I haven’t heard anything on how the strum patterns are coming along. Not trying to rush you just curious and anxious.
Keep up the good work, it is very much appreciated…
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I can assure you that nobody’s more anxious than me to get these new strumming styles released! 
I posted a few updates over the past month in the Strumming patterns: am I missing any? thread, starting with this March 14 post and video clip, in case you haven’t seen them.
Things are really starting to come together now, and I’m able to start thinking about a first beta release… I’m guessing sometime in May? Obviously I will be posting about it when it happens!
My biggest challenge at the moment is actually figuring out how to organize the user interface around all the new stuff. We’re going from one strumming patterns to dozens (hundreds?) of combinations, and I’m trying to thread the needle of making something super-simple that works in most situations, along with an “Advanced Mode” for folks who want to fine tune things. I may be posting more about this soon.
Thanks for your patience and for staying tuned!
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Thank you for taking the time to answer me, I had seen the updates and video, just was wondering when they would be availabe. May will be here before you know it. Really looking forward to them.
Thank again.
John Eidson
Hey Luke, I have a background in tech. I built tones of prototypes for Microsoft and Apple over two decades. Rather than building a interface directly with your code base, I’d suggest you just create a shell app for testing just the UI so you can see how it feels. Bulding simple prototypes for UI without the actual app overhead lets you quickly try out different things without break you app code base. Prototypes are throw away, but they let you trying out a bunch of different approaches quickly. You can add in the ability to play some simple sound files to make it feel more real.
Thanks for your input, @RobertBiggs. I am indeed approaching UI development from a lot of different angles: pen-and-paper sketches, mockups in Figma, low-polish UI code, etc., and definitely find that approach helpful… although the work around the challenge I was speaking of is mostly taking place in text/notes/outlines, because it’s more about the conceptual framework than the nuts and bolts. (The nuts and bolts are, in a way, the easy part!)
The actual strumming-related code under the hood is in really good shape, I’m happy to say. There are some clear steps I need to take to make it sound more real, but I will probably save that for the second beta release.
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Hi Luke,
Like @RobertBiggs I have decades of experience in tech, especially developing web apps - how come we’re all here? 
Anyway, if you like some betatesting done, probably mainly the UX side of things, I’m available on iPad and in browser(s). Once something is workable, you could come up with a list of more ore less complicated actions for people to perform, see if there are any stumbleblocks, and maybe agree on some sort of response protocol?
Happily looking forward to see the results of all your hard work on this app (that is already so very useful as it is) Thanks!
What I really seem to need right now is some help coming up with the UX design. I’m having trouble coming up with even a rough interface that’s pleasing enough to put out there.
Would either of you (or anyone else reading this) like to hop on a call and kick around some ideas for how to design this feature? I’d be happy to pay you for your time. Write me at support @ strum machine dot com.
For the beta testing, mostly it’ll just be a matter of using the feature in the course of your practicing and letting me know if there are any problems or room for improvement.
Sure, I have a long history working on UI at Microsoft and Apple. Designed and built a ton of things for them. I’m busy Wednesday and Thursday, how about Friday? I’m in Nevada, so Pacific Standard Time here.
Friday is great! I’ll write you directly to arrange the details.
(Offer’s still open to any other designers out there! What’s that saying… the more cooks in the kitchen, the better?)
I’m more than willing to help. I’m not a visual designer as such so I would happily leave the final html/css stuff to my betters. But l can definitely pitch in on the usability structure of things.
Although I’m based in Europe, that hasn’t been a problem before, so just let me know…
Locking this thread to consolidate discussion over to the first preview release of the new strumming patterns announcement post. 