Tips Please For Playing Backing Tracks

[Roger...]

Hi Everyone,

When playing backing tracks to play along to, what is the preferred method?

I either play them into my amplifier (it has an input to do so) via an mp3 player, or via a laptop.

The only problem is:- As soon as I initiate the backing track, within a couple of seconds, it starts giving me little time to get ready with my guitar.

What system is generally used by others, so as you can insert some sort of time before the backing track starts after initalising it?

Best regards
Roger

[spikestevens]

Not entirely sure I understand your question, Roger. Do you mean when you play a backing track you're not given a count-in in order to start precisely when the track starts? You know, like a metronome tick-tock thing so that you know when to come in?

Apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick, mate.

[Roger...]

Hi spikestevens,

Thanks for the reply. The backing tracks when purchased, do indeed have a lead-in as you say, but some seem a little short if your equipment is a few feet from you guitar playing position, or hypothetically if you were to stand in front of an audience. To give you time to get comfortable it would be nice to give the entry of the backing track a few extra seconds or have an external means of starting the track. I don't know if I have explained it very well, but I think it comes close.

Best regards
Roger

[spikestevens]

Yep, I get you. Something like a foot pedal so that you can activate playback when you're ready?

I do mostly my own backing tracks so I put the count-in myself, usually a couple of bars.

I'm using Cubase 5 and when I load a file (midi or audio) made by someone else Cubase works out the exact tempo for me which enables me to put a long enough count-in myself.

I have to get it right because I'm gigging all the time and I usually stand a fair distance away from my MiniDisc player.

[5tratocaster]

I'm very pleased with a gift I got for Christmas.
It is a Nux Live Mate LM3 pedal. It stores a good number of backing tracks in MP3 format (I don't know how many - so far loaded 26 and it hasn't complained. I reckon capacity could be double that). Downloads through USB cable from computer.
It has two stereo 1/4" jack socket outputs on the left hand side. One for MP3 sound only, the other a mix of MP3 sound and instrument fed in via jack sockets on the right hand side and mixed by two volume controls on the rear.
Bright clear LED display shows the number of the track which is cued up. One stomp on the pedal starts the track, another stomp stops it and a double stomp moves it forward to the next track.
I fancy the sound isn't as quite as good as CD or iPod, but perfectly adequate for the purpose and I am still experimenting with it. Even has amplifier cabinet simulation built it.
If others are interested, I could give a fuller review in time, with photos, but these units can be found on the well known auction site if you want a quick look.
Geoff

[Roger...]

Hi Geoff,

Many thanks for the reply, I'll have a look at it.

Best regards
Roger

[TonyL]

Hi Roger

Assuming you have a PC, download Audacity (free) and make copies of the tunes you want to lengthen. Load the tunes into Audacity and you can insert 'Silence' of any length to the front of each tune and save it back to your PC.

[Chas]

Hi Roger,
On the odd occassions I play to backing tracks, I use a mini disc player. When recording the tracks onto the mini disc, I just press record a few seconds before pressing play on the cd player (or other source) thereby giving a longer time for me to get ready before the count in.
Chas.

[Chas]

I forgot to add that if playing at home I run the backing through my Hi-Fi (nicer sound than running through a guitar amp), and if I'm playing out I run the backing through a pa.
Chas.

[Roger...]

Hi Tony and Chas,

Many thanks for the tips.

Chas,
That's a good idea of yours. Unfortunately I do not have a mini-disc player and have to rely on an iPod or laptop.

Tony,
I do have 'Audacity' and was messing around with it yesterday. Your idea of re-recording the track with an extra silence of whatever seconds you want on the front end, fits the bill.

Thanks again.

Best regards
Roger

[timryland]

Roger,

I found exactly the same problem. I overcame this by putting all my Backing Tracks onto my laptop. As I'm in IT, I then wrote a program in Visual Basic/Access which allows me to select the required track. Once selected, the program displays which Echo/Amp patch to use.

I have a footswitch which connects through the USB connection into the laptop so i can start/stop the track, and scroll through the track list.

I am currently looking at making the program now send the relevant patches to my Zoom RFX2000 and V-Amp2 via midi, so it's all automated.

This probably doesn't help you, but it does show that there is probably a niche market for such a product.

Hope you found it interesting.

Tim.

[Roger...]

Hi Tim,

I am very interested in your reply. I have been retired two years now, but my career was in the design and manufacture of computerised test equipment for the motor trade. I used to write the software in 'C', 'C++', and VisBas. Obviously now I'm no longer an employee, I have no compilers on my computer but I do believe there are some freebies out there on the web (either 'C' or VisBas).

I am also interested in how you operate a foot switch through a USB port?

Best regards
Roger

[bill]

Hi Roger,
There are indeed many free compilers available.

For Basic there is www.freebasic.net/
For C there is clc-wiki.net/wiki/C_resources:Compilers
There are also Assemblers, Fortran, Pascal.
This wiki may be of interest - gcc.gnu.org/wiki/HomePage
Surprisingly there's even Visual Studio Express from Microsoft - msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/express/default.aspx

I haven't used the C ones myself.

[Roger...]

Hi Bill,

Many thanks. I'll have a look at them to see if I can find one suitable for Windows 7.

Best regards
Roger

[timryland]

Hi Roger,

Bill's reply is absolutely correct, you can download and install Microsofts Visual Basic 2008 for free.

I am currently doing my development on a Windows XP laptop running Visual Basic 5. This is mainly becuase this laptop is dedicated to my music, and only has on it the minimum software required.

The footswitch is the one that came with my Behringer V-Amp2. There are 2 switches and a TSR jackplug connection. I bought a Vellman USB interface board from Maplins to connect to my laptop. It's a bit of an overkill as it has 5 I/P, 2 analogue I/P and 8 O/P, but it does the job. I may build a custom footswitch later to allow more control.

My current project is to now get the application to talk to my V-Amp2 and Zoom RFX2000 via MIDI to automatically changes patches depending on the song. I have never used MIDI before but have got a USB to MIDI cable (Maplins again) and have trawled the internet for info.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Tim.

[Roger...]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the info. I'm interested in all that sort of thing and will look in Maplin to see what they have.

Best regards
Roger