backing machines to help with modes etc.

[ziggydolphinboy]

hi everyone,
im thinking of getting a decent backing machine,
i used to have lessons and my teacher had a thingy that he put a floppy disk into
and out came backing tracks.
i was thinking of getting a yamah qy70 or 100 so i can programme some chords and groove and jam over ther top.
any ideas or suggestions to any other devices out there that are portable and would work.
or any ideas apart from live playing to help me with modes etc and jammimg.
kindest regards
ziggy.

[Dubs]

do you have a laptop? If so, get a copy of Cubase...do you see where I'm going with this...

[ziggydolphinboy]

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='259565' date='Aug 10 2008, 09:54 PM']do you have a laptop? If so, get a copy of Cubase...do you see where I'm going with this...[/quote]


yeah could be good what about laying tracks down though
i havent got a midi keyboard and dont know chords that well.

[Dubs]

[quote name='ziggydolphinboy' post='259606' date='Aug 10 2008, 10:46 PM']yeah could be good what about laying tracks down though
i havent got a midi keyboard and dont know chords that well.[/quote]

You can input in step time (manually) rather than real time - no need for a midi keyboard. You can get chord sheets off the net that tell you what notes are in what chords so you shouldn’t have any issues with programming and stuff. I think there is a freeware version of Cubase around, but I can’t remember the name. It's not my personal choice for sequencing or DAW, but it's a good place to start for something basic like this, and if you have a laptop then it’s very easily portable. No point spending £££ if you can use the hardware you’ve already got at the moment with some free software that will do the job just as good.