A working bassist builds the stage tool his band needed: every musician gets their own part, in real time
syncMNFST, now available on the App Store, lets bandleaders change the set mid-gig while each musician's iPad shows the right chart for their role. No internet needed.
Dutch bassist Bas Schneider has launched syncMNFST, an app for working bands that puts every musician on the same song at the same moment, each on their own part. Built by a gigging musician with more than 25 years on stage, the app targets function, wedding and cover bands who need to react to the room instead of sticking to a fixed list.
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The problem every working band knows
A wedding band plans a setlist. Then the dance floor fills up, the couple asks for one more song, or the energy drops and the bandleader wants something faster. What follows is familiar: shouted titles, pages being flipped, a singer holding a horn chart, and a stand-in musician who received the PDFs on WhatsApp the night before and cannot find the right one.
"Most gigs that go wrong don't go wrong on the music. They go wrong on paper: someone on the wrong page, a dep with last week's version. That's the part I wanted to fix," says Bas Schneider, founder of syncMNFST.
How it works
The bandleader runs the set from an iPad. When they pick the next song, every iPad in the band lands on it. The difference from a shared PDF folder: each musician sees the chart for their own role. The singer gets lyrics, the horns get their parts, the rhythm section gets chord charts. Nobody has to search.
Key features:
- Role-based sheet music: one song, a different chart for every role in the band
- Mid-set flexibility: change the order, skip a song or add one on the spot
- Built for stand-in musicians: a dep can be paired to the band before the gig with an access expiry date, so their access ends automatically afterwards
- No internet needed: devices connect directly to each other on stage. For larger line-ups or wide stages, a simple local router is enough, still without internet
- Web app for managing songs, charts and setlists from a computer
Built on stage, not in an office
Schneider has spent more than 25 years as a bassist in Dutch musical theatre, pit orchestras and function bands. He built syncMNFST on his own, testing it at real gigs with his swing and jazz band TinyLittleBigband, which uses the app on stage.
"The foundation is there and it is solid. What gets added next comes from real gigs. From bandleaders, stand-in musicians and players telling me what they run into."
Pricing and availability
syncMNFST is available now on the App Store for iPad. Bands can try it free for 14 days, no credit card required. Pricing is per band, not per musician. More information at syncmnfst.com.
