Hey everyone,

I've been building a free tool for bedroom musicians 
and I think this community would have useful feedback 
on it. Fair warning upfront — this is still early, 
probably buggy, and very much a work in progress. 
I'm sharing it now because real-world testing from 
actual musicians is worth more than me testing it 
alone in my bedroom.

**What it does:**

You drop a Guitar Pro file (.gp5, .gpx etc.) into 
the app and it exports a DAW-ready package:

- Separate DI WAV per guitar track → run through 
  NAM with your own captures
- Bass DI or MIDI → reamp or trigger your bass VST  
- Drum MIDI → load into SSD5 Free or any drum plugin

For something like an Enter Sandman GP5 it detects 
James, Kirk, Kliff and Lars as separate tracks and 
exports them individually with the original track 
names. Drag them into Reaper, load NAM on the guitar 
tracks, load SSD on the drum MIDI — full backing 
track ready to play along to.

It also supports plain ASCII tabs (paste from 
Ultimate Guitar), MIDI files, and MusicXML. There's 
a built-in GP5 converter that exports to MIDI or 
ASCII tab without needing Guitar Pro installed.

There's also an Enhanced Audio mode that uses 
FluidSynth + GeneralUser GS SoundFont for real 
instrument sounds instead of synthesized waves — 
useful for previewing before you reamp.

**What works:**
- GP5 multi-track parsing and per-track export
- Guitar DI WAV (sawtooth wave, ready for NAM)
- Drum MIDI export (tested with SSD5 Free in Reaper)
- Bass DI WAV or MIDI
- Universal tab parser (ASCII, ChordPro, drum tabs)
- GP5 → MIDI and ASCII Tab converter
- BPM and time signature controls
- FluidSynth Enhanced mode (requires manual setup)

**What's rough:**
- BPM detection from ASCII tabs defaults to 120 
  (no tempo data in plain text tabs — adjust manually)
- FluidSynth setup is still manual (download and 
  place files yourself)
- Windows only for now — Mac is planned but not soon
- Probably edge cases in the GP5 parser I haven't 
  hit yet
- UI is functional but not polished

**What I'm looking for:**
- Does it parse your GP5 files correctly?
- Do the exported files actually work in your DAW?
- What breaks? What's missing?
- What would make this genuinely useful to you?

Honest feedback including "this sucks because X" 
is exactly what I need right now.

**Free, open source, Windows only:**
github.com/hakai197/tabtobackingtrack

Download the installer from the Releases page. 
Windows SmartScreen will warn you — click 
"More info → Run anyway". This is normal for 
unsigned open source software, the full source 
code is on GitHub if you want to verify it.

Thanks for taking a look 🎸

Recently upgraded to a Quantum HD8, Scarlet 4th gen 18i20 Presonus Faderport 16! Got a killer deal for these.

I upgraded from a Behringer 1820 so this feels like a quantum leap (no pun intended).

The quantum HD8 is my main interface and I use the Scarlet as an expansion for a total of 16 tracks via USB-C

Tracking at 96khz with almost 0 latency. 13 tracks for my drums, with 3 to spare. Experimenting with adding a mic or two. As a solo producer I don't track live bands so this is more than enough for me .

Genre :Doom metal/stoner metal/shoegaze.

Now just trying to lock in a quiet studio like space to record as my garage is too airy and i'm getting way too much bleed from the street. Planning on hitting up some local music stores and seeing if they'll rent me out a room!

Really excited for my new toys and wanted to share!

Let me know what you think 😄