
one of the most useful functions is the ability to start/stop and select songs from the current playlist using footpedals wired to a standard serial port (or usb to serial).
I would love to attach some pictures of the software but apparently as a new user I am not able to do so.
The whole point of writing this is I too would like to port to android tablets and would welcome any feedback.
App for playing backing tracks live
Backtrax
