So many thoughts!
When I say it’s pricey, I am coming from the standpoint of many of us who already own many of the individual session band apps (which will more or less already replicate most all of these tracks).
The advantage of this app is having a large collection of songs across all styles that are quickly accessible.
The standout feature is being able to loop any section and then turn off the loop in real-time continuing to an ending. This feature would be a fantastic addition to the session band apps. It’s technically possible but you have to be able to tap a tiny moving arrow to accomplish it.
I think the loop feature should be on by default as in the other apps. Also if you could save your loop points per song that would be awesome. I would say that selecting loop points is a bit tricky (at least on an iPhone). As it stands I would need to do this on the fly plus remember where I need my loop. Please let me save these or have the app keep my changes!
My main gripe is that I am getting glitches with the audio on loops...even when looping full choruses. Need to address this asap!
My other nitpick would be song selection but I understand these recordings are probably the same ones used to make the Session Band apps. Also I’d like to know ‘sounds like’ for all the songs not just the standards.
Dream 10 star update (which I’d happily pay for) if you could somehow add your own SessionBand creations to be available on this app!
All in all an exciting prospect in the evolution of backing tracks. Passionate user, excuse the insanely long review!
Disappointing!
Disappointed
Another good un!
Personally, I would have liked more rock/pop styles and fewer jazz tracks, as that's where my tastes lie, but you do get quite a few and quite a spread. So, well done again lads!
PS I'm going to reiterate my request for a Piano 2 app, with separate left and right hands! Please and pretty please!
Love it…few issues so far.
Response from developer
Thanks so much for the review...really appreciate it and glad that you are enjoying the jazz standards and the new features. Regarding Playlists, you can create multiple playlists and each Playlist can have it's own title but we had not thought that users might want to rename the songs. We will have a think about that. You do have a 'user notes' feature on every track (near bottom of main play screen). The 'user notes' are fully searchable. So - just an idea but you can add comments/notes to any track and search on those words. Regarding changing the chord sequences. No you cannot do that like you can in our sister app series SessionBand unless you export a track as multitrack which is a $0.99 in-app purchase and arrives with you as a GarageBand project where you can remix, rework or develop any way you like. In short, Jazz300 is for play along with loads of new play along features and 326 mastered play along tracks that you can speed up/slow down and key change really smoothly. SessionBand on the other hand, is for people who want to quickly create music (in specific genres) to their OWN CHORD SEQUENCES. That's the essential difference. As a play along app, Jazz300 is a lot more sophisticated but as you say, you cannot change the sequences unless you 'upgrade' a track. As publishers, we probably need to work hard to communicate to our users the difference between the two products. Thanks again for purchasing and look out for a major update coming soon for Jazz300 which will allow you to remove any of the main instruments in any of the track mixes as you can with SessionBand.
No good for pianists
Response from developer
Thanks for reviewing and thanks for also buying our SessionBand apps. Sorry you are disappointed with Jazz300...hopefully it won't be for long as the NEXT update of Jazz300 which will be available soon will have the option to remove ANY of the main instruments from each of the mixes including Piano, Drums and Bass. For the time being, you can remove piano where the piano is playing the lead solo but NOT when it's comping. Sorry. Please bear with us as the next update is a major one and will be available soon and of course is free to those who already own Jazz300.
SERIOUS CONTENT!!!
There’s a serious amount of quality content in this app and I am excited to be going through it (the search is helpful).
The chord diagrams are very slick too and should be commended.
Well done on a fantastic app.
So many great songs, I’m impressed!
Whaaat!!!!! :)
For me - disappointing
Response from developer
Thanks for reviewing Jazz300. Sorry you're not as happy with it as you are with our SessionBand apps and we are glad you rate them highly thanks. We have tried to make a distinction between our two brands Jazz300 and the SessionBand series. They are aimed at two different audiences: Jazz300 we describe as the 'ultimate play along' and SessionBand much more about 'creating your own studio quality music to the chords you choose'. Our focus with Jazz300 has been on developing features that enhance the user experience of a play along like the real-time tempo and key functions and the animated chord diagrams. With SessionBand our focus has mainly been on offering users an increasingly wider choice of chord variations for creative song writing. We will take on board your comments and look again to making a clearer distinction between the two apps and reminding folks that you cannot change the chord sequences in Jazz300 like you can in SessionBand unless you do it via the in-app purchase. Thanks again
