COBANDERNOODLE TOGETHER
A sketchpad for your whole band. Everyone records, writes, mixes and practices on their own computer; the song lives in the folder you already share. And the whole band levels up while you do it.
Free to download — the whole app, every song, forever. Mac with an Intel chip? Intel Mac download.
First launch: Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" → More info → Run anyway. Mac says it can't check the app → Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.
Somebody records a riff at 11 pm. By 11:01 it's on everyone else's screen, on its own track, in the right place in the song. The drummer adds a take at lunch. The singer pins the words to where she sings them. Nobody uploaded anything, nobody made an account, and nobody paid for a plan — the band's Google Drive (or OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox) is the server.
It's for the band that has songs in a group chat and voice memos, not for mixing an album. Although it mixes pretty well.
Built around your band’s own songs
It writes the lyrics down for you
Sing the take. Cobander listens to the vocal, types the words, and pins each one to the moment you sang it — so the lyric sheet, the karaoke view and the chart all exist before anyone opens a notes app.
It hears the chords and builds the tabs
Record the guitar or the bass and it drafts the chord chart from the audio — bar by bar, with the bass line naming the roots. Guitar grips, capo-shifted, show up as a scrolling play-along lane so the rest of the band can learn it by watching.
It knows what key you're in, and can move it
The key is heard from the takes, not typed. Need it a step down for the singer? Transpose the whole song: the recordings, the MIDI, the chords and the chart move together, and the band hears the new key at the next sync.
Practice is a game, not a PDF
Words fly at you and land on the line when it's time to sing them. Loop the part you keep blowing, slow it down without changing pitch, take your own part out and play along with the rest, and let your phone follow on the music stand. Minutes count toward your level.
Your band levels up
Every take, chord, lyric, note and practice minute earns XP. Everyone levels up, and so does the band.
100 levels each
Fresh Noodle to Living Legend, with a new title, badge and pose every ten. A band that records every week takes a year or two to reach the top — no grinding it out in a night.
The band levels too
The whole catalog cooks from Dry Noodles to Michelin Star as songs get structure, chords, words, takes from everyone and a bounce.
Boss battles
Name the next show, give it a date, pick the songs it needs. It counts down on the Band page and shows which songs are ready to fight.
Achievements and goals
First take, night owl, on a roll, full band on one song… plus each song's goals and to-dos, so "is it done?" has an answer everyone can see.
What it does
- WriteParts (intro, verse, chorus…), a chord lane, lyrics pinned where they're sung — speech-to-text runs on your computer — notes on the timeline, a parts bin, your own noodle pad for riffs.
- RecordArm a track, hit R. Lossless takes, punch in to fix one bar, keep several takes and comp the best bits, a tuner, a drum machine, MIDI guitar / bass / keys for sketching without a mic.
- MixFaders, pan, sends, EQ, compression, Auto mix, Auto master to a normal loudness, tighten a sloppy take to the grid, pitch check on vocals, a timing report, stems and a hand-off to a real DAW when a song outgrows it.
- PracticeBig words and chords that follow the song, loop a part, slow it down without changing pitch, take your own part out, a note highway of what to play, Show mode with a pedal, your phone follows along.
- BandLevels and achievements for everyone (pick your character), the setlist, a boss battle for the next show, loose ends, who's rehearsing right now.
- TogetherSong and track locks so two people can work on the same song at once, @mentions, a band feed, one-click updates — all through the shared folder. Hover anything in the app for a plain-English tip; F1 opens a glossary.
NO ACCOUNTS
NO SUBSCRIPTION
Licenses
Groupie is free — the whole app, every song, every update, forever. A license is who you are in the band: your name, your character, your scores on the board. Once, yours for good.
VIPs
Legends never die.
Setup, in one breath
- Open Cobander and type your name.
- Point it at a folder inside the cloud folder your band shares (Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud Drive or Dropbox). Make a new one if you like:
Band stuff / Cobander. - Every bandmate does the same, same folder. That's it — songs, takes, chords and words show up for everyone within seconds.
Questions
Do we all need to pay?
Nobody needs to pay — it's free, every song, forever. A Roadie key ($10) is your own name and stats on the band's board; one VIP key ($60) covers the whole band. In a band where someone has a key, people without one join as guests: they play, record and practice in every song, but don't get a name on the board (two guests per band).
What's in the free version?
Everything. Write, Record, Mix, Practice, the Band page, sync, updates, every song. After a month it asks, nicely, once in a while. That's it.
What if we don't share a cloud folder?
Make one — a free Google Drive or OneDrive account is enough. Cobander needs a folder every bandmate's computer syncs; that's the whole system. There's no Cobander server, which is why there's no subscription.
Is it a real DAW?
It records real takes, mixes with real EQ and compression, bounces stems, and hands the whole song off to a studio DAW with markers when it's ready for one. It is built for getting ideas down fast with a band, not for engineering a record.
Does my stuff leave my computer?
Only to your band's shared folder. No telemetry, no accounts, no uploads. Speech-to-text, chord detection and pitch check all run locally.
Windows says it "protected my PC"
The Windows installer is code-signed. A newly signed app can still get the SmartScreen warning for a while until it builds up downloads — click More info (it shows a verified publisher), then Run anyway. On a Mac, the first open says Apple can't check it: click Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. (On macOS 14 and older, right-click Cobander → Open works too.) After that it opens normally.
Mac or Windows?
Both. One person on a Mac and three on Windows works fine — it's all files in a folder.