Ole Big Beat Ltd presents

BB-BOB

Bob Wills
in your pocket.

Call a tune. Give Leon a turn. Then see what happens when the Texas Playboys get hold of an acid bass and a drum machine.

Bob in a yellow suit and green hat, seated on the BIG BEAT lettering.

01 / At the bandstand

You call it.

Three moments from the instrument’s own 240 × 240 display. Pick a clip to see the band move.

Classics

Bob, Leon and a guitarist on the ballroom stage during San Antonio Rose. Notes rise above the band and dancers cross the floor. — San Antonio Rose

Fifty playable arrangements. Start with San Antonio Rose, Faded Love or Wang Wang Blues. The band plays its own parts around the melody.

New Tune

Give the band a fresh tune on the spot. It makes the melody, changes and arrangement, then leaves room for you to play along.

Play Bob

The show cuts from Bob calling Leon to a close-up of Leon playing steel guitar. — Take it away, Leon

Give the band a holler or call up Leon. Throw in a fill, send everyone back to the theme, or take it home.

Under your hands

Pick a tune.
Give it a holler.

Press HOME to conduct the band and SEQ to play an instrument. Browse the Song Book while the band keeps playing, or open Play Bob for a keyboard full of calls.

Find it on the panel →

Conduct screen with Bob at the right and eight band cue cards. — HOME · Conduct

Play Keys screen with the live steel guitar selected. — SEQ · Play Keys

Songs screen with Faded Love highlighted among four Classics. — Song Book

Play Bob call-pad screen with the Ah-ha family selected. — Play Bob pads

02 / Then → Now

Same tune.
Later night.

Start with fiddle, steel and upright bass. Turn toward Now and the guitar goes electric, the bass starts to slide and the drums dig in. Bring up Funk for a different pocket.

The browser player has a Concert mode. Let the band finish the tune and Bob will fill the gap before the next one starts.

03 / Austin, Texas · May 1969

From the dance hall to the Capitol.

In May 1969, the Texas Legislature honored Bob Wills, Tex Ritter and Ernest Tubb at the State Capitol in Austin. All three were already in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wills and Ritter stood with Governor Preston Smith at the presentation. Ernest’s brother C. R. Tubb accepted on his behalf. Contemporary coverage in Cash Box

Decades earlier, Wills and Milton Brown helped bring a sound out of Texas dance halls that drew on fiddle tunes, jazz, blues and the music of their neighbors. In 2011, Texas made Western swing its official state music. Texas Senate Concurrent Resolution 35

04 / Player and firmware

Take the band with you.

Acid phrases by J. McConaghy / Acid-Tabs.com · CC BY-SA 4.0.

Play BB-BOB in your browser or on an M-VAVE FM-1.

Play in the browser Download the BB-BOB Mac installer

Check compatibility in the included instructions before installing.

Learn the controls