JoeCo has launched BandMate, a 24-channel backing track player for live performance playback.
Aimed at gigging musicians, the 1U system can replay multichannel audio material alongside MIDI data for the control and update of MIDI equipment such as effects pedals and lighting controllers.
“There is a definite requirement from musicians for a live assist playback device that they can trust more than a laptop,” said JoeCo Managing Director, Joe Bull. “We created BandMate to be a flexible solution that will give musicians a robust device they can rely on gig after gig, which is simple to use and easy to control.”
BandMate uses a setlist to organise the playback for a gig. This playlist automatically loads up the next song so musicians can focus on their performance rather than the technology. Playback can be controlled and triggered via the front panel, a footswitch, MIDI command or the Remote app. Audio and MIDI data as well as playlists are stored on a local USB memory stick.
As well as the 24 individual balanced outputs to drive a stage box or mixing console, BandMate can also send outputs 23 and 24 to an unbalanced stereo TRS jack. This provides a mixed output from the box to work with small, individual PA systems. Each channel has a front panel LED display to show that an audio track is present and indicate when there is signal present.
The front of the device features a LCD display which shows the playlist, the current song name and playback time and the next song. The playlist and song can be selected using the multifunction rotary control which also accesses the menus for setup and configuration.
Supporting BandMate via Bluetooth is the BandMate Remote app. Available for iOS and Android devices, it can be used on the road to create, edit, save and load playlists. In addition to this, the app can select a song, start playback, pause, false start, skip songs and alter the output levels or mix.
The BandMate Loader app runs on MacOS and Windows machines. Track Loader makes it easy to organise the source files you need for each song, whilst Playlist Editor organises the prepared songs into setlists for the gig. BandMate Loader will copy the source wav files onto a USB stick in an organised filing structure and create the files that BandMate requires to output the correct sound on each channel for that song.
Learn more about BandMate by visiting JoeCo at NAMM on booth 16016.
