It’s always interesting to find different ways to practice. This new app Quartet looks promising. It’s a bit like iReal Pro but with accompaniment that’s real music, no midi instruments to be found. And it’s highly configurable: you can play every selection in any key and at any tempo. You can also choose from eight different band settings that allow you to either accompany or solo.
One feature I like is that you can export songs either as stereo (m4a) or multitrack. (Multitrack costs $.99 per tune; stereo is free.) The multitrack is set up in .wav files for Garage Band. If you use Logic or any other DAW, you can convert the .wav files to midi and use them however you wish to create your own music. And all is royalty and copyright free.
At any rate, you can watch this video to get an idea of how it works. After that is a link to the app’s home page. Enjoy!
I just downloaded the “Volume 1” song pack for $14.99 and the quality of the backing tracks is awesome. A good mixture of tunes and styles too:
As you say, lots of customisable options for the instruments. It’s great to be able to toggle the lead instrument in and out, for more realistic comping practice.
I’ve pinned this topic to our software and setup category.
It does sound great, eh? I bought the bundle of four, and it’s $38 and change.
If you want to get the bundle of the four volumes on your Mac (Apple, not Intel chips) purchase it on the iPad or iPhone. Apple wouldn’t allow the bundle on the Mac App Store. Once you’ve loaded them onto your iDevice, they’ll be ready to download on the Mac.
At any rate, practicing just got a whole lot more fun.
I agree - great app. You may also find interesting the podcast Quartet, where Geoff Gascoyne (from what i understand, the creative force behind the app and the bass player on the tunes) interviews British jazz players. I have found the interviews to be intimate, funny, moving, and instructive.
