• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

iPad/iPhone app to jam w iTunes music?

jid

jid

Supporting Member
Sep 12, 2010
404
898
Atlanta, GA
#1
I’ve tried search as well as Google and I keep coming up empty-handed.

I like to practice along with pre-recorded music. Headphones on with one of the ears off so I can hear the bass amplifier. There must be a better way. Short of taking audio into a mixer from both iTunes and the instrument and then outputting that to headphones, is there an app or an easier way?
everything I’ve looked at so far seems complicated. GarageBand doesn’t do it. At least I can’t figure out how. I’m trying to minimize the complexity of hooking things up.

Any suggestions? I don’t need backing tracks. Just the equivalent of old school practicing along with the music.

Thanks in advance!
 
#2
Do you not currently own a practice amp? Most small amps have an AUX in so you can run the iPod right in with your bass. Just pop in some headphones and you'll be where you want. I'd wager this is how most people practice to recorded music at home, even more than sitting with an amp and a stereo. If you lack an amp, a small headphone mixer can take two inputs and put out one output.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mechanical, Joshua Pickenpaugh, Bassic_desires and 1 other person
#9
You don’t need any special app to do this. You will have to get an iRig though. That lets you plug your instrument into the iPad. Then you listen through headphones while playing your iTune and your bass simultaneously.

by the way, you can import any of your iTunes into GarageBand. Start a new song, and be in track view. Press the loop icon in the upper right, and select the music tab. Tap “Songs” view, then drag and drop the song into track view.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris204T, ERIC31, bassb66 and 2 others
#11
jid said:
I’ve tried search as well as Google and I keep coming up empty-handed.

I like to practice along with pre-recorded music. Headphones on with one of the ears off so I can hear the bass amplifier. There must be a better way. Short of taking audio into a mixer from both iTunes and the instrument and then outputting that to headphones, is there an app or an easier way?
everything I’ve looked at so far seems complicated. GarageBand doesn’t do it. At least I can’t figure out how. I’m trying to minimize the complexity of hooking things up.

Any suggestions? I don’t need backing tracks. Just the equivalent of old school practicing along with the music.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I have a discontinued Digitec bass modeling effects pedal that allows for a line in from a phone or digital recorder and be able to mix it along with your bass. You can use headphones or earbuds, and no need for an amp. Pick an amp and cab model, your favorite effects, in plug in your bass and iTunes Player, Set your mix, and have at it.

BTW, this also can be used as an audio interface for recording purposes.

I’m currently living in an apartment awaiting our house to be built, so I can practice all day/nightlong and never annoy a soul. My son scrounged this unit from a fellow Marine that was getting ready to trash it. Like they say, one man’s trash is another man’s gold.
 
#13
ive got a pair of boss waza air headphones there on the high end of the price range but they do come with an app that allows you to play your own music as well as music from you tube through it and its wireless just stick the wireless plug into your output jack on your bass and away you go but again there really expensive my main reason was i do a limited amount of festivals every year due to studio work so i tend to woodshed a lot in between everything so there great for me as i can just take a bass with me and woodshed anywhere i even brought a kala u bass just so i have something very portable so can even woodshed during the day if im out doing other stuff and get a spare half hr or so
 
  • Like
Reactions: MattZilla
#15
jid said:
I’ve tried search as well as Google and I keep coming up empty-handed.

I like to practice along with pre-recorded music. Headphones on with one of the ears off so I can hear the bass amplifier. There must be a better way. Short of taking audio into a mixer from both iTunes and the instrument and then outputting that to headphones, is there an app or an easier way?
everything I’ve looked at so far seems complicated. GarageBand doesn’t do it. At least I can’t figure out how. I’m trying to minimize the complexity of hooking things up.

Any suggestions? I don’t need backing tracks. Just the equivalent of old school practicing along with the music.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I use a focusrite scarlett solo/garage band on a MacBook with Sony MDR7506 headphones, plug in my bass and open iTunes in another tab. In settings, you just switch iTunes from internal speakers to plug in device and your good to go.
 
Last edited:
#17
I use an inexpensive app called "The Amazing Slow Downer"

I know - its a really corny name - but I didn't name it. as the name implies, it will let you adjust the tempo and also modulate the relative key so you can practice in whatever key works best for you,
IE to adjust the key of the recording to where you want to sing / play etc. Slow down the tune to help work out an intricate run.
You can create a loop of a particular nasty section you need to work on and have it repeat it until you tell it to stop.
Even lets you add in a pause between loop plays so that you have a mental breather and prepare you that its starting over.

Honestly I use it more for guitar than bass. But it works great. I think its like $5. on the Apple App store.

transfer the song onto your iPhone, import the song into the app and you're good to go. If I'm home I'll just play the music from the phone through the home stereo.
if I'm no the road for & wanting hotel room practice work I carry a small pedal with me that lets me integrate the phone music and the bass into one signal with headphone output.
There's lots of options for that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: One Way and Jason Hollar
#20
I'm pretty sure mixing the signal from your iDevice and your bass is hardware problem since there's no way to plug your bass directly into your iDevice.

As people have mentioned, probably the most common thing now is that most bass amps have an aux in. Getting a new amp is not the cheapest solution, but it gives you a reason to upgrade to a newer amp! Hooray—I love excuses like this. Sounds like not your cup of tea, though.

So, on the hardware end, the iRig 2 will take both your bass input and an aux input and mix them, and then output the mixed signal to either headphones or your amp, whichever you want—highly flexible. ~$40 at Sweetwater/Amazon/etc.

There's a secondary issue you might care about, which is what app do you want to use on your iDevice for playback. There are a bunch of them that give you speed control, pitch adjustment, looping, etc. Personally I use AnyTune, but there have been others mentioned in the thread.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back