You drum, the band follows. Here is how to get going.
Bashery is an Android app that listens to your drumming and plays a live band that follows YOU, your tempo, your volume, your feel. It is not a backing track. Every note is generated around what you play.
This pack gets you from zero to jamming in about ten minutes, and tells you how to send feedback that actually helps.
The beta is open, so there is nothing to wait for and nothing we need from you first. Two taps and you are in.
That is it. No invitation, no waiting on us, and you do not need to send us your email address.
Come and say hello on the Discord if you want the rest of the crew, but it is not a requirement for getting the app.
Getting updates: new builds arrive through Google Play like normal app updates. Play eventually auto-updates on its own, but to grab a new build right away, open the Play Store listing and tap Update. Check the version in the app footer against #announcements on Discord - always test on the newest build.
The app itself needs no account and no sign-up - nothing leaves your phone unless you share it.
Use wired output: phone speaker, wired headphones, or a wired speaker. Do not test rhythm feel over Bluetooth AUDIO - BT headphones and speakers are delayed 100-300 ms by design and make any rhythm app feel broken. That is physics, not a bug. (This is about SOUND coming out. Connecting your KIT over Bluetooth MIDI is fine - that is input, and it does not add that delay.)
The band follows your drumming the moment you open the app. For most setups the only thing you need is the phone, and every cable is optional - it does not make the app work, it just makes monitoring nicer. The one exception is an acoustic kit, which needs wired headphones (below). If a step feels like assembling a rig, skip it: play first, add cables only if you want them.
Find your setup:
No kit / finger drummer - Need: nothing. Use the 8 on-screen pads. - Hear it: phone speaker or wired earbuds.
Acoustic kit - Need: wired earbuds or headphones - this is the one setup where they are required, not optional. The phone listens to your kit through its mic, so the band has to go somewhere the mic can't hear it. On the speaker the mic picks up the band and the app chases its own sound. - The kit itself needs nothing plugged in - just the phone's mic.
E-drum kit over USB - Send your hits: one USB-C cable, module to phone (a USB-OTG adapter if the plug does not fit). That is all the app needs to follow you. - Hear the band: easiest is the phone speaker or wired earbuds. Want the band mixed into your kit headphones? Run a cheap 3.5mm audio cable from the phone into your module's MIX IN jack - optional, but it is the tidiest monitoring for a real kit.
E-drum kit over Bluetooth MIDI - Send your hits: nothing to plug in - the kit talks to the phone wirelessly. - Hear the band: phone speaker, or the 3.5mm cable into MIX IN if you want it through your kit headphones. - One honest catch: do not send the band's SOUND over Bluetooth (BT speaker, or BT audio into the module). Bluetooth audio is 100-300 ms late and makes the timing feel broken. Bluetooth for the MIDI is fine - that is your hits coming in, and it has no delay.
A note for phones with only one USB-C port (most modern phones): you do not need to split it. Connect the kit over Bluetooth MIDI and the USB-C stays free, or just monitor the band from the phone speaker while you play. You never have to run MIDI and audio down the same port at once.
On first run the band switches itself on and a banner coaches you: plug in your kit (or just play the pads), then "give me a steady beat", and it flips to "there's your band" the moment it locks onto you. No dialogs, no setup wizard - you are drumming with the band inside a few seconds. Rerun the coach any time from Setup > "Welcome coach".
Connect over USB: a cable from your module's USB/MIDI port to the phone (USB-OTG). The status line shows "Connected: <your kit>" automatically.
Connect over Bluetooth: if your kit or a BLE MIDI adapter (WIDI, Yamaha MD-BT01, Quicco mi.1) talks Bluetooth MIDI, tap the MIDI status line > Connect a Bluetooth kit, allow Bluetooth the first time, and pick your kit from the list. This is brand new - if you have anything wireless, we would love to know how it connects. Wired USB is still the most solid for a gig.
Just play. A steady groove for ~2 bars lights up the BPM and the band joins you. No setup step is required first - the app reads your hits over MIDI the instant they arrive. Or tap Count me in and it starts on its own clock.
Two optional tune-ups, only if you want them:
New, and barely tested on real kits - acoustic testers are gold right now. The phone just LISTENS: no triggers, no interface, no gear.
What it hears: kick, snare, hi-hats, crashes, and now toms (a ride reads as timekeeping too). Crash twice within a beat or two and the second crash changes the chord - one mic can't tell two crash cymbals apart, so the change cymbal is a gesture.
Toms are the newest, least-tuned part, and the thing we most want ears on. Off one mic, the hardest call the app makes is telling a tom from a snare - a tom is mostly low shell BODY with little of the snare's high CRACK, and that line shifts with your kit and your room. If you play toms in acoustic mode, tell us what happens: do they land as toms, get read as snares, or get missed? Even a rough sense is real data for tuning it.
Two controls under the checkbox tune it to YOUR phone and room:
Privacy: the audio is analyzed live on the phone and immediately thrown away - never recorded, never stored, never uploaded.
If it mishears your kit (ghost hits, missed crashes, phantom snares), export diagnostics right after playing - the report captures exactly what the detector heard and why, and that is precisely the data that tunes it.
The band writes its own bass and keys. If you would rather hand it yours, you can - as a MIDI file, from the Sound tab.
The thing worth knowing: your line is stored as chord degrees, not fixed notes, so it follows the chord changes. Write it in whatever key suits you and it transposes with the song instead of fighting it. "Back to the band's own bassline" hands the part back.
One catch on the bass: Bass follows kick outranks an imported riff. If your riff is being ignored, that toggle is why.
The Bus mixer has an AMP card that loads a .nam capture - the open Neural Amp Modeler format, so any capture from the NAM community works. Pick which part it sits on, set drive and blend, and the band goes through a real amp instead of a filter.
It is the most expensive thing in the app by a distance. A capture file often carries the same amp at two sizes and Bashery picks the cheaper one when it can - the diagnostics line says which model it settled on and what share of the audio budget it is taking. If your phone starts crackling, that line is the first place to look.
Two different things, and the app keeps them side by side on the Play tab because they are easy to confuse.
Expansions - SESSION and more. These come from us and switch on extra machinery inside the app. All three are free to everyone right now, so there is nothing to buy and nothing to unlock.
| Expansion | What it adds |
|---|---|
| ELECTRONICA | The 303 acid line, the scratch deck, the Euclidean style and its rings, and a shift register that clocks them |
| SESSION | Played instruments instead of synths - a plucked bass that brightens the harder you hit, and an electric guitar |
| DARKWAVE | Cold synths you can dance to - pulsing analog bass, icy chords, a string pad, a plain sad lead, chorus and reverb |
Each one has a card with a Preview you can listen to, and a button that sets the whole thing up - every part it brings, not just one of them.
Packs - take someone's band, or post yours. A pack is a .dmpack file, and it is far more than a preset. One carries:
Which is to say a pack is meant to sound like the thing its maker made, not approximately like it.
One gap we know about: a bass or keys line you loaded from a .mid does not travel in a pack yet. The band's own parts do, and so does everything above, but your imported line stays on your phone. Send the .mid alongside the pack for now.
Making one: play until the band sounds how you want it, then Packs > "Make a pack from what you're playing". Posting one: the Shed is the pack list inside the app, and posting is free - anyone can put one up. Taking someone else's is one button, and the button knows the difference between a pack you already have and one you do not.
If you take a pack and it sounds wrong, that is a bug we want. A pack carries a lot, and the whole point is that it arrives sounding like it left.
| Try this | What should happen |
|---|---|
| Speed up / slow down gradually | band follows within a couple of bars |
| Play quieter / louder | band darkens and thins / brightens and digs in |
| Lean into your kick | the band "pumps" with each kick (sidechain) |
| Turn on Dynamics, then dig into kick/snare | the acid 303 line opens its filter - the drums pump the acid |
| Swing your hi-hats vs straight | the band's feel follows yours |
| Switch styles (Jazz vs Punk) | the band changes how it LEANS, not just notes |
| Play 4-bar phrases | turnaround fills lead into every chord change |
| Drum fill ending in a crash | accent hit + the band answers with a lick |
| Fill into a crash, then STOP | the band lands a final chord and lets it ring |
| Erupt into a busy 2-bar solo | the band steps back to give you room, then returns |
| Go near-silent for two bars | keys and lead drop out, then rebuild in layers |
| Bands menu | one-tap ensembles; save your own setups there too |
| Mixer & Output > Octaves | shift the whole band, or bass / keys / lead each on their own, up or down |
| Acoustic mode: play a real kit near the phone | the band follows, no gear needed |
| Acoustic mode: play some toms | they read as toms, not snares (tell us if not) |
| Acoustic mode: crash twice quickly | the chord changes |
| Connect a Bluetooth kit / BLE adapter | it appears in the list and connects, no cable |
| Pair a browser at drum.bashery.app | the browser mirrors the phone's band, pump and all |
| Sound > Bass line, load a .mid | the band's bass plays your riff, in key, through every chord change |
| Sound > Keys line, load a .mid of chords | your chords come out as chords, not the top note of each |
| Try an Expansion and tap Preview, then use it | every part it brings is set up, not just one |
| Make a pack, then take it back on another phone | it arrives sounding like it left |
| Load a .nam capture in the Bus mixer | the band goes through an amp - watch the budget line in diagnostics |
| Calibrate timing, coming in on a LOUD click | it finishes and saves a number (tell us if it refuses) |
Tap Rec, play, tap Save. Your jams collect under My
jams (next to Bands): play them back,
share them straight to Discord, delete the duds. Copies also land in
Downloads as .mid (drums + band, opens in any DAW) and
.wav (the full mix, your drums printed in). E-kit note:
MIDI carries no audio, so your module's own sounds can't be in the file
- the app prints its synth drums playing your hits, and the "Kit drums in the recording" slider sets how loud they
sit.
Quick fixes for common symptoms:
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| No sound | app volume sliders; phone media volume |
| Band feels late | wired audio? then Calibrate timing |
| Stuck on "listening" | steadier groove, 2+ bars - or just use Count me in |
| Wrong pads trigger things | Map pads |
| Popping / crackling | export diagnostics immediately and tell us what was playing |
Bashery exists because drummers like you are willing to plug in, play, and tell us the truth. Every bug report, every taste note, every jam clip shapes what the band becomes - we read all of it, and most builds ship with a tester's fingerprints on them.
See you in the Discord - and in the jam.
@sashyo & @pettyvendetta
© 2026 Sashyo & Petty Vendetta. All rights reserved. · bashery.app · visual guide · blog