DownbeatWhy we are building this
One band, one account. Build the show on a Mac, play it from everyone’s pocket.
The overhead is the problem, not the playing
A band spends more effort organising a show than performing it. Setlists live in group texts, charts live in a Google Doc somebody forgot to share, backing tracks live on one laptop, and the arrangement everyone rehearsed is not quite the one being played tonight. None of that is music, and all of it lands on whoever is holding the laptop.
You already own the hardware
Everyone in the band is carrying a phone that can hold the set, the charts, the cues and a personal mix. Downbeat Producer builds the show on a Mac; Downbeat Player puts it in everyone’s pocket, in sync, and working when the venue’s wifi does not.
Two kinds of musician, one account
A gigging band is one audience. A teacher with six students is another — no setlist, no PA, nothing on a stage. Fretboard is for them, free and open without an account, because a chord sheet you can build and hand to a student is useful on its own. The account, the library and the sheets are common ground between the two.
Built by someone who plays
Every decision here comes from running actual shows and hitting the actual problem — which is why the click, the cues and the charts are one thing rather than three apps that almost agree with each other.
In Carl’s words
Placeholder — not for publishing
Placeholder — Carl to replace. A few sentences on what started this: the show or the rehearsal where the group-text-and-binder routine finally broke, what you tried before deciding to build your own, and why the click, the cues and the chart had to be one thing instead of three. Something about the band you play in belongs here too. This is about the length that reads well in this spot.
Where it is today
Downbeat is in beta and openly unfinished. Producer runs shows on macOS now. The Player beta runs on TestFlight for iPhone and is invite-only while the group is small, with Android close behind. Fretboard is live and free. We are just getting started, and the Updates page is where the work gets written down as it happens.