I’ve been a performing musician ever since I was 16 years old. I started out playing in original bands in the late 1900s (okay, the late 90s!) and eventually made the transition to the high-energy world of cover bands.

One afternoon, I went to install one of my go-to stage apps on a brand-new iPad. I was immediately prompted to pay a hefty annual subscription fee for an app I had already paid for over a decade ago.

When I sat down and did the math, I realized I was paying over $100+ a year just in app subscriptions to play my gigs. If you are a working musician, you know how quickly those hidden costs eat into your hard-earned gig money.

I didn't want to build just another generic PDF reader. I wanted an app that actually doubles as part of your live show.

Because I record my own custom backing tracks for my solo shows, I built Set Sidekick to handle audio flawlessly. And since I was already running audio out of my iPad to the PA, I engineered 6 programmable sample pads directly into the performance screen.

• The "Cha-Ching" Button: Now, when someone walks up and drops cash in your physical tip jar, you can tap a pad and trigger a satisfying, high-quality "cha-ching!" sound effect.

• Custom Sounds: You can assign any .mp3 to these pads to trigger intro soundscapes, drum rolls, or crowd hype sounds on the fly.

During development, I collaborated with musician friends all over the world to build the ultimate feature list. One major, intentional decision we made was to leave out MIDI.

While MIDI is great for some, for the vast majority of solo and acoustic acts, it is a massive resource hog that clutters the UI. I wanted Set Sidekick to be a lean, lightning-fast machine. (Don't worry, I’m as nerdy as they come—so we might add it as an optional toggle down the road! But for now, we chose stability over bloat). Instead, I channeled that nerdy energy into fun features like performance analytics and achievements!

Making a living as a musician is tough. Set Sidekick is entirely designed to help you maximize your income on stage.

In June of 2025, I released a step-by-step Tip Jar Guide on my YouTube channel. In my own gigs, combining a modern tip jar (complete with a scannable Venmo QR code) with Set Sidekick's interactive audio pads and backing tracks completely doubled my tips in just a matter of months.

Set Sidekick isn't just an app; it's your ultimate digital stage partner. I built it to save my own gigs, and I can't wait to see how it transforms yours.

— Zak

Creator of Set Sidekick