Does this exist? Rhythm & Bass backing device/software

  • Thread starter Thread starter Donnie B.
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Donnie B.

Donnie B.

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Want to be able to choose a drum backing and then have a choice of different bass guitar accompaniment
where the root key is selectable.

Drum kits and Bass tones can be chosen and then all the usual's like tempo, swing, room ambience, etc.

This can all be done with loops but is there a database style program where the process is more like
just choosing a few variables off a menu and then hit play for a continuous backing?
 
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Toontracks ez bass and superior or ezdrummer can do all of this, and the main reason they exist. If you take the time to learn it, it works amazingly well. Lots of records have midi bass on them and would never even know. You can also play something into ez bass, and have it make parts for you etc, it’s pretty great.
 
Recently saw a Nolly video of a bass guitar program I would buy for sure. He showed how it worked and sounded with both simple and complicated rhythms. It tracks off the guitar patterns you lay down. I dug it bigtime.
 
Yea it’s a good one for sure. Make sure if you do it this way you use a clean DI signal, it works much better in my experience doing it this way than running a distorted guitar tone into it for analysis.
 
Embarrassed to say this but these are still more work than I'd like to invest.

I love the Alesis SR18 but that's OLD old old tech. You can't change the key
of each preset or switch out drum kits or the bass tones.
And there's only a simple A and B section for each preset.

Something has got to have expanded on the basic concept of a box that's
easy to jam along with without having to sit in front of a PC (tablets are cool)
or use an interface.

SR18_AngleRight_Web.png


This came out in what, 95-ish? And it's still selling in all the usual places.
I can't believe none of the big E-drum companies haven't imagined what
Alesis would have out today if they were still in business.
 
Devin said:
Never used one but maybe one of these would fit the bill?

I personally use Maschine Mk3 for this type of stuff but I'm assuming that's probably overkill for you
Click to expand...

The Digitech unit is actually pretty cool. Not wildly versatile but an excellent tool for
practicing or writing.

The Maschine unit seems cool but the pad lighting scheme screams disco beat box.

I'm going to assume you can get some heavy shit out of it? Gonna check out some YT vids.
Thanks for the tip.
 
Maschine is, among MANY things, a sampler and/or MIDI controller so you can use it with pretty much any sounds you can think of (or create your own) like triggering Superior Drummer 3 for example

I consider it a "hardware DAW"


It is a daunting system to learn at first but once you start to get the hang of it....total game changer (for me anyway).
 
Devin said:
It is a daunting system to learn
Click to expand...

Downloaded the manual and it's over 900 pages.
And the entire thing is the English version only.

Ran away crying like a little girl.
I'm too old for that shit! :oops:

VERY cool machine though.
 
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This does exactly what you’re looking for but it’s software...

Band-in-a-Box® is so easy to use! Just type in the chords for any song using standard chord symbols (like C, Fm7, or C13b9), choose the style you'd like, and Band-in-a-Box® does the rest... Band-in-a-Box®automatically generates a complete professional-quality arrangement of piano, bass, drums, guitar, and strings or horns.

https://www.pgmusic.com/
 
@Webb

I'd given that a spin last year. Again, very cool program but I think along with
some memory loss due to age I'm getting dyslexic too. sometimes I have to read
stuff multiple times before I can get it - especially anything with directions!

That's why a simple thing like the SR18 is cool. Choose a preset and jam away.

Thing's so limited with old tech though it can get repetitive boring fast.
 
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Gararageband and Logic drummer with EZ Bass by toontrack gets shit going pretty quickly.
 
I’d echo what everyone else is saying as far the Toon Track products go.
Not my favorite drum sounds, but they aren’t bad by any means….just not for me

If you are looking to do covers, you could also look at downloading a tab and actually using the midi with those programs to create a a great sounding backing track as well . I “borrow” drum grooves or fill from songs I like often this way. I just download them from songster and import the midi into my daw
 
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