Jam · experimental
Play your piano. A band joins you.
Jam listens to what you play, works out your tempo and the chords you keep coming back to, and brings in drums and bass on the next “1”. You never type a chord or pick a song.
- 1Connect your piano
A digital piano over USB or Bluetooth MIDI, or any piano — acoustic too — through your computer’s microphone. Headphones help when you use the mic.
- 2Just play
No chord charts, no song to pick, no click track. Play the way you already noodle.
- 3The band comes in
After about two bars it has your tempo and your chords. Drums and bass join on the next downbeat and follow you from there.
Hear it
Press No piano? Hear a demo. A pretend beginner plays four chords, slightly unsteady, and you can watch the band find the beat and come in.
Digital piano: plug it in by USB (most send MIDI over their USB port) or pair it as a Bluetooth MIDI device, and the band reads your exact notes. Acoustic piano, or no cable: use the microphone.
If the band sounds a hair late (Bluetooth speakers add delay), slide the nudge left until the kick lands with your chords.
What it is, and what it isn’t yet
- Eight styles — rock, ballad, bossa, swing, and four kinds of hip hop (boom bap, lo-fi, trap with 808s, drill) — and three tempo modes: it follows you, holds steady once it joins, or counts you in.
- Playing your own piano is part of any HiveJournal subscription. The demo is free.
- New and experimental: synthesized drums and bass rather than recorded instruments, and 4/4 time only.
- MIDI reads your exact notes and needs Chrome or Edge on a computer. The microphone works with any piano; it is newer, hears you best with headphones, and is untested in Safari so far.
Weighing it against chord-chart backing apps, DAW drummers or an arranger keyboard? See how they differ →