I decided to mix things up and record an update video, where I fill you in on what’s been happening “behind the scenes” and what I’m excited about with Strum Machine’s development these days!
Click to expand the bullet points
The new strumming patterns are very exciting, but I am going to have to wait until mid-October to start recording them in earnest. I also share a bit about my previous (failed) attempts, and why this time things are different.
I’ve been doing a major “refactoring” (cleanup, reorganization, and general improvement) of the Strum Machine code base these past two months – over 700 changed files, nearly 20,000 lines of code updated – which is making possible the next batch of new features.
The first of those new features, medleys, will be ready for beta testing soon! (Along with one or two more fun new features, most likely.)
The next beta version is a big update, so I’m counting on your feedback to make sure we get all the bugs ironed out. Stay tuned for that announcement in the next couple of weeks.
Recording for the new strumming patterns will begin in mid-October. I might have something ready to play with before the holidays, but January/February 2022 is equally likely. We’ll see.
You all are the best and I’m so delighted I get to work on making software for you!
Side note: I’d be curious to know how you like the video update – is it more enjoyable to watch/listen than to read, or would you rather I’d just written a post as usual?
Hi Luke, I love the video. Good to see the person behind the work and feel the exitement. Since I learned about strummmachine a few weeks ago almost all of my students use it and are happy with it! Thanks from Berlin/Germany - Peter
Yes! I enjoyed the video. It was much better than reading a post. By the way, the Strum Machine has been a huge help in learning new tunes and helping improve my picking ability. I use it almost every day.
Thank you for making it possible.
I loved your video. I am a ukulele player and songwriter. I use Strum Machine to help me keep time as ukuleles are notorious for speeding up as you go along! I also use it as an accompaniment to songs I am writing using the guitar and bass, since ukuleles are missing the bass sounds…I am really looking forward to the strum styles becoming a feature. Thanks for all you are doing to make this great app even better!
In Australia (south of Sydney) I’ve been in COVID lock-down for 3 months now so being able to play an instrument seems like an essential activity. I think the video announcements are great. I also think Strum Machine is excellent. I subscribe to Banjo Ben Clark for new material and techniques but when practicing I always fall back on Strum Machine with its ability to change keys (with the capo feature - excellent!) and tempo simply and quickly. Looking forward to the Medley feature. Keep up the good work.
I like the video update. It’s a much more efficient and clear way to communicate than trying to explain all that in writing. Excited to see what’s coming next!
I think you’re doing a great job. I was just about to go through the laborious process of making my own backing tracks when I discovered Strum Machine. I could see the person who put together the songs knows the repertoire–and then some. Also, very easy to make my own tracks. I look forward to the updates. It’s obvious a lot of thought goes into this to deliver a quality product so I thank you for providing a great service for musicians. You’re doing a good thing, Keep at it. It’s much appreciated.
Love strum machine. I use it every day on JamKazam. I add a lot of my songs. It would be nice if the songs I and others have added would show up for the general strum machine users at large. The song inventory would grow larger and faster if they were included. Can’t wait to see the new features you are
working on.
With just a few hours left in September, I was able to finish and deploy the new beta version at beta.strummachine.com! I’ll make another post tomorrow with more details, but if you see this, feel free to go there right now and play around with the new medley and playlist features.
No help docs for them yet, but you can make a medley by going to the first song you want in your medley, then clicking Medley in the right-side menu. And if you open a song through a list you’ll see some new list-related options at the top of the screen. I won’t say more than that because I’d like to hear your first impressions of how intuitive things are.
Also, thank you everyone for your feedback about the video. It was fun to make so I’m glad to hear all the positive feedback. I’ll be posting more video updates in the future, it sounds like!
(George: expanding the song library is going to be my focus for 2022.)
