Band in a box - worth it or alternatives? Discussion in 'Recording Gear and Equipment BG ' started. It's good for having a portable band and its good for pulling up a chord chart in hurry. If I had a mac, I'd take the cheaper route and go for irealb. But BIAB looks like the best of not very many options for a windows user. The description of Band-in-a-Box Band-in-a-Box for Android is a program that works as a client to your existing copy of Band-in-a-Box 2011 or higher for Windows, allowing you to play, generate and transfer your songs to/from the Android phone.
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2018,Available inPublished in ten languagesMusic GenerationWebsiteBand-in-a-Box is a music accompaniment package for and produced by PG Music Incorporated in. The software allows the user to create songs by simple keyboard inputs: a musical style, a tempo and a key. The screen resembles a blank page of music. The user types in a series of chords, even complex ones, and the software generates a song, typically played by four or five musical instruments.
The software can create backgrounds for almost any chord progressions used in, and can play them in any of thousands of different music styles. The software is published in ten different languages.Band-in-a-Box was first introduced in 1990 for and the. The creator of the software is a Canadian, Dr.
Peter Gannon, for whom 'PG Music' is named. Early versions of the software featured only data often emulating the phrasing of noted musicians. Later editions included recordings (called 'RealTracks') of real musicians playing real instruments in the user-specified style, key and tempo, a breakthrough in the quality of the music. The developers have enlisted the help of a number of skilled artists as soloists and to build huge databases of phrases in many styles of music. The software intelligently retrieves and customizes groups of that are appropriate for soloing over a particular chord at a selected key and tempo. See example below. Contents.Development Widely known as 'BIAB' by its users, the software was initially used as a practice aid for musicians but quickly became popular for 'one-man bands' to play at weddings or similar venues.
It also became popular in venues which touted 'Band in a Box Karaoke' in advertisements. Gannon said, 'We started out with Band-in-a-Box as a MIDI program, generating MIDI and synth accompaniments.' In late 1997, the 'soloist' feature was introduced, allowing the software to generate solos choosing from a menu that includes emulations of jazz luminaries, past and present; e.g., or in what reviewer Peter Hum calls 'credible imitations'. Jazz guitarist Geof Dresser, whose is a network software developer said,' It's playing than I can'. Those lines were likely due to the company's musical director for many years, Jazz guitarist, the older brother of company founder Peter Gannon. Their father, Joe Gannon, was a professional pianist in, before moving the family to in 1957.
Oliver Gannon retired from PG Music in 2008.From MIDI to real instruments Band-In-a-Box used only MIDI until 1999, when digital audio was added, letting users record vocals and instruments directly into songs. The 'Audio Chord Wizard', released with the 2007 version of BIAB, made it possible for a user choose any audio song from his computer; the Audio Chord Wizard then analyzes it and writes out the for it such as Fm7 or G7b9; however, if the imported song is not correctly tuned to standard pitch, the error rate is high.A songwriter can create backing track, then go to 'notation mode' and enter the notes on a staff to the melody he has conceived, then enter lyrics and play and print the result. Melodies and solos can be generated and these can be edited note-by-note in MIDI form.A guitarist can input any single-note melody line (no chords) and the software can generate, as a learning tool, a or style with chords than the user can actually reach that are shown on a screen window of a guitar fretboard. The user can specify just how close the chords must be, e.g., 'within five frets'.In November 2006, PG Music released 'RealDrums', which was the first step in providing users with tracks recorded by real instruments. Gannon said synthetic sounds were decreasing in popularity and real audio tracks were becoming so much easier to record. 'RealTracks' In 2007, 'RealTracks' was introduced, providing real musicians' recordings to be manipulated to fit any user's song— pianos, bass and guitars, as well as soloing instruments such as saxophones, guitars, and pedal steel, and many others, even solos. RealTracks has significantly increased the quality of the sounds produced since the sounds are, in fact, real instruments played by real musicians.
As of 2017, over 100 and performing musicians have contributed to Band-in-a-Box. They typically record in five different keys, with the remaining keys accommodated by a pitch-stretching algorithm. The musicians are requested to avoid playing across if possible on the sessions. The 2018 Audiophile Version of Band-in-a-BoxPG Music sponsors a forum which showcases thousands of original songs created by its customers.
Peter Gannon said, 'This really helps with visibility because people hear these songs and hear what can be done by a single songwriter using Band-in-a-Box'.The basic functions are relatively easy to master; but, as evidenced by its 675-page user's manual, there is a long to get the full benefit. The software user interface has been criticized as clunky or awkward.
Reviewer Jeffrey Powers in a 2018 review said, 'it looks like it came from the Windows XP era'. Robert Renman at Master Guitar Academy said the program was 'completely amazing' but called the interface 'quite intimidating'.Several versions of BIAB are available.
Deluxe versions called 'Audiophile Editions' are sold preinstalled on a hard drive and include studio-quality RealTracks files. Uncompressed RealDrums as or files are also available for use.Notes. ^ Wilkins, Dennis (May 1, 2017). Sound On Sound Magazine.
Retrieved March 3, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019. ^ Hum, Peter (January 15, 2001). The Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 24 February 2019. (Vol.162, No.119).
The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin). October 29, 1998. Retrieved March 3, 2019. ^ King, Andrew. Canadian Music Trade.
Retrieved March 8, 2019. The Governor General of Canada. December 27, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019. Powers, Jeffrey (June 4, 2018).
Retrieved March 4, 2019. SOS Publications Group. Retrieved March 8, 2019. Powers, Jeffery. Geekazine (Magazine). Retrieved March 7, 2019. Renman, Robert.
Master Guitar Academy. Retrieved March 7, 2019.External links.
Downloading songs from a Mac using WiFi
If you have a copy of the desktop Band-in-a-Box for Mac, then with the Band-in-a-Box iPhone version you can:
Here is how to download songs from your Mac (using WiFi). You need to have at least Band-in-a-Box desktop version 2012 build 52 for these functions, and at least iOS 5 on your device.
Step 1 - Render your song files to audio (m4a)![]()
You need to have a .m4a copy of the song you want to download, so that you have for example 'My Song.mgu' and 'My Song Render.m4a'.
The easiest way to do this is to load the song, and use the menu on the Combo radio button (top left of screen). Choose 'Save song as m4a audio file'. You will then have My Song Render.m4a saved in the same location as My Song.mgu.
Repeat this process for any number of songs that you will be downloading to your iPhone.
Step 2 - File | Download from PC/Mac![]()
Make sure your device and your computer are connected to the same LAN (local area network). If you have previously set up a wireless (WiFi) network, the connection will typically happen automatically.
Go to the File menu and select 'Download from PC/Mac'.
Step 3 - Enter the URL into your desktop browser.
In any browser on the same network (e.g. Safari), type in the ip address given in the dialog. It will look something like this (although the numbers will probably be different) http://192.168.0.102
Click [Browse] to choose the files you want to download, and then press Submit.
Note that you need to choose both the mgu and m4a files in Safari. An alternative is just to make a single ZIP of all the files that you want to transfer (mgu's, m4a's, including subfolders), and they will download and preserve the subfolder names.
Step 4 - Choose folder for Save
You should see the files appear on your device. Press the 'Choose folder for save' button, to start downloading the files.
If you now go to File | Open, your files should be green as long as you downloaded both the Band-in-a-Box song file and generated audio file.
If the song isn't green, that means that the audio isn't present and would still need to be generated by Band-in-a-Box desktop.
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