New (2011) Feature: Player

[massimobio]

Piano, Bass and Drums play-along accompaniments for all the iReal Book songs and properly formatted user songs. (available in iReal Book 3.0 for iOS)

The basic version of the Player that comes included in iReal Book 3.0 for iOS has one style available: Medium Swing.

You can purchase additional styles packs In-App.

The first one available is the Jazz Styles Pack:
10 Jazz styles for the iReal Book Player: Ballad Swing, Ballad Even, Slow Swing, Medium Swing, Medium Up Swing, Up Tempo Swing, Bossa Nova, Even 8th's, Latin, Afro 12/8.

More Styles Packs will be available in the future.

For help and more detailed information visit www.irealbook.net

 

[Bebop24]

This is an excellent new feature . Can we have a Waltz 3/4/ ?

 

[thesoundsmith]

Amazing, completely unexpected, and completely awesome! The drummer reminds me a bit too much of some overly-busy dudes I've worked with in the past, but I just want the bass line, with a bit of drum background, and you just added several hundred songs to my piano single-with-iPod-backing-tracks repertoire.

As more styles are added, please consider some faster way to select a style than click-for-next. Some of us like to change up ways of playing standards - a hip-hop Green Dolphin Hood, or fast samba Miss Jones, and a fast selector would facilitate that.

Also, perhaps a last-four or last-8 option for intro (and same for tag ending?) I'm NOT complaining, just looking to what could add value without too much work. Congratulations on a great update!

 

[dflat]

...Can we have a Waltz 3/4/ ?

There is waltz in the jazz style. Tap on Styles and select Waltz to find some to try out. (Or did you mean something else?)

 

[dflat]

Amazing, completely unexpected, and completely awesome!

thanks for the feedback. Have fun!

The drummer reminds me a bit too much of some overly-busy dudes

Different styles of the jazz pack have different amounts of sparseness or intensity, so you could find one that is best comping out of all the choices and use tempo to move it to the appropriate speed you need to practice with.

As more styles are added, please consider some faster way to select a style than click-for-next. Some of us like to change up ways of playing standards - a hip-hop Green Dolphin Hood, or fast samba Miss Jones, and a fast selector would facilitate that.

Yes we will be revising things as more styles get added.
You might find it useful to make a copy of the song and store a different style with that song, then make a practice Playlist with them all in.

Also, perhaps a last-four or last-8 option for intro (and same for tag ending?) ...

It would have taken more time to develop an intro play as you suggest and we wanted to get this out as soon as we could so you could have fun with it. For now, you can make a copy of the song (see above) and add in your intros and endings as you need to just for practice.

 

[bassrad]

Great, I am very happy with the player, great job guys.

One question, Is there a way to save the tempo to each song (I might be doing something wrong) or I have to change the tempo every time I change the song from 100 to desired.

Thanks and keep the good work.

R.

 

[dflat]

Is there a way to save the tempo to each song (I might be doing something wrong) or I have to change the tempo every time I change the song from 100 to desired

No tempo store at the moment, other than changing to a different similar style which has a nearer tempo. We may implement this in the future though (requires integrating with the editors etc.)

Thanks for feedback.

 

[MrBassist]

Great New Feature!

Just a little nitpick: I do notice that the red measure indicator as the song plays is a bit behind the beat. On fast tunes, it's a full beat behind. Maybe this is something to do with the slower processor on my 3G, or maybe this could be adjusted in a future version?

Thanks!

 

[dflat]

... I do notice that the red measure indicator as the song plays is a bit behind the beat. On fast tunes, it's a full beat behind. Maybe this is something to do with the slower processor on my 3G, or maybe this could be adjusted in a future version?

yes we are finding older devices are slower to respond. Will see what we can do. Thanks for your observation.

 

[Peskatore]

The player feature is a game changer. Loving it! No need for Band In A Box or my laptop. You've made a huge contribution to the world of musicians. Thank you! When should we expect the next groups of styles? What will be included?

 

[dflat]

... When should we expect the next groups of styles? What will be included?

We have already have some we are working on, but they take a while to prepare ... sampling audio, testing etc. This pack covers jazz, so we are looking at a few other common styles but we do not know exactly what will be coming out next yet. Thanks for your enthusiasm!

 

[Ja33ymart]

Congratulations on a fantastic new feature.
I very much like it's simplicity.
Over the years band in a box -brilliant though it is - has become over-complex.
This new player already has all the basic functionality that I need for practice.
New styles Will certainly be welcome, and possibly instrument choices for the accompaniment in future - such as Fender Rhodes or fretless bass, jazz guitar and so on.
A truly excellent upgrade. Thanks to all your team.

 

[dflat]

...and possibly instrument choices for the accompaniment in future - such as Fender Rhodes or fretless bass, jazz guitar and so on.
A truly excellent upgrade. Thanks to all your team.

Other instrument sounds are planned but take time to produce and refine for our purposes, but they will happen eventually in the future styles and overall player development. Thanks for your comments.

 

[atlodit]

complimenti! :y: questo è uno sviluppo fantastico per un'applicazione già eccezionale

è incredibile anche il fatto che ciò che qualche tempo fa richiedeva un pc o montagne di cd adesso è racchiuso in un telefono cellulare

complimenti ancora

translation: FANTASTIC!!

 

[thesoundsmith]

There is waltz in the jazz style. Tap on Styles and select Waltz to find some to try out. (Or did you mean something else?)

Sorry, dflat - there is no waltz:
1-Ballad Swing
2-Ballad Even
3-Slow Swing
4-Medium Swing
5-Medium Up Swing
6-Up Tempo Swing
7-Bossa Nova
8-Even Eights
9-Latin
10-Afro 12/8

If I tap Jazz, I just get a message saying more packs are coming.

Still not at all complaining, just clarifying. I am having great fun on the gig with this playback.

Which reminds me, one more simple request to add to the request for future update list (and I would be VERY happy to pay for the option) - if the piano part could be selected to play on guitar (just a different sample set, no need to recompute the part) it could be used along with a real piano. Again, just a thought for the future, there are more things on your plate right now (sambas and other traditional Latin rhythms pack? waltzes? Straight-ahead pop options? I dunno, a lot of the modern tunes will sound strange with a generic bass line (try Birdland with the Even Eighths rhythm - hilarious, but that is not a blame or complaint, just a stupid user trick.) But this is such a marvelous addition it's easy to get carried away with ideas (hey, that's what we do - improvise and change it around...) I feel like I went out and bought a used but great condition Ford, paid my money and the salesman delivered a new Porsche with a note saying "free upgrade..."

Thanks again for your energies, it's a great joy to use this product.

 

[dflat]

?... Can we have a Waltz 3/4/ ?

Sorry, dflat - there is no waltz:
....

Which reminds me, one more simple request to add to the request for future update list (and I would be VERY happy to pay for the option) - if the piano part could be selected to play on guitar (just a different sample set, no need to recompute the part) it could be used along with a real piano.
Thanks again for your energies, it's a great joy to use this product.

Sorry, clarification:
The waltz is a song in 3/4...at the moment we only have the jazz pack - making it a jazz waltz feel.
Under the Styles (not in the player window) but in the general menu where there is the Song index, Playlists, Composers...there is one called Styles. It lists the different style feels, one of which is waltz, meaning 3/4 songs.

We may very well add guitar as a choice of instruments in the future. This is just the beginning of our Player development. Thank you for your comments and ideas.
Glad you are enjoying iReal book.

 

[RobertM]

Great App!

I was getting ready to leave for a gig tonight when the bass player called in sick. I was getting the cables organized to hook up my laptop and figured I would just use Band-in-a-Box when I remembered the iRealBook app on my iPhone. I downloaded the "Styles Pack" and plugged the iPhone into the PA, turned off the drums and piano and just finished our first set with an "iBass" player.

This is a fantastic app and has tons of potential.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[dflat]

...downloaded the "Styles Pack" and plugged the iPhone into the PA, turned off the drums and piano and just finished our first set with an "iBass" player.

Hi Robert, thanks for your enthusiasm and report. Good to get feedback.

One thing we are aware of using it in a live situation through a PA is when you transpose in Song view. You might normally hear the clicks as the picker (tumbler) moves through the keys as you are selecting the key to transpose to.

In the Settings of the iOS device itself (not iReal book's settings) you will need to turn OFF keyboard clicks to prevent this from happening.
iOS device>Settings>General>Sounds>Keyboard clicks.

 

[thesoundsmith]

You might normally hear the clicks as the picker (tumbler) moves through the keys as you are selecting the key to transpose to.

In the Settings of the iOS device itself (not iReal book's settings) you will need to turn OFF keyboard clicks to prevent this from happening.

Thanks for that tip. You might want to consider creating a 'sticky' with tips about the usage - both yours and the users. This ia a powerful new feature and there are a lot of ways to use it, especially if we start re-editing files to make them fit our charts.

 

[RobertM]

One thing we are aware of using it in a live situation through a PA is when you transpose in Song view. You might normally hear the clicks as the picker (tumbler) moves through the keys as you are selecting the key to transpose to.

Dflat,

It wasn't the clicks that I heard, as I didn't need to use the transpose feature, but it was a bit embarrassing when the phone rang.

This is truly an amazing app. I've been playing semi-professionally for about 25 years and never really bothered to memorize tunes. I would just drag the Fake Books with me to every gig and then more and more books over the years. Then, when someone sat in, like a vocalist or another instrumentalist and needed to play the tune in a different key, I would literally take a pencil and change the chords to the key they needed...to the point that each chord in my current Fake Books has two or three small pencil changes written next to each original chord...quite a mess. I can go up a step or two without any notations, but anything past a third and I need to write it down.

I played a gig last night and a singer sat in and needed "At Last" in a different key, I simply transposed it via the app and life was great.

Aside from all the wonderful features and the potential for future upgrades, the one thing this app has really changed my mind about is purchasing an iPad. I've been holding off, but I think I'm gonna go ahead and get one in time for my Xmas gigs.

Great app and keep up the great work!

Robert