Jazz300 - ultimate play along 4+

Disappointing, sorry.

Admittedly, this app will be more useful when specific instruments can be removed, but there are several apps in IOS that create much more interesting backing tracks. To say these tracks are bland is an understatement. What makes the Session Band apps so great is the ability to create musical ideas, and then superimpose those ideas across a variety of feels- including writing out standards with chord substitutes , muting different instruments and control over drum tracks and fills. The newer “soul Jazz Funk” apps are amazing. In fact, I’ve purchased every single Session band app this company has put out over many years. My assumption (based on a quick read through) was these fine musicians were now creating entire professional backing tracks, when, in fact, they’re the same loops used in the Session Band apps- resulting in repetitive and boring comps to a relatively small amount of tunes compared to iReal and MTHP. The 99 cents surcharge Per Song to then export these bland tracks in WAV form to a DAW is rather cheeky as well. I respect this company, and I’ve supported them for years, but I wish I hadn’t spent the 15 bucks on this one.

Love it…few issues so far.

Long time SessionBand customer that loves having jazz standards included in this app. Is there any way to make a playlist and rename the songs? Looks like you can’t change the chords in this version or create your own. Wish there was a way of transferring a project made in a Session band app to this one. Otherwise, great job! Love it!

Developer Response ,

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.

Whaaat!!!!! :)

Okay…as a long time SessionBand user I was going to try to nit pick at the loss of the endless song-level repeat feature and loss of the old of built-in mixer and lack of melody charts…until I actually tried using the included new-fangled section-level repeat feature live. All nit picks were suddenly stripped away, followed by a WHAATT!? This 404A type of instant off-the-cuff jamming is SOOOO modern and DJ like that it makes this my new solo-gig go-to app for just jamming out or for serious at home chord progression woodshedding galore! Thanks for providing a 21st century vision for jazzers that are also aware of uses for the loopers and 404A type devices.