#and the satisfied piano intro plays during take a break and is also the intro to burn

[astronomicalunit32]

In my motivic analysis phase. When did we decide to stop listening to the hamilton soundtrack.

[lordsicheng]

Kevin Moon - Youtube AU

Kevin Moon x OC word count: 3.4 k

First I just wanna say sorry for taking soooooo long on this, as I haven’t ever done Youtube AU’s before so I kept going on and off for this writing ;; but I was able to finish over half of this just to day, so here you go! :)

It was finally the last day of school before spring break and you hurried back to your dorm to start packing up your stuff

You were on your way to the dorm to pack the rest of your stuff so you can go to your hometown

All your other roommates already left that morning since most of their classes ended a day before

You were used to being the last to finish up, though

Considering you were the one who had the most load for your semesters

Right before you were to unlock your dorm door, your phone suddenly beeped into a notification

You grabbed it while unlocking your door and getting inside to check what it was

Alas, it was a notification that one of your favorite Youtubers uploaded a new video

Finally, a video to watch while packing stuff, you thought

You grinned widely as you closed the door and threw your bag to the bed

Preparing the video to load as you put it by your side table

You grabbed your comfiest clothes, noticing the rain about to pour once you glanced by the window

Putting your clothes on and running to your side of the dorm, you grabbed your luggage and finally starting to pack some of the clothes you put on your bed that morning

Some freshly washed, some you didn’t bother on even washing after wearing them a couple of times

You played the video and were delighted to see him doing a short intro song for his new video

“Hey, everyone! It’s Kevin. How have you all been? This week’s video will be more of a chill one since it’s been raining lately and I wanted to set a mood where we have a more relaxing vibe going on. Before I go on with the short vlog and other stuff in the video, let me start it off with a short cover I’ve been practicing for the past couple of days. I might be posting a full cover soon, but for now the short version would suffice, I suppose!”

You giggled while folding your clothes, hearing Kevin explain his video all throughout

He gave a light sigh before he started and you thought this was one of the cutest things he’s done since he didn’t really do much mannerisms either

At least that’s how other people saw it, but you always noticed these small details about him

As he started playing on the piano you realized he was playing a pretty popular song to be covered

You were trying to think what he was trying to play, like it was just on the tip of your tongue but you couldn’t pinpoint it out

“Look at the stars, look how they shine for you. And everything you do~”

“Yeah, they were all yellow.”

“YELLOW! RIGHT!”

You exclaimed while raising your arms, laughing right after and continuing to pack

“Your skin. Oh yeah, your skin and bones, turn into something beautiful

You know, you know I love you so

You know I love you so.”

“Alright, I guess that’s enough for now. Now, to the vlog!”

Kevin usually did vlogs here and there

But he mostly did make covers and posted a few compositions of his own, too

Even throwing in random videos of his own cooking recipes

He was pretty high in numbers when it came to viewers, his most viewed having a little over 700,000 viewers and the others having a little over a couple thousands to a hundred thousands

It was a cover for Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” along with a friend of his named Jacob

You even downloaded that video since you literally loved his soothing voice that complimented Jacob’s as well which was just as beautiful

Back to his newly uploaded vlog, he looked as if he was hanging out with a friend while talking about his plans of transferring schools

His friend even took videos for him, some of him laughing some things off as his friend tried to video him in different angles, making Kevin laugh and move around to try and avoid him

Then it showed them just having a drink at a coffee shop that seemed familiar to you, but couldn’t think of where it was exactly

He then moves the camera to himself while putting his drink next to him and taking a sip before continuing to speak

“Lately, I’ve been thinking about going to a new school since I moved just recently and I feel like I’m not satisfied with all the classes I’ve been taking with my course. Not that it’s not good enough! Really, the classes are great and you get to learn pretty well. I just think there are some aspects on some subjects I need to learn too from others to understand it well rather than discovering them on my own.”

You nodded in approval, knowing Kevin was a very open-minded person and he always was open to new things

“Also, my new place is pretty far from my old school. Say, about forty-five minutes? If there’s no traffic, that is.”

“So, yeah. I won’t say where I’ve moved, though. I don’t tell you guys where I live or what school I go to, even though some of you already got a hint because of my vlogs and some of my real life friends already saw most of my videos. I like keeping some things private, though, so I hope you guys don’t mind and just keep stuff discreet.”

He made a cute hush sign by putting a finger to his lips, which he giggled right after

And you thought this was really adorable of him

You were also very surprised his vlog was almost twenty minutes long since his vlogs were usually only up to ten minutes at most

So you thought this was probably one of those vlogs where he would do a heart to heart talk about some things

Most parts were of just him having fun with his friend since they weren’t able to meet much because of how busy they both were

The more you got into the video, the more you smiled all throughout

Knowing in between him and his ever so growing Youtube channel, he’s really just human and is like most people

He lives most of his life and has invited everyone subscribed to him, or even just ones who have watched his videos, a peek into his life in a limiting but satisfying level

Just as you expected, there was about two minutes left in the vlog and he sat on his small couch while smiling

“So, you guys know how much I love making videos, right? I’m going to be traveling somewhere in about two or three days from when this is posted, to somewhere all alone before I visit  my home in Canada for a short while during break. I’m not sure if I’m gonna be vlogging, though, since I want to focus the trip as a healing or fun one. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.”

“I don’t like speaking of very deep topics, but I’ve been losing a bit of inspiration lately. Nothing big happened. Really. Maybe I’ve just been stressing out lately? The semester is about to end in a few days so I’m just feeling a bit of excitement and nervousness at the same time as I move forward and move to a new environment. I’ll definitely miss my friends here and of course I will keep contact with them and hang out with them when I get the time.”

“Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the vlog! I already pre-filmed a few covers and maybe two vlogs? Or was it just one… Ah, will definitely check on that! See ya!”

You smiled and knew there was something off about him from the last two videos

But you shrugged it off and thought it was really just him being busy and trying to fix his schedules as the break arrived

Just as the video ended, so was your arranging

You grabbed your plane ticket and noticed your flight was going to be a little early so you decided to sleep that night earlier too so you can get to the airport at a good time

Next day, you were feeling the excitement of finally being able to travel all alone

Not somewhere too far, though, just Busan since you were able to save enough for a short trip

Bus tickets, hotel, money for other necessities

You arrived the bus station and looked around to find your bus

Happy to find it easily and got yourself inside with no problems, ready to take on your short and fun trip as you sat on the bus with elation rising up inside of you

And before you knew it, you arrived Busan  

You go down from the bus and go towards a vending machine

For some reason, the vending machine didn’t work

You gave it a slight shake but your chocolate bar wouldn’t fall

“Do you need help?”

You turn and end up widening your eyes as you realized who it was

“Kevin?”

“Hi!”

He greeted back and smile warmly before moving to your front to see the vending machine

“You didn’t press the quantity.”

“Oh”

He scratched the back of his head in shyness and grabbed your snack to give to you right after

“How do you know me, by the way?”

“Um… would it weird you out if I said I watch your videos?”

He awkwardly snickered the moment you admitted this and you just shrugged

“I never really met any of subscribers since my channel isn’t that popular either.”

“Are you kidding? You have over two hundred thousand subscribers! How would they not know you?”

“I don’t find myself that interesting, honestly.”

You both had a short silence right after a couple of chuckles

“So, uh, you seem to be alone here like you said on your upload yesterday?”

“Yeah, I am! I’m not really used to Busan, though. So…”

“Do you somehow wanna explore around together? At least for today!”

You thought over and over why you offered, but you did want to help someone out as much as they were willing to help back

“Sure! I was thinking about getting some brunch first…”

“I am kind of getting hungry.”

You both ended up getting takeout and headed on over to the beach to eat and just watch the sea together, since you both weren’t sure where to go first more than any other place

He was able to find a rental for some other necessities at the beach so he rented a blanket for both of you

“I’ll pay you back.”

“No need!”

You both ended up eating snacks and looked at the beach as the waves were crashing to the shore and many others were having fun under the sun

Fortunately it was actually quite of a more pleasant weather

“Hey, I meant to ask this—what’s your purpose on coming to Busan?”

“I wanted a small trip for myself, even if it only lasted for a day.”

He nodded in agreement, saying it was great to let loose a bit from the stressful life in school, work, or even by living in a city

“I’m here for a couple of days and thought you were a local. I wanted to ask on where I could go and now I think I should’ve just researched first…”

“Same, honestly.”

You both started to laugh at how it was funny for both of you to end up going to a place for a trip and not actually prepare

“I’ve got an idea.”

You both immediately grabbed a taxi and asked to go to Seokbulsa Temple

Once you got there, a lot of tourists were already lining up by the entrance

So you decided to get the tickets for both of you

“It’s the least I could do for you getting the blanket and snacks.”

Kevin insisted on paying for himself, but you already bought two tickets so you both could finally enter the temple grounds

“Whoaaa”

Kevin was very fascinated by the area that he couldn’t help but grab his camera to take photos

You looked at him take photos whilst walking and you couldn’t help but think about something

“Hey, Kev! Why don’t you vlog a little?”

You suggested, and Kevin looked at you with a smile

“You know what? You’re right.”

He grabbed his smaller camera and began taking videos of the sceneries you both were able to go to and passed

You noticed how Kevin was also slightly eager to want to take photos of himself by some sculptures

“Kevin, stand over there.”

You clicked and took a photo of him with your phone, making sure you took enough for him to choose which one was best

“Send me those later, please”

“Of course!”

You noticed you both were able to spend almost two hours at the temple and began to walk out of the area to find a taxi again

“There’s this place I saw online and I wanted to go there ever since I saw photos taken by some visitors”

“Where?”

“Gamcheon Culture Village.”

You suddenly remembered how that place was known for its beautiful scenery and colorful homes, so you definitely wanted to go just as much as Kevin did

The moment you both arrive, he didn’t waste time and just took photos while vlogging

But as he vlogged, you noticed how he wasn’t including himself on the shots

“Hey, do you want me to take shots of you for the vlog?”

“It’s fine, really.”

“Come on, I’ll take a couple of shots of you walking towards some areas.”

You both were mesmerized as to how beautiful the area was

The vibe itself was like a mix of the past eras to the modern times

So definitely, you both were able to take lots of shots and photos

Kevin, who noticed you seemed to have only taken photos of the areas with your phone, suddenly had an idea

“Hey y/n, stand over there.”

“What?”

“I want to take a photo of you.”

“No, it’s fine!”

“Come on! I don’t get to do this very often. Hurry, a car is coming.”

He snapped a couple of photos before you could pass by the road again and let the passing car go

Again, because of how tired you both were, you ended up finding a café and decided to stay there for a while

Trying to cool off, he was feeling mischievous and took a photo of you secretly with his phone

But you heard the camera sound, which made him almost frantic because he forgot to turn it off or even silence his phone

“Nice try, Kevin.”

“I was trying to take a photo of the drinks and cake…”

After you both were done chatting and eating, it was close to getting quite dark so you both decided to go to one last place before heading to your own ways

It was also one of the most recommended places to go in your search results

“Gukje Market.”

“Oooooh”

The main thing you both wanted to look at was actually food

Because you heard the place was filled with lots of street food

So of course, you and Kevin went all out with the food

“Wow, this looks good. And that one! Auntie, how much for one small plate?”

“Take it easy, y/n”

“This is dinner, Kevin.”

Not only was Kevin very fascinated by the whole place and food, he was really interested in cooking as well

“How did you make this? Do you need that much sauce?”

He’d throw out different questions and was genuinely curious

You, on the other hand, just listened to him as you ate up all the way

Right after, you both stopped at the entrance and looked around to find any free cabs coming your way

“From all the talking and visiting only a couple of places, I really had fun.”

“I did too, Kevin.”

You smiled at him and patted his shoulder

“Learn to let loose sometimes. We have dark times; we just need to think of the brighter side more often. Whatever you’re struggling with now, you’ll get through it. Just be patient.”

“Thanks.”

“There’s a cab.”

You looked at Kevin and asked where his hotel was, but he insisted you’d grab it to yourself as he can call another one

“I’m off to this side, so yeah you said you were going the opposite.”

“See you around?”

“Sure.”

As you headed off, Kevin just smiled to himself as you left and thought to himself about what you had just told him

And then he realized, you were right and that change can be healthy and he just needed to be more positive

You didn’t expect anything from him in return but you saw he followed you back on your SNS accounts, and this confused you

You either wanted to laugh at yourself or felt kind of shy as to why he did so too

You ended up sending him a dm because you were just curious

“So… how did you find my account?”

“Well, I just searched your name? And if I remember, you tagged me in one of your photos.”

“…oh”

Great, you literally forgot you tagged him on one photo you posted on your trip and it was taken at the temple

However, even though you and Kevin just ended up hanging out for a short while, you both somehow felt like you already knew each other beforehand

He was very kind and even his curiosity sparked as much as yours during travel

A week had passed, and you saw Kevin finally upload his short vacation vlog as you were sitting in your living room

You saw that he used a lot of the short video shots you took to areas and decided to make a voiceover midway through the five minute video

He was talking as to how Busan was beautiful and he definitely did not regret ever going

However, his words suddenly moved to a more serious note as he spoke

“I thought, for so long, on what I wanted to do with my life. I’m at an age where I have to discover new things and I was scared of doing it alone.”

“Luckily, I met someone on the way, and gave me the best advice. It wasn’t much, but those were the words I actually needed to hear most.”

“We have dark times; we just need to think of the brighter side more often. Whatever you’re struggling with now, you’ll get through it. Just be patient.”

“’til then, this has been Kevin. See you on the next vlog.”

You grinned right at the end of watching the video and didn’t hesitate on messaging Kevin again

“Saw your vlog. It was quite… interesting.”

“Sometimes strangers can give the most beneficial advices.”

“Deep. Really deep.”

“But really, thank you. Haha.”

And then you realized, it was time to go back to school

You and Kevin still contacted each other and just messaged each other from small conversations like “How was your day?” to “Do you think Beyoncé’s gonna have a concert here anytime soon?”

He was fun to talk to, definitely

And the type you could just talk to about anything and everything

You didn’t even realize you were looking at your phone the whole time you walked on your way to the campus grounds

Somehow, you ended up bumping into someone, causing them to drop his phone

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry-“

“Y/n?”

You looked up and saw that it was actually Kevin, looking as if he was very surprised to see you around the campus

“What are you doing here, Kevin?”

“I go to school here now!”

Wow, incredible

The school he talked about on a past video was actually the one you were currently attending

And he was very excited on starting a whole new semester there since it was a very good university too

“You didn’t tell me…”

“I mean, how would I know you attended this school too?”

You both ended up laughing as how it was such a coincidence for you to meet up again

“So…”

“So…?”

“Would you mind… showing me around campus?”

This was the first time Kevin sounded quite shy, and even looked as if he was gonna blush

You smiled and gave a soft chuckle, nodding

“Sure.”

[tisthenightofthewitch]

German interview with Tobias.

Crime scene Berlin. Thursday, June 7th. Local time: 1:30 pm, a young (cough, cough) Stormbringer editor sits in front of a high-end hotel and after four hours of sleep drinks his eighth coffee black and is slightly nervous.

For several reasons: 1. I appreciate GHOST very much. For years, I find the band not only because of their music, but also because of their live shows and all the trappings awesome. What if Tobias Forge is a good contemporary? A disgusting? 2. Due to my "normal" work I have not spoken a word of English for several months - will the interview by the language barrier be a fiasco? 3. Are my questions interesting anyway, or will Mr. Forge fall asleep at the interview, since he has already answered such questions 666x? 4. If the interview takes place at all - I have been guaranteed 20 minutes, but GHOST is the band of the hour and constantly come to any "important" magazines, as well as radio and TV stations. 5. It's my first interview with a really big band.

Finally, the German promoter comes and brings me to the interview room. I'm waiting and I think, "Dude, you've been through so many unsafe things, you can do it ...". The promoter takes me to a bigger room and lo and behold - Tobias Forge is incredibly friendly, offers me something to drink and also volunteers his place so I can hook both recorders to power (I'll never rely on batteries again!) ,

As he sits there, I would never have imagined the mastermind. Although I knew photos from the Internet, I have never heard or heard him speak without a mask.

He looks much younger than he says according to information and seems to me very straight and disciplined. But now and then the rascal boy comes out of it.

First of all, I have to congratulate for the new album. It really has become a masterpiece.

Thank you very much!

It seems like this release will take you to the next level of success. You can see it in the social media channels, as more and more people react to you, the tour in the US is going very well and the media are turning over with hymnic reviews to the new album. Likewise, you now have eight musicians on stage and can really play everything live. So it works for you.

95% are live now! Except for the intros and outros. It feels very organic, which is a huge boost to the past. I always wanted to have it like that, but, you know, sometimes you just do not have enough possibilities for "manpower" or "womanpower".

So are you very happy with the situation right now?

Very happy with the situation? Yes, and very satisfied at the moment.

We've just started the tour, upgraded many things, the show is better than ever, but it's still a work process.

The tour in the US is technically a "warm up" tour. Between now and the concert in Austria in .... (sorry, may not yet be revealed) is still a bunch improved. People who read the interview do not know yet what else is going to happen. Everything is still in my head. So, wherever it all starts, but I'm, frankly, never completely satisfied. Everything we've done so far sometimes feels like a mistake - like a B version of what I had in my head.

Supposedly, you play most of the instruments on the albums themselves.

When I write a song, I also write all the instruments. For example, I do not just write the guitar part and then have a drummer come in to drum in his part, as he thinks it's good for the song. I write everything.

BUT I can not play a saxophone for example. I can hum the melody - I can hum the sax solo, but I need someone who can play it. I've already composed songs on the piano, I play a bit of piano, but it's better I compose and someone comes into the studio who can really play piano well.

So you have all the music in your head and tell people how to play their part?

Likewise, the piano player on the album is a prodigy, for example. The song is written - eg "pro memoria" - I play him the demo, how his part should sound and he refines it.

It's like a dialogue writer in a movie - I write what the actor should say, what I want to express - a lousy actor makes a very bad dialogue, a good actor something wonderful.

If you were to play the guitar for my music - I can tell you exactly how to play it and decide whether it fits or not, as I can play the guitar myself. Not at the piano - that's the big difference. That's why I recorded all the guitar part and bass parts on the new album, because I wanted the parts exactly as I had in mind.

So you have the entire album in your head before you go to the studio. But when you're in the studio, is there a lot of change?

It's like a movie .... (thinks) .... Many directors shoot a scene and when they look at them they often think "OK, I should change something here and there". And that's how I work when I record pre-production and recordings. If I do not like something that much, I change it. There is nothing done until it is done.

You've already played some new songs from the new album on the US tour. People did not know the songs yet. How were the reactions for example with the saxophone solo? Was it more like "Hey, great" or "what the hell is that supposed to be?"

Generally speaking, I would say that it was one of the highlights.

I remember hearing the album for the first time in the gym during practice and when the sax solo came and I was really cheering. It was a real "wow" effect. It was also a breaking down of walls that the metal police set up "You can not, and you can not do that" - a big "fuck 'em all" - this part fits in perfectly with the song. "

It's unbelievable what you can do with a saxophone (laughs)

Rules are there to be broken. That's rock n roll! It's funny how puristic the metal community is sometimes. Not all are like that, but some show up, like frustrated old men. People who say "that's how it is and not otherwise!"

It's like the masons. The boss says "So and so does the wall plastered. And no way different. "Look, I can plaster the wall with a big pile of shit. It may not look so good, but the wall is plastered.

It's funny, like rock n roll with all its categories, heavy metal, speed metal, thrash, whatever - it always had something to do with rebellion, breaking out of the status quo. That's rock n roll.

Funny as a sax solo can be a revolutionary thing. It makes the song really good and it really is one of the best moments of our live shows.

So you get the best reactions on this part of the show?

This part makes everyone smile, cheer, clap. That is the point.

I knew the A-side on the album was going to be heavy and it took a moment for people to laugh and exhale.

And then they put the B-side - "where are we?" - and then comes "dance maccabre". The sax part is a cleansing part.

Do you like Shushi?

Sometimes

It's the same effect as when you eat ginger in between shushi food. He cleanses the taste buds. You feel fresh again.

When you started up with GHOST, did you have a concrete vision, a master plan, how everything should go, or did many things happen by accident?

Both - it's like writing an album. You can not plan - you can not plan every detail. I think one of my strengths as a band leader or director of the whole is that I can work with what I have, what I get.

I can use everything to my advantage. The situation now .... I could not imagine anything like that ten years ago.

If I had told someone about my plans to be friends with METALLICA, for example, people would have stared at me like an idiot. You know, many things have happened ....

For example ... Over the years I have met quite a few bands. And I always had the clear agenda .... (he hesitates) You know "the devils blood". Selim and I were friends (he seems very serious and depressed now) . In 2010 they were still active and just on their rise - and we were also in this wave. Selim was sometimes very, very strict in his way - "I want it that way, I want it that way ..."

I am also very strict in my life - but there was a clear difference between Selim and me. I always said "we only want to play in the dark". In my imagination, in my mind GHOST always play in the dark. Just! And I still believe in it.

But the only way to get there is to be ready to play on the daytime list. And we always argued and argued "you should not perform at festivals a day. It's a sell-out of you ... .. "

But I thought "if we are not ready to play at festivals in the afternoon, we will never play in the dark. "We will never headlining Wacken, or Nova Rock." You MUST first play in the light to get there. It's like gravity.

It was a small detour of my original plan to play only in the dark. But you have to accept something like that. Like a general on the battlefield. You can not plan every part of a battle, you align your pace with what your opponent does. Do you see my point?

This is executive. This is strategy that you are able to change your plans depending on the situation. But you stay or are on your planned path. Yes, still on my way. Like "I want my country so big, or soooo big and if I just conquer a hill for the beginning - Fine"

THAT was the big difference between Selim and me. And I think many people think similarly.

I have NEVER strayed from my path.

That is something very important. School of Rock.

Last question: When you read fairy tales to your children in the evening and there comes the evil monster who kidnaps the beautiful princess, there is cheered and raged at your home and then when the beautiful, radiant hero shows up and frees the princess and kills the monster - will then shouted "Buh"?

(laughs) No, no. It's normal for us. They do not boo when the hero wins. For example, I hate "Omen III". The end is terrible.

For three films they showed that the devil should be the winner and then God's hand comes down and puts an end to the evil. WAAASSS ???? What a fucking joke!

It's ... (laughs again) We rejoice and boo in the same places as "normal" people in Western civilization.

We thank you for the interview

In the evening, an acoustic session of GHOST with subsequent autograph session is planned, but unfortunately it can not take place because all the paraphernalia have got stuck in Paris.

Master Forge wants to save the evening and presents himself UNMASKIERT on the stage and answered patiently and with a lot of humor the questions of the moderator and the fans.

Then he leaves ALL ANY fans in his wardrobe and gives autographs.

All thumbs up for this action.

May GHOST still be so great and Hr. Forge allegedly an egomaniac - on that day was absolutely nothing to notice and I personally found this action more than terrific.

Source

[crystalau-em]

Emotional Experience: Skymind, Skymind, Taal

This is gonna be the first in a ~very~ occasional series of detailed descriptions of my thoughts and emotional states as I listen to a piece of music. They will be written in the form of a brief description of the song, a YouTube link to it, followed by timestamp comments under a cut to be read as the song is listened to, followed by any other commentary I feel like adding.

This time I will be breaking down my experience of the song Skymind, from the album Skymind, by the French Progressive Rock band Taal. Listen and follow along if you enjoy apocalyptic instrumentals and ominous chants!

https://youtu.be/LIEGKrrBjmc

0:05 - Nice, slow ominous intro…

0:11 - Oh! Intro ~montage~, that’s cool.

0:14 - Circus?

0:18 - Market? Wish I could understand the snippets of French. Also, would the real song please stand up? I love being teased, but I think a whole song of this would get tiring after a couple minutes. :/

0:21 - Punk rebelliousness? Oh wait! The way these snippets have similar tones, tempos, and melodies despite radically different stylings is amazing! A smorgasbord of ominous apprehension.

0:28 - Wait, this is different.

0:35 - Holy shit! I’ve never mistaken a cello for an airplane before!

0:45 - Okay, we’re in the *song* part of the song now. Some beats have been laid. Cello is mournful. The light background of radio feedback squeaks and hisses are giving me a strong WWII era vibe rn, but there’s this one instrument making a pew noise that makes me think it’s more futuristic than that.

0:58 - Oh I ~adore~ the dissonance with which the second cello enters! Such a regretfully ominous slow burn they’ve got going!

1:12 - Tapping the cymbals to anticipate the revelation...A wild electric guitar appears! Something screams far above.

1:17 - YES! Good riff. The screaming was a missile launcher, the riffs the aftermath.

1: 24 - The missile lands with a low rumble in the distance and the battle is on. The cellos buzz with dread.

1:54 - The snare taps and short electric guitar bursts make me feel like I’m observing this battle from afar. War is on this mind in the sky. Each squeal of the guitar portends an escalation.

1:58 - The low rumbling of destruction. Are those flutes in the background taking up the melody?

2:18 - Tempo increasing. This is making me *really, really* anxious!

2:25 - The subtle shrieking as a bomb falls within the cacophony. Shit’s about to go down.

2:37 - Everything is destruction.

2:48 - Now the explosions give way to whispered words, a summoning chant, faint and faltering.

3:02 - The chanting is rhythmic, increasing in intensity. I ~really~ wish I could make out these words. What existential terror are we summoning! What are its attributes?!?

3:16 - Skymind...an autonomous drone? A spy plane? A satellite?

3:26 - The reveal feels anticlimactic. Really frustrated I couldn’t make out the words.

3:34 - I feel like the strings have been cut, the power cut off to something in motion.

3:43 - What do you portend, mischievous piano?

4:07 - OH! The skymind is put in a box, works its way out and to the internet and begins rebuilding itself.

4:24 - The chant is more patient, less under duress. Melodious flutes, with the cello returning ominously to the background. SOOOOO deliciously subtle! The skymind bides its time and I have goosebumps.

4:30 - The electric guitar returns, rumbling with power. I am shaking with anxiety now.

4:41 - “...wings, night, glide…” is all I’ve made out. More evidence the skymind is an AI war drone.

4:48 - That riff felt like the roar of rocket engines in a liftoff. The chant is a countdown to destruction. I am afraid.

5:04 - I just heard the words head and kill. The emotionless nature of the chant makes me think these are the processes the drone is going through in a loop. Endless, remorseless. Maybe the transition before was a shutdown, refueling, update, and change of target.

5:28 - HERE IT COMES!

5:4o - The riff leading up to and between the 2 chants of Skymind is a strafing run of destruction, it is such a satisfying relief from that buildup and am really disturbed.

5:52 - The keyboard plays an update to the next target? Is this a robot orgasm? Job well done?

5:58 - Oh, that transition was abrupt and unexpected! I feel like I am being taunted for feeling satisfaction at the climax, the folly of humanity, and now everything is chaos.

6:18 - Cities fall. Hope is lost.

6:37 - Rally to the flute! There may be hope yet!

6:43 - The strings hum of resistance being plotted amidst the chaotic destruction.

7:00 - The strings turn ominous again! Where is this going?

7:14 - I am so anxious. I feel like everyone is fleeing.

7:19 - And the drums signal the last of humanity is being gunned down.

7:21 - The riffs of POWER assured, return. All is lost.

7:28 - THAT SQUEAL JUST RAN UP AND DOWN MY SPINE! HOly fuck!

7:33 - WOW the resonant chords on those guitars are freaking me out. So much power and confidence!

7:38 - More rat-tat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat-tat, shots fired.

7:44 - Oh, that squeal feels so good!

7:47 - And again! Do I hear the sound of an organ in those chords? Neat!

7:58 - Definitely an organ. Lots of dread.

8:26 - Okay, I get the reign of terror is endless. We can move on.

8:38 - Oh, thank goodness! Something new. A little keyboard in the background.

8:50 - I’m hearing radio static again. We must be nearing the end.

8:57 - was that an ambulance siren?

9:07 - That prismatic keyboard chaos is almost ~exactly~ what plays during most of the establishing shots of the deathist dystopia in the movie Logan’s Run. That is so delightfully appropriate for this new world order under the Skymind!

9:20 - I am 80% percent certain that is the exact same sound as in Logan’s Run. I. AM. LOVING. THIS.

9:46 - and now the universe is tiled in computronium and the last radio signals of resistance give way to static.

Deliciously horrifying!

[upalldown]

Biffy Clyro - A Celebration Of Endings

Ninth album from the Scots alt.rock trio produced by Rich Costey

8/13

Biffy Clyro's A Celebration of Endings is a musically varied, bright, and intriguing album that has plenty of high points for devotees throughout its run. I know of Biffy primarily through their touring guitarist Mike Vennart as a huge fan of Oceansize, that most sorely missed, bit-of-everything band he was part of. I've also seen them take enough decent billings at festivals and heard enough of their devoted fanbase to know they are a very successful group.

North of no South kicks things off with a terrific swing, and is a great advert for the record's exceptional punchy bright mix—there are jangling guitars, pleasing chord sequences, and a strong chorus set to handclaps. Simon Neil's distinctive vocals cut confidently through each track and are a perfect fit tonally for the jumpy, tempestuous music he and his bandmates James (bass and vocals) and Ben Johnston (drums and vocals) serve up. You can hear in the playing and arrangements that this is a three-piece that knows exactly what each leg of the tripod is doing; they aren't afraid to take a spider-esque wander into different territory. The Champ rolls out an atmospheric piano and string-led intro that fuses 70s-like vocal harmonies with chugging rock rhythms. The band succeeds in keeping this variation of sound, melody, and tempo on Weird Leisure' expertly placing subtle atmospheric touches and overdriven guitars right at the heart of the mix announcing its arrival. Tiny Indoor Fireworks is different again, an upbeat, three-minute blitz with another nifty pre-chorus, an arrangement the group seems to have a knack for.

The middle of the album, however, doesn't retain the same unpredictable-while-catchy marker. Worst Type of Best Possible'and Space plod along, especially the latter, which attempts to get as much change as possible out of the word space ("always a space in my heart, I'm still caught in your gravity") over a ballad-type arrangement that isn't particularly effective. End Of attempts to break things up a bit with a long intro and a pleasingly dirty bass tone complete with heavy drop tempo midsection, but is slightly undermined immediately afterward by Instant History. This is a further change of tack gone too far; it's loping drum track and ascending synth lines have been done a thousand times in recent years, and more effectively, by other groups.

Thankfully, though, the last three tracks all have something about them. The Pink Limit chucks the proverbial kitchen sink at the listener with electric guitar noise, rumbling bass, clean guitars, Queen-esque double guitar harmonies, and a dynamic instrumental outro to boot; a mad arrangement, but one worth persevering with. Opaque is a much more successful attempt at a ballad arrangement; the melodic themes simple enough with expertly balanced strings and guitars intertwining, on top of which sits a dark, claustrophobic narrative creating a captivating atmosphere. The repeated lyrics "these walls are closing in" drills that mood home satisfyingly, albeit, uneasily. Closing track Cop Syrup has some of the best dynamics across the runtime; the front end all overdrive and snarling vocals, even with some Police-esque flange guitar surfacing during the chorus before a break down into a very attractive acoustic guitar pattern that builds in intensity for several minutes.

All in all, A Celebration of Endings is a curious, often potent blend of sounds and influences. While lyrically dark, its exploration is more often than not a very satisfying ride into the unknown.

http://www.noripcord.com/reviews/music/biffy-clyro/celebration-endings

[veryotl]

Seventeen Teen.age album review

In the past, I’ve posted album reviews generally a few days after new Seventeen album releases. I waited a little bit for this one, so that I could get used to the sound of the album before reviewing, but it’s been about a week now so I’m officially posting my Teen.age album review! 

1 and 13. Intro and Outro 

It’s not a new concept, but it’s the first time Seventeen has made an album with an intro and outro song. There’s not a whole lot to be said for a song that’s under a minute long, but as a general overview I do enjoy these short clips. For intro, I feel like it ties in well with the general album concept and feel, and it bears similarities to some other songs on the album. Similiar piano intro to Without You, low mumbling backing vocals similar to Bring It... I’d be interested to see it fleshed out into a full song, but I’m still very satisfied with the length it is currently. The progression into the slow piano near the outro is satisfying, and in general it has a good feel to it. For Outro, I can’t analyze it much, I’d kind of like to see it analyzed by someone who knows more about music. It seems to blend essential elements from title songs past such as a funky bass with key elements from Clap like a wailing electric guitar and addictive beat. Honestly, I really like the effort to show that the “Seventeen style” isn’t completely going away despite the change in atmosphere in this new album. It reminds us of the previous songs while still transitioning to the new style, and I find it very satisfying.

2 and 6-8. Change Up, Lilili Yabbay, Pinwheel, and Trauma or The B4

Sort of in an effort to keep this post kind of short, I’ve already written up most of my thoughts on the B4 songs, I’ll just link that here and not keep repeating myself. As a summary, Change up is simple but enjoyable, Lilili Yabbay is truly a subversion of expectations pulled off flawlessly, Pinwheel is a little bit expected but still has some really fantastic killing parts, and Trauma makes a lot of smart production choices to perfectly capture the emotion and feeling behind being trapped in traumatic memories of the past. 

3. Without You 

Without you is a little hard to pin down on style, tricking you into thinking you’re listening to a ballad and then suddenly bursting into a louder, slightly intense feel. The song jumps back and forth a few times, possibly causing some people genre whiplash. However, considering the song is only two verses and a chorus which is relatively simple for a song, it’s not a bad choice and it adds a sense of fullness to the song. The lyrics seem to pick up where Don’t Wanna Cry left off, about someone who is still waiting for someone who has moved on without them. It’s a very emotional song about working through regrets and feelings when you’re the only one left, and having to change and adapt to the new life you lead. Altogether it’s quite an emotional song and a nice continuation of DWC, I definitely enjoy the dose of reality of “sometimes people don’t come back even if you want them back and you just need to move on”. I think I would enjoy it more with a bit more structure, and I found the dance a little underwhelming. But altogether, I think they pull it off even though it’s a bit of a difficult song, especially Woozi and The8′s vocals that suit the styling well. 

4. Clap

My first reaction when I heard the preview of clap was “if they can pull this style off, it really will be true that Seventeen can do anything”. I was worried that it would be a base breaker, causing fans of their past fresh style like Pretty U, Adore U, and Mansae might have a hard time adjusting to the new rock style of the teaser, and that they’d end up having a difficult time this era because of the backlash. However, Clap holds up Seventeen’s legacy admirably, building on themes introduced from Boom Boom while still keeping true to the style of pop rock. Despite being shorter than most other Seventeen songs, Clap manages to accomplish two verses, a rap break, three choruses, a bridge and even a drop out of the main instrumentals allowing for an impactful dance break before the bridge. It mixes a wide variety of instruments such as rock guitar, the usual fantastic bass work and creative percussion, and even horns. The music video is legitimately enjoyable to watch, and the dance is engaging and fun with obvious point moves that are easily mimicked while still managing visual complexity. Clap is a fantastic song, and Seventeen has truly proven their capability expressing themselves in a new genre and style without abandoning their special touch.

5. Bring It

While I am a little disappointed they didn’t keep the translated Korean title “Just Shoot Me and Go”, I do really love this track. It didn’t really hit me how good Hoshi would be at writing rap lyrics, but considering how he cleverly spoils us each comeback, comes up with witty choreography like the visual pun in Jam Jam, and thinks on his feet to make jokes in part of the Booseoksoon friendship, it makes a lot of sense. The strong has a similar feeling to Hurricane, but there’s one notable difference which is, of course, the addition of Woozi’s vocals. His transition into the chorus is addictive and smooth, and comes off as so freakin badass. I didn’t expect their dynamic to fit so well with the song, but Hoshi’s energetic cockiness and Woozi’s laid back confidence work so well together. Although Hoshi dominates most of the song, the killing part by no contest is Woozi’s Busan dialect in the bridge which is just so freakin cool. The percussion throughout the song and the sampling marks good production choices even though it might not be the most comfortable genre for Woozi. By the end of the song, you feel pumped up and energized proving that the Hoshi and Woozi really is a killer combo. 

9. Flower

Simply put, Flower is probably my personal favorite song on this album. The balance of sweet voiced vocals like Seungkwan, Jeonghan, and The8 is stacked pretty high against Coups and Wonwoo’s often rough style, Dino being able to swing either way. And yet, they still manage to pull of this song which has a pretty fast beat for how low and deep the song is. The instrumentals switch from intense during the chorus to fairly understated verse and lead in. The vocals also play around with styles, Jeonghan providing a nice light and smooth vocal that contrasts Seungkwan’s emotional and high chorus, and a similar affect takes place with Dino’s upbeat pop rap in comparison to Wonwoo’s rough almost punk-influence rapping. The plucked string instrument leading the minimalistic sections adds an addictive melody to the song that calls back to the strummed muted strings in Trauma. Flower is another song that defies expectations and still manages to be pulled off in an interesting manner that keeps you coming back to listen again. A+ for this mix unit. 

10. Rocket

Rocket uses a lot of American electronica trends including a peppy synth and liberal autotune use. While I don’t listen to this style very often anymore, I can remember when I really enjoyed it and I can honestly say Rocket is an enjoyable, upbeat song. It finds a happy medium between the gentle vocal style of Joshua and the unique vocal color of Vernon’s rap, a strange combination that couldn’t have been easy to bridge stylistically. There’s no particular hard hitting analysis on the lyrics or the style to be made beyond that, and that information is an analysis all on it’s own. Rocket is best enjoyed by just enjoying it. It’s not deep or complex, it’s lighthearted and easygoing just like the two featured vocalists on the song. The style, the lyrics, the vocals, even the choice of autotune all made a connection between two unique voices that create something that is fun to listen to and just groove along with, and it’s just perfect for them. 

11. Hello

Originally, I disliked the song when it was on Seventeen Project. Mostly because it was a cringe inducing performance, but also because it felt sweet but underwhelming. The new version is only changed subtly, however the changes make a world of difference. Firstly, the remade track is ever so slightly sped up, making it a bit more peppy. It’s a good change to make with the style of the song, and it really pays off. The second change is additional instrumental, a cute and subtle synth that comes out to make the chorus stronger, changing the piano from sustained notes to shorter ones making it seem more bouncy, a few added percussion pieces, and some natural development as the song builds. The song suddenly seems more cheery and doesn’t drag as much and feel as empty. A few of the lyrics have been redone as well, helping Mingyu’s rap to flow much smoother. Also, the addition of both a vocal bridge, rap section, and alteration in the final chorus helps the song feel varied and interesting. The changes are pretty subtle at first, but they make it seem like a completely different, more finished, more satisfying song. Of course, the vocal development of DK, the pronunciation growth of Jun, and Mingyu better fleshing out his personal style is a real difference maker as well. All in all, the song is still the same song as before, but still completely redone and made better where it counts so it’s truly enjoyable and sweet.

12. Campfire 

The first time I listened to Campfire, I couldn’t exactly express what I loved about it. It sounded like a holiday - the good kind where you have a party with all your best friends and you laugh and make memories. Now I can truly say what is so satisfying about Campfire. Up until this song, there has been so many sounds on this album. From rock to electronica, from ballad to electrohouse, from punk influence to disco influence, each song is unique and individual. However, at the end, they all gather together into one group and sing a song that is entirely themed towards the idea of harmony. The idea that despite the differences, being together is precious and special and it creates warmth and comfort and joy like a campfire. The song is emotional and nostalgic because of the harmony and the honest feelings expressed by the members in the lyrics. It’s sort of a follow up to Smile Flower, which had a message of “Even though we don’t know what lies ahead, no matter how hard it is, I will always be there for you and hold you in my heart”, Campfire has a message of “When we laugh together and make special memories, it doesn’t matter how scary it is and hard it is in the future because I’ll always have this warmth when you’re in my heart and my memories”. 

And now that I’m crying from how much I love these boys, it’s time to wrap up my official full review of Teen.age! I hope you love this album as much as I did and support Seventeen and appreciate their hard work and love them forever, just like I do. <3

[dearest-comma-angelica]

a bunch of rambling thoughts about congratulations

both this song and satisfied start with a piano intro

in her first line of the song, angelica sings alexander the same way she does in satisfied - “but alexander, i’ll never forget-”

angelica says “kind of stupid” four times - one more time than the three reasons as to why she gives him up in satisfied

a testament to how much alexander knows he’s messed up is that angelica calls him stupid, and he just takes it (in comparison to aaron burr, sir, where “you punched the bursar?” “he looked at me like i was stupid i’m not stupid”

alexander sings “angelica” three times, another callback to satisfied, but ends up singing eliza’s name at the end, a symbolic parallel to him ultimately choosing eliza in the end

angelica also says congratulations four times

this is the fourth and last direct interaction they would have had in the play, the others being helpless, satisfied, non stop, and take a break (discounting the official reynolds pamphlet and her narrative of it’s quiet uptown)

angelica knows exactly how to take jabs at alexander. she throws his biggest political rival, jefferson, in his face. she takes his obsession with legacy and mocks him about it - “you’ve redefined your legacy” which is what makes hamilton finally start sticking up for himself

“it was an act of political sacrifice!” “sacrifice?” not only is this powerful because angelica has never defined her actions of satisfied as a sacrifice, but also because the audience knows only what she means, as only us have been completely privy to her thoughts of the events that took place that night

this is also a link to her and alexander’s exchange in satisfied. “i’m sure i don’t know what you mean; you forget yourself” the same feeling is implied here. angelica is saying that alexander has no idea what he’s saying. but instead of being a flirtatious or even curious exchange, she’s talking about the damage he has now done to her lives

“this one’s mine” angelica finally acknowledges for the first time, face-to-face, that both she and alexander know exactly what could have happened in another life

“feeling of freedom / languished in a loveless marriage in london” angelica uses alliterations sparingly, in this case when she is very excited (satisfied) and when she’s showing a moment of great vulnerability (congratulations)

“i look at you and think God, what have we done with our lives? / as i romanticize what might’ve been if i hadn’t sized him up so quickly” not only does this rhyme, but it shows that unlike in “take a break”, where angelica’s infatuation/romanticization of alexander is still very prominent, all those rose-tinted glasses have fallen away. she sees her reality, and for who he is now: a man who’s broken her, and her sister’s, heart, and can’t help but wonder how they got to be this way, how they got to be so ruined

“tears or the years away / here to stay” this rhyming is reminiscent of the rhyming angelica employs during her three reasons (oldest, wittiest, insidious, etc.) yet also showcases her sadness. for a mind that works as fast as hers, this song is relatively slow paced, showing that her grief and the heaviness of her feelings - that she gave up the man she loved to save her sister from pain, and now that man has caused her sister pain anyway - is slowing her down

“a million years ago she said to me- / there’s a million things i haven’t done” - a reiteration of their first meeting, showing both the passage of time but also how angelica has taken alexander’s words to heart - “i {the world} will never be the same” (satisfied)

angelica harkens back to satisfied by restating that “never find anyone as trusting or as kind” and reflects on her choice made, that she “stood by” so her sister’s happiness, which is more important to her than anything, could be possible

this fact also shows that, once upon a time, alexander was angelica’s happiness. “i lived only to read your letters”. he changed her life and her heart and even now, she still can’t completely let him go no matter how hard she tries.

���eliza is the best thing in our lives” angelica has always valued her sister over her love for alexander, and this is still very true. this also shows that angelica is saying “we both chose eliza / i will choose her happiness over mine everytime” and tells alexander that it is time he starts doing the same and prioritizing his wife and family over his work

role reversal of satisfied. at the end of that song, angelica realizes that “he was right: you will never be satisfied”. however at the end of congratulations, alexander eventually reaches the conclusion that angelica besets on him “so never forget that you have been blessed with the best wife!” --> “best of wives and best of women”

[iwrotemywayto-revolution]

Can you imagine?

Request: You’re reading for Maria at the Hamilton workshop, but you’re far more interested in Eliza than Alexander.

Pairing: Phillipa Soo x reader

Warnings: none

Word count: 1,733

A/N: here’s day six of the @hamwriters��� writeathon a bit late- also known as first time day! I know Pippa wasn’t actually part of the workshop cast but I’ve fiddled with it bc reasons. I’ve not written pippa x reader before so here goes

--

The room was empty except for a circle of chairs and a piano. You paused awkwardly in the doorway, checking the room number you had hastily scribbled down again. It definitely said room twenty, but what if you had heard wrong over the phone?

You wiped your hands on your jeans and walked in. “Hello?” you called apprehensively, peering around. You had had the call last night- Lin-Manuel Miranda of ‘In the Heights’ fame wanted you to read for a part in his new musical.

Which was apparently a rap musical about Alexander Hamilton. Okay.

Since no one else seemed to be there, you sat down in one of the chairs and fiddled with your phone, debating the merits of downloading an inane game to pass the time. You started to hum the song that had been on the radio in the taxi that had brought you there. 

Almost ten minutes later, just as you were halfway through singing What the heck I gotta do, someone appeared in the doorway. “Hello, hello, hello!” Lin-Manuel Miranda grinned as he walked in, “sorry I’m late.”

You looked around at the other empty chairs. “It’s alright- you’re not the only one.”

He frowned, as if he’d only just noticed that the two of you were the only ones there. “That’s weird.” He pulled out his phone and fired off a text. 

“I’m Y/N,” you said, half-getting out of your chair, “I’m reading for-” you checked your notes, “Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds?”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Lin held up his own script, which was covered in scribbled annotations in messy handwriting, “I’m your Hamilton.”

You raised an eyebrow and were about to respond when the doors open again and a couple of people arrived- you recognised Chris Jackson from In the Heights and Daveed Diggs, whose music you had started to listen to as soon as you found out he would be in the show. 

--

You stayed sat in your chair as everyone started to settle down, some stopping to say hi to others before they made it to their seats. You looked to your right and felt your jaw drop. A beautiful girl, her dark hair pulled back in a high ponytail, and wearing a flowery scoop-neck and knee-length skirt, had taken the seat beside you.

She looked up and met your gaze. You hastily smiled. “Hi,” you said, voice higher than usual from nerves that made your heart thump particularly hard.

She smiled back and you knew you were lost- her smile was soft and gentle, her eyes kind and a dark brown. “Hi,” she said, “I’m Pippa.”

“Y/N,” you returned, throat dry, “Nice to meet you.” 

Before you could make a fool of yourself, Lin clapped his hands and stood up. “So,” he grinned, “you’ve all heard my admittedly terrible demos, you’ve all got scripts. I’m Lin and this,” Lin gestured to Alex, who stood up from behind his keyboard and waved, “is the genius behind the music, Alex Lacamoire.”

Everyone murmured a hello as Lin took a seat. Alex cleared his throat. “We’ll run through the songs in order,” he said, “starting with Alexander Hamilton.” He sat down again and played a couple of scales. “Is everyone warmed up?”

You nodded, having done some exercises before everyone else arrived. Everyone else nodded too, and you wondered if that had been why they were late. 

Scanning the lyrics for Alexander Hamilton again, you remembered that you only had the one line in it: “Me? I loved him”, so you settled back to hear everyone else. 

Utkarsh grinned and introduced the musical as Burr, looking as if he wanted to be moving about the room even though it was a read-through. Chris, Javier, Joshua, and Daveed joined soon after. It felt somehow tense but freeing to be in the room- it felt like the beginning of something, you realised.

Then Pippa started to sing- quietly, soprano- and you saw her face change with real emotion. Too quickly her part was over and you joined in with the others to sing the ensemble part. 

--

Alex gave feedback after you finished running through the first two songs and Lin scribbled furiously all over his script and sheet music, muttering about tempo and line changes as he did so. He asked Chris to try some new lyrics, got Daveed to swap a line with Joshua, and asked Pippa to sing her line with a crescendo instead of diminuendo and a slightly different inflection.

The next two songs went much the same, except that you only sang the ensemble parts, watching Lin rap his way through My Shot  with impressive speed. Then you moved onto Schuyler Sisters. You, Pippa, and Anika all got up so Lin could see your dynamics, standing in the middle of the circle of chairs. 

Utkarsh narrated again from the sidelines and your stomach did a flip when Pippa took your hand to ‘tug’ you into the circle properly. You bumped your hip against hers when you sang your first line, almost stuttering when she returned the gesture. Everyone sang the ensemble part and you stepped forward.

You put your hands on your hips and turned to face your ‘sisters’, “Daddy said to be home by sundown-”

Anika shrugged. “Daddy doesn’t need to know.”

You pouted. “Daddy said not to go downtown-”

Pippa raised an eyebrow and pointed towards the door, "Like I said you're free to go-"

--

After Schuyler Sisters you didn’t have much to do beyond singing the ensemble part. Instead you sat on your chair and watched Pippa perform Helpless, something twisting tightly in your chest when she kissed Lin at the end.

You wondered if you could change Satisfied to be about Eliza instead.

-

It was lunch time before you reached the end of the first act. “Well done,” Lin called to everyone after the end of Non-Stop, “you can all take an hour or so for lunch and afterwards we’ll work on Act two.”

“After we try some changes to Non-Stop,” Alex interrupted firmly, making everybody grin. There hadn’t been a single song that hadn’t been followed by Lin scribbling on his script and Alex on his sheet music, followed immediately by calls for corrections or alterations. 

You grabbed your bag, wondering where to go. You didn’t know many places around the are but surely there’d be a Starbucks or something nearby. As you stuffed your jumper into your bag, you heard someone clear their throat. 

You straightened to find Pippa standing there, a nervous smile on her face. “Do you have plans for lunch?” she asked, adjusting the strap of her bag, “I was wondering if you wanted to grab something- there’s a nice café around the corner-”

You were so surprised that you did nothing but gape for a moment. Pippa’s smile faded. “If you don’t want to-”

“No I do!” you found your voice and interrupted her, “I’d love to.”

Pippa’s smile returned full-force and she fell into step beside you as you headed out, waving goodbye to Lin and Alex where they were hunched over Lin’s script, whispering and scribbling. 

--

You and Pippa settled down in the corner of the café, hot drinks and sandwiches cluttering up the tiny table. “So,” Pippa said as she pulled her hair out of its ponytail, “how did you end up here?”

“I worked with Lac on a project a couple of months ago,” you explained. You took a bite of your sandwich, “I wasn’t singing for him, just managing some stuff- but he heard me in the break room.”

Pippa laughed and raised her cup. “To what a little break room singing can do,” she suggested. You giggled and raised your cup too, tapping it against hers. You both took a sip, wincing when you realised it was still a little too hot to drink.

“Broadway, huh?” Pippa gazed dreamily out of the window in the direction of the Richard Rogers, “Can you imagine?”

You could see Pippa up there, inspiring joy and sadness and astonishment. “Yeah,” you murmured. Her hand was resting on the table and you wondered if it would be too soon to take it.

--

The first song after you came back was ensemble time for you again. Pippa joined you as you welcome Daveed, cocky and enthusiastic as Jefferson, home again. Then you sat back to watch Lin and Daveed spit their arguments to each other and then watched Javier and Pippa try to persuade Lin to take a break.

Javier knelt down to be Philip, miming the piano tune that Lac played in the intro. You stifled a smile and bit back a laugh when Pippa tried to beat-box. “I’ll learn,” she promised Lin in the feedback session. He gave her a hard look but nodded.

--

“For this one, Y/N,” Lin said, “your job is to be sexy.”

You felt your cheeks heat up and stammered out your agreement. You saw Pippa grin out of the corner of your eye and steeled yourself to try your best. Lin had reassured you that you didn’t need to kiss him, even though it was scripted.

Utkarsh introduced the scene again, handing over the narration to Lin after a moment. You stared at your line and anxiously calculated your cue. “I know you are a man of honour,” you sang, meeting Lin’s gaze. He was giving you his best smoulder and you fought back a grin, “I’m so sorry to bother you at home.”

--

You gathered your things, ready to leave. Lin and Alex had praised everyone’s efforts and reminded you to return next week to work with any changes that they might have made during the week. You shouldered your bag and turned to go, only to find Pippa standing there.

“This is starting to become a regular thing,” you laughed, stepping back a little.

Pippa laughed. “I was wondering...” she looked uncertain, poised on the balls of her feet as if she was about to run for it, “if you wanted to grab dinner with me.” She flushed a pretty pink and lowered her gaze, “you know, as a date.”

You took her hand hesitantly and squeezed it. “I’d love that,” you said quietly, relieved when she squeezed back. 

The two of you headed out, hands hesitantly linked between you. You could have sworn you saw Lin wink at you as you passed him, but brushed it off. You’d rather have Eliza.

[alive-drumming]

Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media.  It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks.  See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

      Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

[caption id="attachment_32758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ethan Algan[/caption] IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY.   What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in the one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

          Sandra -  Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

[caption id="attachment_32798" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandra Sutton[/caption] TRUE INNOVATION.  What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

      Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings.  Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves.  Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada 

[caption id="attachment_32777" align="alignleft" width="200"] Eloa Andes[/caption] LOVE THIS APP!!   Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go.  So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

      Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

[caption id="attachment_32783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hilly Edding[/caption] HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS.  I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

      Ron - LA, USA.  Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

[caption id="attachment_32811" align="alignleft" width="293"] Ron Upton[/caption] PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE.  This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where its works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one key press. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

      Wendy - Florence, Italy.  Plays guitar, and clarinet.  Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

[caption id="attachment_32805" align="alignleft" width="201"] Wendy Nonereally[/caption] WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.  My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but its a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

I have tried other music generation programs for getting backing tracks, with very limited success. I always give up with them at the end because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

      Ele' - Melbourne, Australia.  Plays piano.  Like jazz, blues and latin. 

[caption id="attachment_32792" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ele' P[/caption] A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, its that's sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

[caption id="attachment_29898" align="alignleft" width="502"] Song Rhythm Tracks[/caption] Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style.  Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it. The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more. Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user-interface encourages continued use.  You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different. Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution. Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product, “How to practice, then how to jam” “When to work on your rhythm?” “Why songform with rhythm tracks?” Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler

[alive-drumming]

Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media.  It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks.  See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

      Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

[caption id="attachment_32758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ethan Algan[/caption] IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY.   What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in the one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

          Sandra -  Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

[caption id="attachment_32798" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandra Sutton[/caption] TRUE INNOVATION.  What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

      Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings.  Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves.  Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada 

[caption id="attachment_32777" align="alignleft" width="200"] Eloa Andes[/caption] LOVE THIS APP!!   Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go.  So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

      Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

[caption id="attachment_32783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hilly Edding[/caption] HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS.  I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

      Ron - LA, USA.  Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

[caption id="attachment_32811" align="alignleft" width="293"] Ron Upton[/caption] PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE.  This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where its works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one key press. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

      Wendy - Florence, Italy.  Plays guitar, and clarinet.  Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

[caption id="attachment_32805" align="alignleft" width="201"] Wendy Nonereally[/caption] WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.  My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but its a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

I have tried other music generation programs for getting backing tracks, with very limited success. I always give up with them at the end because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

      Ele' - Melbourne, Australia.  Plays piano.  Like jazz, blues and latin. 

[caption id="attachment_32792" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ele' P[/caption] A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, its that's sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

[caption id="attachment_29898" align="alignleft" width="502"] Song Rhythm Tracks[/caption] Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style.  Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it. The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more. Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user-interface encourages continued use.  You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different. Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution. Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product, “How to practice, then how to jam” “When to work on your rhythm?” “Why songform with rhythm tracks?” Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler

[alive-drumming]

Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media.  It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks.  See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

      Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

[caption id="attachment_32758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ethan Algan[/caption] IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY.   What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in the one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

          Sandra -  Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

[caption id="attachment_32798" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandra Sutton[/caption] TRUE INNOVATION.  What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

      Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings.  Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves.  Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada 

[caption id="attachment_32777" align="alignleft" width="200"] Eloa Andes[/caption] LOVE THIS APP!!   Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go.  So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

      Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

[caption id="attachment_32783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hilly Edding[/caption] HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS.  I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

      Ron - LA, USA.  Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

[caption id="attachment_32811" align="alignleft" width="293"] Ron Upton[/caption] PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE.  This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where its works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one key press. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

      Wendy - Florence, Italy.  Plays guitar, and clarinet.  Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

[caption id="attachment_32805" align="alignleft" width="201"] Wendy Nonereally[/caption] WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.  My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but its a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

I have tried other music generation programs for getting backing tracks, with very limited success. I always give up with them at the end because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

      Ele' - Melbourne, Australia.  Plays piano.  Like jazz, blues and latin. 

[caption id="attachment_32792" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ele' P[/caption] A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, its that's sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

[caption id="attachment_29898" align="alignleft" width="502"] Song Rhythm Tracks[/caption] Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style.  Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it. The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more. Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user-interface encourages continued use.  You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different. Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution. Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product, “How to practice, then how to jam” “When to work on your rhythm?” “Why songform with rhythm tracks?” Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler

[alive-drumming]

Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media.  It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks.  See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

      Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

[caption id="attachment_32758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ethan Algan[/caption] IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY.   What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in the one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

          Sandra -  Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

[caption id="attachment_32798" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandra Sutton[/caption] TRUE INNOVATION.  What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

      Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings.  Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves.  Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada 

[caption id="attachment_32777" align="alignleft" width="200"] Eloa Andes[/caption] LOVE THIS APP!!   Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go.  So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

      Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

[caption id="attachment_32783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hilly Edding[/caption] HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS.  I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

      Ron - LA, USA.  Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

[caption id="attachment_32811" align="alignleft" width="293"] Ron Upton[/caption] PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE.  This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where its works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one key press. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

      Wendy - Florence, Italy.  Plays guitar, and clarinet.  Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

[caption id="attachment_32805" align="alignleft" width="201"] Wendy Nonereally[/caption] WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.  My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but its a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

I have tried other music generation programs for getting backing tracks, with very limited success. I always give up with them at the end because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

      Ele' - Melbourne, Australia.  Plays piano.  Like jazz, blues and latin. 

[caption id="attachment_32792" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ele' P[/caption] A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, its that's sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

[caption id="attachment_29898" align="alignleft" width="502"] Song Rhythm Tracks[/caption] Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style.  Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it. The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more. Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user-interface encourages continued use.  You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different. Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution. Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product, “How to practice, then how to jam” “When to work on your rhythm?” “Why songform with rhythm tracks?” Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler

[alive-drumming]

Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media.  It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks.  See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

      Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

[caption id="attachment_32758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ethan Algan[/caption] IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY.   What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in the one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

          Sandra -  Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

[caption id="attachment_32798" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandra Sutton[/caption] TRUE INNOVATION.  What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

      Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings.  Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves.  Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada 

[caption id="attachment_32777" align="alignleft" width="200"] Eloa Andes[/caption] LOVE THIS APP!!   Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go.  So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

      Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

[caption id="attachment_32783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hilly Edding[/caption] HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS.  I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

      Ron - LA, USA.  Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

[caption id="attachment_32811" align="alignleft" width="293"] Ron Upton[/caption] PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE.  This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where its works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one key press. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

      Wendy - Florence, Italy.  Plays guitar, and clarinet.  Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

[caption id="attachment_32805" align="alignleft" width="201"] Wendy Nonereally[/caption] WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.  My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but its a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

I have tried other music generation programs for getting backing tracks, with very limited success. I always give up with them at the end because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

      Ele' - Melbourne, Australia.  Plays piano.  Like jazz, blues and latin. 

[caption id="attachment_32792" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ele' P[/caption] A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, its that's sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

[caption id="attachment_29898" align="alignleft" width="502"] Song Rhythm Tracks[/caption] Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style.  Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it. The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more. Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user-interface encourages continued use.  You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different. Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution. Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product, “How to practice, then how to jam” “When to work on your rhythm?” “Why songform with rhythm tracks?” Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler

[alive-drumming]

Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media.  It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks.  See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

      Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

[caption id="attachment_32758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ethan Algan[/caption] IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY.   What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in the one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

          Sandra -  Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

[caption id="attachment_32798" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandra Sutton[/caption] TRUE INNOVATION.  What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

      Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings.  Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves.  Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada 

[caption id="attachment_32777" align="alignleft" width="200"] Eloa Andes[/caption] LOVE THIS APP!!   Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go.  So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

      Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

[caption id="attachment_32783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hilly Edding[/caption] HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS.  I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

      Ron - LA, USA.  Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

[caption id="attachment_32811" align="alignleft" width="293"] Ron Upton[/caption] PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE.  This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where its works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one key press. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

      Wendy - Florence, Italy.  Plays guitar, and clarinet.  Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

[caption id="attachment_32805" align="alignleft" width="201"] Wendy Nonereally[/caption] WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.  My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but its a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

I have tried other music generation programs for getting backing tracks, with very limited success. I always give up with them at the end because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

      Ele' - Melbourne, Australia.  Plays piano.  Like jazz, blues and latin. 

[caption id="attachment_32792" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ele' P[/caption] A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, its that's sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

[caption id="attachment_29898" align="alignleft" width="502"] Song Rhythm Tracks[/caption] Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style.  Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it. The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more. Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user-interface encourages continued use.  You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different. Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution. Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product, “How to practice, then how to jam” “When to work on your rhythm?” “Why songform with rhythm tracks?” Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler

[alive-drumming]

Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media.  It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks.  See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

      Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

[caption id="attachment_32758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ethan Algan[/caption] IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY.   What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in the one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

          Sandra -  Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

[caption id="attachment_32798" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandra Sutton[/caption] TRUE INNOVATION.  What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

      Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings.  Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves.  Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada 

[caption id="attachment_32777" align="alignleft" width="200"] Eloa Andes[/caption] LOVE THIS APP!!   Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go.  So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

      Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

[caption id="attachment_32783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hilly Edding[/caption] HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS.  I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

      Ron - LA, USA.  Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

[caption id="attachment_32811" align="alignleft" width="293"] Ron Upton[/caption] PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE.  This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where its works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one key press. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

      Wendy - Florence, Italy.  Plays guitar, and clarinet.  Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

[caption id="attachment_32805" align="alignleft" width="201"] Wendy Nonereally[/caption] WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.  My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but its a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

I have tried other music generation programs for getting backing tracks, with very limited success. I always give up with them at the end because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

      Ele' - Melbourne, Australia.  Plays piano.  Like jazz, blues and latin. 

[caption id="attachment_32792" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ele' P[/caption] A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, its that's sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

[caption id="attachment_29898" align="alignleft" width="502"] Song Rhythm Tracks[/caption] Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style.  Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it. The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more. Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user-interface encourages continued use.  You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different. Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution. Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product, “How to practice, then how to jam” “When to work on your rhythm?” “Why songform with rhythm tracks?” Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler

[alive-drumming]

Song Rhythm Tracks - Users' Testimonials

We canvassed some opinions from social media.  It is always interesting to see how others view Song Rhythm Tracks.  See what you think.

No.1 for Musician's Usability

      Ethan - Kyoto, Japan. Sax player. Plays pop, rock, blues, jazz, bop, ballads, everything really

[caption id="attachment_32758" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ethan Algan[/caption] IMMEDIATE MUSICIAN'S USABILITY.   What's different about this App is that it makes it feasible for the average guy, with very little effort, to play their songs to very engaging arranged rhythm tracks. I've tried lots of them and I haven't come across any other app that comes close to that. This app combines a musician's player, a setlist manager and an arranger in the one app. It's really quick to select arrangements and then you can put them into setlists and keep changing and reordering the lists as your set evolves. Now I just grab my sax' and my mobile phone and either play a setlist or quickly search and find tracks as I go through my books of lead sheets. If I don't have a track for a tune, a minute later I will have and will probably be playing it. For me, there's nothing else that has this sort of immediate musician's usability.

Maverick and a True Innovator for the practical musician

          Sandra -  Perth, Australia. Plays guitar. Likes folk music.

[caption id="attachment_32798" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandra Sutton[/caption] TRUE INNOVATION.  What can I say that hasn't already been said? Only perhaps that this App is a true innovator. A maverick you might say. It seems to do everything differently. It wasn't what I was expecting but now everything else I've tried seems redundant. What do you really want to do? To play with flashing lights - pretending to be hitting real drums? Or to get an MP3 file which is a professional quality backing track to a song you are playing? That, I think, is the innovation. That's what you get here. It's like a cross between the 'Music' App and a musician's backing-track service. You select the track you want and the Alive Drumming servers get you it. Then you have much more musician-friendly setlists and player than you get with the 'Music' App. Playing becomes a real joy instead of struggle. It's what all of us musicians want. We want to play our instruments and have great rhythmic backing with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's what this App delivers. A true innovation for the musician.

Drum Machines don't work end-to-end. They're not performance-ready

      Eloa - Brazil. Guitar, sings.  Loves conga, timbales, bongos and claves.  Plays and sings bossa nova, jazz samba, merengue, lambada 

[caption id="attachment_32777" align="alignleft" width="200"] Eloa Andes[/caption] LOVE THIS APP!!   Never seen anything like it. Drum machines don't cut it, even ones with some good sounding rhythms. Nothing else works well end-to-end in providing rhythmic backing tracks to your song list. The closest thing I've seen to this App are those apps that have the full sheet music, backing tracks and are song based. You buy the sheet-music and backing music for a song. They are OK, a bit expensive and don't always have your song, or the arrangement of your song, that you'd like to use. They can be a bit clunky as well and the rhythms tend not to be very good by themselves. This App is so much better for me because (i) the rhythms are fantastic, (ii) it doesn't matter if they don't have your song, you can arrange it yourself, simply, and (iii) the tracks start cheap and get cheaper the more you use the App. How come? I've found I often use the same rhythms and song forms. When I select exactly the same combination for a new song the App recognises it has that already and doesn't download it again. It's a different track name in the App with a different title but the App must know it can use the same audio file. Smart. It is also performance-ready as far as the setlists and player go.  So I just use this one App and it's fast and reliable for me during a performance. Totally love this app.

A unique arranger provides a lot of rhythmic support for little cost

      Hilly - Tokyo for now. Plays guitar and piano and sings. Likes latin and classic rock and pop

[caption id="attachment_32783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hilly Edding[/caption] HUNDREDS OF GREAT RHYTHMS.  I find this app pretty unique in its approach to arranging. It's not the most comprehensive arranger available but it's unique in its simplicity. It really does allow for some pretty easy ways to arrange a track from simply matching on the track title to selecting a well-known song form. You can even enter song forms using "stick notation" (see their website or the inbuilt help screens). You then get an arrangement based on the sectional structure of the song with options for intros and endings as well. This works surprisingly well providing a track that really outlines the sections of the song including bridges and middle choruses as well. That's a lot of rhythm support for very little effort and cost. They sound very good as well. For a lot of tunes, that's all you need but for some tunes, you might also want drum breaks or different styles of drumming throughout the song. That's not what Song Rhythm Tracks does - not yet anyway. I've heard they are working on introducing breaks right now (now delivered in release 3.0). Still, there's never been a simpler or faster drum rhythm arranger as this and the player and setlists make it more usable than anything else. I love the hundreds of great rhythms.

Professional quality results, a simple approach with portable convenience

      Ron - LA, USA.  Plays guitar, mouth organ, piano and drums. Likes country, rock, jazz and blues

[caption id="attachment_32811" align="alignleft" width="293"] Ron Upton[/caption] PROFESSIONAL AND USABLE.  This App is incredible. I totally underestimated how good it is. The quality of the backing tracks is truly professional - professional, talented drumming, professional audio, professional arrangements. Coupled with that, I've never had an app like this before where its works so well keeping all the tracks in a table and being able to organise them into playlists. You can even play the entire list of tracks with one key press. Incredible. I still can't get over that there isn't anything else left to do. It just works great! There are 4 included "factory" tracks that are OK. The Jazz and Blues Sampler app has 23 decent tunes included. These are good to evaluate the app but the real power comes from using it to arrange your own songs/tracks. There's nothing simpler than this. You won't believe it. I've created some of my own arrangements with 10+ choruses which is how our group plays. I carry it around with me on my iPhone and have it on an old iPad as well, which is good for our jamming. Still works on the old iPad. No problem with speed. Just start with the [ Jazz and Blues Sampler ] app and then add any tracks you want later. There are 1000s of rhythms to choose from - good ones too. There is nothing else out there anything like this App - it's nothing like the silly MIDI *dumb* machines. It's real quality, professional, and usable. Recommended.

An understated wonder is a wolf in sheep's clothing with ultimate usability

      Wendy - Florence, Italy.  Plays guitar, and clarinet.  Likes classical music and classic popular, folk, latin, jazz and blues, particularly on the clarinet!

[caption id="attachment_32805" align="alignleft" width="201"] Wendy Nonereally[/caption] WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.  My experience is similar to the other poster. This App, at first glance, seems bland and uninspiring, but its a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's the very essence of UNDERSTATEMENT - like Braun or B&O. No flashing lights. No gimmicks. Just GREAT DESIGN and a TOTAL RETHINK as regards USABILITY. The backing tracks are the best imaginable and ready in no time at all. They really do sound like a drummer is playing the ACTUAL SONG. I don't know how they achieve that without knowing everything about the song. It's uncanny.

I have tried other music generation programs for getting backing tracks, with very limited success. I always give up with them at the end because they take up so much of your time and don't sound that inspirational anyway. It's not like that with these Song Rhythm Tracks. 30 secs tops and they sound just great. No duds. The organisation and playing of tracks aren't mentioned much but it's brilliant and so understated. You don't need to use another player. The inbuilt player is a 'musicians' player - big buttons, quality speed variation which persists to your next play. Here's another big thing that isn't mentioned very much. You always can see the arrangement on the screen, so you know what you will be playing along to. And it's in musician's language which is just what you want. Great. Most of my tracks I haven't had to arrange as I've found one using the inbuilt search feature. I've arranged a couple though and it was so easy. There really isn't anything else like this. Super simply arranging. Great sound. Total Understatement. I just love it - even on my iPod Touch! I play a lot of Latin Rhythms and they have them all. And they sound so authentic. I totally recommend this App to people who care about music and sound and aren't looking for a flashing-lights-toy, but rather something that will satisfy for the rest of your life. Real Quality is so rare, but this is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A musician's arranger that talks your language

      Ele' - Melbourne, Australia.  Plays piano.  Like jazz, blues and latin. 

[caption id="attachment_32792" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ele' P[/caption] A MUSICIAN'S ARRANGER - That's what I call this App. Why? Because the problem with everything else I've seen is that we musician's use one language when we speak of our arrangements and the App always speaks another language. When you sit down with your buddy musos and someone calls a tune, what do you say? You might say let's play this or that tune, and if you've all played it together before everyone will know how it is arranged. But if it is not a tune you've all played together before, what then? I expect the leader will call the tempo to be used - medium fast say and perhaps the feel also - Bossa or Reggae or whatever and whether there'll be an intro or you go straight in from the top. You might agree on the number of choruses then as well and perhaps the order of solos as well. Well, its that's sort of language you want from your backing tracks as well. You want to know if there's an intro and if so how long it is. You want to know the number of choruses, so you decide on the solos etc. and you'll want to know about the tempo and the rhythmic style. That's the sort of information you get with this App and it's how you 'arrange' your tracks as well - in musician's language - not in flashing lights and weird controls - just plain English musician's arrangement language. As you scroll through the list of tracks, each track has its arrangement spelt out like that, for example - 8-bars intro, 6 choruses of 16-bar tune with a 4-bar ending using this rhythm at that tempo. That makes sense to me and other musicians and is the sort of language that would be used between us as we play together. That's why I call this App a 'musicians' arranger.

Song Rhythm Tracks

[caption id="attachment_29898" align="alignleft" width="502"] Song Rhythm Tracks[/caption] Song Rhythm Tracks are a new type of backing track composed entirely of rhythmic backing (no melody or harmony) arranged to the musical form of the song — it’s “songform”. These tracks are complete performances like one gets from a professional drummer. They have a count-in, introduction section, choruses and characteristic endings, framed by fills showing where sections start and end. Even musical bridges and middle choruses have higher intensity where appropriate to the style.  Things are kept simple by doing away with the traditional arranger’s interface. One can select a track in under 30 seconds - under 15 seconds once one gets the hang of it. The App’s player has tempo adjustment and a facility to sequence the tracks for your gig or jam session. It is for musicians of all abilities. New musicians use the App to provide an accompaniment to songs. They get a rhythm that is sympathetic so they learn to keep time, get into the groove and internalise the song’s musical structure – All this while enjoying engaging and inspiring rhythms. Gigging musicians catalogue their backing into setlists and use it to guide performance. Having quality rhythmic backing, with a setlist facility and a musician’s player, all in the one App is so convenient one finds oneself using this rhythmic backing more and more. Song Rhythm Tracks are truly high-quality rhythmic backing that is convenient to select and play. You are not going to get tired of these backing tracks. You are not going to have to sequence anything. You will find that the player and setlist’s user-interface encourages continued use.  You will get to appreciate the form of your songs more and you might include these tracks into your own single and album releases. Don’t be put off by experiences with other mobile drumming Apps. Song Rhythm Tracks are something different. Whether you are learning a new tune, jamming, gigging or cutting your latest album, this Song Rhythm Tracks provides a solution. Check out samples of the audio at Alive Drumming’s Samples page Check out these articles from Alive Drumming that give further insights into the thinking behind the product, “How to practice, then how to jam” “When to work on your rhythm?” “Why songform with rhythm tracks?” Download the Song Rhythm Tracks App on the Apple App Store Try Alive Drumming’s sampler apps to sample previously arranged tracks of popular tunes. It is then easy to use the app to adjust these to your practice and performance requirements. All the sampler apps are the same Song Rhythm Tracks app but with the included sample tracks.

Jazz and Blues Sampler

Afro-Cuban Sampler

Country Music Sampler