Band in A Box 2024 Manual
Band in A Box 2024 Manual
User’s Guide
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Printed in Canada
4 Table of Contents
LEAD SHEET WINDOW ............................................................................................................................................................ 196
LYRICS ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 201
PRINTING ................................................................................................................................................................................. 205
CHAPTER 9: AUTOMATIC MUSIC FEATURES ............................................................................................................... 210
AUTOMATIC MEDLEYS - “THE MEDLEY MAKER” ................................................................................................................ 210
AUTOMATIC SONGS - “THE MELODIST” ................................................................................................................................ 210
AUTOMATIC INTRO - SONG INTROS ........................................................................................................................................ 212
AUTOMATIC SONG TITLE GENERATION................................................................................................................................. 213
AUTOMATIC SOUND TRACK GENERATOR - “SOUNDTRACK” ............................................................................................... 213
AUTOMATIC SOLO GENERATION – “THE SOLOIST” .............................................................................................................. 214
AUTO PIANO HAND-SPLITTING ............................................................................................................................................... 219
AUTOMATIC GUITAR SOLOS – “THE GUITARIST” ................................................................................................................. 219
AUTOMATIC EMBELLISHMENTS – “THE EMBELLISHER” ...................................................................................................... 221
CHAPTER 10: WORKING WITH MIDI ............................................................................................................................... 224
RECORDING LIVE IN REAL TIME ............................................................................................................................................ 224
ENTERING NOTES MANUALLY ................................................................................................................................................ 225
RECORDING WITH THE PLAY ALONG WIZARD FEATURE...................................................................................................... 225
MELODY/SOLOIST SEQUENCER .............................................................................................................................................. 226
IMPORTING MIDI FILES ......................................................................................................................................................... 228
ADDITIONAL OPTIONS FOR MIDI TRACKS ............................................................................................................................ 229
EDITING MIDI TRACK ............................................................................................................................................................ 230
PIANO ROLL WINDOW ............................................................................................................................................................ 232
CHAPTER 11: WORKING WITH AUDIO ............................................................................................................................ 243
ABOUT BAND-IN-A-BOX AUDIO FILES .................................................................................................................................... 243
IMPORTING AUDIO FILE.......................................................................................................................................................... 244
RECORDING AUDIO ................................................................................................................................................................. 244
AUDIO INPUT MONITORING .................................................................................................................................................... 246
GENERATING SYNTHETIC VOCAL .......................................................................................................................................... 246
EDITING AUDIO - AUDIO EDIT WINDOW ................................................................................................................................ 247
VOLUME AUTOMATION ........................................................................................................................................................... 250
ANALYZING CHORDS IN AUDIO - AUDIO CHORD WIZARD .................................................................................................... 250
HARMONIZING AUDIO ............................................................................................................................................................. 252
APPLYING AUDIO PLUGINS ..................................................................................................................................................... 253
READING THE AUDIO AND MIDI TRACKS INTO OTHER PROGRAMS .................................................................................... 253
CHAPTER 12: WIZARDS, TUTORS, AND FUN .................................................................................................................. 254
VIDEO WINDOW ...................................................................................................................................................................... 254
“WOODSHED” TEMPO FEATURE ............................................................................................................................................ 255
MIDI CHORD WIZARD – INTERPRET CHORDS FROM MIDI FILE ......................................................................................... 255
PRACTICE WINDOW ................................................................................................................................................................ 258
EAR TRAINING TUTOR ............................................................................................................................................................ 259
EAR TRAINING GAMES ............................................................................................................................................................ 261
VOCAL WIZARD ...................................................................................................................................................................... 262
RHYTHM GUITAR CHORD TUTOR .......................................................................................................................................... 263
GUITAR WINDOW .................................................................................................................................................................... 264
BIG PIANO WINDOW ............................................................................................................................................................... 268
DYNAMIC 3D DRUM KIT WINDOW ......................................................................................................................................... 269
CHORD “BREAKS” ................................................................................................................................................................... 271
SCALE WIZARD........................................................................................................................................................................ 271
CHAPTER 13: TOOLS, UTILITIES, AND APPS ................................................................................................................. 273
INSTALL MANAGER ................................................................................................................................................................. 273
FIND FILE................................................................................................................................................................................. 273
DAW PLUG-IN MODE ............................................................................................................................................................. 274
COYOTEWT............................................................................................................................................................................. 276
GUITAR/BASS TUNER .............................................................................................................................................................. 278
MASTER TUNING ..................................................................................................................................................................... 278
MIDI MONITOR ...................................................................................................................................................................... 278
FRETLIGHT® SUPPORT ............................................................................................................................................................. 279
TRANZPORT® SUPPORT - WIRELESS REMOTE CONTROL ..................................................................................................... 280
BB REMOTE ............................................................................................................................................................................. 281
BAND-IN-A-BOX FOR IPHONE.................................................................................................................................................. 283
Table of Contents 5
CHAPTER 14: USER PROGRAMMABLE FUNCTIONS ................................................................................................... 286
THE STYLEMAKER ................................................................................................................................................................. 286
STYLE WIZARD - CREATE STYLE FROM MIDI FILE ............................................................................................................. 306
MAKING REALDRUMS STYLES ............................................................................................................................................... 310
THE HARMONY MAKER .......................................................................................................................................................... 325
THE SOLOIST MAKER ............................................................................................................................................................. 327
THE MELODIST MAKER .......................................................................................................................................................... 331
THE GUITARIST MAKER ......................................................................................................................................................... 332
CHAPTER 15: REFERENCE .................................................................................................................................................. 334
BAND-IN-A-BOX MENU DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................................................................................. 334
FILE MENU .............................................................................................................................................................................. 334
EDIT MENU .............................................................................................................................................................................. 337
OPTIONS MENU ....................................................................................................................................................................... 340
PLAY MENU ............................................................................................................................................................................. 347
MELODY MENU ....................................................................................................................................................................... 348
SOLOIST MENU ........................................................................................................................................................................ 350
AUDIO MENU ........................................................................................................................................................................... 352
HARMONY MENU .................................................................................................................................................................... 353
WINDOW MENU....................................................................................................................................................................... 353
HELP MENU ............................................................................................................................................................................. 355
SHORTCUTS: KEYSTROKE COMMANDS - HOTKEYS .............................................................................................................. 356
CHORD LIST ............................................................................................................................................................................ 361
BAND-IN-A-BOX FILES AND FOLDERS .................................................................................................................................... 362
PG MUSIC INC. ........................................................................................................................................................................ 364
APPENDIX A: REALTRACKS SETS .................................................................................................................................... 366
APPENDIX B: MIDI SUPERTRACKS SETS ........................................................................................................................ 411
INDEX ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 415
PG MUSIC REGISTRATION FORM..................................................................................................................................... 422
6 Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box®!
Congratulations on your purchase of Band-in-a-Box, the favorite of musicians, students, and songwriters everywhere. Get ready
to have fun!
What is Band-in-a-Box?
Band-in-a-Box is an intelligent automatic accompaniment program for your multimedia computer.
You can hear and play along to many song ideas and go from “nothing” to “something” in a very short period of
time with Band-in-a-Box as your “on demand” backup band.
Band-in-a-Box is so easy to use!
Just type in the chords for any song using standard chord symbols (like C, Fm7, or C13b9), choose the style you’d like, and
Band-in-a-Box does the rest, automatically generating a complete professional-quality arrangement of piano, bass, drums,
guitar, and strings or horns in a wide variety of popular styles plus live audio tracks with RealDrums and RealTracks.
And that’s not all...
Band-in-a-Box is a powerful and creative music composition tool for exploring and developing musical ideas with near-
instantaneous feedback. Over the years many features have been added to Band-in-a-Box – Notation and Lyrics, Piano Roll, 16-
channel MIDI multi-tracks, harmonization, the StyleMaker and StylePicker, a live performance Conductor window, Medley
Maker, and 24-substyle MultiStyles. The Soloist and the Melodist are popular “intelligent” features that generate professional
solos or even create whole new songs from scratch. RealDrums add the human element of a live drummer while RealTracks add
even more live session musicians, bringing the entire Band-in-a-Box arrangement to life. You can even record your own
UserTracks and Band-in-a-Box will play them just like RealTracks! Or use the MIDI SuperTracks for MIDI tracks with a “real
feel” that you can edit and arrange. The Audio Chord Wizard has the amazing ability to analyze, extract, and show the chords
from audio recordings on-screen and then write them to the Band-in-a-Box Chord Sheet.
The inclusion of digital audio features makes Band-in-a-Box the perfect tool for creating, playing, and recording your music
with MIDI, vocals, and acoustic instruments. Band-in-a-Box can also record an acoustic instrument or voice to add to the
composition, with processing through its own DirectX audio effects. Its audio harmonies will turn your audio track into multiple
harmony parts or adjust its pitch. Use the Mixer window to select parts, set levels, and create a polished final mix.
You can print out your finished creation with lyrics, chords, repeats and endings, DC markings, and codas, or save it as a
graphics file for web publication or to e-mail to a friend. And when you are ready to let others hear your composition, you can
burn it directly to an audio CD. Or save your composition as a Windows® Media File (or in any other compressed formats you
have) for a file that’s “Internet ready.”
You will have even more fun making automatic medleys, playing your favorite song lists in the Band-in-a-Box Jukebox, and
singing along to your Karaoke files with CDG graphics.
Let’s get started!
This is a comprehensive guide to the program, including information not included in the printed manual. We will begin with the
easy installation and setup procedure.
System Requirements
Windows® 7 / 8 / 10 / 11 (32 or 64-bit)
Minimum 1 GB RAM (2 GB+ recommended)
Minimum 1.0 GHz processor (2 GHz+ multicore recommended)
Disk space required for the installation depends mainly on how many RealTracks Sets and other content you install.
- A basic installation of Band-in-a-Box (with the included MIDI SuperTracks, Artist Performances, MIDI Styles, Soloists, and
Melodists), and RealBand requires about 3 GB of free hard disk space.
- A full installation of Band-in-a-Box, RealBand, and all of the RealTracks included in the Pro version requires about 30 GB of
hard disk space. 40 GB is required for the MegaPAK version.
- If you have additional RealTracks Sets, they require about 100-350 MB per set on average.
- If you install additional Video RealTracks Sets, they require about 2 GB per set on average.
- A full installation of Band-in-a-Box, RealBand and all RealTracks available (UltraPAK or UltraPAK+) requires close to 170
GB of hard disk space.
1024x768 screen resolution (1360x768+ recommended)
USB port for the USB flash drive version of the MegaPAK or Pro.
USB port for the USB hard drive version of the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
A MIDI sound source is required. This could be a sound card, a MIDI keyboard, MIDI sound module, or software synthesizer.
Internet connection recommended for activation and updates.
Activation
To activate your Band-in-a-Box, follow these steps:
1. Launch Band-in-a-Box on your computer.
2. A flash message will appear asking you to activate the program. Click on this message or go to the Help menu and select
Activate Band-in-a-Box. This will open the Band-in-a-Box Activation dialog.
3. If your computer is connected to the internet, click on the [Activate Online] button in the dialog and enter your 24-digit
Band-in-a-Box serial number.
4. If your computer is not connected to the internet, click on the [Activate Offline] button in the dialog and enter your 24-digit
Band-in-a-Box serial number. This will generate a request number. Contact PG Music with both your Band-in-a-Box serial
number and the request number.
You can also watch the video at https://youtu.be/8mbJleZ0QGs
Please note that Band-in-a-Box needs to be activated within 30 days after you first run the program.
MIDI Setup
Band-in-a-Box uses the multimedia drivers for your MIDI interface and/or sound card that are supported by the Windows®
operating system. To get sound playback you need to have a MIDI (and audio - for songs with digital audio, RealDrums, and
RealTracks) driver installed.
To start using the program you will need to make sure that your MIDI interface, audio driver, and Windows® sound source are
installed and configured.
Run the program by double-clicking the program icon.
To check your MIDI driver setup, press the [MIDI] toolbar icon and select the menu item MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup.
This will open the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup dialog. You can also go to Options | MIDI/Audio Driver Setup to open
this dialog.
When SynthMaster is selected as a default synth, its name shows in the [VSTi/DXi Synth]
button.
Note: The included Coyote synth supports GM2 instruments, as do most newer modules/sound chips. If yours doesn’t, a similar instrument
from the existing 128 General MIDI sounds will be substituted.
You can select a GM2 patch by right-clicking on the track name in the Mixer and selecting Select MIDI Patch | Select GM2
Patch from the menu.
Audio Setup
The [Audio Settings] button in the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup displays the current audio driver and
status (WAS/MME/ASIO).
Band-in-a-Box performs the audio setup automatically using the installed system audio components.
To restore or modify this setup, click on the [Prefs] toolbar button and then click on the [Audio] tab to open
the Audio Settings dialog. You can also select the Audio | Audio Drivers/Settings menu item.
Audio Driver Type: You will see the following options for
Audio Driver Type: MME, ASIO, or WAS. MME is the
default audio driver type that is used in Windows®. MME is
good, but there is latency (delay) associated with MME
drivers. ASIO is a faster audio driver developed by
Steinberg. It has much lower latency than ordinary MME
drivers, but usually can be used by one program at a time.
WAS (Windows® Audio Session) has ultra-low latency (<
25 ms on a typical Windows® PC), so audio operations like
playing or sending out information via MIDI happen with
no noticeable delay.
The DMA Size and DMA Offset settings are set
automatically by the auto-testing of the sound card. The
default value for all of these settings is 0 (zero). You can
override these settings if required, but it is usually not
necessary.
The Offset in mS is not a setting that gets set automatically. It defaults to zero. This allows you to adjust the timing that the
sound card plays audio in relation to MIDI. Normally you’d leave this at zero, but if you need to fine tune the synchronization of
audio to MIDI you could try changing this setting.
Audio Latency in mS: DirectX audio plug-ins and DXi synthesizer plug-ins can have playback latency (the delay between
when a note is played, and when it is heard). Adjust “Audio Latency in mS” to fine-tune for your computer. If you have a fast
Understanding Latency
Latency is based on the buffer sizes. The smaller the buffer sizes the lower the latency. Lower latency allows you to hear mixer
volume changes very quickly, as well as hear MIDI thru echoed out via a DXi soft synth practically in real time. The latency, in
MS is determined by the buffer size in samples, as well as the driver’s sampling rate.
Note: If your ASIO driver’s control panel lets you select the buffer size in MS, then you don’t have to pay much attention to the part of
discussion below about converting samples to MS.
Converting Samples to MS: For example, suppose the driver’s sample rate is 48K. A 48K sampling rate means that it is
playing at 48,000 samples per second. If the buffer size were 48000 samples, then the latency would be 1 second, or 1000ms
(which is very large and slow, and usually not allowed in ASIO). If the buffer size were 4800 samples, which is 1/10 second,
then the latency would be 100ms. If the buffer size were 2400 samples, which is 1/20 second, the latency would be 50 ms. If the
buffer size were 240 samples, which is 1/200 second, the latency would be a mere 5ms which is incredibly low and very fast.
Normally, you can change your driver’s latency by pressing the [ASIO Driver’s Control Panel] button. Normally, the driver
specifies the buffer sizes in milliseconds which is equal to the latency.
Low latency is faster and more responsive but uses more CPU power.
Depending on the speed of your computer, you may find that the playback has dropouts, clicks/pops, or other artifacts if you set
the buffer sizes too small. This is because smaller buffers use more CPU power and if your computer can’t handle the low
latency you will hear artifacts. If this happens, you would need to use larger buffer sizes. You may need to experiment to find
what works well. You may be able to use smaller buffers with songs that don’t have a lot of tracks and effects but may find that
you need to use larger buffers with songs that have more tracks and use more effects. This is because more tracks and more
effects use more CPU power, which leaves less CPU power available for the audio routines to keep up with lower latencies.
Sample Rate Detection Warning
Windows 7 has a peculiar issue where if you choose Windows® Start button - Control Panel - “Sound,” right-click on your
output device, choose “Properties” and then “Advanced,” you can see the default format. It should be 44100 Hz. Unfortunately,
some apps change this setting without your knowledge. When it is set like this, all of your audio gets “resampled” and this can
create obvious audible artifacts and make some things sound “bad.”
Band-in-a-Box detects this setting when you exit the MIDI/Audio
Drivers Setup dialog, and will give you a notification about it, and
that’s a clue for you to visit this dialog and set it back to 44100 Hz.
Have fun!
Each of the numbered cells on the Chord Sheet represents a bar. In this example, we see that there is an E chord in the first bar
of this song, an A chord in bar 5, and later in the song, an E7 in bar 12. Notice the box in the first half of bar 1. This is the
highlight cell, and it represents the bar you are currently working on. You can move the highlight cell around using the cursor
keys or click on any bar with the mouse.
Enter Chords Using the Computer Keyboard
To enter a specific chord, move the highlight cell to where you want to place the chord. For example, to add (or change) a chord
in bar 10, you would highlight bar 10 on the Chord Sheet. Next, type in your chords. If you want an A chord at bar 10, type the
A key on your keyboard, and press Enter. Notice that when you use the Enter key, the highlight cell moves to the second half
of the bar. You could then enter another chord at beat 3. Chords names are normally typed using standard chord symbols (like C
or Fm7 or Bb7 or Bb13#9/E), but you can enter them in other chord formats like Roman Numerals, Nashville Notation,
Solfeggio, and Fixed Do (popular in Italy and Europe).
Enter Chords Using a MIDI Controller Keyboard
If you have a MIDI controller keyboard, you can use it to enter chords into Band-in-a-Box. Play a chord on your MIDI
keyboard, and then type Ctrl+Enter. The chord will be entered into the Chord Sheet at the current highlight cell position.
Chapter 2: QuickStart 15
Step 3 – Play your song!
To play your song you will need to tell Band-in-a-Box how long the song is, how many times to play it through, in what key,
and how fast.
Framing the Song
16 Chapter 2: QuickStart
T 1 2 5 Enter Sets the tempo to 125.
[ Decreases the tempo by 5.
] Increases the tempo by 5.
Press Play
When you’re ready, just press the [Play] button or the F4 function key and Band-in-a-Box will immediately generate and play a
professional arrangement of your song using the settings and the style you selected. You can double-click on any bar in the
Chord Sheet, including the tag or ending, to start playback from that bar.
More fun with Band-in-a-Box…
That’s how easy it is to start creating music with Band-in-a-Box, but it’s just the beginning. Band-in-a-Box is jam-packed with
features, helpers, and user options, so read on and keep having fun!
Feature Browser
Clicking on the [?] button on the main screen or pressing the / Enter keys on the Chord Sheet opens the Feature
Browser.
This dialog lists many features in Band-in-a-Box and allows you to browse them, find the feature by text filter, read descriptions
about the feature, find how to launch the feature, access to the online information or video about the feature, and do more.
Chapter 2: QuickStart 17
Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2024
Band-in-a-Box 2024 for Windows® is here!
We’ve been busy and added over 50 new features and an amazing collection of new content, including 222 RealTracks, new
RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 3,
Playable RealDrums Set 2, two new sets of “RealDrums Stems,” XPro Styles PAK 6, Xtra Styles PAK 17, and more!
We have a 2024 49-PAK with 50 BONUS RealTracks in addition to the 222 new RealTracks, so in total an amazing 272 new
RealTracks and RealDrums are available! There are over 100 new “Playable RealTracks” Hi-Q sounds, which match many of
our RealTracks, so you can easily switch from RealTracks parts to MIDI notes while maintaining the instrument sound! There is
also a set of 10 new Playable RealDrums, and ALL Playable RealTracks and RealDrums also have accompanying audio demos.
The 2024 49-PAK also includes 2 new Artist Performance Sets that contains 50 original songs with vocal performances by a
variety of talented singers! There are Instrumental Studies Sets that include exciting ’80s hard rock rhythm & soloing guitar, as
well as a cool new set of New Orleans piano studies. There are also two new RealDrums Stems Sets, which allow you to access
the individual wave files from each different mic used to record many of our most popular RealDrums! There are three new
MIDI SuperTracks Sets, including styles designed to work with the amazing SynthMaster plugin!
In addition, there are over 100 new RealStyles that use the new RealTracks. These include new requested ’60s Soul Jazz with
legendary drummer Mike Clark. There are also new modern jazz & fusion styles. There are funk and R&B horn section styles,
which not only include the ensemble tracks, but ALSO include the individual stems, so the horns can be on separate tracks, but
playing perfectly in sync with one another. There are LA Jazz Pop styles with guitars, bass, and keyboard, that blend beautifully
with our previously released LA Jazz Pop RealDrums. There are requested fast bebop comping piano styles, as well as new 2-
hand piano soloing styles. There are exciting New Orleans piano styles with pianist-extraordinaire Kevin McKendree. And we
also have requested world styles, with exiting new Chinese instruments (Guzheng, Dizi, Pipa), as well as instruments with South
American origins (“Siku” panpipes & bongos). In the “pop, rock, and world” category, we’ve added many “southern keys,”,
including organ styles from Charles Treadway and more great electric and acoustic pianos from Kevin McKendree, including
great funky clav styles. We’ve added to our requested “southern soul” RealTracks with new guitars from Nashville great Brent
Mason and veteran pro Pat Bergeson. There are new “indie-folk” guitars and banjos, and more. And on the Country &
Americana side, there are great new modern country styles featuring Brent Mason on guitar, Eddie Bayers (14-time winner of
the ACM “drummer of the year” award!) on drums, and veteran producer and musician Mike Harrison on bass. A subset of
modern country is “bro country,” and we have new styles for that genre as well! There are also new “Vintage Country” styles,
with that old classic 50s country sound. These styles feature country swing and country waltz grooves with pedal steel, electric
guitar, acoustic and electric bass, and a RealTracks first: tic-tac baritone guitar. This style is a distinctive playing method, where
the baritone plays bass notes with a muted tone, giving it that great classic sound!
You can horizontally zoom in/out with the mouse wheel. Moving the mouse wheel while holding down the Ctrl key changes the
height of each track panel.
The numbered scale at the top of the window indicates bars and beats, with a full height vertical division for each bar and a short
vertical line for each beat or quarter note. Bars with part markers also include the A or B part marker letter with the bar number
(1a, 9b).
On the left of the window, there are mixer settings for each track that can be adjusted as the song is playing.
To adjust volume, pan, reverb and tone, click on a slider and move it
horizontally. They can also be controlled by right-clicking on a number
dial and typing in a new number. You can also adjust them with the
mouse wheel while the mouse cursor is over the sliders or number dials.
Hold the Ctrl key down as you click on the slider or drag the thumb of
the slider. This will force all tracks to move to the same absolute
location as the original track. Hold the Shift key and it will move all
tracks relative to the move of the original track. Double-clicking on the
slider sets the value to a default value.
Each track has its own VU meters to show the sound level, and buttons to mute, solo and freeze the track.
Use the [-] and [+] buttons to zoom horizontally. You can also use the mouse wheel.
The [Whole Track] button zooms out as far as possible, showing the entire track.
The small [+] and [-] buttons change the height of the track panel. You can also move the mouse wheel while holding down the
Ctrl key.
When the Snap mode in enabled, selecting a region of data will snap to the closest beat.
The [Loop Selected Area] button plays and loops the selected region.
The [Select Whole] button selects the whole track.
The wheel button will open the settings dialog, which allows you to customize the appearance of the waveform.
When the Edit Mode button is enabled, you can edit phrases and loops. For example, you can select a RealTracks phrase
and turn it into a loop on a different track.
New MultiPicker Library Window
This is a one-stop-shopping floating window to pick a style and/or any of the 8 track types (RealTracks, RealDrums, Loops,
UserTracks, MIDI SuperTracks, Custom MIDITracks, MIDI Soloists, and Melodists). All pickers show a common interface
with a similar look and functions for filters, searching, selection. It allows selection and generation of the whole or partial track.
Demos, memos, and multi-column information are available for all. You can filter by genre, popular song titles, feel,
instruments, and more.
You can open the MultiPicker Library window with the F7 or M Enter keys.
Use the tab buttons at the top of the window to switch the type of tracks.
The track selector allows you to select a track that the selected item on the list will be applied to.
Clicking on the [+] button beside the track selector will display a small panel, where you can solo, mute, freeze, set
volume/reverb/panning/tone, change the track label, write the track description, and do more for the current track.
You can use the filter function to search items on the list.
For example, type a text (e.g., bossa) in the Filter String field, and the list will be filtered to show only the items that have the
word “bossa” somewhere in the name, genre, memo, etc. The [#] button allows you to filter the list by many elements including
feel, time signature, set numbers, artists, etc. You can also use the arrow buttons to quickly filter the list by a genre, instrument,
time signature, feel, etc. Press the [Clear] button to clear the filter and show all available items on the list.
For the StylePicker, there is an Include Similar checkbox. If this is checked, then the filtered list will show the exact match
only, but if this option is checked, then the list will show the exact match and the similar styles. The [Clear] button will clear
any filter so all styles will display.
You can read memos and artist bios (if available).
For some types of tracks, there is a [Settings] button that opens a small panel for additional settings. For
styles, there is an [Options] button that shows a menu for setting the options.
RealTracks Settings and MIDI SuperTracks Settings Panels
The Timebase option is to play the selected RealTracks/MIDI SuperTracks at normal, half time, double time or triple time.
The [Medley] button allows you to create a medley of RealTracks on the same track.
The Chord Progression Builder displays and suggests the best next chords in the current key. The top row shows diatonic chords
made up only of notes in the key. They are the most common chords used in the key, with the 1, 4, and 5 chords being the most
common. Other rows add additional chords that are part of the key, such as dominant 7th approach, slash chords, parallel minor,
diminished, and more. You can enable the “Jazz” checkbox to see jazz chords (e.g., sevenths like Maj7) instead of pop chords
(e.g., triads like C).
So, move to the next bar on the Chord Sheet and select F in the Builder. This will enter F to bar 2 and the Builder will suggest
the best next chords to that chord.
You then move to bar 3 on the Chord Sheet and select Em in the Builder. This will enter Em to bar 3 and the Builder will
suggest the best next chords to that chord.
The Utility track selector is added to the dialog so you can control the volume of each Utility track at any bar.
When you return to the Bar Settings dialog you can see which RealTracks will be used on which tracks (e.g. u1 361, u3 397).
Custom MIDI tracks can be generated on any track for the whole track or a specified region. To select a track, use the track
selector at the top of the window.
When you have selected a custom MIDITrack from the list, press the [Apply] button to apply it to the current track. his won’t
generate a track but if you press the [Generate] button, a whole track will be generated. You can press it again to regenerate the
whole track. If you want to generate just for a portion of the track, press the [Part.Gen] button instead. This will open a small
panel, which lets you specify the range based on either the full bar boundaries or precise regions in bars/beat/ticks. You then
press the [Re-Gen this Range] button.
Then, select an item from the list and press the [Part.Gen] button. This will open a small panel, where you can specify the range
based on either the full bar boundaries or precise regions in bars/beat/ticks. You can also highlight a region on the Chord Sheet
or the Tracks window. You then press the [Re-Gen this Range] button.
This will open a small panel. Type in a song title and press the [Enter] key. For example, to find RealTracks that are similar to
the American traditional song “Amazing Grace,” type in “amazing,” click on the song to select it, and press [Enter].
This is an even 8th slow waltz folk song, and the list will be filtered to show RealTracks that match these elements.
You can also press the [Browse] button to open the Song Titles Browser window, which lets you browse the huge list of over
21,000 popular song titles.
This will immediately filter the list by the feel of the current style.
The same is available for other filters like genre, tempo and time signature.
The MIDI Soloist can generate a solo on any track, not just the Soloist track. Use the track selector to select a tack. If you select
a track other than the Soloist track, disable the Use Soloist track for Soloist checkbox.
For example, type a text (e.g., bossa) in the Filter String field, and the list will be filtered to show only the Soloists that have
the word “bossa” somewhere in the name, genre, memo, etc. The [#] button allows you to filter the list by many elements
including feel, time signature, set numbers, artists, etc. You can also use the arrow buttons to quickly filter the list by a genre,
instrument, time signature, feel, etc. Press the [Clear] button to clear the filter and show all available Soloists on the list.
Audio demos are available for all MIDI Soloists. To hear an audio demo of the selected MIDI Soloist, press the
[Demo] button. You can also double-click on the list or press the spacebar if Double-Click (or Spacebar) plays Chord Sheet (not
pre-made demo) in the [+] button is unchecked. You can adjust volume of the audio demos with a menu item in the [+] button.
When you have selected a Soloist from the list, press the [Generate] button to generate a solo for the whole track. You can
press it again to regenerate for the whole track. If you want to generate a solo just for a portion of the track, press the [Part.Gen]
button to open a small panel. You then specify the range based on either the full bar boundaries or precise regions in
bars/beat/ticks and then press the [Re-Gen this Range] button.
Enhanced Melodists
The Melodist can be picked from a floating window with many new filters. Open the MultiPicker Library window with the F7
key and press the [Melodist] tab. You will see the list of 209 Melodists.
For example, type a text (e.g., bossa) in the Filter String field, and the list will be filtered to show only the Melodists that have
the word “bossa” somewhere in the name, genre, memo, etc. The [#] button allows you to filter the list by many elements
including feel, time signature, set numbers, artists, etc. You can also use the arrow buttons to quickly filter the list by a genre,
instrument, time signature, feel, etc. Press the [Clear] button to clear the filter and show all available Soloists on the list.
Audio demos are available for all Melodists. To hear an audio demo of the selected Melodist, press the [Demo]
button. You can also double-click on the list or press the spacebar if Double-Click (or Spacebar) plays Chord Sheet (not pre-
made demo) in the [+] button is unchecked. You can adjust volume of the audio demos with a menu item in the [+] button.
The [Settings] button opens a small panel where you can select the elements (melody, chords, song title, etc.) that the
Melodist will generate.
If the Chords checkbox is disabled, the Melodist will generate chords, but if you want to
keep the current chord progression already entered on the Chord Sheet, then uncheck this
option. By default, the Melodist will use the associated style, but if you don’t want the
current style changed, then uncheck the Style Change option. You can also use the
preset buttons to quickly select the elements. For example, the [Chords Only] button
checks the “Chord” option and unchecks all other elements. The [Melody and Chords]
button checks “Melody” and “Chords.” The [More Melodist] button opens the Melodist
dialog to select additional settings and options.
When you have selected a Melodist from the list, press the [Generate] button to generate selected elements (melody, chords,
etc.) for the whole track. You can press it again to regenerate for the whole track. If you want to generate just for a portion of the
track, press the [Part.Gen] button to open a small panel. You then specify the range based on either the full bar boundaries or
precise regions in bars/beat/ticks and then press the [Re-Gen this Range] button.
You can also use the Chord Options dialog to do this. Open the dialog with Alt+F5, and select a rest type in the “Rest, Shots,
Holds” area. If you want to exclude tracks, enable the All except radio button, and check the tracks that you want to exclude.
For Band-in-a-Box, each line in a text file represents a bar. Therefore, when you save the lyrics and chords generated by
LyricLab in a text file, make sure there is one chord on each line before opening it in Band-in-a-Box. Otherwise, when you open
the file, only the first chord on the same line will be imported to Band-in-a-Box.
For example, if a text file contains two chords on each line, then when you open the file in Band-in-a-Box, the second chord on
each line will be ignored.
But if you add a line break to the file so that each line contains one chord, then all the chords will show on the Chord Sheet.
The lyrics from a LyricLab text file will display on the Bar Lyrics Layer of the Chord Sheet, the Lead Sheet window, and the
Big Lyrics window.
… and more!
Thank you for taking time to read this introduction to Band-in-a-Box 2024!
7→
1. The Status Bar is used to show program running status messages and path names of the currently loaded song. This area
also includes the Menu Bar, with typical Windows® menus for the program settings. Immediately below it are the Track
buttons, where instruments are assigned and sounds are chosen. Right-click on the instrument names to open a menu of
settings for that instrument.
2. The Main Tool Bar has buttons for direct access to important program features and menus. Hold the mouse cursor on any
button to see a pop-up hint that describes its function.
3. The Song Panel includes the song title and all the other settings for the song such as its Key Signature, Tempo, and Chorus
settings. The [Song] and [Style] buttons offer various ways of selecting songs and styles, including the SongPicker and
StylePicker dialogs.
4. The Function Tool Bars are organized into groups of buttons for related features such as Transport, Tools, Views, and
Tracks.
5. The Progress Bar displays a timeline for the current song.
6. The Mixer provides live control of parts with Volume, Pan, Reverb, and Tone settings. It also supports the assignment of
plug-ins and patches to individual parts and has a piano keyboard display.
7. The Chord Sheet occupies the lower part of the screen. Chord changes for the song are typed into the numbered bars (cells)
in the sheet. Part markers (a, b, through x) are entered here to switch between up to 24 Band-in-a-Box substyles. Repeats and
endings are also shown.
The Band-in-a-Box window is resizable. When the window size changes, the Chord Sheet, Notation, and other windows redraw
in proportion to the new size. This allows you to have Band-in-a-Box open as a small window on screen with other programs,
and you still see a full Chord Sheet. The screen size is remembered between sessions. To resize the window, first unmaximize it.
Then use the sizing control at the bottom right. The various Band-in-a-Box windows will scale as you do this. Band-in-a-Box
will remember the position and size of the window between sessions.
Yellow Alert Messages and Green Action Messages
You will see that many Band-in-a-Box messages appear as “yellow alerts” at the bottom right of the screen. That way you don’t
have to respond to the message, interrupting work flow. If the message box is green instead of yellow, it’s an “action” message
and you can click on it to perform the action described, such as loading a substitute style. The green action messages have a
close button, which is useful for closing them without performing the action.
Tip: You can change the flash message colors in
the Display Options dialog (Options | Preferences
| [Display]).
Descriptive Hints
The pop-up hints are comprehensive fly-by hints that appear when you move over
an item, including hints for the dialog boxes and various windows.
Status Bar
The name of the open song is identified in the status bar at the top of the screen. The full file name and path name are shown, as
well as audio track information if present, the length of the song in minutes and seconds, and the current position of the
highlight cell. Other “running status” messages such as Soloist Generation and Song Generation display in the status bar.
The status bar changes during playback to show additional information like the current bar and chorus location and the current
style. The on-screen file name includes “*” when a file has been changed.
Track Buttons
Toolbars
The toolbar buttons give quick access to program features. They are grouped according to function.
Toolbar Modes
There are three modes for the toolbar.
You can switch the toolbar modes using the Mode Selector buttons at the top left of the screen.
1. Smaller, configurable toolbar with tabbed interface.
The Drop Station is used to drag and drop tracks from Band-in-a-Box to Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) that don’t
support direct drag and drop. Many DAWs will allow you to do this directly, but if your sequencer does not support the direct
drop of a track that is not yet generated, you can drag from a radio button (Master, Bass, Piano, etc.) to the Drop Station.
The Drop Station shows six different file types. Your file will be rendered to the file type you drop it in and the button will
change color to orange, indicating that the file is accepted and being prepared.
When you drop the track to the [+] in the center, you are presented with a dialog, where you can choose a file format and other
render options. (See Chapter 13 for details.)
When the button turns bright green, the track has been generated and is ready to drag from the Drop zone to your DAW.
The Drop panel has a right-click menu, allowing you to copy the resulting file to a favorite folder, open the favorite folder,
start/stop the DAW Plug-in mode, upload to Dropbox, and more.
The [DAW Plugin] button has two menu items. One starts or ends the plug-in mode, which lets you drag and drop MIDI or
audio files from Band-in-a-Box to your DAW or Explorer. The other opens a Plugin Settings dialog, which controls drag ‘n’
drop operations.
File
This area is for file functions like Open, Save, etc.
The [New] button clears the Chord Sheet to start a new song. Band-in-a-Box reminds you to save your work before it erases the
chords.
The [Open] button shows a menu to open songs into the program using various methods.
Use the [Prev] button to immediately open the previous song in the same folder (in alphabetical order) without going through
the usual file opening process. The hotkeys are Ctrl+Shift+F8.
Use the [Next] button to instantly open the next song in the same folder (in alphabetical order) without going through the usual
file opening process. The hotkeys are Shift+F8.
The [Save] button saves the song to disk with the standard Windows® Save As dialog.
The [Save As] button will show a menu to save a song using various methods.
The [.MID] button allows you to make a standard MIDI file and save it to disk as a file with extension .MID or to the
Windows® clipboard with type “Standard MIDI File.” Type 0 and Type 1 MIDI files are supported, or you can also choose to
save the song as a Karaoke file with the .KAR extension.
The [.WAV] button shows a menu with options to save the song as an audio file.
Use the [Print] button to open the Print Options dialog, which allows you to print Lead Sheet or Fake Sheet style notation.
The [Prefs] button will open the Preferences dialog, where you can set various settings all at once and access most of the
program options. The hotkeys are Ctrl+E.
The [Sound] button opens either the Windows® Play control for sound output or the Windows® Record control for the recording
input.
The [Plugins] button has a menu to set options for VST/DX plugins, to open the default VSTi/DXi software synthesizer, and to
open the PG Music Reverb dialog.
Use the [MIDI] button to launch various MIDI options and also to enable the MIDI keyboard Wizard for playing along on the
lower two rows of the QWERTY keyboard during playback.
The [StyleMaker] button will show menu options to edit or make styles.
The [Practice] button will show menu options for various practice features.
The [Tuner] button opens the Guitar Tuner so you can tune a guitar or other instrument that is plugged into the sound card.
Click on the [Video Help] button for a link to video demonstrations and tutorials.
The [Song] button lets you load a song. This is a split button. The top half of the button uses the default method to load a song.
The bottom half shows a menu of different methods to load a song and allows you to set the default action for the top.
The [Style] button is also a split button, with the top half being the default function, and the bottom half listing different
methods to load a style and allows you to set the default.
The song title is displayed, and you can type in the name in this box. Directly below the song title, the style display shows the
style name and more information about the style. Clicking on the name of the style shows a meu with options for choosing a
style for your song. Change style at any bar inserts a style change at the currently highlighted bar on the Chord Sheet. Open
Style from disk is for selecting styles from file folders. Choose Favorite Style opens either a list of pre-selected favorites, or a list
of recently played styles. Load Song Demo loads a song demo for the current style.
The [Song Settings] button opens a dialog with settings to use for a polished song arrangement, including a tag (coda),
automatic endings, style variations and more.
The [Memo] button opens a dialog where you can type any information about your song.
The Start control shows the bar where the chorus begins. Click on it, and click on a bar number or type a number in the dialog
to select the first bar of the chorus.
The End control shows the bar where the chorus ends. Click on it and then click on a bar number or type in the dialog to select
the last bar of the chorus. By default, the end bar for new songs is 32, but you can change this default in the Arrangement
Options dialog.
The Choruses control shows the number of choruses. Click on it and choose the number of choruses (up to 40). By default, new
songs default to 1 chorus, but you can change this default in the Arrangement Options dialog.
The Feel control shows the feel (swing or even, and 8th of 16th) of the song. This is determined by the selected style.
The TimeSig control shows the time signature of the song. You can click on it to change the time signature for the whole song
or the selection region of the song.
The Key control is used to set the key or to change it and transpose the song. When you press it, you see 2 columns of keys. The
first column will set the key AND transpose the song; the second will just set the key signature. The Visual Transpose setting is
displayed in a small font next to the key. You can click on it to show a menu for selecting the setting.
The BPM in the Tempo control shows the current song tempo. Left-click on the up/down arrows to change the tempo by +/- 5
beats per minute. Right-click to change it by +/- 1 bpm. Tempos can also be typed in directly. The % allows you to quickly set
the relative tempo. Click on the button and choose a percentage or use the Custom Tempo % menu item to set any value between
1% and 800%. 1% would be 1/100 of the original tempo and 800% would be 8 times the original tempo. Hotkeys are available:
Ctrl - (minus key) for half speed and Ctrl = for normal speed. Use the TAP buttons to count and set a tempo. Tap the [-] button
in tempo four times to set the tempo. It will appear in the tempo box. Tap the [=] button to count-in the song and start playback
at the tapped tempo. As you tap more than 4 times, the accuracy will improve (through averaging) and you can continue to tap
until the target tempo has been reached. For example, in a 4/4/ style, once you tap 4 times a tempo will be set. But you can keep
tapping and the tempo will change every beat, based on the average tempo that you have typed.
Transport
This area is for standard play controls, recording controls, Jukebox, and Conductor.
[Play] plays the song from the beginning without creating a new arrangement, unless regenerating is required.
[Generate and Play] generates a new Band-in-a-Box arrangement and then plays the song.
[Loop] plays the selected (highlighted) section of the Chord Sheet in a loop. The drop-down menu has settings for looping the
entire song.
The [Play from Bar] button is used to play a song starting anywhere in the song, including tags or endings. This feature is also
available from the right-click menu in the Chord Sheet.
The [Stop] button stops the song or the Jukebox from playing.
The [Pause/Continue] button pauses the song during playback. Press again to continue from the paused location.
The [Notation] button toggles between the Notation window, where you can enter chords and lyrics, edit notation, and view
MIDI notation, and the Chord Sheet, where you enter chords for your song. The hotkeys are Ctrl+W. Holding the Shift key
when pressing the button opens a moveable window.
The [Chord Sheet] button displays the Chord Sheet window. This is the default window in Band-in-a-Box, where you enter
chords.
The [Tracks] button shows the Tracks window, which allows lossless data manipulation of tracks in a familiar environment for
DAW users.
The [Piano Roll] button opens the Piano Roll window for editing MIDI tracks in a piano roll format, including graphic
controller editing. Holding the Shift key when pressing the button opens a moveable window.
The [Audio Edit] button opens the Audio Edit window, which displays a graphical waveform and allows editing. The hotkeys
are Ctrl+Shift+A. Holding the Shift key when pressing the button opens a moveable window.
The [Audio Chord Wizard] button opens the Audio Edit window and launches Audio Chord Wizard, which will automatically
figure out the chords from an audio file.
The [Lead Sheet] button opens a full-screen notation window with optional Fake Sheet mode that shows 1st and 2nd endings,
repeats, and codas. The hotkeys are Alt+W
The [Guitar] button opens the Guitar window that displays guitar notes as music is playing. The hotkeys are Ctrl+Shift+G.
The [Big Piano] button opens the Big Piano window. It will display the notes as the music is playing. The hotkeys are
Ctrl+Shift+N.
The [Drums] button opens the animated Drum Kit window. The hotkeys are Ctrl+Shift+D.
The [Video] button opens a menu with options to open the Video window and the Generate Video dialog.
The [Big Lyrics] button is to open various lyrics windows (Big Lyrics window for full screen “Karaoke-style” scrolling lyrics,
the Lyric Document window, and Karaoke window) and to generate vocal synth from the lyrics and melody.
The [RealTracks] button allows you to select RealTracks, set RealTracks preferences, select better RealTracks for the song
tempo, and replace MIDI styles with RealTrack styles.
The [RealDrums] button shows a menu with options to open various RealDrums selection dialogs and set the RealDrums
preferences.
The [UserTracks] button displays a dialog of available UserTracks, which are like RealTracks but are made by you or third
parties.
The [Loops] button is for the Loops Picker, where you can choose an audio loop (e.g., nature sound, drum loop, etc.) to any
track. (Tip: You can add your own loops to the Loops folder in the RealTracks folder.)
The [MIDI Tracks] button is for choosing a MIDI SuperTrack or using the MIDI Track Picker to add a MIDI track from a
different style to the current song.
The [Freeze] button opens a list of tracks with the option to freeze or unfreeze all tracks or just freeze individual tracks. Frozen
tracks play without regenerating for faster playback. This button also allows you to force tracks to simple arrangements.
The [Simple] button allows you to force any tracks or all tracks to play with simple arrangements. You can set this for the
current song or all songs.
The [Harmony] button allows you to add MIDI harmonies to the Melody or the Thru/Soloist track, giving you harmonies for
your live playing on the Thru channel or QWERTY wizard.
The [Melodist] button opens the Melodist dialog, where you can choose the type (or genre) of Melodist you wish to have
generate a new song with chord changes and melody as well as an improvised solo and an original song title.
The menu for the [Soloist] button is to select a RealTracks Soloist from a list of best Soloists or to open the Soloist dialog,
where you can choose a custom Soloist (MIDI or RealTracks) to play over any given chord changes.
Progress Bar
This bar displays a timeline for the current song. The current time is marked with a gray vertical line. You can click on the bar
to move the current time to that point. Part markers are marked with colored (blue, green, etc.) vertical lines and the beginning
of each chorus is marked with outlines. You can double-click on the bar to start playback from that point.
Mixer
The Mixer window shows the current state of the tracks and allows easy changes or adjustments.
The window can be embedded in the main screen and is horizontally resizable to allow more room for the Chord Sheet,
Notation, Piano Roll, or Audio Edit window.
In the Mixer screen, each track has settings for Volume, Pan, Reverb, and Tone that can be adjusted as the song is playing. To
adjust them, click on a slider and move it horizontally. They can also be controlled by right-clicking on a number and typing in a
new number. You can also adjust them with the mouse wheel while the mouse cursor is over the sliders or number dials. Hold
the Ctrl key down as you click on the slider or drag the thumb of the slider. This will force all tracks to move to the same
absolute location as the original track. Hold the Shift key and it will move all tracks relative to the move of the original track.
Double-clicking on the slider sets the value to a default value.
You can set Volume and Pan to display as decibels instead of MIDI values. This makes sense when you are mostly dealing with
RealTracks, RealDrums, and audio tracks. To display as decibels for all tracks, enable the “Display dB Instead of MIDI
Volume” option in the Settings tab. To set for each track, right-click on a track and select Track Settings | Display dB Instead of
MIDI volume.
Each track has its own VU meters to show the sound level, and buttons to mute, solo and freeze the track. The mute
and solo states of each track will be saved in the songs and will be loaded the next time you open them.
Right-clicking on the VU meter shows a menu with options for live audio input monitoring.
This is like “Audio Thru” and it routes incoming audio to Audio Out. When the Arm Track
menu item is checked, blue borders are drawn around its VU meters and you can monitor
your recording along with the effects that you select on that track. For example, if you want
to add a tremolo effect to your recording, right-click on the first slot in the Mixer, select
Choose Plugin from the menu, and select a tremolo effect.
The menu also has options to select an audio input. For example, if your audio interface has two inputs (right/left) and you want
to record from a microphone plugged into the right input, select the Mono Right to Stereo menu item.
For an audio track, a waveform button displays.
A stems button indicates that the track has a RealTracks/RealDrums stem loaded.
There is also a Master section with a Mute button, VU meters, and Master Volume controls.
MIDI tracks have 4 slots. The first slot can take a synthesizer (e.g., Sforzando, Coyote GM, Garritan Aria, and HyperCanvas)
and the other 3 can take audio effects (e.g., reverb, compression, etc.).
Audio tracks have 4 slots. There is no synthesizer slot, so they have 4 for audio.
Click on a plugin name, and use the menu to choose a plugin, load or save a preset or a group of presets, change plugins
settings, and do more.
Note: A “group” includes presets for all four plugins on the track. This is
saved in a .tgs (Transform Group Settings) file.
Plugins Options
This dialog opens with the Plugins Settings menu item.
Scan for VST plugins on bootup: Enable this option
if you want Band-in-a-Box to scan for new VST
plugins every time it boots up. This only includes
plugins that have not been found previously.
Scan for DX plugins on bootup: Enable this option if
you want Band-in-a-Box to scan for new DX plugins
every time it boots up.
Automatically open plugin window when assigning:
If this is checked, a plugin’s window will open
automatically when you assign to a track. This only
applies if the Plugins dialog is open.
Do not allow keyboard input to plugin windows: Enabling this will prevent plugin windows from taking focus away from
Band-in-a-Box, so keyboard input always goes directly to the main program. Disable this if you are using plugins that use
keyboard input.
Allow jBridge for loading 32 bit VST plugins: If this is enabled, Band-in-a-Box will attempt to use jBridge to load 32 bit VST
plugins. Disable this option for troubleshooting or speeding up the plugin scans.
Automatically arrange plugin windows: Plugin windows can be arranged automatically according to the assigned track, and
the position in the plugin chain. It this option is disabled, then each plugin window will open at its previous position.
[Exclude MIDI Plugins] is for selecting the MIDI plugins to exclude. Excluded plugins will not show up in the lists and will
never be loaded by Band-in-a-Box.
[Exclude Audio Plugins] is for selecting the audio plugins to exclude. Excluded plugins will not show up in the lists and will
never be loaded by Band-in-a-Box.
[Exclude Plugins] allows you to choose specific VST plugin files that you do not want Band-in-a-Box to attempt to load when
scanning for new plugins.
[Add Plugins] allows you to select VST plugins individually, add/remove VST scan folders, or scan for VST plugins in a
specific folder.
Multiple plugins GUI windows can be used simultaneously. These can be accessed from the Plugins section of the Mixer. Right-
click on a plugin button to automatically show or hide the plugin’s GUI, or left-click and choose Show Plugin Window from the
menu.
MIDI plugin’s audio output can be controlled in the Mixer with 3 settings. This allows MIDI plugin’s sound to be controlled the
same way as audio tracks (RealTracks, RealDrums, etc.). These settings are accessed from the Plugin’s context menu on the
Mixer.
Attenuate Synth Output Volume and Panning: This will change the
gain of the plugin’s audio output based on the Volume and Panning
controls on the Mixer. When this is enabled, MIDI controllers for
volume will not be sent to the plugin. This setting is useful for
plugins that do not respond to MIDI controllers.
Filter Synth Output: This will apply high/low-pass filtering to the
plugin’s audio output based on the Tone control on the Mixer.
Send Synth Output to Master Reverb: This will send the plugin’s
audio output to the Master Reverb based on the Reverb control on
the Mixer.
The [Pianos] screen shows the notes that are playing on each track on a piano keyboard.
Clicking on any instrument name opens the menu for selecting or changing the instrument.
The Settings screen allows you to set options for the Mixer.
Chord Sheet
Chords, rests, shots, holds, and part markers are entered in the Chord Sheet.
The Chord Sheet can be viewed in the full linear view showing all bars, or optionally in fake sheet view that shows 1st and 2nd
endings and repeat signs. Another option shows bars past the end of the song in gray.
You can change the number of rows and columns displayed on the Chord Sheet with the zoom buttons at the bottom right.
You can also use the mouse wheel to change the number of rows and columns instantly.
- Moving the mouse wheel while holding the Ctrl key changes the number of rows.
- Moving the mouse wheel while holding the Shift key changes the number of columns.
You can use Tab and Shift+Tab keys to navigate through the Chord Sheet.
In the Chord Sheet, typing special words, instead of chord names, will make the following settings.
B E G I N Enter Sets the beginning of the chorus to the current bar.
C H O R U S E N D Enter Sets the end of the chorus to the current bar.
E N D Enter Sets the end of the song to the current bar.
T K C Enter Sets the key signature to C. (T K B B Enter would set it to Bb.)
T R C Enter Transposes song to key of C.
T 1 2 5 Enter Sets the tempo to 125.
[ Decreases the tempo by 5.
] Increases the tempo by 5.
You can quickly load a song by typing only. Type the word “song” followed by a file name or partial file name, and the song
will get loaded in. For example, type C:\a\MySong.sgu to load in that exact song name. Type “bossa” to load the first song with
bossa in the name AFTER the current song name, in the current folder.
Quick-load a style by typing “style” followed by a style name. For example, S T Y L E Z Z B O S S A Enter will load
zzbossa.sty.)
Time signature changes will be displayed on the Chord Sheet if the “Show time
signature changes” option is enabled in the Display Options dialog.
Part Markers
Part Markers are placed on the Chord Sheet to indicate a new part of the song, to insert a substyle change, or to
insert drum fills.
They typically occur every 8 bars or so but may be placed at the beginning of any bar.
When you disable the Fake Sheet mode by pressing the [Fake Sheet] button and deselecting the Display Chord
Sheet in Fakesheet Mode menu item, the Chord Sheet will display in the full linear mode.
In this mode, you see all the bars in the order that they will be played.
Chord Entry
The basic way of entering a song into Band-in-a-Box is to type in the chords to the song on the Chord Sheet (worksheet). The
arrow keys move the active (highlighted) cell around in the Chord Sheet. The Enter key advances to the next ½ bar. Chords can
be entered from the QWERTY keyboard or an external MIDI keyboard (see Window | MIDI Chord Detection…).
Chords are typed in using any of the supported chord symbol displays:
1. Standard chord symbols (C, Fm7, Bb7, Bb13#9/E).
2. Roman numerals (Imaj7).
3. Nashville Notation (1Maj7).
4. Solfeggio (DoMaj7).
5. Fixed Do. In Italy and other parts of Europe, chords like C7 are always referred to by the Solfeggio name (Do7 for C7)
regardless of the key signature.
Note: It is not necessary to type upper or lower case. The program will sort this out for you. Any chord may be entered with an alternate root
(“Slash Chord”) e.g., C7/E = C7 with E bass. Separate chords with commas to enter 2 chords in a 2-beat cell, e.g., Dm, G7
- “Bar Lyrics” layer is for editable bar-based lyrics (up to 255 characters per bar) that are loaded and saved with the song. This
layer also displays MicroChords (including Motifs and Rests), if you have set this in the Set MicroChords dialog.
- “Section Text” and “Bar Lyrics” layers will attempt to intelligently separate your lyrics into different bars. For example, if
you have a whole song of lyrics in Notepad and the lyrics for every bar are on separate lines, you can simply highlight the
entire block of text and paste it into Band-in-a-Box using Ctrl+V. Every line of text will occupy a separate bar. If the lyrics
have not been distributed into the correct bars, you can move your text cursor to the beginning of a bar and press Backspace
to move the lyrics to the previous bar. This will shuffle the text in the following bars one bar backward as well. Hitting Enter
will move all of the text after the text cursor to the next bar and shuffle the text in the following bars one bar forward. If you
wish to see more than one line within a bar, you can hold down Ctrl while using the Enter key, which forces a line break
(second line) within the bar.
- “Bar Settings” layer shows information about any changes that occur for that bar, as set in the Bar Settings dialog (e.g.,
tempo changes, key changes, etc.).
- “Additional Chord Display” layer shows the chords using the normal display or an alternative mode of showing root notes.
There are 4 alternative modes: Roman Numeral, Nashville Notation, Solfeggio Notation, and Fixed Do (Italy/Europe).
The height of this layer can be set as a percentage of the main chord using the “Height % of Additional Chord Display layer”
setting in the Display Options dialog. For example, you might want to see Nashville Notation as big as the main chord
display below it.
- The “Concert Key” option allows you to display an additional chord display of the same chords transposed to a different key.
So, for example, you can see two layers, one with concert chords, and the other for Bb instruments.
- All the layers can be customized with font and color in the Display Options dialog.
- Right-clicking in a layer has a menu with options to change height of the layer, close layer(s), copy/cut/paste, etc.
Display Options Dialog
You can set up the Chord Sheet with your own preferences.
Go to Options | Preferences or click on the [Prefs] toolbar button to open the Preferences, and then click on
the [Display] button to open the Display Options dialog. You can also right-click on the Chord Sheet and
select Display Options from the menu to open this dialog.
Tracks Window
This is similar to tracks window seen in most DAWs, allowing lossless data manipulation of tracks in a familiar environment for
DAW users. It includes specific support for making loops and phrases from the RealTracks and RealDrums, so for example, you
can select a RealTracks phrase and turn it into a loop on a different track.
To open the Tracks window, press the [Tracks] toolbar button or go to the Window menu and select Tracks Window.
On the left of the window, there are mixer settings for each track that can be adjusted as the song is playing.
To adjust volume, pan, reverb and tone, click on a slider and move it
horizontally. They can also be controlled by right-clicking on a number
dial and typing in a new number. You can also adjust them with the
mouse wheel while the mouse cursor is over the sliders or number dials.
Hold the Ctrl key down as you click on the slider or drag the thumb of
the slider. This will force all tracks to move to the same absolute
location as the original track. Hold the Shift key and it will move all
tracks relative to the move of the original track. Double-clicking on the
slider sets the value to a default value.
Each track has its own VU meters to show the sound level, and buttons to mute, solo and freeze the track.
You can double-click on the track label to rename it.
Right-clicking on a track label or a down arrow opens a menu of settings and actions for the selected track. The menu is
organized into groups allowing easier selection of track types: audio (RealTracks, UserTracks, Loops) or MIDI (MIDI
SuperTracks, classic MIDI tracks) and track settings/actions.
You can drag a track label and drop it to the Drop Station at the top of the screen to render an audio or MIDI file.
There are toolbar buttons to control the display of the Tracks window.
Use the [-] and [+] buttons to zoom horizontally. You can also use the mouse wheel.
The [Whole Track] button zooms out as far as possible, showing the entire track.
The small [+] and [-] buttons change the height of the track panel. You can also move the mouse wheel while holding down the
Ctrl key.
When the Snap mode in enabled, selecting a region of data will snap to the closest beat.
The [Loop Selected Area] button plays and loops the selected region.
The [Select Whole] button selects the whole track.
The wheel button will open the settings dialog, which allows you to customize the appearance of the waveform.
When the Edit Mode button is enabled, you can edit phrases and loops. For example, you can select a RealTracks phrase
and turn it into a loop on a different track.
The [Song] button is a split button. Clicking on the top half opens a song selection dialog using the default method
assigned to the button. Clicking on the bottom half of the button opens a menu of the options for opening songs. The
default method for the top half of the button is assigned from this menu.
For example, if there is a check mark beside SongPicker, clicking on the top half of the button will open the SongPicker dialog.
If Recently Loaded Songs is checked, clicking the button will go directly to the Recently Played Songs list, and so on.
You can also open songs from the File menu.
Open File
The BB File Open dialog is opened with the File | Open menu command, the Open File command in the [Open] button menu,
or the F3 function key.
Tip: You can also press the S S 4 Enter keys to open this dialog.
It shows and opens all available file types.
If MySong.MGU is loaded, and a same named audio file (MySong.WMA, MySong.MP3, MySong.WAV, etc.) is present, Band-
in-a-Box will open the audio file to the audio track. This allows third parties to make audio files with chords in them, by making
a MySong.MGU and MySong.MP3 pair of files, which will load into Band-in-a-Box yet will have the audio compressed to take
up little disk space. For example, make a teaching set of trombone files for Band-in-a-Box, with audio trombone track, and
Band-in-a-Box file with chords, all fitting in a small file size.
Drag & Drop Files to Band-in-a-Box
You can drop many file types onto the Band-in-a-Box screen, and they will be loaded into the program either as a new file or
added to an existing song. File types include Band-in-a-Box songs (.SGU/.MGU), MIDI (.MID), and audio
(.WAV/.M4A/.MP3). Simply drag the file and drop it anywhere on the Band-in-a-Box screen, including various windows.
Open Song by Titles (SongPicker)
Selecting Open SongPicker from the [Open] button menu opens the SongPicker, which shows information for up to 60,000
songs. It has many filter features for finding songs. You can also search songs that have similar chord progressions or melody
fragments.
Tip: Pressing the S S Enter keys quickly opens the SongPicker.
This function will always find the progressions in every key; for example, it will find | Am7 | D7 | G.
With the Songs matching melody bar range item in the “Chords/Melody” filter menu, you can find songs with a similar melody
fragment in the selected range of the current song. When the Song Melody Match dialog opens, select the source track (Melody
or Soloist), and specify the range.
If you want to find songs with a similar chord progression and a melody fragment in the selected range of the current song,
select the Songs matching Chords and melody bar range menu item. In the Song Chords and Melody Match dialog, select the
source track (Melody or Soloist) and specify the range.
File Associations
Go to the menu item File | File Utilities to associate the file types for Band-in-a-Box songs and styles in Windows®. Once set,
this means that you can double-click on a song or style and Band-in-a-Box will open with that song or style.
Selecting Style
The [Style] button is a split button. Clicking on the top half opens a style selection dialog using the default method
assigned to the button. Clicking on the bottom half of the button opens a menu of the options for selecting styles. The
default method for the top half of the button is assigned from this menu.
For example, if there is a check mark beside StylePicker, clicking on the top half of the button will open the StylePicker
window. Band Styles opens a list of style categories. If Recently Used Style is checked, clicking the button will go directly to the
Recently Played Styles list, and so on.
The StylePicker
The StylePicker window lists all styles with full information. It has a great filter feature for finding a perfect style for your song
by selecting elements such as time signature, feel, or tempo, or by simply typing in a familiar song title.
You can browse styles by sorting columns or hear an “instant” preview of the style by double-clicking on the list. If style has
both MIDI and RealDrums available, you can hear both, and choose which one you want. This makes it much faster to find the
style that fits your song.
Tip: You can quickly open the StylePicker with S Enter or Ctrl+F9.
Playing/Pausing/Stopping Songs
The [Arrange] button in the Preferences dialog opens the Arrangement Options dialog, which allows you to
configure overall settings for song arrangement. For example, you can set the amount of boost for shots/hold, allow rests/pushes,
normalize MIDI velocities to a certain value, allow endings, set natural arrangement, and do more.
Boost velocity of MIDI pushes by: The pushes in Band-in-a-Box are the chords that get played before the beat. Typically
pushes are played a little louder than other patterns. You can leave this setting at 0 or set it to between 0 and 10.
Boost MIDI shots by: Shots can be accented with this setting.
Boost MIDI ‘Holds’ by: Use this setting to boost the velocity of held chords.
Allow Any Rests: You can disable the rests feature. You might want to do this if you’ve got a song with a lot of rests in it and
are then having difficulty recording a melody because you don’t hear the drums providing the beat (due to the drums resting). If
so, you can temporarily disable the rests so that you can record and listen to the drums.
Allow Any Pushes: If for some reason you don’t want a style or a song to have pushes, you can set this to no.
Allow Style Pushes: If for some reason you don’t want a style to have pushes, you can set this to no.
OK to Load Style with Songs: This loads the style that is saved with the Band-in-a-Box song. Set it to NO if you don’t want
the saved styles to load, perhaps to audition a new style with several different songs.
Concert Pitch Adjust: This is useful for non-concert instruments such as Saxophone or Trumpet. The output is transposed so
that you see the music in one key, and it plays in another. Trumpet players and other Bb instruments should set the option to –2.
Alto Sax and other Eb instruments should set to +3.
Note: This concert pitch adjust setting is an old one. It is preferable that you use the Notation-Transpose Option instead.
Allow Any Endings: You can disable the endings from all the songs by using this setting.
Lowest Bass Note: Styles normally play bass notes (down to the low E) if the pattern doesn’t go below a low E note. This
happens with all styles automatically, but there is also an option to set the lowest note that the bass can go very low (so you can
get a low C if you want to!).
Prevent “too low” guitar notes: For styles using a guitar patch on the Guitar, Piano, or Strings part this will prevent any note
from being lower than the low E on a guitar.
Allow late notes in pattern, just before chord change: Styles will normally play notes near the end of a pattern, before a chord
change. Sometimes this makes the style sound “too busy.” If you set this to, say 70%, then 30% of the time, the note at the end
of the pattern will play quieter, typically at half the volume.
The [Count-in/Metro] button in the Preferences dialog opens the Count-in and Metronome Options
dialog, which allows you to set the drum lead-in options (pattern, type, 1-bar instead of 2-bar, type, volume, instrument, smart
lead-in, etc.) and the metronome options (visible and/or audible metronome).
Drum Count-in (this song only): This allows you to set the lead-in option for the
current song only.
Allow Lead-In Bars: People who use Band-in-a-Box for soloing practice will likely
turn the lead-in off to allow endless looping uninterrupted by the lead-in count. To
eliminate the lead-in count, select Allow Lead-In Bars to = NO, this will start the
song from bar 1 with no lead in.
Play lead-in even if intro Present: If a song has an intro, it’s usually not necessary
to play the 2-bar lead-in count. There’s a new option to always OMIT the lead-in if
an intro is present.
1 bar lead-in: If this is set, the count-in will be a single bar instead of 2 bars.
Lead-in type: This can be drum patterns instead of “1-2-1234.” You can specify to
play two bars of drum patterns instead of the count-in. You may prefer hearing the
drum beat to a simple count-in, since it provides more information about the
upcoming groove. If you’re playing with Band-in-a-Box live on a “dance floor,” this
setting will avoid “dead air” between songs, and keep the drumbeat going. Includes
options to have “a” or “b” drum fills or patterns play for the two bars.
Audible Lead-In / Volume: This enables audible count-in. If you want the lead-in
bars to be played, but just want the drum lead-in quieter (or silent) set the volume to
0 (for silent).
Instrument / Pattern: You can select any drum instrument for the count in. You can choose different count-in rhythms, e.g.,
tap on 2 and 4 instead of 1-2-3-4. There’s a new “smart lead-in” option to silence the drum count-in if a melody lead-in has
begun.
Smart Lead-in: A smart lead-in avoids playing the count-in drum sound during a Melody pickup.
Hold the Ctrl key down as you click on the track slider or drag the thumb of the slider. This will force all tracks to move to the
same absolute location as the original track. Hold the Shift key and it will move all tracks relative to the move of the original
track.
Double-clicking on the slider sets the value to a default value.
There is also a Master section with a Mute button, VU meters, and Master Volume controls.
The Master Volume is a new type of volume setting for Band-in-a-Box, and is a true Master Volume, in that it applies a decibel
(dB) boost to the master signal, independent of the tracks’ volumes. So, for example, if you want all Band-in-a-Box songs to be
louder, you can simply set the “All Songs” Master volume slider (e.g., +6 dB) and this boost will apply to audio output from all
instruments (MIDI and audio) for all songs.
Slide Tracks
This feature allows you to move any of the Bass, Drums, Piano, Guitar, Strings, Melody, or Soloist tracks ahead or behind by a
definable amount. For example, you can slide the Bass track a little ahead of the rest of the band to make the bass player “drive
the band.”
To slide tracks, select the Slide Tracks option from the Edit menu. The values are measured in “ticks-per-beat” with 120 ticks
being the equivalent of a quarter note. The musically useful range is from -10 to 10.
Allow Any Slides: If you want the slides to occur, then enable this
option.
Humanize Slides: If you enable this, the slides will be humanized to
slide the track a different amount for each note. The amount varies
from 0 ticks (none) to the slide setting for the instrument.
Press the [Default] button to fill the tracks with default slide values.
Press the [Zeros] button to “zero-out” the slide values for all tracks.
Press the [Update] button to affect your changes and hear the result
instantly.
Choose Play | Play & Loop Highlighted Section (or press F10). The selected region will then play and continues looping until
STOP is pressed.
Loop Button Menu
The [Loop] toolbar button opens a menu with the full list of looping options.
Click on the looping option you want, either the entire song or just a section that you select. Selecting the checkbox on the
button enables looping for the entire song. The Loop Section Settings dialog lets you choose exactly what to loop.
The Advance to Next Loop option allows you to practice and learn
a whole song, by getting each section repeated a certain number of bars.
Once you have these settings made, you can just start a loop the usual way. For example, highlight a region, press the [Loop]
button, and select Play and loop highlighted region (or press [F10]). Or you can type L 4 Enter to start a 4-bar loop.
Loop Keystroke Commands (useful for live performance)
NUMPAD 1 Toggle looping on/off.
NUMPAD 2 Open Loop Section Settings dialog.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 1 Play with last chorus looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 2 Play with middle choruses looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 3 Play with middle and last choruses looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 4 Jump to last chorus.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 5 Jump to ending.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 7 Loop Notation screen.
NUMPAD [DEL] Advances the Notation, Lead Sheet, and Guitar windows by one chord (group of notes).
NUMPAD [INS] Backs up the Notation, Lead Sheet, and Guitar windows by one chord.
Notebook users should set “Simulate NUMPAD Keys” to “ON” in the Preferences dialog, then use the regular number keys to
trigger looping.
The Title bar at the top of the main screen indicates the looping status. If a song has a looped section, this will be listed at the
top of the screen (e.g., “Will loop Middle Choruses” or “Currently looping Middle Choruses”). So, you can tell what is going to
happen with the looping during a live performance.
Quick command for Looping
Looping has been enhanced with an “L” command for quickly setting a loop.
For example:
- L Enter will loop at the current point for 4 bars. (The “4” is a selectable value. See below.)
- L 8 Enter will loop for 8 bars.
- L 8, 12 Enter will loop for 8 bars starting at bar 12.
- L 8, 12, 2 Enter will loop for 8 bars starting at bar 12 of chorus 2.
The “Default Length” option in the Loop Section Settings dialog determines the number of bars looped when you hit L Enter
keys. For example, if this is set to 4 bars, then L Enter will loop 4 bars.
“Conductor”- Live Looping/Playback control
As the song is playing, many “single key” hotkeys are now available to control the playback and looping of the song.
You can also select the Wizard Playalong feature option from the Play menu.
In the Play menu, toggle Wizard uses “Smart” notes to “off” (unchecked) to have the Wizard provide you access to the
chromatic scale. Toggle it “on” to have access only to the notes based on the chord/key of the song.
Also, the Wizard works with the harmony feature, so you can play along live in 4-part saxophone harmony for
example.
Melody Wizard
For songs with melodies, there are QWERTY keys (Enter, \ , T, 6) that trigger notes from the melody as the song is being
played. Other keys trigger 1-4 approach notes from below or above. The notes can be recorded, to humanize a stiff melody with
better timing, and approach notes also useful for sight reading, rhythm practice or to perform. This feature works with
harmonies.
- Melody notes: T, 6, Enter, \
- Same Melody note: 5
- Approach notes: QWER YUIO
MIDI Normalize
If performing a live set, or at a jam session, it helps to have the volume of all of the songs be similar. Now, with a MIDI
Normalize feature, you can level the volumes to a setting in the program options. For example, you can set all volumes to be 70
and the program will make each song play within those levels. This is done in the Arrangement Options dialog (Options |
Preferences | [Arrange]).
When you have set the normalize to “on” the status area at the top of the screen reports that
Normalization is set to 70, and that the velocity of the currently playing song has been increased from 65 to 70.
The normalization will affect bass, drums, piano, guitar, and strings. If you select the “Including melody and Soloist” option, the
normalization will also affect the Melody and Soloist parts.
Outputting Chords to External Device
Some external music hardware devices require chords played in root position to drive them in real time.
An example of this is the Vocalist. It will let you sing into a microphone and harmonize your voice according to the chords that
are input to the device. Band-in-a-Box has the capability of outputting a separate channel with the chords in root position to
support such external devices automatically.
There are also settings such as complexity of chords, output channel, velocity, and note range. It will also drive “Real time
Arrangers” like the Roland RA series. The best way to accomplish this is to access the Options | Preferences and select the
[Output Chords] button. The Output Chords on Channel dialog will then open.
Some MIDI SuperTracks generate a simple chord track (triads/7ths) or a complex chord track including 9ths/13ths. Adding
these MIDI SuperTracks to your track will write a chord track in the range set, for use with arpeggiators or other VSTs wanting
a chord track. With each play a new chord track is written. To do this, open the Select MIDI SuperTracks dialog and choose one
that has “Arpeggio” in the name.
The type of GM2 support is set in the MIDI Driver Setup dialog (Options | MIDI/Audio Driver Setup). The choices are:
- General MIDI 2 support: If you’re using a newer Sound Canvas then choose this GM2 support.
- Roland GS (older Modules): “Older” Sound Canvases (SC55/SC88) support GS, but not GM2. The good news is that they
have the same patches available, just at different locations. So, if you choose this option, Band-in-a-Box will find the patches
at the “GS” locations instead of the “GM2” locations. If you have a newer GS module like the SC8820 that supports both
GM2 and GS, you should likely choose GM2.
- No GM2 support: Most sound cards don’t have GM2 support yet, so just support the original 128 General MIDI sounds.
Band-in-a-Box will use the closest instrument in these cases.
You can select a GM2 patch by right-clicking on the track name in the Mixer and selecting Select MIDI Patch | Select GM2
Patch from the menu.
Additional Patches
A “patch” is a MIDI instrument name. Examples of patches are Acoustic Bass, Electric Piano, and Violin. Patches are used to
emulate real instruments through MIDI playback. Band-in-a-Box defaults to using the standard bank of General MIDI patches
used by all MIDI manufacturers, but many MIDI synthesizers and sound cards have additional patches available as alternatives
to the basic GM list. These sounds are typically found on higher banks in memory.
Patches on Higher Banks Dialog
You can select a higher bank patch in the Select MIDI Patch submenu of the track’s right-click
menu. This opens the Patches on Higher Banks dialog for easy access to patches on all other banks as well as General MIDI.
To narrow your sound search you can do one or all of the following:
When SynthMaster is selected as a default synth, its name shows in the [VSTi/DXi Synth]
button.
This will open the Select MIDI SuperTracks dialog. Type a “SynthMaster” text to filter the list.
Some of them have arpeggiators in the sounds. Select one you like and press OK and answer yes to the confirmation message.
You will see that the track label has turned blue to indicate that it is a MIDI SuperTrack.
In the Mixer, you can confirm that the SynthMaster synth sound is loaded to the track.
If you want to customize the sound, click on the SynthMaster synth in the Plugins tab to open the synth window.
You can also access SynthMaster sounds using the Hi-Q patch dialog. Right-click on a track button, and go to Select MIDI
Instrument (Patch) | Select Mi-Q MIDI Patch Plugin. This will open the dialog that lists Hi-Q patch plugins (.tgs). Type
“SynthMaster” in the text filter and select any of the presets that PG Music has made.
Then, select “<VSTi> KV331 Audio: SynthMaster 2 Player” from the list of plugins and press OK.
You can choose from many sounds in the SynthMaster Player panel.
Some styles use MIDI SuperTracks that automatically play with SynthMaster sounds. They are included in MIDI SuperTracks
Set 39. In the StylePicker, you can find them using the [Other] filter button menu item Specific MIDI SuperTracks Set #.
Most of the interaction between Band-in-a-Box and the sforzando synth will be behind-the-scenes, so you don’t need to do
anything. Just “pick a style and press play” as usual. This is because the styles that need to use the synth are coded to do so in
the style, using the Hi-Q patch.
If you want to add a specific Hi-Q sound, right-click on the track button and go to Select MIDI Instrument (Patch) | Select Hi-Q
MIDI Patch Plugin. This will display a list of available Hi-Q sounds.
If you want to use a custom sound, such as an .SFZ sound that you have acquired, then you can launch the sforzando synth by
clicking on the first slot in the [Plugins] tab in the Mixer.
Pressing the [Chord Display] button opens a list of concert and non-concert instruments. There are also settings for guitar capo,
tuning the guitar down, and visual transpose of any number of semitones.
The Conductor
The Conductor provides live looping and playback control. As the song is playing, there are options to allow control the flow
of playback by one of three methods:
1. Conductor window
2. QWERTY hotkeys
3. MIDI keyboard
Many “single key” hotkeys are available to control the playback and looping of the song. For example, pressing the “4” key will
ensure that the middle chorus is the next one played, and pressing the “S” key will ensure that the middle section is looped. This
would be useful to extend a song that has the last chorus playing. Custom loop points can also be set for each song. These
settings are ideal for live performance or “jam sessions” where you aren’t entering new Band-in-a-Box songs but want full
control of the playback. These loops happen seamlessly at the end of the chorus, so are suitable for the “dance floor.” In addition,
you can control Band-in-a-Box from a standard MIDI keyboard, pressing MIDI keys corresponds to program functions. For
example, load the next song, play/pause/tempo adjust/change thru patch/jump to middle choruses/open the notation or lead sheet
window – all from your MIDI keyboard!
The Conductor is launched with the [Conductor Window] button on the toolbar, the Ctrl+~ (tilde) hotkeys, or the
Window | Conductor Window menu option.
The section numbers are saved with the song. Once you have defined the sections, you can jump to a certain section of the song
as the song is playing, simply by:
1. Pressing the 1-9 or 0 key on the QWERTY keyboard or,
2. Opening the Conductor window (Ctrl + ~ hotkey) and clicking on the section button or,
3. Pressing MIDI keys 77-86 (F6 to D7) corresponding to sections 1-10.
Mode (when to do the action)
By pressing a QWERTY hotkey prior to an action, you can control when the action will take place. If no mode hotkey is pressed
prior to an action, the default mode will occur.
The default is set in the “Default Mode for section change” or “Default Mode for going back or
ahead” combo box.
For example, by default, the section change will occur as soon as you press the key, and it will go to the equivalent place in the
bar immediately before the beginning of the target section (so that the music stays in time, and next section begins at the end of
the bar). But you can change the default for the action to take place at the end of the current bar or current part marker etc.
He sets the Conductor to allow his MIDI keyboard lowest notes A/Bb/B to turn the Conductor mode OFF/ON/Toggled-when
held.
When he turns it off (low A note), he can play his keyboard normally.
If he wants to pause the song, he holds down the low B3 note as he presses the MIDI key for pause, which is G4. The song will
pause, and the Conductor mode turns off as he lets go of the B3 key, and he can resume his piano playing. If Charlie didn’t plan
on using the MIDI keyboard for piano playing, he could leave it in Conductor mode by turning it on with the A3 key.
Only Play Song with Melodies: If set to YES, the program plays only songs with
melodies, that is, songs with an .MG? file extension. If NO, the Jukebox will include
ALL songs in the subdirectory.
Change Melody Instrument: If you set enable option, then the program will
randomly change the melody instrument among your favorite 10 Melody instruments.
Random Order Playback: If set to “Yes,” the songs will be played in random order
(though not repeating a song). If set to “No,” the songs will be played in the order
they are listed in the subdirectory.
Hide Titles (Until Title Clicked): This feature is used to play the “Guess the Song”
game. When set to “Yes,” the titles are hidden till you click on the title box.
Audible Count-in Click: While listening to the Jukebox, you might not want to hear
the Count-in Click. If set to “No,” you won’t hear the count-in click.
Harmony Settings: Enable the Change Harmony option if you want harmonies in a
given number range to be randomly assigned for use with the Melody and
Soloist/Thru tracks (if applicable to the song).
Generate Solos: Enable this option to permit the Soloist to play a solo over all the songs selected for Jukebox Playback.
1. Change to this directory by loading/opening a song from the C:\bb\Demos\Soloist Demos\SOLODEMO directory.
2. Instead of playing the song you have loaded, press the [Juke] button.
3. Ensure that the Generate Solos checkbox is set to “Yes.”
4. Select [PLAY JUKE BOX]. The Soloist Select Dialog will open with a suggestion to use a Soloist for the first song in the
Jukebox list. This is normal. Press [OK] to accept the Soloist suggestion. (The Jukebox will not bother you with the Select
Soloist dialog again; it will simply choose an appropriate Soloist for any given song in the Jukebox song list.)
Auto-Choose Soloists: Enable this option to permit the program to choose the Soloists to use.
Change Soloist Instrument w/each chorus: Enable this option, and the Soloists will always change instruments with each
chorus.
Preview: The Jukebox Preview mode will optionally play just one chorus of each song or a number of bars of each song (e.g., 8
bars). To access this, select the (Preview) Switch to next song after _ bars checkbox and set the # of bars to use for the
preview. A setting of 99 plays one chorus of each song.
Delay between songs: The user can set a selectable time delay (in seconds) between songs.
Note: To manually start playback of each song in the jukebox list, set “Pause Play Until MIDI or Key received” to On (checked) in the
Preferences dialog. At the end of each song the jukebox will load the next song in the list and then pause until playback is started by sending
a MIDI note or a computer keystroke.
Check Loop Jukebox at end for continuous jukebox play rather than stopping at the end of the list.
You can change the directory before starting the Juke Box with the [Change Directory] button. You can also type a folder
name directly, instead of using the folder dialog.
Choose a Key
You can use the special operators “TK” and “TR” to set or transpose a key signature.
Typing T K C Enter keys will set the key of the song to C. Typing T K B B Enter sets it to Bb. Note that this sets the key
signature but does not transpose the song.
The “TR” operator sets the key signature and transposes the song. Typing T R F Enter would transpose the song to the key of
F, typing T R A B Enter would transpose the song to Ab.
Another way to set a key signature is to click on the [Key] button and choose the key of your song from the lists of all
major and minor keys. If you select from the “Transpose and Set Key Signature” column the song will be transposed to
the new key signature you choose. If you select from the “Just Set Key Signature (no transpose)” column, the key
signature will be changed but the song will not be transposed.
You can have multiple keys in a song by changing the key signature in the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (F5 function
key).
Set the tempo
The tempo is displayed next to the key signature. You can quickly enter a specific tempo for the song by typing the
letter “t” together with the tempo and pressing the Enter key. For example, type t140 and Enter to set the tempo of
the song to 140.
Click on the tempo box (hotkey is Ctrl+Alt+T, or menu item Edit | Tempo | Set Tempo…), and a dialog will open up allowing
you to type in a tempo.
When choosing File | New the tempo will be set to the best tempo for the current style. Click on the arrow buttons to adjust the
tempo up or down.
- Left-click to change by 5 beats per minute at a time.
- Right-click to change by 1 beat per minute at a time.
You can also press the [ key to decrease the tempo by 5, and ] key to increase the tempo by 5.
Setting the Relative Tempo
This button allows you to quickly set the relative tempo. Click on the button and choose a percentage or use the Custom
Tempo % menu item to set any value between 1% and 800%. 1% would be 1/100 of the original tempo and 800% would
be 8 times the original tempo. Hotkeys are available: Ctrl - (minus key) for half speed and Ctrl = for normal speed.
Tap the Tempo
Not sure of the tempo for your song? Tap it in real time on either the minus [-] key or the equals [=] key on your computer
keyboard. Four taps on the minus key sets the tempo, four taps on the equals key sets the tempo and starts the song
playing. As you tap more than 4 times, the accuracy will improve (through averaging) and you can continue to tap until
the target tempo has been reached. For example, in a 4/4/ style, once you tap 4 times a tempo will be set. But you can keep
tapping and the tempo will change every beat, based on the average tempo that you have typed. You can also click on the
on-screen [-] and [=] buttons to the right of the tempo box.
“Frame” the Song
Framing a song designates the first and last bars of each chorus and the number of choruses Band-in-a-Box will play before
playing the standard 2-bar ending.
You can type special words to set the beginning and end of the chorus, and the end of the song.
- B E G I N Enter sets the beginning of the chorus to the current bar.
- C H O R U S E N D Enter sets the end of the chorus to the current bar.
For this song, bar one is the first bar of the chorus and bar 32 is the last bar of the chorus. The chorus
will play three times, jumping to the two-bar ending the third time through.
Chord Entry
Enter Chords from MIDI Keyboard
You can enter chords from an external MIDI. Play the chord on the keyboard, then press Ctrl+Enter to insert the chord into the
Chord Sheet on the first beat of the current chord cell, i.e., beat 1 or beat 3 of the bar. Use Ctrl+Shift+Enter to insert the chord
on the next beat, i.e., beat 2 or beat 4 of the bar.
Another method allows you to choose alternate chords. Select the Window | MIDI Chord Detection | MIDI Chord Detection
menu item to open the dialog.
When you play chords, Band-in-a-Box shows you the chord name and suggests alternates that you can choose from. Typing
Ctrl+Enter enters the first selection and advances the highlight cell by ½ bar. To place an alternate chord in the Chord Sheet,
click on the [Enter] button beside the chord you want.
Import Chords from Audio File - Audio Chord Wizard
You can import chords from an audio file using the Audio Chord Wizard.
This feature analyzes a WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV, or CDA audio file and imports it to Band-in-a-Box. The Audio
Chord Wizard is fully described in the Working with Audio chapter. It works out the tempo, bar lines, and chord
changes so you can easily make your favorite files into Band-in-a-Box songs.
Import Chords from MIDI File - MIDI Chord Wizard
You can import chords from a MIDI file. To do this, first blank the Chord Sheet by choosing File | New. Then select the menu
item File | Import | Import Chords from MIDI file to open the Interpret Chords from MIDI file dialog. Press the [Open
(Change)] button to select the MIDI file that you’d like to import. Once you’ve selected the file, you can press the
[INTERPRET CHORDS NOW] button. When you do that, the chords will be interpreted from the MIDI file, and written onto
the Chord Sheet.
Import a Band-in-a-Box Song
Easily import part or all of an existing Band-in-a-Box song to your current song, with options to specify source and destination
range, type of information to import (chords, melody, lyrics, etc.) and more. Choose File | Import | Import MGU Song.
In the Import Band-in-a-Box Song dialog, choose the range that you want to import (Import from Bar and # of bars), and the
destination bar (Import to Bar). You can also choose which information to import, and the insert mode (Insert/Overwrite).
The sequence of keystrokes to enter all these chords above would be: HOME c6>am7>dm7>gb9,g9>c6/e>>a739
Note: We’re able to type A7#9 as “a739” because Band-in-a-Box knows to use the uppercase of the 3, which is #. The > indicates a carriage
return, or the Enter key.
Note: The “Display ‘C9sus’ as ‘C11’” setting in the Display Options dialog (Options | Preferences | [Display]) allows display of ‘9sus’ chords
as ‘11’ (e.g., Bb11 instead of Bb9sus). This only affects how the chord is displayed, not how it is stored, and you can type either C11 or C9sus
to enter the same chord.
Note: The “Display ‘2’ as ‘sus2’” and “Display ‘sus’ as ‘sus4’” settings in the Display Options dialog will show suspended chords more
explicitly: ‘sus’ implies ‘sus4,’ and ‘2’ implies ‘sus2,’ but you might want to see the full extension name.
Right-click on a chord, and a menu allows you to make edits to the chords and other song settings. You can cut, copy, and paste
chords in the Chord Sheet. Use the Chord Builder to try different types of chords or play the current chord to hear how it
sounds. Chord Settings include pushes, rests, shots, holds, and pedal bass.
MicroChords (Multiple Chords per Beat)
The MicroChords feature allows you to enter up to 4 chords per beat. You can select which tracks will play the MicroChords,
allowing some tracks to play fast moving chord progressions and others to play the main chords.
Note: The soloist and background RealTracks do not follow MicroChords by design because playing would be too chopping if they did.
MicroChords are stacked vertically on the Chord Sheet. If there is also a main chord at the same beat, it will display in gray.
You can enter MicroChords on the Chord Sheet with parentheses and commas. Start with an open parenthesis, type chords
separated by commas, and end with a close parenthesis.
For example, typing (C,F) enters two chords for 8th notes, (C,F,G) enters three chords for triplets, and (C,F,G,Am) enters four
chords for 16th notes. If you do not type a chord between commas, it will enter a blank chord. For example, typing (C,F,G,,)
would enter the first and the second chords for 16th notes and the third chord for an 8th note.
You can have both MicroChords and a main chord at the same beat. For example, type D7(A,Fm) to enter D7 as a main chord
and A and Fm as MicroChords.
You can erase all chords (main and/or MicroChords) from the highlighted cell with the Delete key.
Pressing the () and Enter keys will erase just the MicroChords and advance the cell.
If you want to change the main chord and erase the MicroChords, type a chord followed by parentheses. For example, type
Gm() to replace the current main chord with Gm and erase the MicroChords.
You can also use a dialog to enter MicroChords. Press the F6 or M M Enter to open the Set MicroChords dialog. It has
additional settings including the option to exclude some tracks from playing the MicroChords.
Current Bar: The bar number will display with “*” if there are some MicroChords data in the bar, and “t” if there is a new
“Excluded Tracks” setting.
Disabled for this bar: If this option is checked, none of the MicroChords settings will be played for this bar.
[Update] will update the settings in the dialog. Press this if chords have changed.
Chords: Enter MicroChords on this row. Each beat is divided into four for an even style and three for a swing style.
Rest: A rest will cause the previous chord duration to stop playing, turning the previous chord into a “shot.”
Motif: Enter a checkmark if you want to create a specific rhythmic pattern. You do not need to enter chords as the motif will use
whatever current chord is in the song. This feature allows selected tracks to play specific rhythms without changing the chords.
For example, you might want the guitar and bass to play a specific 16th rhythm in a funk song, while the piano and sax stick
with the normal feel. Suppose you have loaded a funk style and you want a horn section to play a specific rhythm (16th-rest-
rest-16th) in Beat 1 and 3 and just to rest in Beat 2 and 4. So, you check the “Motif” checkbox in the first and fourth slots, and
the “Rest” checkbox in the second and third slots for Beat 1, and then you check the “Rest” checkbox for all slots in Beat 2. You
repeat this patten for Beat 3 and 4. Enable the “Change Excluded Tracks at this bar” option and press the [Set] button to exclude
tracks other than a horn section. If you want to use this rhythm pattern in other bars, use the “Copy Chords” area. Now, when
you play the song, you will hear horns to play hits interspersed with the cool lines that are part of the style itself.
[Set All] applies the divisions of the first beat to all other beats.
Triplets/16ths/Auto: This sets the number of divisions per beat. “Triplet” divides the beat into 3, and 16th divides the beat into
4. If “Auto” is selected, the division is automatically selected by the style loaded.
Force Enabled Beat # is useful if you do not enter any MicroChords in the current beat but still want a beat of silence instead
of the main chord.
[Clear Beat #] clears the data for the corresponding beat.
Set Excluded Tracks: This area allows you to select tracks to be excluded from playing the MicroChords. Enabling the Change
Excluded Tracks at this bar option allows you to select tracks that should be excluded from playing the MicroChords. Press
the [Set] button to select tracks that should be excluded. The excluded tracks will play main chords, instead. The [Clear Bar
(Excluded Tracks)] button clears any excluded-track setting for the current bar, and the [Clear All Bars (Excluded Tracks)]
clears any track-excluded settings for all bars in the song.
Copy MicroChords Now: This area allows you to copy MicroChords and settings to other bars. Enter the destination bar in
Copy to Bar and the total number of bars to be copied in Number of Bars. Set the Pattern Length option to 1 if you want the
Beat: You can choose the beat location for the chord you are entering.
Chord: If a chord has been entered for this beat, it will appear here. If no chord has been entered, you can type it here.
MicroChords: You can enter up to 4 chords on a beat by typing chords separated by a comma. For example, you could type C,F
for 8th notes, C,F,D or C,,D for triplets, or C,F,G,Am or C,F,,Am for 16th notes. The [MicroChords] button opens the Set
MicroChords dialog, which allows you to exclude some tracks from playing the MicroChords and select other options.
Pushes: “Pushes” (also called anticipations) are chords that are played before the beat. For example, in jazz swing music, the
piano player often “pushes” a chord change by playing the chord an eighth note before the beat.
To use keystrokes, type the caret symbol [^] before the chord. The caret symbol is located above the numeral 6 on your
computer keyboard.
- Type a single caret to get a chord an eighth note before the beat, e.g., ^C7
- Type a double caret to get a chord a sixteenth note before the beat, e.g., ^^C7
In jazz styles (and other triplet feels), the chord will be pushed by a triplet, regardless of whether there is a single or double caret
(^^).
Tip: You can set the amount of velocity boost so that the effect won’t be too loud. In the Preferences dialog (Ctrl+E), click on the [Arrange]
button to open the Arrangement Options dialog. Then type in the amount of velocity boost for pushes, shots, and holds.
Note: The style can override the velocity for the pushes, and drum velocity for shots, held chords, and pushes is also set in the StyleMaker.
Pedal Bass: You can select a pedal bass here. Choose the type of the pedal bass from the pull-down menu and enter the note
you would like the bass to pedal on in the “on” field and the length in the “bars” field.
Rests, Shots, Holds: When a “shot” or a “held” chord is assigned, the instruments that are excluded from the shot/held chord
play normally. There is an additional option for those excluded instruments to stay silent. To set this, select a shot or held chord
and enable the “Excluded instrument(s) should rest” option. This option gives you the ability to rest some instruments while
others play the shot or held chord.
Tip: The Song Settings dialog (Ctrl+N) has the options to set the breaks to happen only in the first, middle, or last choruses.
The Roman numeral and other nonstandard displays use superscript for the chord display when in the Notation window (or
when printing out). Therefore, the alternative chord symbol displays are best viewed in the Notation window.
Tip: Print out a song in Nashville Notation or Roman numeral notation. Then, learn the song this way, i.e., 1maj7 4maj7 3m7b5 67b9. You will
soon discover that it is much easier to play the song in any key. Since you know the song goes from the 1 chord to the 4 chord, so you can
easily play it in the key of Bb, for example.
There is an option to display the non-standard chord above the standard chord on the Chord Sheet. Press the [Chord Display]
button, go to Layers | Additional Chord Display, and choose from the list of four options.
Tip: The font and the height of the additional chord display can be selected in the Display Options dialog.
Preview Chords
This feature allows you to hear chords as you type them in. After you type a chord name onto the Chord Sheet (or the Notation
window), press the Shift+Enter keys. This enters the chord onto the Chord Sheet and then plays the chord for you, using the
MIDI patches on the Piano and Bass tracks. You can also listen to a chord that has already been entered, by just pressing the
Shift+Enter keys after moving the highlight cell to the bar with the chord you want to hear. If there is no chord entered at a bar,
you will hear the last chord that was entered.
Chord Builder
Use the Chord Builder feature to audition different chords until you find the one that sounds best to you. In other words, you
can enter chords “by ear” - without having to know the actual chord names or any music theory. This feature also illustrates the
differences between various chord types.
Launch the Chord Builder with the [Chord Builder] button or the Ctrl+Shift+B keys. You can also launch by right-
clicking on the Chord Sheet and selecting the menu option Chord Builder, or by using the Window | Chord Builder
menu option. The Chord Builder is a floating window so it can be left open as you work entering chords onto the
Chord Sheet.
There are 2 modules in the Chord Builder window. They can be switched with the tabs at the top of the window.
In the [Chord Progression] tab, the Builder displays and suggests chords that are most popular in the current key, in pop or
jazz, allowing you to interactively create your own progression.
Click on the root of the chord in the “Root” group, the “Extension” (Maj7 etc.), and an alternate “Slash-Note” root. For
example, to make the chord F9/A, you would click on the “F” root, the “9” extension, and the Slash Root of /A. As you click on
them, you will hear the bass note played by the MIDI instrument on the Bass track, and the extension played by the MIDI
instrument on the Piano track. You can change these MIDI patches using Select MIDI Instrument (Patch) in the right-click menu
on the Mixer or the track radio buttons at the top of the screen.
If you are happy with the sound of the chord, you can press the [Enter Chord] button to enter the chord at the bar and beat
specified. If you want the chord to be inserted automatically when you click on the note/extension names, select the “Enter
chord when clicked” option. This will advance the Bar/Beat position. You can change the Bar/Beat settings to move to a
different bar. The [<] & [>] buttons move 1 beat on a right-click, and 2 beats on a left-click.
Delete Chords
The chords at the current location of the highlight cell are cleared by the Delete key, the Windows® “Cut” command, or by
typing a comma and pressing Enter.
Deletion of chords over a range of bars can be done by selecting the range and pressing the Delete key on your computer
keyboard. No confirmation dialog is required.
Enter Breaks (Rests, Shots, and Held Chords)
Breaks are points in a song when one or more of the tracks rests, plays a shot, or holds a chord.
Insert/Delete Bars
Choose Edit | Insert Bars, and the program will ask you to type in the number of bars you wish to insert. You can also use
hotkeys to insert N bars at the current location. For example, I N 4 Enter would insert 4 bars at the current location, and I N 8
Enter would insert 8 bars.
Choose Edit | Delete Bars, and the program will ask you to type in the number of bars you wish to delete.
Copy and Paste a Section of Chords
Copying a section of chords is done in the same manner as copying text in a Windows® word processor (read on if you are
unfamiliar with how this is done). There are also similar “keyboard shortcuts” for these operations as listed in Keystroke
Commands – Hotkeys section of this guide.
Copying Chords to the Windows® Clipboard
Select the region to copy. Place the mouse cursor at the bar to begin the selection. Then, holding down the left mouse button,
drag the mouse over the region. As you do this you will see that the region will be inverted (i.e., looks dark). When you have
selected the desired region of chords to copy, release the mouse button.
Copy the selected region to the clipboard. Click Ctrl+C or choose Copy from the Edit menu.
Pasting Chords from the Windows® Clipboard
Assuming you have already copied some chords to the clipboard (see previous topic), you are then ready to paste the copied
chords into another part of your Chord Sheet.
Move the highlight cell to the bar to begin the paste of chords.
Press Ctrl+V or choose Paste from the Edit menu.
Tip: The copied section remains in the clipboard and can be used repeatedly. Example: If you’re inputting a song with verse, verse, bridge,
verse, you can simply copy the first verse to the clipboard, and then repeatedly paste-in the other verses. The clipboard contents remain intact
even if you load in a new song, so you can copy and paste between songs.
Note: If chords are not selected on the Chord Sheet, Ctrl+C copies the whole song including all chords and additional information (title, key,
tempo, form, memo, etc.) to the clipboard. You can paste this into a text file with the Ctrl+V keys, but if you want to paste it into another song,
you need to press Ctrl+Shift+V or go to menu Edit | Paste Special - from Clipboard text to Song(s).
By default, part markers as well as rests, shots, holds, and pushes are included in text, but you can change this with the options
in the Song(s) to Text (Clipboard or .txt File) dialog. This dialog also allows you to select the items that will be included when
you copy the whole song. Using this dialog, you can also copy all songs in a specific folder to the clipboard or save them as text
file(s). The dialog can be accessed with the Edit | Copy Special | Copy Song(s) to Text on Clipboard or File(s) menu item.
Copy text to the clipboard with the regular Edit Copy (Ctrl-C) command: This must be enabled in order to copy chords
with the standard Ctrl+C keys.
Include song metadata: This option applies when you copy the whole song. If this is checked, the song metadata (title, key,
tempo, form, style, etc.) will be included.
Include memo: This option also applies when you copy the whole song.
Include part markers: By default, part markers are copied, but you choose not to copy them.
Include holds, pushes, shots: By default, rests, shots, holds, and pushes entered in chords are copied, but if you don’t want
them, uncheck this option.
You can even enter a whole song in a text file. The easiest way is to use the text file that you pasted the whole song into. Some
of the information pasted into that text file cannot be pasted back into Band-in-a-Box because they are not applicable for a new
song. For example, “Song Summary” is no applicable because this is automatically generated in the song and cannot be edited
by a user. However, it will not cause problems if you leave them in the text file. You can include a title, a key, a tempo, a form,
a style file name, and a memo.
When you are ready, press Ctrl+A to select all and Ctrl+C to copy. Then, in Band-in-a-Box, press Ctrl+Shift+V or go to menu
Edit | Paste Special - from Clipboard Text to Song(s). This will open the Paste Text to Song(s) dialog.
By using the auto-substitution dialog, we can generate substitutions for the whole song, and we get this result:
You can see that Band-in-a-Box chose the substitutions for about 70% of the chords in the song (that’s what we told it to do in
the dialog). It began by replacing the F6 chord with an Fmaj7 Gm7 Abdim Am7 progression. Some of the substitutions chosen
are even more advanced than that (replacing two bars of Bbmaj7 with Bb6 Ebmaj7 Dm7 Gm7 | Bbmaj7 Cm7 Dbdim Dm7 for
example).
Here are the settings in the auto-substitution dialog that produced this result:
If you’d like Band-in-a-Box to only generate chords for a certain
range of bars, you should highlight that range of bars in the Chord
Sheet first, and then open the dialog. The range will then be set to
“Part of song” and the “Bar” and “# of bars” settings will also be
set. You can override these settings with manual settings, if
necessary.
The progressions are sorted in alphabetical order, or from “best to worst” depending on the setting.
Choose a chord progression, and press [Do-Reharmonize NOW] and the program will insert that progression.
Rearrange Chords - Song Form Maker
The Song Form Maker allows you to define sections of a song (A, B, C etc.), and then rearrange the song by simply typing the
form you want (e.g., AABABAACA). You can revisit the dialog to change the form at any time.
Go to Edit | Song Form | Song Form Dialog, or press the [Song Form] toolbar button and select Song Form Dialog
from the menu. You will then see the Song Form Maker dialog.
You can customize the display of the part markers in the Display Options dialog. For example, you can pick a color for each
part marker, draw part marker borders, show each part marker on the new line, etc.
MultiStyles
Band-in-a-Box MultiStyles are styles that can have up to 24 substyles; original Band-in-a-Box styles had two substyles, “a” and
“b.” Band-in-a-Box MultiStyles typically have four substyles, but may have up to twenty-four, selected by using part markers
“a” through “x.”
- Substyle “a” is usually used for the verse of a song.
- Substyle “b” is usually used for the “b-section” or the chorus, and for soloing in the middle choruses.
- Substyle “c” is usually used for the intro or for an opening verse or pre-verse.
- Substyle “d” is usually used for a break or interlude.
You can easily make your own MultiStyles, either from scratch, or combining parts from existing styles to make a MultiStyle.
For example, if you have 10 favorite Country styles, you can quickly make a single MultiStyle that has 20 substyles available
within the same song.
The MultiStyle names are set in the StyleMaker Miscellaneous dialog. If the style is a MultiStyle, you can right-
click on a bar number to see them.
You can get no drum fill on the bar before a part marker, or you can get a drum fill at any bar without needing a part marker.
This is controlled in the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (F5). When the “Allow Drum Fill” option is checked, you’ll get
a drum fill at the current bar. If you are at a bar before a part marker and you don’t want a drum fill, then disable this option.
Section Paragraphs
When you’re reading a book, a new section begins on a new line, with space between. Band-in-a-Box does that for chords too.
Whenever a new section occurs (a part marker), we start the new section on a new line and draw a grey line above to clearly
mark the new section. You will see each section on a new line so that the form of the song is easier to see.
For example, if you have a song with a 7-bar section, followed by 8-bar sections, earlier versions of Band-in-a-Box wouldn’t
start the other sections on a new line. The result was that it was hard to delineate the sections, as if an entire story was told
within one paragraph.
With the Section Paragraphs feature, you will see each section on a new line so that the form of the lead sheet is easier to see.
Sections can be as short as 2 bars.
Generating Accompaniments
Band-in-a-Box generates backing arrangements based on the chords you type in, playing them in a particular style.
Selecting Styles
There are many styles available for use with the Band-in-a-Box program. Styles refer to styles of music like Jazz Swing, Latin,
Blues, Pop, Rock, or Country. You can pick a musical style either before or after you have entered the chords to a song. Once a
style is loaded, the song will be played back using your chosen style. All style files have the .STY extension.
In the Chord Sheet or the Notation window you can quick-load a style by typing only “style” followed by a style name. For
example, S T Y L E Z Z B O S S A Enter will load zzbossa.sty.
Help for “Style Not Found”
If a style is not found when loading it, you will be given an option to open the StylePicker showing compatible styles that you
do have. Also, it shows information about the missing style like instrumentation, genre, and audio demo so you get an idea of
what replacement you need. For example, you have a song that needs the style _OMENS+.STY but you don’t have that style. If
Band-in-a-Box knows about that style, you will get a message telling you that the style is not found but you can browse similar
styles in the StylePicker. If you answer “Yes,” the StylePicker will open.
It shows you a lot of information about the style that you don’t have, such as genre (Hip Hop), time signature (4/4), feel (even
16), tempo (70), and the Styles Disk that it comes from (MultiStyles 1).
Double-clicking on the style will play a pre-made demo so you can hear what the style should sound like if you have it.
The StylePicker shows you styles that you do have that would be good substitutes. For example, the first one is _SPIT_IT.STY,
which is a Hip Hop style with the same tempo, feel and time signature. So, you can try out these other hip hop styles to find the
best substitute for the missing style.
If you highlight the missing style “_OMENS+.STY,” in the mixer area you will see a list of the RealTracks and RealDrums
used. This is useful as you may have many of the RealTracks and can use this to add them to the style that you do choose.
Band Styles
When you select Band Syles (Best RealStyles) from the [Style] button menu, you will see a directory of style types, with
submenus sorted into the listed categories.
Tip: Pressing the S 2 Enter keys quickly shows you the submenus.
For example, in the Jazz section you will see styles for Jazz Swing, Bossa/Latin, Cuban/Bolero, Smooth Jazz, and Gypsy
Jazz/Dixieland. Each heading opens a list of selected RealStyles, sorted by tempo and type.
This list of styles can be customized by the user. You can create a text file of styles to add to the top and/or bottom of the list
(i.e., above or below the list of styles provided by PG Music). To customize this list at the top, create a file called
C:\bb\Data\RealCombos_User_Top.txt, to customize this list at the bottom create a file called
C:\bb\Data\RealCombos_User_Bottom.txt.
The format of the file is identical to the one that PG Music includes, which is called C:\bb\Data\RealCombos.txt. You can list a
line of text (for a heading) e.g.
---- My Favorite Country Styles ----
or a line with a style on it e.g.
_JAZFRED$ Jazz Style with 4 in the bar Guitar
On this line, the $ character is a delimiter between the style name and the description.
StylePicker Window
The StylePicker window is opened by pressing the [Style] button or the Ctrl+F9 keys. It lists all of the styles that are present in
the C:\bb\Styles folder. The StylePicker window has a great filter feature for finding a perfect style for your song by selecting
elements such as time signature, feel, or tempo, or by simply typing in a familiar song title.
Tip: You can quickly open the window with S Enter, S 1 Enter or Ctrl+F9.
Tip: You can also use the MultiPicker Library floating window to select not only a style but also any type of tracks (RealTracks, RealDrums,
Loops, etc.). It has many useful functions for filters, audio demos, searching, and more. You can open it with the F7 or M Enter keys.
Rebuild StylePicker and Confirm RealTracks and RealDrums Folder Locations Dialog
If the style list needs rebuild when you open the StylePicker window, a dialog will show to confirm and set the correct locations
of your RealTracks and RealDrums folders. In the dialog, you can see the current locations (e.g., C:\bb\RealTracks and
C:\bb\Drums) and the number of RealTracks and RealDrums present in these locations. This allows you to confirm that you are
using the correct locations as you see the expected numbers of RealTracks and RealDrums found in the folders.
Note: The dialog is also accessible with the [Set RT/RD Folders] button
in the Track Settings and Actions dialog (F7).
A progress bar will show at the top of the StylePicker window during style rebuild.
After you have rebuilt the style list, you can browse styles by sorting columns or hear an “instant” preview of the style by
double-clicking on the list. If style has both MIDI and RealDrums available, you can hear both, and choose which one you want.
This makes it much faster to find the style that fits your song.
The styles list can be easily sorted by clicking on a column name. Clicking again will reverse the order. You can also resize the
column width by dragging a column border.
Note: In order to toggle the sort between the forward and reverse order, you need to enable “Sort columns in forward and reverse order” in the
StylePicker Options dialog.
Each column provides following information for the style.
- Name: This column shows the file name of the style.
- Type: This column tells you whether the style has RealTracks only (“R”), MIDI only (“M”), or a combination of RealTracks
& MIDI (“RM”)
- TSig: This column shows a time signature (4/4, 3/4, etc.) of the style.
- EvSw: The “ev” or “sw” indicates whether the style plays in an even feel or a swing feel.
- Tempo: The tempo shown here is the tempo set in the style.
- Long Name: This column shows the full name of the style.
- Genre: This column shows the genre of the style.
- Group: The styles are grouped into three groups: Pop, Jazz, and Country. This column also shows a "genre score," which
describes a style by a simple number from 1 to 100. This works as follows: quiet, classical, acoustic, jazz, or folk would have
low genre scores (1 to 30); loud, aggressive, or heavy rock would have high genre scores (80-100); and light-medium pop
would have mid-range genre scores. You can filter the style list by the genre score with the "Other" filter button either by
choosing a pre-defined range or setting your own custom range. For example, if you're looking for a quiet "living room" type
style, use the filter to only show styles with a genre score less than 40. This might show jazz, classical, folk or other quiet-
acoustic styles.
- Date: This column shows the date when the style was made.
- Set #: In this column, you can see which set includes the style.
- # Instr: This column shows the number of instruments that are present in the style.
- # Substyles: A style can contain as many as 24 substyles.
- Other Genres: This column suggests additional genres of the style.
Filter
You can easily find a style using the text filter. For example, if you want to find punk styles, simply type “punk” and the list will
be filtered to show punk styles. If there is a RealTracks musician that you want to check out, just type in his name, and the list
will show styles with that musician in them.
You can also use the arrow button to select a category, time signature, feel, etc., and you will immediately see the filtered list.
In the Type in a familiar song title field, type in a familiar song title, artist name, or genre of music, and the StylePicker will
filter the list by the genre, feel, tempo, and time signature of that song title.
Let’s find a style that is similar to the song “Amazing Grace.” Type in “amazing,” click on a song to select it, and press [Enter].
This is an even 8th folk song with 3/4 time signature, and the list will be filtered to show styles that match these elements. You
can see what filters are in place when you look at the “Style Filter by:” area.
You can also press the [Find Titles] button to open the Song Titles Browser, which allows you to browse and filter the huge
list of over 21,000 popular song titles. You can, for example, filter by a certain artist, and then sort all the songs by tempo, key,
feel, time signature, and more.
Instant Preview of Styles - Audio Demos
The [Demo] button plays a pre-made audio demo of the selected style. Double-clicking on the list or pressing the
spacebar also plays the audio demo unless you have enabled the Double-Click (or Spacebar) plays Chord Sheet (not pre-made
demo) option in the [+] button.
The audio demos are found on your hard drive or on the Internet (www.pgmusic.com). The program will play the hard drive
version if available; otherwise, it will play from the Internet.
The [+] button shows a menu with options to allow use of the Internet to play audio demos, adjust the volume of the audio
demos, load demo songs for the selected style, open the folder of audio demos if the file is being played on your hard drive, etc.
Instant Preview of Styles – Play Your Song
You can also audition a style by actually playing it over the current chord progression of your song.
The green arrow button plays your song with the currently highlighted style. The black square button stops
playback of the song or the audio demo.
By default, double-clicking on a style plays a pre-made audio demo, but it can be set to play the song instead. Press the [+]
button, and enable the Double Click (or Spacebar) plays chord sheet (not pre-made demo) menu item. The number of bars for
song preview is settable. Press the [Options] button, select Set Dialog Option from the menu, and select a number for the “# of
preview” option.
The ideal tempo for the style is shown here but you can change it to any tempo by typing in the number or clicking on the [+]
and [-] buttons. You can even change it during playback.
[Apply] [Generate]
You can press the [Apply] button to load the selected style to the song. Pressing the [Generate] button loads the style to the
song, generates tracks, and plays the song with the style.
Rebuild of Styles List
Press the [Rebuild] button and select [Fast] Rebuild of PG Music styles only after you install new styles from PG Music. It
takes about 30 seconds to rebuild the list. The [Slow] Rebuild of PG Music and 3rd party styles menu item will find not only PG
Music styles but also new or changed user or third-party styles. It takes longer to rebuild the list.
Customization
For each track, there is a menu button, which allows you to change the instrument, disable/enable the track, or perform other
track actions.
When the track is customized, an asterisk will be added to the name.
When the Custom option is checked, the tracks of the currently selected style will be overridden with the choices you have
made.
The [Clear] button will clear any customized settings.
Press the [Save as .STY] button to save the style that you have customized. When you save the style, it will be added to the
StylePicker list.
Memo
This area shows additional information about the style. You can see instruments, artists, a brief description, and song examples
currently selected style. If the style has Loops or UserTracks, you will see the names of the Loops or UserTracks.
Options
Clicking on the [Options] button shows you a menu with options to select/create User Category, add the current style to the
User Category, set styles as a favorite, etc. These options are also available when you right-click on the list.
Set Dialog Options: This menu item opens the StylePicker Options dialog with additional options for the StylePicker.
Reset Dialog to Defaults: This resets the StylePicker and StylePicker Options dialog to default settings.
Mark as Prototype, and sort by Similar Styles to: This menu item will sort and filter the list by best to worst match of the
prototype’s tempo, feel, genre, time signature, and more. Once you do this, the sort status indicator will tell you that the sort is
by prototype. For example, if you choose _BUBLPOP as the prototype style, the list will be sorted with styles most similar to
_BUBLPOP. These are the styles with a similar genre, feel, tempo, and time signature. The prototype always shows in the list,
even with a filter applied.
Select/Create User Category: Unlimited User Categories can be created by users or third parties, to list their styles in the
StylePicker. To select an existing User Category, choose Select/Create User Category. When the dialog opens, select a category
and press the [OK] button. To make your own User Category, right-click on the list, choose Select/Create User Category, and
when the Choose User Category to display in StylePicker dialog opens, press the [Create New Category] button. Then, type
a name for your category and click on the [Save] button. You can also enter a memo for your category.
Technical notes: User Categories are stored as .txt files, which just contain the list of style names. The User Categories must reside in
C:\bb\Data\StylePicker\User Categories folder. You can re-arrange this folder by creating subfolders and moving the categories around to
organize them. You can also directly edit the .txt file in this folder. If you have made any changes to this folder, remember to press the
[Refresh] button.
Preferred listing of styles: This controls the default type of listing of styles (Real and/or MIDI).
Default display should include all styles (available and N/A not available): If this option is enabled, you will see all styles
including N/A ones even when all filters are cleared.
Show current style in list even if it doesn’t match the filter: This setting lets you choose to always show the current style
even if it doesn’t match the filter.
Sort Columns in forward and reverse order: If this option is enabled, clicking on a column name again will sort the list in
reverse order.
Always change tempo to best tempo for style whenever a style is loaded: If this option is checked, pressing the [OK] button
in the StylePicker will always change the current tempo to the ideal tempo for the selected style. Note: If the song is “blank” (no
chords past bar 5), then the tempo will change, but if the song has chords in more than 5 bars, then the tempo will not change
unless this option is enabled.
Change 4-bar preview tempo to best tempo for style: If this is checked, then when you preview the song, it will be played at
the ideal tempo for the style.
Use Internet for style audition demos (if not found on disk): Enable this option so demos will play files from pgmusic.com
using the Internet if demos are not found on disk.
Double click on style plays Chord Sheet chords (instead of pre-made demo): By default, when you double-click on a style in
the StylePicker a pre-made audio demo will play, but if you check this option, double-clicking plays your song.
Play a preview (portion) when auditioning: This limits audition of your song to the first few bars.
# of bars for preview: You can select the number of bars to play for a preview.
Font Size: This allows you change the font size of the styles list.
Remix Full Vocal Songs
Band-in-a-Box has over 130 original songs (Pop, R&B, Modern Country, etc.) with high-quality, great sounding vocals,
harmonies and Band-in-a-Box arrangements. They are included in the Artist Performance Sets 11 to 16. Use them to remix new
arrangements, starting from these high-quality, great sounding tracks!
To hear the audio demos, press the [Other] filter button in the StylePicker, and select Styles that have .wma full song demos,
with vocals from the drop-down menu. Or, press the [Category] filter button, select Choose and Show User Category from the
There are Title/Artist/Genre/Key/Tempo/Feel/TimeSig/Decade/Vocals columns. You can sort the list by any column.
- Title: This shows you the song title.
- Artist: These are the artist or artists most commonly associated with the song.
- Genre: This is the musical genre that the song is typically played in.
- Key: This is the song key that is usually associated with the song.
- Tempo: This is a typical tempo for the song.
- Feel: This shows you if the song is Even or Swing, and 8th or 16th cut-time.
- Decade: This tells you the decade that the song is from.
- Vocals: Typical vocals are shown: (M)ale/(F)emale, (H)igh/(L)ow voice.
You can filter the list by genres, time signature, feel, tempo, decades, and more.
The chord density filter is available. Press the [Other] filter button and select one of the menu items below Filter by Chord
Density. For example, you can search titles that have chord changes in every 1-4 beats. You can also filter the list by chord
complexity. This is scaled by 1 to 10; 1 means simple with few chord changes and 10 means complex with many chord changes.
Press the [Other] filter button and select one of the menu items below Filter by Chord Changes.
You can see song titles that will only work with the current style. Pressing the [style: ] button will filter the list by the genre,
time signature, feel, and tempo of the current style. If the checkbox to the left of this button is enabled, then when you open the
dialog, the list will be automatically filtered to show song titles that are similar to the current style.
If you do not see a song title you are looking for, press the [Request] button. This will launch your internet browser and open
the PG Music forum page where you can request to add the song to the database.
You will see Favorites and Recently Played radio buttons that toggle between lists of recently played styles and your favorite
styles.
The favorites list will start off as an empty one. You can add styles as your favorites by clicking the [Add Fav] button.
Use the [To Top], [Up], and [Down] buttons to navigate the list.
Use the [Insert], [Append], and [Delete] buttons to modify the list.
The [Search] button will search for a style in the list by name, or part of a name.
The [Sort] button sorts the list alphabetically.
The [Load Set] and [Save Set] buttons allow you to save and load sets of Favorites or Recently Played styles.
Use the [Clear] button to clear the list and start a new one.
Enable the Play When Chosen option to play your song immediately upon selecting a style.
If OK to auto-add recent files is enabled, every style you select will be added to the top of the list.
Technical Note: The list of style favorites is stored in a text file called StyleFavorites.txt in the C:\bb\Preferences folder.
Style Aliases Dialog
The Style Aliases selection is found in the File | Load Style Special submenu.
Let’s say you’ve got a new jazz swing style called “J_DIZZY.” You can create an alias so that when Band-in-a-Box looks for a
jazz swing style, it will load in “J_DIZZY” instead, so you don’t have to make changes to all your songs. And when you have
found a new favorite style, just change the alias. You can also load or save sets of “Alias” files and share them with others.
To type in a style name that you don’t have, use the [Custom]
button.
1. To create a new alias, click on an empty spot (i.e., no alias
defined) in the alias list, or click on the alias you wish to edit if
you wish to change an existing alias.
2. Press the [Choose] button below the Original style box and
select the style you wish to be replaced.
3. Press the [Choose] button below the Substitution box and
select the replacement style (alias).
If you have made a mistake and wish to change your style
selection, press the [Clear] button. When you have successfully
made an alias, you will notice that there will be a small arrow in
the Styles box on the main screen indicating that you have an alias
loaded.
After you load a MultiStyle, right-click on a part marker and you will see that there are multiple substyles available. For
example, NR_CURR+ has 4 substyles.
- Open the StyleMaker and press the [Misc] button to open the Misc. Style Settings dialog.
- In the MultiStyles group box, type the name of a style that you want to use for the c/d section.
- If you’d like more substyles, add more styles separated by semicolons (e.g., “zzjazz;z5bossa;c_george”). Then you’d have 8
substyles from “a” to “h.”
Note that each of these styles can have a specific RealDrums style, either stored in the style itself (Misc. Style Settings
“RealDrums Settings”) or substituted via MIDI substitutions in RealDrums settings.
Naming MultiStyles
Styles can have names stored for the substyles. This is especially useful for MultiStyles to describe the various substyles.
The MultiStyle names are set in the StyleMaker Misc. Style Settings dialog. When present, the names are
visible with a right-click on a bar number.
MultiStyles in Songs
If you have a song, you can also use more than 2 substyles for that song. For example, let’s say we have a song that is a Bossa
Nova and you want to have a Jazz Swing section. Rather than finding a MultiStyle that has this exact combination, we can make
one, in the song, for this song only as follows:
Load a song like C:\bb\Demos\MIDI Style Demos\Styles00\zzbossa.mg4.
Right-click on a bar number, and choose “Define c/d.” Then choose
ZZJAZZ.STY from the StylePicker.
You will then see that there are 4 substyles now, a, b, c, d. You can use the “d”
substyle for Jazz Swing walking bass, since it is the same as the “b” substyle
from ZZJAZZ.
Load the song C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2008\Demo of MultiStyle in song only Bossa 2 Jazz.MG4, and you
can see the finished result. This song switches styles using part markers.
Note: The RealDrums will play for all of the styles if you have enabled RealDrums and “Substitute RealDrums for MIDI drums” in the
RealDrums Settings dialog.
Use the tab buttons at the top of the window to switch the type of tracks.
RealTracks: RealTracks are recordings of top studio musicians and recording artists. RealTracks are not “samples” but full
recordings, lasting several bars at a time, and can generate tracks that will play along in perfect sync with the other Band-in-a-
Box tracks. Best of all, they follow the chord progression that you have entered, so that you hear an authentic audio
accompaniment to your song!
RealDrums: RealDrums are recordings of top studio drummers, playing multi-bar patterns. MIDI drums are patterns based on
single drum hits, being programmed, typically on a quantized grid, of what people assume drummers are typically playing. We
record drummers at multiple tempos, so the playing you hear at various tempos is also musically different, not just “sped up.”
Drummers play different types of fills etc. at slower/faster tempos, and these are captured with RealDrums.
Loops: Loops are audio files (wav, wma, m4a, mp4, mp3) that reside in the RealTracks\Loops folder. You can add your own or
third-party loops to this folder. Loops support many types of ACIDized Loops (for wav and mp3 files), an, if you add an Acid
loop that is on a certain root (e.g., F), Band-in-a-Box will instantly allow you to use that as a complete style, by transposing that
loop to the current chord of the song in Band-in-a-Box, so that the loop follows your chord progression.
UserTracks: UserTracks allow anyone to create their own audio styles for use in Band-in-a-Box. With a UserTracks style, you
can type in any chords into Band-in-a-Box, and the UserTracks style you made will play that chord progression! For example, if
you’ve made a UserTracks style by recording yourself playing a guitar groove, you can then type any chords into Band-in-a-
Box, and the result will be that it will play your guitar groove over these completely new, original chord changes! You can even
change the tempo, or enter songs in any key, and it will still be able to play it!
MIDI SuperTracks: MIDI SuperTracks are called “SuperTracks” because they are generated using a different engine than
typical MIDI tracks. Typical MIDI tracks are generated from C7 patterns in a style and repeat these patterns over any chord.
MIDI SuperTracks use actual MIDI playing from musicians (similar to RealTracks in that regard), so are not based on patterns.
MIDITracks: You can add a MIDITrack from a MIDI style to any track of your song. There are over 800 custom MIDITracks
to choose from.
MIDI Soloists: That’s right! Band-in-a-Box can “solo like a pro.” Pick one of the many MIDI Soloists available, and the
Soloist will generate a great solo for your song!
Note: For the Melodist, when selecting a track other than the Melody track, uncheck the “Use Melody track for Melodist” option below the track
selector so that the Melodist will be generated on the selected track, not the Melody track. Similarly, uncheck the “Use Soloist track for Soloist”
option when selecting a track other than the Soloist track.
Clicking on the [+] button beside the track selector will display a small panel, where you can solo, mute, freeze, set
volume/reverb/panning/tone, change the track label, write the track description, and do more for the current track.
The list can be sorted by clicking on the column headings.
For example, type a text (e.g., bossa) in the Filter String field, and the list will be filtered to show only the items that have the
word “bossa” somewhere in the name, genre, memo, etc. The [#] button allows you to filter the list by many elements including
feel, time signature, set numbers, artists, etc. You can also use the arrow buttons to quickly filter the list by a genre, instrument,
time signature, feel, etc. Press the [Clear] button to clear the filter and show all available items on the list.
For the StylePicker, there is also an Include Similar checkbox. If this is checked, then the filtered list will show the exact match
only, but if this option is checked, then the list will show the exact match and the similar styles. The [Clear] button will clear
any filter so all styles will display.
You can read memos and artist bios (if available).
For some types of tracks, there is a [Settings] button that opens a small panel for additional settings. For
styles, there is an [Options] button that shows a menu with options to select/create User Category, add the current style to the
User Category, set styles as favorites, etc.
RealTracks Settings and MIDI SuperTracks Settings Panels
- The Timebase option is to play the selected RealTracks/MIDI SuperTracks at normal, half time, double time or triple time.
- The [Medley] button allows you to create a medley of RealTracks on the same track.
- If Bluesy is checked, the selected RealTracks/MIDI SuperTracks will play in a bluesy style, where major triads are treated like
7th chords.
- If Simpler is checked, the selected RealTracks/MIDI SuperTracks will play a simpler arrangement (less busy, less
embellished). See the “Simple Available” column for availability of simpler RealTracks/MIDI SuperTracks.
- If Direct Input is checked, the selected RealTracks/MIDI SuperTracks will use a “clean signal” guitar so that you can add
your own effects. See the “Direct Input Available” column for availability of clean recordings.
- If you check the Held option, the selected RealTracks/MIDI SuperTracks will play held chords.
- Select Disable RealTracks for this track (Force this track to MIDI) if you don’t want RealTracks for this track, even if the
current style specifies a RealTrack.
RealDrums Settings Panel
- Check For this song only, force MIDI drums if you don’t want the RealDrums set in the current style.
To use the dialog, first select the track at the top left corner. Then, select the RealTracks for that track from the list.
You can instantly hear an audio demo by double-clicking a RealTracks on the list. Since this doesn’t affect your song, you can
quickly audition many different RealTracks, and find the best ones for your song.
You can choose which of band or solo plays first when you double-click on the list, by
the Band (on Double Click) checkbox. Otherwise, press the [Band] or the [Solo]
button. The demos play from the Internet (www.pgmusic.com) or your hard drive
(C:\bb\Demos\RealTracks-Demos).
RealDrums Picker Window
The RealDrums Picker is used to assign a particular RealDrums style for just the one song you are working on. RealDrums
made by you (or others) that are added by you to the Drums folder also appear in the RealDrums Picker dialog.
The track selector at the top of the window lets you chose a track for RealDrums. RealDrums can be generated on any of the 24
tracks, not just the Drums track, so you can have multiple RealDrums in your song. You then chose RealDrums for the selected
track from the list.
You can double-click on the RealDrums list to instantly hear demos. You can also double-click on the Variation field to the
right of the list to audition each variation of the RealDrums. For example, if you’ve found CountryWaltz^, you can hear demos
of the variations (CountryWaltz^1-HiHat,Ride, CountryWaltz^2-Brushes etc.).
Pick a Loop Dialog
You can add your own or third-party loops to any track. Loops are audio files (WAV, wma, m4a, mp4, mp3) that reside in the
Loops folder of the RealTracks folder. You can add your own files to this folder.
Loops support many types of ACIDized Loops (for WAV and MP3 files). And, if you add an Acid loop that is on a certain root
(e.g., F), Band-in-a-Box will instantly allow you to use that as a complete style, by transposing that loop to the current chord of
the song in Band-in-a-Box, so that the loop follows your chord progression.
Tip: You can also use the MultiPicker Library floating window, which allows you to select any type of tracks, not just the Loops, to generate a
whole or partial track. It has many useful functions for filters, audio demos, searching, and more. You can open it with the F7 or M Enter keys.
Click on the [Loops] toolbar button to open the Pick a Loop dialog. You can also right-click on a track radio button at
the top of the screen and choose the menu item Select a Loop for this track. Pressing the R L Enter keys also opens the
dialog.
You can preview UserTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons. The speaker icon in the
transport control allows you to control the volume of the demos.
You can select a timebase (normal, half-time, double-time, or triple-time) for any UserTracks.
Tip: UserTracks can be made and preset to a timebase by the user. For example, if you have a UserTrack in Ev
8 called “Santur,” you can clone the folder and rename the cloned one as “Santur [Double-Time].” Then it will
play in Double-Time Ev 16 half of the tempo.
Select a UserTrack and press [OK]. You will then see that UserTrack listed on the Guitar track on the Mixer. Simply press the
[Generate and Play] button to hear it.
You can type a text or press the filter button [#] to narrow down your search.
There are memos describing the individual MIDI SuperTracks, and you can click on the memo for a big window.
You can preview the MIDI SuperTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser which lists all RealTracks artists and allows you to see more info.
Choose a MIDI SuperTrack from the list and click [OK].
You will then see that the Piano track label has turned blue to indicate that it is a MIDI SuperTrack.
When you play the song, you will hear a much more sophisticated MIDI arrangement than a typical MIDI style, since it is not
based on C7 chord patterns; instead, it is based on hours of actual MIDI playing from a top studio musician.
Once you have selected a MIDI SuperTracks, you might want to assign a specific VST/DX instrument to play it. If so, use the
Mixer’s Plugins panel, and click on the first slot for the track that you want to set.
Each MIDI SuperTrack is assigned a number, like the MIDI Soloists or the RealTracks, so you can access the MIDI
SuperTracks from the Select Soloist dialog as well, and they are highlighted in cyan.
You can select a Soloist type (e.g., Modern Jazz) and see only Soloists matching the type. And you can also filter to show/not
show Soloists from Soloist sets that you don’t have.
Use the preset Soloist settings or choose a Mode and which Choruses to solo.
Melodists can be filtered by Genre (e.g., EZ listening) to show only Melodists in that genre. You can also filter to show/not
show Melodists from Melodist sets that you don’t have. Check Show if N/A to list all Melodists even if they are not included in
your Band-in-a-Box.
Note: Band-in-a-Box also has a SoundTrack feature that allows you to generate music in the style you choose for any length of time you
specify. Click on Generate Soundtrack in the Melody menu.
If the song does not have any lyrics, the Bar Lyrics layer does not appear on most lines, but it appears on the row where the bar
is highlighted. If you click on a bar on another row, the layer will appear on that row.
Double-click on the Bar Lyrics layer on a bar where you want to enter lyrics. This will change the color of the layer, which
indicates that you can type in that location. You can use keys to navigate through the layer: Tab to go forward, Shift+Tab to go
backward.
Type a lyric and press the Tab key. This will enter the lyric and move the editing bar forward.
To edit lyrics, go back there by clicking on that bar or using the Shift+Tab keys, and then retype.
If you have entered lyrics that were supposed to be spaced out over some bars, go back to the bar, and use the Left Arrow key
to move the cursor to the beginning of the lyric that should be in the next bar. Then press Enter. This will push that lyric to the
next bar and shuffle the texts in the following bars forward as well.
Example: You realize that “once was lost” in bar 13 should have been “once was,” and lyrics in bar 14 should have been spread
over some bars.
Use the left arrow key to move the cursor to the beginning of “lost.”
And press Enter. This pushes “lost” to bar 14 and “but now am found” to bar 15.
Use Tab or Shift+Tab to move through the bars, the Left/Right Arrow keys to move the cursor within the bar, and Enter or
Backspace to push lyrics, until the lyrics are in the correct bars.
The Bar Lyrics layer is designed so that you can even edit lyrics during playback.
Another way to enter lyrics is to copy lyrics from a text file and paste them directly to the Bar Lyrics layer.
First, prepare lyrics in the text file and copy them to the clipboard. Then, go back to Band-in-a-
Box, double-click on the bar where the lyrics should be inserted and press Ctrl+V.
But the lyrics are not quite in the correct bars, so you need to fix using the Tab, Enter, or Left/Right Arrow keys.
There is an easier way for this copying and pasting method. If the lyrics in the text file are arranged so that each line represents a
bar, you need very little to fix after pasting.
First, edit the lyrics in the text file so that every line corresponds to a bar. Then, copy them all to the clipboard.
Next, go back to Band-in-a-Box, double-click on the bar where the lyrics should be inserted and press Ctrl+V.
Tip: You can convert note-based lyrics to bar-based lyrics using the Edit | Lyrics | Covert Note-Based Lyrics to Bar Lyrics menu item.
Pressing the [Record] button will start recording what you play on the Thru track. An audible count-in is played prior to
recording.
Once you have completed recording your melody, Band-in-a-Box will ask
you if you want to keep the take and if you want to copy the recorded
chorus to the whole song. If you did not record the full track you can
choose to retain the rest of the track beyond the part you just recorded.
Sequencer Mode
Normally, you would want a single part on the Melody or Soloist track, but since MIDI information can have separate channels,
it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the tracks. For the following discussion, we will assume that you’re using the
Melody track, but the same functions are available for the Soloist. When the Melody track has been set to “Multi(16)-Channel”
we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.”
If you want to use the 16 separate parts for the Melody track, you need to set the Melody track type to “Multi (16) -Channel.”
This is done from the Melody (or Soloist) menu or with the [Sequencer] button.
Now, when you are in this multi-channel mode, output from the Melody track will be on whatever MIDI channel the
information is stored on and will not be using the Melody MIDI channel. Both the Melody and Soloist tracks can be set to multi-
channel play, for a total of 32 channels.
Tip: Looking for inspiration? At the click of a button, the Band-in-a-Box Melodist will write entire new songs from scratch, complete with
Chords, Intro, Melody, Solo, Ending, and even an original Title. Or you can enter your own chord changes and let the Melodist create a new
melody over them. There are more than 100 Jazz, Pop, Rock, Latin, Country, and Classical melody styles.
When adding a harmony to the Melody (or Soloist) you can use the option to loosen up start times of for the harmony notes to
achieve a more natural, richer harmony sound. Choose menu item Melody | Edit Melody Track | Quantize, Time Adjust | Loosen
Start Times. You can select the range of adjustments. For example, if you want the notes to be played earlier, use a negative
number. A setting of minus 5 to positive 6 would cause the start times to be varied up to 5 ticks early and 6 ticks late. There is
also a setting to choose whether you want only the harmony notes present on the track to be affected, leaving the original
melody unaffected.
Edit | Undo and Edit | Redo allow you to Undo (or redo) most operations. Multiple Undo supports up to 999 levels of undo
(configurable). The default number of undo is 99. If you need to change this, it can be done in Options | Preferences “Number
of levels of undo.” The range can be 5 to 999. You can also choose Edit | Redo to redo an undo.
Technical Note: Audio Undos are large WAV files, so are stored in an Undos folder in the BB directory. This directory is emptied when the
undos are no longer needed.
Edit | Cut functions like a delete command. It removes bars of chords from a song.
Copy/Move Tracks
The Edit | Copy Special | Copy/Move Tracks menu item allows copying or moving data (audio and/or MIDI) from one track to
another.
becomes
If you have a song with 3 choruses and want to convert it to a single large chorus, this command unfolds the song into just that;
one BIG chorus. This is useful for customizing a song with style, patch or tempo changes in different verses.
Fold (Convert 1 chorus to multiple)
A “Fold song” routine converts a song with a single large chorus to multiple smaller choruses with optional tag ending. If you
have imported a MIDI file, you might have a file that is 96 bars long, but really consists of 3 choruses of 32 bars each. You can
convert this to a 32-bar song by using the Edit | Song Form | Fold menu item, including inserting tag endings, and 2-bar
endings.
Repeat symbols are drawn at the beginning and end of the entire form (bars 1, 32 in this song) and “end” is written on bar 33,
which is the ending. Bars past the end of the song are colored gray. These form markers are present for every song, unless you
disable them by Options | Preferences | Display. These are not the type of repeats/endings we’re referring to here, however. The
repeats/endings we are talking about now occur during the form, and are the 1st/2nd endings, DS al Coda and other repeat types
that you see on a typical lead sheet.
So, in our song “Miles1 Tutorial (no repeats yet),” we can have a look at it and see if there are any repeats/endings. It appears
from looking at the Chord Sheet that this 32-bar form consists of two 16 bar sections, with a 1st ending at bar 9, and a 2nd
ending at bar 25. So now we’d like Band-in-a-Box to display it like that, with the first and second ending markings. Since we
want to insert the 1st/2nd ending on bar 9, we right-click on the Chord Sheet on bar 9 and select Repeats/Codas/1st-2nd
Endings. We then see the Edit Repeats and Endings dialog.
Click on the 1st/2nd endings radio button and enter the
following.
- Repeat begins at bar 1.
- 1st ending begins at bar 9.
- 1st ending lasts for 8 bars.
- Type of Repeat/Ending = 1st/2nd endings.
By entering this data we’ve defined the complete 1st and
2nd ending. If the 1st ending begins at bar 9 and lasts for 8
bars, the 2nd ending must begin at bar 17+8=25 (there’s an
8-bar repeated section from bar 1 to 8).
Now, this was a pre-existing song, and it already has all of
the bars laid out. So, we make sure that we don’t select the
Generate (insert) new bars checkbox.
Click on [OK-Make Repeat], and the repeat gets made and the Chord Sheet redraws with the 1st/2ndrepeat showing.
Make sure you have Fake Sheet mode selected on the Chord Sheet.
This shows all of the 32 bars, including the bars that are part of the repeat – these are highlighted in gray. Exposing these bars
shows the linear view of the song, the way the song would be played. It also allows you to enter custom information for any of
the bars, including the bars in the “gray area.” For example, if you wanted the chord at bar 21 to be an Em9 instead of an Em7,
just type it in, even though it’s in the repeated section leading to the 2nd ending.
You can toggle between the 2 views for the traditional lead sheet view with the Fake Sheet mode, and the “normal” (linear)
view with Fake Sheet mode OFF.
Buttons in the Edit Repeats and Endings dialog
The [Options] button opens the Display Options dialog, which includes an option to globally enable/disable the display of
repeats and endings.
The [Show Form] button in displays a summary of the form of the song as examined by Band-in-a-Box. This is useful for
analyzing the form of the song, in case you want to add your own repeats and endings manually, and want a quick summary of
the form. Band-in-a-Box shows you the form in 2-bar sections. A typical AABA song might display a form like this.
0, 1, 2, 3
0, 1, 2, 4
5, 6, 7, 8
0, 1, 2, 4
Each of these numbers represents a unique 2-bar section of the song. You can see the first section (0, 1, 2, 3) is similar to the
second section (0, 1, 2, 4); in fact, they differ only in the last 2 bars. So, this would be a good candidate for a 1st/2nd ending.
Also, the last A section of 0, 1, 2, 4 is identical to the 2nd A section, so would be a good candidate for a DC al Coda symbol.
When you press the [Auto-Find] button, Band-in-a-Box will examine the song and try to detect any repeats in the song.
The [Edit List] button shows you a list of repeats or endings that have been entered in the song and allows you to edit them.
The [Tag Ending] button opens the Song Setting dialog where you can set a tag ending.
The [Delete All] button will delete all the repeats that have been entered in the current song.
Set Time Signature (range of bars)
Under the Edit | Set Time Signature (range of bars) menu item, you can assign a specific time signature at any bar and apply it
to a range of bars, as often as you want.
The Edit | Transpose submenu lets you transpose the entire song by a number of semitones, or specify a range to transpose. To
transpose part of a song, simply highlight the area you wish to transpose and select Transpose From.. To.. in the submenu.
When you have confirmed the starting bar and the number of bars you wish to transpose,
click on the “Transpose to Key” area and select the destination key.
The dialog has an option to close automatically during playback. When the Close w/ play option is set, the dialog will close
when the song starts to play and not reopen when it stops. This setting, in combination with the Auto-open setting, ensures that
the memo opens when the song opens, but closes during playback. The font for the song memo is size selectable.
Type your memo in the right side of the dialog and press the [Update] button.
If the Summary checkbox is selected, the dialog displays a full summary of the song (title/tempo/patches used in the song), as
well as other special features such as substyle patch changes or harmonies.
If the song contains a video or audio memo, you can play it with the [Video Memo] or [Audio Memo] button. You can add a
video memo to your song by creating a video file (wmv, mp4, m4v) with the same name as your song file followed by
Click on this button to go to Editable Notation mode. Chords, lyrics, and text can be entered as in the Standard Notation
mode; the Editable Notation mode also permits point-and-click entry of notes and rests as well as drag-and-drop editing.
Click on this button to switch to the Staff Roll Notation mode. In addition to the editing features of the Editable Notation
mode, in Staff Roll mode the velocity (vertical line) and duration (horizontal line) of notes can be edited with the mouse.
Printing
Click on the [Print] button in either the Notation window or the Lead Sheet window to print your song as sheet music.
This opens the Print Options dialog with a full range of options including “Number of Copies” to print and “Print Range.” The
options are fully described in the online Help and in the Notation chapter of this manual.
Saving Songs
Once you have made a song (or have made changes to a song), you will probably want to save the song by clicking on
the [Save] button. You can also choose Save from the File menu, or press F2 or Ctrl+S.
Use [Save As] to save a song with a different name or in a different location. (Songs that are “Saved As” with a
different name have the new name added to the Recently Played song dialog.) The [Save As] button menu includes
additional options for saving a song.
A medley is not simply joining songs together. A good medley uses a “transition” area between songs to introduce the new style,
key, and tempo. The Medley Maker automatically creates a nice transition area for you, writing in chords that would smoothly
modulate to the next song, style, key, and tempo!
To make a medley,
- add songs by pressing the [Append] or [Insert] button.
- remove songs using [Delete].
- change the order of the songs using [Move Up], [Move Down].
- for any song, customize using the Settings for this song group box, including changing the style, tempo, key, start bar,
number of bars, and number of transition bars. Press [Update] after customizing to see your changes in the medley list.
- choose the type of information to include with your medley (styles, key signature changes, lyrics, etc.) in the Include with
Songs group box.
- choose a number of transition bars (the default is 4). Transition bars are automatic bars of chords inserted by Band-in-a-Box
to transition from one song to the other, generating an “outro” and an “intro” between songs.
The current size and time of your medley is displayed in the Length label. The maximum size of the medley is 255 bars (about
7 minutes).
Press the [Make Medley NOW] button to generate a medley.
The dialog allows you to choose what files you want to email:
- the song (.MGU or .SGU)
- the style (.STY and .STX)
- a rendered audio file (choice of m4a, wma, wav, mp3)
Saving as Video and Upload to YouTube
You can save your song as a video that you can upload to YouTube or work with in video programs. You can make a video for
the Chord Sheet or the Notation window that shows the highlighted chords or notes moving as the song plays.
To use this feature, press the [Save As] button and choose Save as Video from the pulldown menu.
At the top left corner, choose the item (Chord Sheet or Notation track) to include in a video.
Enable Custom dimensions if you want to choose the width and height of the video. If this is disabled, the video dimensions
will match the Chord Sheet as it appears.
A higher number you set for Frames Per Second will result in a large file and the rendering process will take longer.
You can select a specific Codec to encode the video. If “Auto” is selected, Band-in-a-Box will choose a compatible codec.
If Include Title is enabled, the video of the Chord Sheet will have a black bar at the top containing the title shown below.
The Scroll Ahead option makes video of the Chord Sheet scroll so the bar that is currently playing will always be at the top of
the video (i.e., more bars ahead will be visible).
Click on the [OK - Render Video] button to start rendering the video. The video will continue to render unless you press the
[Cancel Rendering] button. When the rendering is done, a message will show and you will be able to press the [Upload to
YouTube] or [Show Video File].
Note: A special use of this feature is to combine a video RealTracks with the corresponding notation in a single video. This creates an
educational video, which shows the actual performance with notation/tab, playing over your chord progression! To do this, right-click on the
Master button or one of the track buttons at the top of the main screen and select Render Video(s) from the menu.
Select the type of MIDI file you want to save in the MIDI file type combo box.
- By default, Band-in-a-Box writes Type 1 multiple track Standard MIDI Files.
- You can also save Type 0 MIDI files. They have all of the parts on a single track and are used by many hardware modules and
other devices that play MIDI files because they are simpler to play (since they only have 1 track).
- Karaoke files (.KAR) are a special type of sing-along MIDI file with text events for the lyrics and a specific order for the
tracks.
- There is an option to write the MIDI file with separate tracks for each drum instrument.
Save Options
[OK – Save as File] saves a MIDI file to the folder you select. You can then load the MIDI file into your sequencer for further
editing.
[Copy to Clipboard] copies the MIDI file to the Windows® clipboard as a standard MIDI file. This feature allows clipboard
enabled programs to Edit | Paste the Band-in-a-Box MIDI file directly into the program. For example, you can clipboard-paste
Band-in-a-Box MIDI data to PowerTracks Pro Audio, Cakewalk, Musicator, etc.
The Melody/Soloist (with harmonies) will be written to the MIDI file. If you’ve set a Melody or Soloist/Thru Harmony, that
MIDI data will be written to the MIDI file also. See the settings in the Options | Preferences dialog to control how the harmony
is written to a MIDI file.
The Chord Sheet part markers are written to the MIDI files. They can be read by PowerTracks Pro Audio and by Band-in-a-Box
if re-importing the MIDI file with the Chord Wizard.
Set range of bars for MIDI files
When making a MIDI file, you can select a range of bars to be included. Highlight any range of bars on the Chord Sheet, and the
MIDI file will be made for just that range.
Alternatively, you can make a MIDI file for a partial range by pressing the [Set Range] button.
Batch convert a folder of songs to MIDI files
You can convert an entire folder of Band-in-a-Box songs to MIDI files with a single command and choose the resultant file
names to be based on either the file name or the song title name.
For example, at bar 3, there is an “A, Chorus 1” marker, to indicate a part marker
“a” substyle and chorus 1. Text markers are also read in from MIDI files and
displayed as Section Markers on the Notation.
Include 2-bar lead-in: If you don’t want to create a MIDI file containing the first 2
bars of the 1—2—1-2-3-4 count-in you can select this option. If there is a Melody
pickup, then the 2-bar lead-in will remain in the file.
Write lyrics in: The GM specification has agreed upon specific requirements for
writing lyrics in MIDI files, which are supported, so that lyrics that you save in
Band-in-a-Box should show up identically in other MIDI programs. We recommend
the GM format.
Write section text as text events: Your section text can be included in the MIDI file as text events.
Include volume/chorus/panning: This will include the volume, reverb, chorus, and panning settings that you have made in the
Band-in-a-Box synth window in your MIDI file.
Include forced channel meta event: This will include the forced channel META event. It is recognized by PowerTracks Pro
Audio and other PG Music Inc. programs only.
Include guitar position controller: This will insert a controller 84 which PG Music uses to indicate the fret position. Since
some synths also use this for Portamento Control, you should use this setting with caution.
Write Soloist part on channel 5: Normally, the program writes the Soloist part on channel 8. Since that could also mean the
left hand of a piano track using the convention of channel 8/9 for piano, this option allows you to write it on channel 5 instead.
Write harmony: If set to YES, the harmony will be written to the MIDI file. If not, just the melody will be written to the MIDI
file.
Write harmony on separate tracks: If set to YES, the harmony will be written to the MIDI file on separate tracks for each
voice. You could use this to print out individual parts to your printer for example.
Write Guitar part on 6 channels: If set to YES, the styles that are Intelligent Guitar Styles will result in a MIDI file that has
the Guitar part written on 6 channels (11-16). Then, when you read it in PowerTracks, or another sequencer that uses the
convention of 11-16 for guitar strings, the guitar part will display correctly.
For partial range MIDI files, chop off sustaining notes at end turns off notes that would be “hung” because their associated
Note Off event does not fall within the range of bars saved to the MIDI file.
Also generate MIDI Drums in the MIDI file can be unchecked if your song uses RealDrums and you don’t want MIDI drums
included in the MIDI file.
Format: Select the format of the audio file: WAV, WMA, WMA (lossless), M4A, or MP3.
Note: If you are using Windows® XP or Vista, the M4A option requires Apple® QuickTime® Library for Windows®, available from
www.apple.com.
Channels: When “Auto” is selected, individual tracks will be rendered as either mono or stereo, depending on the original
source. You can also force to render all tracks as stereo or mono.
Bit Depth: Select 16, 24, or 32 bit.
Sample Rate: Select 44.1, 48, or 96 kHz.
Quality: The bit rate selection is available for compressed audio files (WMA, M4A, and MP3).
Normalize mix: Enable this option if you want the audio file normalized. Normalizing boosts the volume to a maximum level
without distortion, but it takes longer to render.
One file per track: If this option is enabled, you will get separate audio files, one for each track.
You can use the Erase Performance Track command to remove the Performance Track.
Technical Note: A Performance Track can be made by simply making an audio file (WAV, WMA) and naming it the same as the song, but
with the track name (Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, Strings, Melody, Soloist) added. For example, if the song is MySong.mgu, you put a file
named MySong Melody.wma in the same folder, and that will be a performance track on the Melody track.
Congratulations!
You have been through the full process of song production in Band-in-a-Box.
You can now produce a complete song in Band-in-a-Box with a melody, solo, and harmonies plus RealDrums and RealTracks
and your own audio track with harmonies and professional effects.
You can print out beautiful notation in a professional “handwritten” jazz font, complete with chord symbols, lyrics and your
own text markers and annotations. And you can save your song in various MIDI and audio formats for playback from your
computer, over the Internet, or from an audio CD.
You are ready for endless hours of fun and great music with Band-in-a-Box.
The RealTracks Settings dialog can also be accessed by selecting the [RealTracks] button from the
Preferences dialog or pressing the R T 2 Enter keys.
You don’t need to visit this folder when using RealTracks; it is used internally by Band-in-a-Box, so you shouldn’t add or
remove files from this RealTracks folder unless you “know what you’re doing.” If Band-in-a-Box cannot find your RealTracks
folder, a yellow hint message appears at boot up to alert you to that and tells you how to fix it.
Global volume adjust: You can apply an overall Volume Adjust to the RealTracks. If they are too loud overall, try a Global
Volume Adjust of about -10 dB.
Adjust push velocity / Adjust shot velocity: If you find that RealTracks (other than Drums) pushes or shots are too loud (soft),
then put negative (positive) numbers here. (Note: Drums are set in RealDrums Settings dialog.)
Allow soloing to crescendo can be applied to some RealTracks to have the intensity of the solo building up, with the flashiest
part of the solos playing as the solo builds.
Allow Auto-RealTracks substitution based on tempo: If you have similar RealTracks available at different tempos, Band-in-
a-Box will automatically choose the best one to use. For example, if you have a ballad loaded, with an Acoustic Bass
RealTracks at tempo of 60, and you speed up the tempo to 140, and press [Play], Band-in-a-Box will automatically choose an
Acoustic Bass RealTracks closer to tempo of 140, if it is the same genre and feel. This means you can use a simple jazz style,
and play it at various tempos, without having to set the best RealTracks based on tempos.
For example, if we load in a jazz ballad style like _BALFRED.STY, we can see that the name of the Bass RealTracks style has a
tilde (~) symbol at the beginning. This indicates that it could be changed to a different RealTracks style at a higher tempo.
Now let’s increase the tempo of the song to a higher tempo, like 115. We will see that the name of the RealTracks instrument
switches to one that is suitable for a tempo=110. So, when you press play, you will hear the RealTracks closest to your tempo,
without having to do anything to make this happen.
The default for the tempo swapping feature for RealTracks is “true.” There is an option in the RealTracks Settings dialog to
disable automatic tempo swapping. When automatic RealTracks substitution is disabled (unchecked) the Show message when
better RT are available at this tempo setting will be turned on.
A yellow message appears if RealTracks are selected, but better RealTracks are available for the current tempo. You can then
substitute them by pressing the [RealTracks] toolbar button and then clicking on Select better RealTracks for this tempo.
The Tempo Swapping (TS) column of the RealTracks Assign dialog shows which RealTracks are eligible for Tempo Swapping.
The tempo swapping only occurs if you have the RealTracks in your installation.
The preview sometimes plays files from the internet. You can download a file that is being played from the internet by clicking
the folder button. If the file is being played on your hard drive, this button will show the file in a folder. You can control the
volume of the demos with the speaker button.
You can right-click on the list to see a menu with commonly used functions. For example, you can toggle a favorite, list only
favorites, clear filter, find similar RealTracks, and open the StylePicker showing only styles that use the selected RealTracks.
The list can be sorted by clicking on any column heading. As well as Name, Instrument, Type (Rhythm or Soloist), Feel (Even
or Swing), Tempo, Genre, and Number, there are more columns with additional information about each RealTrack.
- The “Tempo” shown is the base (or typical) tempo for the RealTracks instrument as it is played, but RealTracks have a tempo
stretching capability that enables their application over a wide range of tempos. If saving a song with RealTracks and the
audio base tempo is different from the song tempo, a warning message will show, asking you to confirm that you want to save
it like this.
- The “N/A” column shows ‘N/A’ for RealTracks that you have not installed yet or haven’t purchased, if “Show RealTracks that
are N/A” is checked.
- “Set” is the number of the RealTracks set that includes the instrument. This column also tells you whether a video is available
for the RealTracks.
- The “Stereo” column shows whether the instrument playback is stereo or mono.
- Instruments with an “N” or “Gt” in the “Chart” column will display the RealTracks in notation.
- The “Artist” column has the name of the musician playing on that RealTrack. See the “Artist Bio” box for information about
the player.
- The letter ‘Y’ in the “TS” column means that Tempo Swapping is supported for the instrument. If you have similar
RealTracks available at different tempos, Band-in-a-Box automatically chooses the best one to use.
Memo: This describes the currently selected RealTracks style, and includes some useful tips, such as a suggested tempo range
and Band-in-a-Box styles to use it with.
Artist Bio: The RealTracks have been recorded by top studio musicians. The artist names and bios are displayed for the
RealTracks. Double-click here to open the Artist Browser, which lists all artists and allows you to see more info.
User Memo: You can enter your own comments about any style in this field. The comments are saved in RTUserMemos.txt.
Song/Style Demos: Use the song and style demos to audition RealTracks. The [Song Demo (MGU)] button will display a list
of songs in the C:\bb\Demos\RealTracks - Demos folder that use the selected RealTrack. Click on the song name and then press
the [Play] button to hear it. The [Style Demo (.STY)] button shows a list of styles that use the currently highlighted RealTracks
instrument. Clicking on a style name will load the style into the current Band-in-a-Box song. Press [Play] to hear your current
song played with the RealTracks style that you want to audition.
With the Timebase option, you can play the selected RealTracks at normal, half time, double time or triple time. Half time is
used for fast tempo songs when a much slower tempo RealTrack has been chosen. Double time is used for slow tempo songs
(e.g., ballads) when a much faster tempo RealTrack is chosen. This allows you, for example, in a ballad at a tempo of 70, to add
a RealTracks Sax solo with a tempo of 140, and play it as a double time, which will match the ballad tempo of 70.
The [Medley] button allows you to create a medley of RealTracks on the same track.
If Bluesy is checked, the selected RealTracks will play in a bluesy style, where major triads are treated like 7th chords.
If Simpler is checked, the selected RealTracks will play a simpler arrangement (less busy, less embellished). See the “Simple
Available” column for availability of simpler RealTracks.
If Direct Input is checked, the selected RealTracks will use a “clean signal” guitar so that you can add your own effects. See
the “Direct Input Available” column for availability of clean recordings.
Sometimes you want the very simplest comping part possible, which is just “held chords” for the whole piece. This would mean
that the piano player, for example, just plays a single chord and holds it for the duration until the next chord. If you check the
Held option, the selected RealTracks will play held chords.
The [Defaults] button sets the dialog to default values.
The [Prefs] button opens the RealTracks Settings dialog.
The [Save Style] button saves the current style, but with RealTracks assigned to the style equal to the current song’s
RealTracks. The volumes used in the style will match the volumes set on the main screen in Band-in-a-Box (compared to a
default of 90). For example, if you set the bass volume to 40, the Style will be saved with a negative decibel (dB) setting, so that
it will playback at a quieter volume (when all volumes are set to 90).
The [None] button sets the current track to no RealTracks assigned for the song.
The [All None] button sets all RealTracks for the song to “none.” It will also optionally disable RealTracks present in the style
for this song.
Select Disable RealTracks for this track (Force this track to MIDI) if you don’t want RealTracks for this track, even if the
current style specifies a RealTrack.
Since RealTracks are add-on purchases for Band-in-a-Box, your version may not contain all RealTracks. Selecting the Show
RealTracks that are N/A checkbox will show you all available RealTracks.
Tip: Options | What add-ons do I have? will tell you what RealTracks sets you have.
Some RealTracks have variations available, such as the Acoustic Jazz Bass, which has variations that play in “2” only, in “4”
only, or in “2”and “4” (for “a” and “b” substyles). Select the Show RealTracks Variations option to see such RealTracks.
Use the Show if Tempo is out of Range checkbox to show/hide RealTracks that are out of compatible tempo range.
The [Generate Track] button will generate a RealTracks instrument on the currently selected track.
The [Copy List] button will save the current RealTracks list to a tab-delimited .txt file in the C:\bb\Data folder and open it in
Notepad. In Notepad copy all and paste it into an Excel file. You can then apply a hierarchical sorting of the list.
The Select Best “All” RealTracks menu command will list all types (background and soloist) of RealTracks. The Select Best
“Chording” RealTracks menu command will show you a list of ill background (chording or melodic) RealTracks, and Best
“Soloist” RealTracks will list the best soloist or background soloist RealTracks. Selecting one of these menu commands will
open a dialog that lists the best RealTracks, sorted from best to worst for the current style.
If you want to filter the list, enter text or press the [#] button.
You can audition the RealTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
You can choose options (timebase, bluesy, simple, etc.) for the selected RealTrack.
Enabling the List best subs for the current RealTracks option will list RealTracks that are similar to the currently selected
RealTracks.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser, which lists all RealTracks artists and allows you to see more info.
The [OK and Generate Now] button closes the dialog, entering the currently selected item, and generating the track.
You can also make your choice and press [OK] to return to the main screen. When you press [Generate and Play] the song will
be generated with the new RealTrack.
Select Best Sub RealTracks
Musicians with bands are familiar with the need to “find a sub” when you’re looking for a replacement. In Band-in-a-Box,
“Find-a-Sub” means to find a different RealTracks that is the most similar in sound (genre, feel, tempo, and time signature).
This helps to “freshen up” or vary the sound of an arrangement and allows you to explore different sounds for the band.
To find a sub for a RealTracks, if the RealTracks to be subbed is on a track, right-click (or double-click) on the track button, and
then go to Select RealTracks | Find Best Sub.
If you don’t have a RealTracks already on the track, go to Select RealTracks | Select Best “All” RealTracks.
In the dialog that opens, select a RealTracks that you want to sub, and enable the “List best subs for the current RealTracks”
checkbox.
This will sort the list showing you the best subs. Select a RealTrack from the list and press OK.
Now, listen to the solo. Let’s say you don’t like what the sax plays for four bars, starting at bar 9. Highlight the bars 9-12 by
dragging on the Chord Sheet. You can also do this in the Audio Edit or Notation (Editable or Staff Roll) window.
This is a floating window, so you can do any other Band-in-a-Box function as you keep this window open.
There’s a track selector to confirm or change what track you want to re-generate.
You can set or change the current track using the [Main RealTrack] button.
You can generate a different RealTracks by pressing the [Alternate RealTrack] button and selecting an alternate RealTracks.
For example, you may want 4 bars of a flute solo instead of sax but want to keep sax as the main soloist on the track.
Pressing the [X] button will clear this selection.
The [S] button will solo the track
The [Undo] button will undo the last generation. (Note that you can also choose Edit | Undo or Ctrl+Z to do this.)
You can generate based on either the full bar boundaries or precise regions including bars/beat and ticks. This is done with the
Bar-based range option. When this option is selected, you will see Bar, Chorus and Number of bars. The [<<] button will set to
the beginning of the song, and [>>] button sets to the end. When this option is not selected, you will see a precise range in
bars/beats/ticks. The [<] button moves to the beginning of the bar. The [<<] moves to start of song. [>] moves to end of bar.
[>>] moves to end of song. If you make selections on the Chord Sheet, Audio Edit, Piano Roll, or Notation window, these
settings for range will update. For example, if you select a range on the Audio Edit window, you will get that precise range as
long as the “Bar-based range” option de-selected.
The [Copy] button copies a range of riff to the clipboard.
The [Paste] button pastes the riff to the current location, overwriting the existing riff at the destination.
The [Paste Relative] button pastes the riff to the same relative location in the bar as the copied portion. For example, if the
copied range started at beat 2, the relative paste will start at beat 2
The [Paste Multiple] button lets you select the number of pastes. Hold down the Shift key as you click on this button to make
the pastes merge with existing riffs.
The [Paste Merge] button pastes the riff to the current location and merges it with the existing riff so you will hear both riffs/
The [Cut] button removes a range of riff and copies it to the clipboard.
The [Erase] button erases a range of riff.
The [Insert] button inserts the selected amount of space and shifts all audio following the inserted region to a later time.
The [Delete] button deletes the selected region. All audio following the deleted region will be shifted to an earlier time.
The [Options] button shows options for the partial regenerations.
Paste N Copies of Riff pastes the copied riff to the current location and repeats the paste by the specified number of times.
Paste Riff - Merge with Underlying Audio pastes the copied riff to the current location and merges it with the existing riff so you
will hear both riffs.
Erase Riff (MIDI and RealTracks) erases a region of RealTracks and related MIDI notation.
Another way is to use the buttons in the Regenerate window (Alt+F8). For example, if you like a certain riff and you want it at
other location, highlight it on the Audio Edit window.
When you look at the Regenerate window, the range is automatically selected for the highlighted area. Now, press the [Copy]
button to copy the riff to the clipboard.
Move the time line to the location you want to paste the copied riff and press the [Paste] button. This will paste the riff to the
destination.
Then choose the range of the song or the whole song, and press OK.
Tip: If you highlight the region in the Chord Sheet before using this feature, that region will be automatically set.
Once the WAVs are generated, you will see a message, and they show up as 7 different tracks, numbered from 1 to 7.
They are rendered as WAV files and are ready to be dragged from the Drop Station and dropped into your DAW
program.
Tip: The generated files are saved in your C:\bb\DragDrop folder.
You can audition them individually by enabling the [S] button on the Mixer. Playing them all at once will result in a
“cacophony” of 7 RealTracks at once, which might be OK for strumming guitars, but not so good for 7 solo saxophones playing
different phrases.
If you’ve generated a region of the song, pressing the F10 key will play the song looped with the current highlighted region so
that you can just hear the riffs.
Tip: The Add extra bar before and after the WAVs (for pickup notes) menu item adds an extra bar before the riff begins to ensure that the riffs
with “pickup” (early) notes will be heard. It does not add an extra bar at the end of the riff unless there are trailing notes.
To enter playable notes in the Piano Roll window, press the [Playable Track] button on its toolbar.
There is also a feature to change the non-playable notes in a region to playable notes. Select the notes, click on the arrow button
to the right of the [Playable Track] button, and select Change selected notes to Playable from the drop-down menu. The
selected notes will then become green and be heard during playback.
This drop-down menu also has options to change the selected notes
to non-playable notes, select all playable notes, choose a different
Hi-Q patch, etc.
You can also set volume for the playable notes with the control area to the right of the arrow button.
There are many possibilities you can do with the Playable Track feature. For example, the MIDI version of a pedal steel does
not sound realistic, but if you add some pitch bends events, it will sound much better.
You can preview the selected RealTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
Click on your selection and then choose [OK].
RealTracks Medleys
In Medleys, the RealTracks is made to switch instruments every “N” bars or every chorus. For example, you can add a
Bluegrass Medley Soloist that switches between solos from Mandolin, Guitar, Banjo, and Fiddle every 4 bars. Or a Jazz Medley
Soloist that switches between Alto Sax, Trumpet, Piano, and Guitar solos every chorus. Or insert “Silence” as one of the
instruments, which allows you to play your own instrument. Use the pre-made Soloist Medleys included or create a custom one
yourself on any track.
There are 3 ways that you can get RealTracks with Medleys (changing Soloists).
1. Some styles have them built-in. (See StylePicker for details.)
2. Some RealTracks have Medleys built in, applicable to all songs. Look in the RealTracks Picker, and search for a filter term
“Medley.” You will then see Medleys that are available.
3. You can define your own Medley, to be saved with the current song only. To do this, start in the RealTracks Picker, with
the RealTracks that you want as the first of the medley. Then press the [Medley] button. You will then see the Create a
Medley of different RealTracks dialog. In this dialog, you can specify how often you want the RealTracks to change and
create a list of instruments that you want to have included. You can also control the loudness of each instrument. In the
example shown, we have created a Medley from RealTracks 361 (Tenor Sax), by adding Clarinet and Flute, and having them
change Soloists every 4 bars.
The option to Start on second item in the list is useful if you want to start on a different instrument or start with Silence.
Multiple RealTracks at the same time on the same track. You can use this feature to add up to 10 RealTracks to play
simultaneously on the same track. This is useful if you want to generate a lot of RealTracks, the theoretical limit would be 7
tracks x 10 per track = 70 RealTracks instruments playing at the same time.
Multiple RealTracks are created like Soloist Medleys (as described above), but you can also select the Play all
simultaneously option. Then all of the instruments will play at all times.
RealTracks Thickening and Panning
When you select multiple RealTracks on the same track and have them play simultaneously, the followings are possible.
- The RealTracks can be the same but will play differently on each sub-track.
- You can set the stereo panning (-64 to +64) for each sub-track.
To do this, select a RealTracks at the top row, and press the [Duplicate] button. This will create a specified number of
duplicates of the RealTracks selected. Set the stereo panning for each to create a “thickened” sound.
When you play the song, you will hear a fuller sound with smooth transitions from chord to chord.
Thickened and Panned Multiple RealTracks
The C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2020 folder has demo songs that have multiple RealTracks on the same track
with the stereo panning set for each sub-track.
_BAILE Demo - Baile Thickened Horns Latin Funk.SGU
_HEARTH Demo - Hearth Thickened Aahs Americana.SGU
_SMOOTHR Demo - Smoother Thickened Oohs R ‘n’ B.SGU
_TRAMCAR Demo - Tram Car Thickened Mmms Stride.SGU
In the RealTracks Picker, you can easily identify the RealTracks with this feature by Multi[Thickened=#] in the name.
If you select one of these RealTracks and press the [Medley] button, you can see how the panning is set for each sub-track to
achieve a thickened sound.
Video RealTracks
When you load a video RealTracks, you can use it just like an audio RealTracks but you can also generate a video, which will
display the musician playing your song exactly as you hear it. If you load one of the video RealTracks bands, you will have
video RealTracks on 5 tracks, and you can make a video of 1-5 musicians. You can also include a chord sheet or notation in the
video.
You can easily find the video RealTracks in the RealTracks or RealDrums Picker. The “Set” column will show “VideoFound” if
the video RealTracks is installed.
Note: The “Set” column will show “VideoNA” if a video is available but not installed. Not all video RealTracks/RealDrums are included with a
regular Band-in-a-Box package, so seeing VideoNA is normal unless you have purchased add-ons.
When you select video RealTracks, [V] will show at the track buttons.
To make a video of RealTracks that are selected for your song, right-click on the Master button or one of the track buttons and
select Render Video(s) from the menu. This will open the Generate Video dialog.
Right-clicking on the layout selector will show you a menu with options to flip a
video, make a video for the left-handed, or select alignment for each video.
RealDrums
The RealDrums are recordings of top studio drummers, playing multi-bar patterns. MIDI drums are patterns based on single
drum hits, being programmed, typically on a quantized grid, of what people assume drummers are typically playing. We record
drummers at multiple tempos, so the playing you hear at various tempos is also musically different, not just “sped up.”
Drummers play different types of fills etc. at slower/faster tempos, and these are captured with RealDrums.
Technical note: If interested, you can see which tempos have been recorded by looking in the C:\bb\Drums folder for the particular style you
are interested in.
You can see what RealDrums set is used in a particular style is in the StyleMaker’s Misc. Style Settings dialog.
Open the StyleMaker and click on the [Misc] button to get there.
You can change the RealDrums style or assign RealDrums to a style that doesn’t have them, by clicking on the [RD]
button and making a selection from the RealDrums Picker dialog.
With Enable RealDrums checked, RealDrums may be used rather than MIDI. There is also a hotkey combination to turn
RealDrums on/off (Ctrl+Shift+F6). The hotkeys also work while the song is playing.
Substitute RealDrums for MIDI drums: This will substitute RealDrums for MIDI styles. You can change the setting from 1 to
5. If set to 1, almost all MIDI drums will get substituted by RealDrums. If set to 5, only RealDrum styles that match the style
perfectly will get substituted.
For RealDrum substitutions, choose different ^variations with each PLAY: This feature selects variations of RealDrums
instruments with each PLAY. Most RealDrums styles contain may instrument variations (“Brushes vs. Sticks,” “HiHat vs. Ride
Cymbal,” “Percussion only” etc.). By selecting this option, you can hear a different variation each time play is pressed, so the
song sounds fresh each time. One time you will hear it with brushes, the next time with sticks and ride cymbals, etc.
Favor Brushes/Sticks: When selecting RealDrums styles to use for a style, Band-in-a-Box will use your preferences for brushes
and sticks. For example, if you choose “Favor Brushes,” Band-in-a-Box will always choose from among variations that include
brushes (when available).
Favor Artists: We have “artist” support. This allows you to choose among different drummers playing the same style. For
example, we have multiple artists playing the “JazzBrushes” style. You can set Band-in-a-Box to choose a different artist with
each play, or always choose a specific artist.
If RealDrums style not found, use other RealDrums style: This will replace the RealDrums that you don’t have with ones
that you do have.
Technical note: The text file a_pgmusic.ds provided by PG Music controls this, and users can make other files MySubs.ds if they make their
own RealDrums styles.
For this song only, use this RealDrum style: This will let the current song use the specific RealDrums style. Click on the [RD]
button to select a specific RealDrums style to use in a particular song. This will open the RealDrums Picker with a list of all
available RealDrums styles. The [Clear] button clears the currently selected RealDrums for the song.
For this song, choose different ^variations with each play: When this is set, if you save a specific style with a song, you will
hear a new variation of that style each time you press PLAY, with different drum instruments.
Enable RealDrum style changes at any bar: This allows the RealDrums to change styles with MultiStyles, style changes, or
specific RealDrums style changes entered at any bar in the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (F5).
Amount of Reverb to add to Drums: Normally, no reverb is added to Drums, but if you want some reverb added, you can set
it here.
Slide Track: You should normally leave this at 0, unless you are having problems with synchronization between the MIDI
tracks and RealDrums.
Global Volume Adjust: If the RealDrums track is too loud or quiet in relation to the MIDI parts, you can adjust the volume
here. This will affect all RealDrums styles.
Adjust Push Velocity: If you find that RealDrums pushes are too loud, put a negative value in this field. Enter a positive value
if they are too soft.
The track selector at the top of the window lets you chose a track for RealDrums. RealDrums can be generated on any of the 24
tracks, not just the Drums track, so you can have multiple RealDrums in your song. You then choose RealDrums for the selected
track from the list.
The [Apply] button applies the selected RealDrums to the current track without generating RealDrums. The [Generate] button
generates RealDrums on the current track.
You can use the filter features to search RealDrums. Type a filter text (e.g., bossa) in the Filter String field, and press
[Update]. You will then see the list filtered to show only RealDrums that have the word “bossa” somewhere in the title, memo,
etc. If you separate terms with a space, each term is searched for separately. So, a search for “Bossa Rock Ev 120,” will find any
Bossa Rock styles with an Even feel that would work with a tempo of close to 120. Adding a search term that has a number will
Press the [Demo] button or double-click on the list or to hear audio demos of the selected RealDrums. You can also double-click
on the Variation field to the right of the list to audition each variation of the RealDrums. For example, if you’ve found
CountryWaltz^, you can hear demos of the variations (CountryWaltz^1-HiHat,Ride, CountryWaltz^2-Brushes etc.).
Each demo has a “band” version with all instruments and a “solo” version with drums only. You can choose which of them
plays first with the Play full band demo (not solo) menu item in the [+] button. Otherwise, press the [B] button for the full
version or the [S] button for the solo version.
You can control the volume of the demos with the speaker button.
The demos sometimes play files from the Internet. You can download a file that is being played from the Internet by pressing
the folder button. If the file is being played on your hard drive, this button will show the file in a folder.
The [+] button shows menu items to let you load song or style demos of the selected RealDrums.
You can right-click on the RealDrums list to see a menu with commonly used functions. For example, you can toggle a favorite,
list only favorites, clear filter, find similar RealDrums, and show RealDrums compatible with the current style. Choosing
Select/Edit Favorites and Recent from the menu opens a dialog that shows favorites followed by recently used RealDrums. The
list can be filtered with text string. For example, type “fusion” to find the ones with fusion in the name. This dialog also allows
you to re-arrange/add/remove your favorites.
The RealDrums list can be sorted by any of the column headings.
- * Click on this column to enter an asterisk, indicating that this is a favorite style.
- Click on the name of the RealDrums name that you want to select for the song. Names ending in a caret ^ have variations
available.
- ^ Clicking in the caret column will show the variations for the selected RealDrums (if available).
- Genre is the type of music that the RealDrums comes from, such as Jazz, Rock, or Country.
- Genre (more) suggests additional types of music that the RealDrums might work for.
- /4 indicates the time signature, which is 4/4 by default. If the column is empty, the time signature is 4/4; if there is a 3 in this
column, the time signature is 3/4.
- Ev indicates the feel of the RealDrums either Even or Swing.
- The listing in the 8 column indicates whether the meter is based on eighth notes (8) or sixteenth notes (16).
- Lo is the slowest tempo for which the RealDrums is suited.
- Hi is the fastest tempo recommended for the style.
- X indicates a style with a tempo that is out of range for the song.
- N/A are styles not found in the Drums folder.
- Artist is the name of the drummer who recorded the RealDrums.
- # is the number of the RealDrums set for the style. This column also tells you whether a video or notation (RealChart) is
available for the RealDrums.
- The Stems column shows the number of microphones used for stems during the actual recording sessions. When you select a
RealDrums that has drum stems, you will see what they are just below the list. Using the checkboxes, you can load all stems,
the selected stems, or the mix of all stems for your song. If you select all or individual stems, each stem will be loaded to
separate tracks, so you can control volume, pan, etc. for each stem using the Mixer.
The [Set to None] button sets the drums to no RealDrums override for the song, and optionally also forces MIDI drums (i.e., no
RealDrums for the style either).
The [Settings] button shows RealDrums settings.
- For this song only, force MIDI drums: Set this if you want MIDI drums and want to override a RealDrums that is set in the
style.
- Simple Drums for this song (no fills): If this is enabled, the RealDrums will play a simpler arrangement without fills.
- Timebase: You can select a timebase (normal, half-time, double-time, or triple-time) for the RealDrums. For example, If you
have an even 16ths Folk drums track at tempo 90, then you can choose Half-Time, and it will play even 8 feel with a style at
tempo 180. If you have an even 8 feel style at tempo 190, then you can choose Double-Time, and it will play at tempo 95
(Cut-Time) even 16ths feel. If you have a fast waltz style at tempo 150, then you can choose Triple-Time, and it will play with
a slow 4/4 style at tempo 50, which gives a triplet 12/8 feel. Timebase can be stored with song, style, or RealDrums. If the
RealDrums QuickList
This is the simpler dialog for choosing RealDrums, an alternative to the RealDrums Picker. It displays all available RealDrums
in a simple list, which can be easily filtered by genre, time signature, feel, and more. The list can be set to show only RealDrums
that are compatible with the current style of the song. You can also set the highlighted RealDrums as a prototype RealDrums to
find alternates to that RealDrums.
To open the dialog, right-click on the Drums track button, and select [QuickList] RealDrums in Song from the menu.
Tip: Pressing the R D 3 Enter keys also opens the dialog.
Make sure that you enable the “Enable Multiple Drums” checkbox.
For example, one DrumGroove is “Snare, HiHat” and another one is “Snare, Ride.” You can switch the Grooves at any bar, so
that the Drum part is more interesting.
The menu item Apply Drum Groove change to allows you to select which chorus the change of DrumGroove should apply to
(default is all choruses).
Note that the changes of Drum Grooves are entered in the F5 bar settings dialog.
UserTracks
UserTracks allow anyone to create their own audio styles for use in Band-in-a-Box. With a UserTracks style, you can type in
any chords into Band-in-a-Box, and the UserTracks style you made will play that chord progression! For example, if you’ve
made a UserTracks style by recording yourself playing a guitar groove, you can then type any chords into Band-in-a-Box, and
There is much more choice here, including a variety of different genres of music, and a variety of different tempos. Each one,
however, will conform to either the Pop, Jazz, or Blues template. You do not NEED to use these backing tracks to make your
style, but they can make the process easier.
Selecting UserTracks in Songs
You can use the UserTracks in a similar manner to using RealTracks.
To select a UserTracks for a track, first select the track at the top of the screen. For example, if you want to add a UserTrack to
the Guitar track, right-click on the Guitar track button and choose Select a UserTrack for this Track from the menu.
An alternative to the menu is to select the Guitar track and then press the [UserTracks] button on the main screen.
You can preview UserTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
The speaker icon in the transport control allows you to control the volume of the demos.
You can select a timebase (normal, half-time, double-time, or triple-time) for any UserTracks.
Tip: UserTracks can be made and preset to a timebase by the user. For example, if you have a UserTrack in Ev
8 called “Santur,” you can clone the folder and rename the cloned one as “Santur [Double-Time].” Then it will
play in Double-Time Ev 16 half of the tempo.
Select a UserTrack and press OK. You will then see that UserTrack listed on the Guitar track on the Mixer.
To use it, follow the same routine as described above, opening the Pick a UserTracks dialog, where you will now see your
UserTracks listed with the others.
Now, you can leave it at that, or you can record more files, (i.e., more pairs of files with a Band-in-a-Box file and a
corresponding wav file). These can be any other names. And you simply add them to the folder. Band-in-a-Box will
automatically add these files to your UserTracks, simply by you putting them there.
UserTracks support 3/4 waltz time signature.
Just make a UserTracks as normal and save the Band-in-a-Box song with your UserTracks in 3/4 waltz time signature (i.e., save
using a waltz style). Make sure that the options.txt file in the folder says “ThisIsWaltz=true.”
Tone Control
There is a bass/treble Tone control for individual tracks with RealTracks or RealDrums, so you can easily adjust the bass/treble
EQ for any RealTrack. The Tone settings save with the song.
Choose an instrument and then use the tone control to adjust the tone from -18 (maximum bass) to +18 (maximum
treble). Default is 0.
Audio Reverb Control
There is a Reverb control for individual tracks with RealTracks or RealDrums, so you can easily add reverb (0
to 127) for any RealTrack. Reverb type is also settable and saved with the song.
As you adjust the settings, they will be applied to the current song. The
[Swap “Default”] button toggles between your current settings and the
default settings. This allows you to hear the effect of the changes you
make to the settings.
Use the row of “room” buttons to load typical settings for different types
of spaces. These buttons are a convenient way to either apply a particular
effect or to load settings that you can then tweak to make your own preset.
Pre-Delay is the time delay of first reflections.
Decay is the time it takes for reverb to decay. Reverb time is measured as RT60, the time it takes for reverb to decay to a level -
60 dB below the dry signal level.
LF Roll off gradually reduces the bass frequencies. If you can’t add enough reverb because the sound gets too muddy, try
increasing the LF Roll off slider. It is adjustable between 50 Hz and 500 Hz.
HF Roll off is the rate at which the high frequencies die away as the reverb decays. Rooms with hard surfaces are typically
bright, but rooms with soft surfaces are usually darker. It is adjustable between 1 KHz (dark) to 11 KHz (bright).
Density is the density of low-level echoes near the end of the reverb tail. High Density settings add sheen to the sound.
Level adjusts the final level of the plug-in.
Typical Reverb Settings:
- A large hall might have long Pre-Delay, long Decay, and moderate Density.
- A hard, large space such as a gymnasium might have long Pre-Delay, high Density and high HF Roll off.
- A soft large space such as a concert hall with carpet, padded seats, hangings, might have medium Density and low HF Roll off.
- A small hard space such as a tile washroom might have short Pre-Delay, medium-to-long Decay, high Density, and high HF
Roll off.
- A small soft space such as a large living room might have short Pre-Delay, short Decay, medium-to-low Density, and low HF
Roll off.
Enable the Auto-add reverb to RealTracks option to automatically apply preset amounts of reverb to RealTracks according to
instrument type. No reverb is added to the Bass part, for example, but most instruments get reverb. If you just want more or less
reverb added overall, you can adjust the Strength %. For example, the default Band-in-a-Box reverb setting is 40 for most
tracks. If you set the strength to 75%, the Band-in-a-Box setting becomes 30.
With the [Save as Default Reverb] button, you can save the current settings as the default reverb.
Click on the [Restore Defaults] button to go back to the original “factory” reverb settings for Band-in-a-Box Default Reverb
You can save your reverb types as presets, and the current settings will also be saved with the song in the C:\bb\DX
Settings\PGReverbSettings.bin file.
To save the current settings to a preset, type in a name for your preset in the “Preset Name” field.
A prompt will ask you to confirm that you want to save the preset. Select [Yes] to save the new preset to the chosen location.
Tip: You can view the window in full screen with Window | Fullscreen Chord Sheet View or with Ctrl+T keys.
Band-in-a-Box offers multiple modes of notation for different purposes. The notation defaults to Standard Notation mode; other
modes are selected with buttons on the Notation window toolbar.
Standard Notation to display or print Notation and enter lyrics. The grand piano staff and/or guitar tablature with notes,
chord symbols, and lyrics.
Editable Notation to enter or edit notation. A special staff with time divisions for mouse-based editing.
Staff Roll Notation to enter or edit notes, velocity, and duration. The note heads are shown with editable velocity and
duration lines.
Lead Sheet Notation to display or print notation as full arrangements or in fake sheet style. This is a full screen notation
window with notes, chord symbols, and lyrics.
With the Notation window open, the toolbar at the top of the window gives you access to its many features and options.
Options Button This opens the Notation Window Options dialog.
Lead Sheet Button Press to open the Lead Sheet window.
Print Button Press this button to print the notation to any printer supported by your Windows® system.
3-stage buttons to select a Notation window mode - Standard Notation, Editable Notation, or Staff
Notation Mode Buttons Roll mode.
Current Note This box displays the name of the note that will be inserted when you click the mouse.
These determine whether a Note or a Rest will be inserted when the mouse is clicked.
Note / Rest checkboxes
Mono Mode When this is selected, the notation is entered as monophonic (one note only) to avoid extra notes in
a single note melody line.
Clean Notation The Clean Notation Mode cleans up the notation by eliminating display of redundant grace notes
and glitches for easier reading.
Time Signature Notation supports various time signatures (4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 2/2, 12/8, 9/8, and 6/8). Press this button
to select one of the time signatures from the list.
Visual Transpose This button allows you to visually transpose the notation.
Click on the button to select a track to display, or hover the mouse cursor over it and use the
Track Selector mouse wheel to quickly switch tracks.
Playable Track If you press the button and select Enable Playable Track from the drop-down menu, any notes you
enter will be heard during playback unlike RealChart notes, which are silent.
Event List Editor You can edit events including all MIDI events and lyric events using the Event List Editor.
Lyrics Button To enter note-based lyrics press the Lyrics button on the Notation toolbar.
Zoom Buttons The zoom buttons make it easy to increase or decrease the font size of the notation. Holding down
the Ctrl key and pressing these buttons results in finest possible incremental adjustment in size.
Section Text Add or edit Section Text on the Notation.
Big Note Mode This will display notation with larger font size and note names within note heads. Press the button
again to return to the normal size.
Loop Screen Click on this button and the song will loop the bars shown on the notation screen.
The Notation window displays an improved system of Bar Lyrics, Section Text, and Bar Settings, and additional chord mode
(Roman Numeral, Nashville Notation, etc.) above the Standard chord symbols. Click on the [Chord Display] button on the
toolbar, go to Layers, and make a selection.
In the clef area, you see a guide telling you what drum notes are used in that line of notation (e.g., Kick,
Snare, HiHat).
For the Melody or Soloist track, you need to set the track type to “Drums” either in the Notation Window Options dialog or
with the menu Melody (or Soloist) | Track Type.
Note: For this to work properly, you need to have the Melody track with drums that are using GM Drum notes.)
Chord Step Advance
Use the Ins and Del keys on the numeric keypad to step advance on any track by one chord. The track MIDI data can display on
the on piano, guitar, lead sheet, drums, and notation window(s).
This feature advances the current track and displays the next group of notes on that track. For example, if the current track is set
to the Melody track, pressing the chord advance buttons will display the next note or chord of the melody. The Chord Advance
feature is a great way to study the notes being played, and to navigate around the track.
Note: In this context, “chord” is referring to any group of notes, or a single note, that occurs in a track at or near the same time. You can adjust
the width of what Band-in-a-Box determines a “chord” to be in the Notation Options - More dialog.
This mode displays the notation for any individual track and allows the entry of chords and lyrics. Features include:
- Optional display of guitar chord diagrams.
- As the song plays, the notes that are sounding are highlighted in red. This helps with sight reading or following the music.
- You can set the notation to scroll either 1 or 2 bars ahead of the music without interfering with your view of the current
notation.
- Handles jazz eighth notes and triplet figures correctly.
- Double-clicking on the window or pressing the space bar plays the song from the current time location.
- Automatic options such as auto durations, clean notation, mono display, minimize rests, hard rests, and engraver spacing
produce very musical and readable notation.
- Beamed notes are automatically given slanted beams.
- Groups of 5 notes will automatically display as groups of 3+2 or 2+3 or can be set this way manually. If
you’d prefer to see them as a group of 5 notes, you can right-click on the time line, and set the resolution to
5 for that beat.
Right-click menu for Standard Notation
This menu opens with a right-click in the Standard Notation window.
Use this menu to access major editing features and dialogs. You can
change to another notation mode by selecting it in the list.
Keystroke Commands
To change between notation views, press Ctrl+Alt+N.
To open the Print Options dialog, press Ctrl+P.
To enable the screen loop, press 1 on your numeric keypad.
To jump one screen ahead, press the Down Cursor key.
To step one screen back, press the Up Cursor key.
This is the screen for step-entry of a melody or for editing existing parts. Notice the grid of vertical lines, which sub-divide each
beat. These lines indicate where the notes will be placed according to the resolution of the song.
When mousing over notes in this window, summary information about the note is displayed
(pitch/channel/velocity/duration).
To enable this feature, click on the [More] button in the Notation Options dialog to open the Other
Notation Options dialog. Then select the “Show Popup Hint for Note Properties” checkbox.
Easy Method of Guitar Tab Entry
Click on the string (on the tab), then click on the note (on notation, or on-screen guitar) to get it entered on that string/fret. To
access this feature, for the Melody (or Soloist) track, first set menu Melody | Track Type to “Guitar.” Then open the Notation
window and choose Editable mode. You will now see a guitar tab below the treble clef. Highlight a note using the Shift+Arrow
(Right/Left) keys. When a note is highlighted in red, you can click on the tab on the string that you would like the note played
on. This will change the note to that string, and the tab will be updated to reflect this.
For Editable Notation with Guitar Tab, you can easily change the string for a note, by dragging the note from one-tab string to
another.
Resolution
The resolution can be changed in the Notation Options dialog, but the program automatically sets the resolution to the correct
value based upon the style that is in use.
- Swing styles use 3 lines to divide each beat into eighth note swing triplets.
- Straight styles use 4 lines to divide each beat into sixteenth notes.
Entering Notes
To insert a new note on the staff move the mouse to the location that you want. If you want beat 1, move to the first dotted line
in the bar. Click on the staff over the note that you want.
Confirmation dialogs show warnings to prevent accidental entry of a duplicate note (same pitch near same time) and of a very
high or very low note (large # of ledger lines).
The Current Note box in the toolbar will give you the name of the note that you’re on.
Click the mouse to insert the note:
- To insert a sharp, hold down the Shift key as you click.
- To insert a flat, hold down the Ctrl key as you click.
- To insert a natural, hold down the Alt key as you click.
Brackets ( ) are drawn around accidentals after a bar line as a courtesy, where no accidental is required.
While the note is highlighted, use the Up/Down Cursor keys to change its pitch.
If you want to add a note a third above the existing note on the current time line, hit the M key.
There are other useful tools in the [PT] button drop-down menu. For
example, Make notes in selected area playable notes allows you to
change all notes in the region you specify to playable notes. There are
also options to change volume of the playable notes in the selected area,
choose a different SFZ sound, etc.
Set MIDI Volume (and velocity) of Playable SFZ Sound opens a dialog
with settings for MIDI volume and velocity. MIDI volume is 0-90, so if it
is 90, you can’t make it higher, but the MIDI velocity can be set
separately and you can make that louder or softer.
Entering Rests
Insert a rest by holding the back-quote key (tilde key without pressing Shift) then clicking on the Notation window. Another
way to enter a rest is to click on the Rest checkbox and then point and click where you want the rest to appear. This
automatically shortens the duration of the previous note.
Tip: If it is important to see rests less than a quarter note, make sure you de-select the “Minimize Rests” checkbox in the Options dialog.
Edit Note opens the Note dialog and lets you edit the current note.
Delete Note deletes the current note.
Forced Accidental lets you quickly add an accidental to the current note.
Insert (or change) Drum Note enters a drum note. (Note: This menu item will appear
for Drums track or Melody/Soloist track with the track type set to Drums.
Edit Current Chord: This opens a text box with the name of the chord at the current
location. Type in any changes and press Enter or Tab to return to the Editable
Notation window.
Duplicate previous groups of notes quickly duplicates the previous chord (a group of
notes on the same location) without having to reenter it.
Delete Highlighted Red Notes deletes all notes that are currently highlighted in red.
Change Beat Resolution allows you to change the beat resolution of the current beat.
Insert Lyrics allows you to enter note-based lyrics.
Edit Lyrics opens the lyrics event list editor.
Edit Section Text opens the Text Events list where section text can be inserted,
edited, or deleted.
Insert Section Text opens the Section Text Event dialog where either regular or
boxed section text is entered along with its time and vertical position in the window.
Precise Placement Section Letters: Select a letter or number from the list and it will be inserted at the current location of the
time line bar. Use this same item to remove section letters/numbers.
Bar-Based Section Letters: Select a letter or number from the list and it will be inserted at the top of the bar line so that it
doesn’t overwrite chords or notes.
Notation Symbols: The notation symbols are entered from the Notation Event dialog, which is accessed from the right-click
menu in the Editable Notation window. This dialog lets you insert (or remove) notation symbols such as,
Slur Staccato Marcato
Crescendo Accent Staccatissimo
Decrescendo Legato Trill
Select a notation symbol from those listed and the Notation Event dialog will open. In this dialog, you can further define the
event and its precise location, then press [OK - Insert Event] to insert it into the notation. Use the [OK - Remove Event] to
delete an existing event that is no longer needed.
- Open the Notation window, and switch to the Editable Notation mode.
- Right-click on the track at the point that you want to enter the section text. Then, select Insert Section Text from the menu.
- This opens the Section Text Event dialog, which allows you to type in the text. You can set the Text Event Type to “Boxed”
or “Regular.”
Type the section text that you want, such as “Guitar Solo,” and then press Enter.
This text can be entered once per bar. You can use this for section headings, or even to enter lyrics bar by bar.
This mode is similar to the Editable Notation mode, except that the beats begin right on the bar line. You can see the duration of
the note visually represented by a horizontal blue line and the note’s velocity displayed as a vertical blue line.
Tip: If you can’t see these lines, press the [Opt.] button to check that “Show Note Durations, Show Velocity Lines,” and “Show Bar/Beat Lines”
options are enabled.
Track Type: You can set the track type to use for the Melody or Soloist track. Normally you’d leave it to “Single Channel,” but
you can also set it to other types.
“Multi (16)-Channel” - All MIDI channel assignments are preserved and output on playback. This would be useful for
importing an entire MIDI file and playing it from the Melody channel using a silent style.
Enharmonics for chord tones are automatically based on the chord. Enharmonics for passing tones are based on chords if “Use Chord Scale Enharmonics” is
set to true.
For example, on an F#7 chord in the key of Eb, the Ab note is part of the F#7 scale (as a G#, the 2nd of the scale), but is also
part of the Eb key of the song. If you want to display based on the chord scale, setting “Use chord scale enharmonics” will
display the note as a G# instead of an Ab.
Engraver Spacing: This is another one of the intelligent features which spaces the notation appropriately to avoid overlapping
notation while accounting for space required by accidentals, rests, etc. This feature is visible only in Standard Notation mode.
Tick Offset: The Tick Offset is one of the keys to great looking notation. It accounts for playing that is before or behind the
beat. The track is automatically scanned to determine the best tick offset so that you don’t have to set this yourself. This results
in better looking notation. You can change/override this setting, but normally the best tick offset is set automatically. For
example, to properly notate jazz performances, it is sometimes necessary to set the tick offset to approximately -15. This
effectively adjusts for a performance that has been played slightly “behind” the beat or, in jazz terms, “very laid back.” In
Editable Notation mode, notes entered with the mouse take the notation offset into account. So, if a note is clicked on the beat
1:1:0 will get entered at 1:1:7 if the notation offset is -7. This gives a more human feel to the arrangement.
Auto Set Tick Offset: When this is enabled, Band-in-a-Box will automatically determine the tick offset by analyzing the notes
on the track. If you want to set the tick offset manually, disable this and enter the value in the “Tick Offset” option above.
Minimize Rests: When this is enabled, Band-in-a-Box will eliminate unnecessary rests. For example, if staccato eighth notes
are displayed as sixteenth notes separated by sixteenth rests the setting will remove the rests and show the notes as eighth notes.
Detect Fine Resolution Notation: Improved auto-transcription identifies and correctly displays up to 128th notes. If for some
reason you prefer to disable it, there is an option to do so. To set a beat to a certain specific resolution, right-click on the time
line located at the top of the Notation window. You will then see the Beat Resolution dialog where you can set the resolution
for both the Treble and Bass clefs.
You can easily change the bars per line by pressing this button. (Note: This feature works in the Fake Sheet mode.)
This button will display notation with larger font size and note names within note heads. Press the button again to return to
the normal size.
As the notation scrolls ahead, you can read ahead without waiting for a page turn. During playback, red rectangles highlight the
current bar. If the bar is empty (or in Fake Sheet mode), the Lead Sheet will draw the staff lines and bar lines in red.
The Lead Sheet is also useful as a kind of “Print Preview” feature, as it offers you the ability to correlate the on-screen notation
to a printout.
You can move around the Lead Sheet window in various ways. Cursor keys and mouse clicks will move a small blue rectangle
around the screen, which lets you type in chords at that location. Double-clicking at any bar will start playback from that
position.
Selecting Tracks in the Lead Sheet
Click on the track selector button and select a track from the menu to view notation of that track.
To view multiple tracks, first select the track that you want to show at the top, and then click on the
[+] button and select the tracks in the order that they should appear from top to bottom. To remove an extra track from the
display, click on that track name and select remove from the menu. To remove all extra tracks, click on the [+] button and select
remove extras from the menu.
Now open the Lead Sheet window (Alt+W). Band-in-a-Box now recognizes that this is a harmony (generated by Band-
in-a-Box) and displays each voice on a separate track.
Press the [Print] button to print out “Voice 2.” If needed, press the notation “Transpose Options” to first visually
transpose the instrument to Eb for an “Alto Sax” chart.
Multi-Channel Notation (Sequencer Mode)
Normally, you would want a single part on the Melody or Soloist track, but since MIDI information can have separate channels,
it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the tracks. For the following discussion, we will assume that you’re using the
Melody track, but the same functions are available for the Soloist. When the Melody track has been set to “Multi(16)-Channel”
we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.”
Now, when you are in this multi-channel mode, output from the Melody/Soloist track will be on whatever MIDI channel the
information is stored on and will not be using the Melody/Soloist MIDI channel.
If you open the Lead Sheet window, you will see the entire MIDI file displayed on separate tracks of notation. This is
likely “too much information” to read, unless you are a symphony conductor.
To customize the notation display for sequencer mode, press the [Opt.] button on the Lead Sheet window toolbar and see
the settings for Multi-Channel Track display.
Select “CUSTOM channels play/display” and press the [Set] button to open the Sequencer Window (Multi-channel track on
Melody/Soloist) dialog. Then you can customize which channels will play and display.
This dialog can also be opened by clicking on the [SEQ] toolbar button on the main screen.
In the example picture, we have set Channel 2 (Bass) and Channel 4 (Trumpet) to show on the notation and have set all of the
channels to play (to hear them).
For a specific channel, (e.g., channel 3: piano), we see the following information.
Channel 3: Acoustic Piano (this is the patch name found on the track).
842: There are 842 events in the track; usually every note is an event.
We have customized the piano track so that it can be heard (play=true), but not seen in notation (Show=false).
The Edit button at the right of the track line allows you to delete, rechannel or merge the channel with another channel.
You can also change the patch (instrument) for that track by using the instrument patch combo box.
Now that we’ve customized the display, we are seeing bass and trumpet on the notation, and hearing the entire track.
The memo will be automatically positioned after the end of the Lead Sheet and printout. Use extra blank lines in the Lead
Sheet Memo to control where it displays on the page.
The Start Memo on a New Page option prints the Lead Sheet Memo on a new page of the printout.
Press the [Choose Font] button to select the font you would like for the memo.
A text block will be appended to the Lead Sheet window and printout. This could be song lyrics that you want appended to the
end, multiple verses of lyrics, or any other text.
Lyrics
Band-in-a-Box supports lyrics in three different ways: Note-based lyrics, Bar-based lyrics, and a Big Lyrics (Karaoke) window.
Note-based lyrics can be entered on the Notation window, and bar-based lyrics can be entered either on the Chord Sheet or on
the Notation window.
In the previous versions, there were line-based lyrics, which could be entered for each line on the Notation window. You can
longer enter this type of lyrics, but if your existing song has line-based lyrics, Band-in-a-Box can convert them to bar-based
lyrics. In the Global Song Override dialog, there is an option which allows you to choose how the conversion should occur
when the song with line-based lyrics opens.
The default is “Always (auto-split),” which will convert line-based lyrics to bar-based lyrics and
splitting them into 4 bars. If you choose “Always (don’t split),” line-based lyrics will be converted
but they won’t be split into 4 bars. You can also choose not to convert line-based lyrics
automatically. If the current song has line-based lyrics, you can press the [Convert now] button to
convert them to bar-based lyrics.
Bar-based Lyrics
To see the bar-based lyrics that you have entered on the Chord Sheet, click on the [Chord Display] toolbar button and check
Bar Lyrics.
You can enter note-based lyrics by pressing Ctrl+L keys or pressing the [L] button on the Notation toolbar to open the Lyric
Edit window.
The [Line] button enters a forward slash “/” line break marker in the current lyric.
The [Para] button enters a backslash “\” paragraph break marker in the current lyric.
The [Enter] button enters the current lyric, equivalent to hitting Enter key or Tab key.
The [Close] button closes the Lyrics Edit mode, equivalent to hitting the [L] button again.
The [Sec Text] button enters the text in the lyric box as section text at the current bar.
The [Edit] button opens the Edit Lyrics dialog where lyrics and section text can be edited.
As you enter the lyrics, the note is highlighted. Pressing the Tab or Enter key moves to the next note. You can “undo” lyrics
with the Edit | Undo command.
When you are finished a line of lyrics, hit the [Line] button. This enters a backslash “\” line break marker in the current lyric.
Note-based lyrics are saved with the MIDI file, so you can use them in your other MIDI programs.
Vertical placement is set with the Lyric Position option in the Notation Options dialog. A setting of -10 puts the lyrics directly
under the treble clef, higher values put them lower.
Lyrics Event List
You can edit the lyrics using an event list as well. This allows you to enter lyrics at any point, not just tied to a note.
Press the [#] button on the Notation window toolbar. Then, press the [Edit Lyrics] button. You can then see the Edit Lyrics
dialog.
From here, you can edit lyrics, insert new lyrics, append lyrics to the end of the track, or delete lyrics. A single lyric event can
be 128 characters.
The Lyric Document window displays a full screen of fully formatted lyrics so you can easily copy and paste lyrics to and from
your favorite word processor. If you have the lyrics available, you can quickly paste them into Band-in-a-Box.
You may already have the lyrics to your song typed into a word processor, nicely formatted with font/color/bold choices etc.
Previously, you would need to retype them into Band-in-a-Box and would lose your formatting. Now you can simply
Copy/Paste them to/from your word processor. This allows you to quickly add lyrics to any Band-in-a-Box song.
You can open this window by choosing Window | Lyric Document Window, or pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L. In addition, if
“Auto-open lyrics window for songs with lyrics” is set to true in the Lyric Window Options dialog (Options | Preferences [Big
Lyrics]), the Lyric Document Window will open automatically when the song is loaded, and close when the next song is
loaded.
To use the window, type or paste in text from a word processor. You can select fonts and colors as you would in a word
processor. Since the data is stored in RTF format, it should look very similar to the appearance it would have in WordPad.
Each word is highlighted as it plays, and the window can be customized by clicking on the [Options] button. Click on any word
in the Big Lyrics Window to start the song playing from that point.
The [Print] button opens the Options for Copy Lyrics to Clipboard dialog. This function allows you to copy a song’s lyrics
(and/or the chords) to the standard Windows® clipboard.
The [Vocal Synth] button offers Auto and Manual modes for sending the Melody track and lyrics to the 3rd party Sinsy vocal
synthesizer. A synthesized vocal track will be generated and imported into the Band-in-a-Box Audio track.
Lyric Window Options
Add chord symbols, customize your color scheme, choose a favorite font, and select a size in the Lyric Window Options
dialog.
Individual color elements can be picked or you can choose one of the presets.
Display Chord Symbols will interleave the chord symbols with the lyrics.
Show chord symbols above the lyrics will show the chords on a separate line.
With the Scroll lyrics a page at a time option selected the Big Lyrics scroll a page at
a time. When the lyric cursor reaches the next-to-last line of the lyrics it will scroll to
the top of the page, allowing uninterrupted reading of lyrics.
Auto-open lyrics window for songs with lyrics automatically opens the Big Lyrics
window when a song with lyrics is opened in Band-in-a-Box.
The popular Karaoke file format (.KAR) can be opened directly into Band-in-a-Box just like MIDI files. Chord symbols are
displayed (Band-in-a-Box intelligently analyzes the chords of the song), as well as the lyrics from the Karaoke files.
Karaoke MP3/CDG Files
Audio Karaoke files are popular using several formats. The most common is CDG format, which includes the lyrics in graphic
format on audio CDs. Since the computer user doesn’t always use audio CDs, there is a format that combines MP3 (containing
the music) and CDG (the graphical lyrics). You can open MP3/CDG files inside Band-in-a-Box and see the scrolling lyrics from
your Karaoke files. If you want to play along on your own instrument, you can use the Audio Chord Wizard to figure out the
chords and display them in its Chord window.
To open a Karaoke File, use File | Open, and find a WAV, MP3, or WMA file that has a same named CDG file in the same
folder. Then the Karaoke window will open and display the lyrics.
The Big Lyrics Window has some options for the Karaoke window.
Printing
Band-in-a-Box prints Lead Sheet style notation with chords, melodies, lyrics, and text notes. It will also print instrument parts
from your Band-in-a-Box arrangements, either individual instruments or multiple parts. Most songs will fit on one page, so your
printout will look similar to a standard fake book.
You can easily make and print out a custom fake book of all of your tunes. Instantly transpose and print parts for brass or reed
instruments. Print options include title, bar numbers, composer, style, and copyright information.
Print Options
Pressing the [Print] button or Ctrl+P opens the Print Options dialog. Print options include title, bar numbers,
composer, style, and copyright.
This dialog also opens by clicking on the [Print] button in the Notation, Lead Sheet, or Preview window.
Allow ending with fake sheet: If this is enabled, an ending will be included when printing the fake sheet as a whole song.
Include Lead-In Bar: If your song has a lead-in (pickup) to bar 1 then make sure you’ve checked the Lead-In. Actually, Band-
in-a-Box sets this for you by looking for notes in the lead-in measure. You can override this automatic setting, if necessary.
Staves per page: Band-in-a-Box will automatically auto-fit on 1 page, use this to override the auto setting. Remember that the
title takes up 1 stave. The “Auto-Set” option will set the number automatically and will try to fit the lead sheet on a single page.
Font Size: This is the font size for the printed music. Changes will be seen in the Print Preview.
Use the [Prior], [Next], [First], and [Last] buttons to navigate additional pages.
Press the [Opt] button to open the Preview Options dialog.
In the Preview Options dialog, you can set the exact number of pixels to display for the
print preview. The same settings are also used if you choose to save the pages to a
graphics file in the popular .JPG, .TIF, or .BMP file types.
Printing your song to a graphics file allows you to embed your notation in a document, or
in an HTML file for use on your website.
This feature is only limited by available memory. This allows high resolution BMPs like
2400 x 3000. A BMP of 2400x3000 is 300 dpi for an 8”x10” image.
When saving to a JPG file there are additional quality settings.
When you have selected your file options, press the [OK] button.
Use the [Screen Width] button to display the notation across the full width of the screen.
The [Full Page] button will shrink the notation to display a full page at a time.
The [Save…] button saves the current page as a Graphics file.
The [Save + +] button saves all of the pages to graphics files named songnamexxx.bmp, where xxx is the page number.
With the [Clipbd] button, you can quickly copy a bitmap to paste into other applications.
Press the [PrintPage] button to enter a page number and print only that page, not the complete song or a full chorus.
Printing Multiple Tracks
To print more than one track of notation:
You can set options to refine which songs will get printed. For example, you might want to only print songs in a certain style
(e.g., Bossa Nova), or only songs beginning with letters R to Z, or only songs with melodies.
Before you print out a whole bunch of songs, it is important to set the options that you like, as the program will use the same
options for each song. Use the Print Options dialog. Perhaps you want to print out only the first chorus of each song, for
example. The program will automatically set each song to print out on 1 page if possible.
First, make sure that you are in the correct directory that you want to print. This is displayed in the [Change Directory] button.
For example, if the box under the [Change Directory] button says C:\bb, then the songs in C:\bb will be printed. If you want to
print songs in a different subdirectory, then press the [Change Directory] button.
If you want to print all songs in a subdirectory, then press the [All Songs] button. Pressing this button sets the Start and Finish
ranges to start at “0” (blank) and finish at “ZZ.” Since song files with names like 8dayweek.mgu will appear before the letter A
when sorted alphabetically, the blank string “0” is used instead of the letter A to ensure the inclusion of all songs.
Normally, you would want the Range of Songs to Print set to “All Songs,” but if you’ve already printed out songs from A to
M, and want to resume printing starting at N, you can specify this range N to Z so that you don’t have to print out everything
again.
If Only print songs with melodies is set, then only files that have a melody in them (i.e., song files ending in mg?) will print.
Only print songs with style extension of _ is useful if you want to only print out certain styles. For example, if you only want
to printout jazz swing songs, then you can set this to style 1, which is Jazz Swing. Style 4 is Bossa Nova.
The 24 built-in styles each have a number associated with them. All user styles have a style character of U.
Here are the style numbers for the built-in styles.
Jazz Swing 1 Pop Ballad 9 Jazz Waltz 3/4 H
Country 12/8 2 Shuffle Rock A Rhumba I
Country 3 Light Rock B Cha Cha J
Bossa 4 Medium Rock C Bouncy 12/8 K
Ethnic 5 Heavy Rock D Irish L
Blues Shuffle 6 Miami Sound E Pop Ballad 12/8 M
Blues Even 7 Milly Pop F Country old 12/8 N
Waltz (Old) 3/4 8 Funk G Reggae O
If your printer requires loading each sheet, you might want the program to beep after each printed song. The Beep after each
printed song setting is useful to monitor the printout if you aren’t near your printer, because if it stops beeping, then printout
has stopped, and you may be out of paper.
When completed, beep x times will notify you that the job is finished by beeping a specified number of times.
The [PRINT MULTIPLE] and [STOP] buttons start and stop printing the multiple songs.
Band-in-a-Box monitors the Print Manager to avoid overloading it with songs to print. So, if the Print Manager has more than 2
songs waiting to print, Band-in-a-Box will pause before printing a new song. If your printer runs out of paper, the Windows®
Print Manager and Band-in-a-Box will wait for you to put more paper in before automatically resuming printout. The status of
the Printout is displayed at the top of the dialog.
To make a medley,
- Add songs by pressing the [Append] or [Insert] button.
- Remove songs using [Delete].
- Change the order of the songs using [Move Up] or [Move Down].
- For any song, customize using the Settings for this song group box, including changing the style, tempo, key, start bar, # of
bars, and # of transition bars. Press [Update] to see your changes in the medley list.
- Choose the type of information to include with your medley (styles, key signature changes, lyrics, etc.) in the Include with
Songs group box.
- Choose a number of transition bars (the default is 4). Transition bars are automatic bars of chords inserted by Band-in-a-Box
to transition from one song to the other, generating an “outro” and an “intro” between songs.
The current size and time of your medley is displayed in the Length label. The maximum size of the medley is 255 bars (about
7 minutes).
Press the [Make Medley NOW] button to generate a medley.
Tip: Your medley will use RealDrums if you have RealDrums enabled. If so, you should keep the various tempos of the songs within a close
range. Because the quality of the RealDrums stretching would go down if a song in the medley had a much lower tempo than the previous
one, it is tempos that slow down to avoid.
The left side of the dialog displays the list of the Melodists available, including Pop, Swing, Bossa, Waltz, Rock, Bebop, and
Jazz Ballad. Scroll down the list and pick the Melodist that you’d like to use.
Selecting the All checkbox displays all available Melodists, or they can be filtered by genre (e.g., Dixieland) to show only
Melodists in that genre. To filter the Melodists, de-select the All checkbox and then check on the genre that you are interested
in. With the Show if N/A option, you can also filter to show/not show Melodists from Melodist sets that you don’t have.
[Fav]: The Favorites button allows you to pick a Melodist that you’ve used recently. The Favorite Melodists dialog keeps track
of the last 50 melodists that you’ve used, so you can easily recall them. Highlight the melodist you want to use and press the
[OK] button or double-click on the selection you want to make.
[Search] / [Go To #]: Press the [Search] button and type in part of a Melodist name, memo, style name, or other text associated
with a Melodist. This will cause the Melodist selection to change to the next item containing the text. Similarly, you can type in
a # of a Melodist and press the [Go To #] button.
Memo / Database: The Memo area displays a memo for the current Melodist, as well as the name of the database (e.g.,
MELPOP1.ST2) used for that Melodist.
Instrument / Harmony / Style / Change Instruments: Melodists can store patch and harmony settings, and these are displayed
in the Instrument area of the Melodist selection screen. By default, Melodists use RealStyles instead of MIDI styles, but if you
prefer the MIDI styles, disable the “Use RealStyles” checkbox. You can also set the instrument to change each chorus. You can
override the settings of the current Melodist and choose your own patch, harmony and change instrument settings in these
controls.
Whole Song / Part of Song: Select whether you want to generate the whole song or just part of it. If you select part of the song,
you can specify which bar and chorus to start at and how many bars to generate.
Tip: If you want to generate only part of a song, an easy way to set the range of bars is to highlight/select the bars by dragging the mouse over
the chord area prior to opening the Melodist dialog. Then the generate form will be automatically set to “Part of Song” and the range of bars
will be set to the selected area.
Key: This area determines the key for the song. If set to “Any Key” the program will randomly pick a key for the song, weighed
more heavily toward the popular keys (C, F, etc.). “min. key%” determines what % of songs are generated in minor keys vs.
major keys. If set to 20, then 20% of the songs would be generated in minor keys.
A new title will appear immediately in the title area of the screen. You can keep generating titles until you fine one you like.
Select Edit | Undo or press Ctrl+Z to go back one title.
Tip: Band-in-a-Box can generate titles for songs created by the Melodist if you enable the “Auto-Titles” checkbox in the Melodist dialog.
If you want to generate multiple songs, press the [Generate Title] button and select the menu command Generate multiple
titles. This will run the PG Music Title Generator, which allows you go generate 50 song titles at a time.
Customizing the song title generator
These word lists are stored in a text file called TITL1.TXT in the C:\bb\Data folder. This file has several sections, each with
two sets of words that will be put together. You can add new sections, with an adjective section and a noun section. Please see
the comments included in the file TITL1.TXT for details on adding text to the file.
First, you should load in a song. There are several types of songs that you can load in:
You can generate a brand-new-royalty free composition by pressing the [Generate Song Now] button, after choosing a Genre
and Style variation.
With the [Load SoundTrack song] button, you can choose from over 100 premade “SoundTrack” compositions that we have
made. These are designed to be suitable for background music for various uses.
With the [Load Existing Song], [Load Song Demo] and [Load Song with RealDrums (Audio)] buttons, you can load in
existing songs, song demos that we have provided for the styles, or songs that have RealDrums, or finally there is a button to
load in any song. Please note, if using an existing song (composed by someone else), make sure that you have sufficient rights to
use the song for your project.
Once you have loaded in a song, you can now choose a portion of the song to use for your project by enabling the Desired
Duration option and setting the length with the min and sec fields. Assume that you want a 30 second clip of music. Set the
desired duration to 30 seconds. Then press the [Adjust # of bars and Tempo] button. This will give a number of bars at a
tempo that closely matches your current settings, which will last 30 seconds.
Adjust the Starts at Bar of the music. To start at the beginning, choose bar 1.
In the Tracks to Include area, you can choose which instruments to include in the arrangement.
Use the [Play] and [Stop] buttons to hear the work-in-progress. You can also loop the song playback.
Set Fade-in and Fade-Out options in seconds for the audio clip.
Now, generate your SoundTrack file by pressing the [Save SoundTrack] button and choosing a file format (WAV, WMA, MP3,
MP4 or M4A).
You can hear your finished audio clip by pressing the [Preview] button.
It will include “Soloists” and “Background (Melodic).” You can de-select these if you want to see only “Soloists” (and not
“Background”).
If you want to filter the list, enter text or press the [#] button.
You can audition the RealTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
You can choose options (timebase, bluesy, simple, etc.) for the selected RealTrack.
Enabling the List best subs for the current RealTracks option will list RealTracks that are similar to the currently selected
RealTracks.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser, which lists all RealTracks artists and allows you to see more info.
Select Soloist Dialog
To select a pre-made Soloist, press Shift+F4 or choose Soloist | Generate and Play a Solo. The Select Soloist dialog will open.
You can also Ctrl+click on the [Soloist] button, or select Open Soloist Dialog to choose MIDI or RealTracks Soloist from the
[Soloist] button drop-down menu.
Set Use MIDI Volume for Soloing Wizard to true if you want MIDI velocity information
sent to the Soloing Wizard. If you have a velocity sensitive MIDI device attached to your
computer and you want to control the dynamics of the Soloist, you should enable this feature.
Set the Trigger Solo Playback Early to true to enable song playback to start before the
Soloist has actually completed composing a solo. Otherwise, Band-in-a-Box will completely
compose a solo before song playback begins.
Soloist/Melody Velocity Adjust: This box allows you to quickly boost or reduce the volume
of the Soloist track relative to the other tracks. For a realistic mix the Soloist instrument is set
slightly louder than the other instruments/parts in a song. The default is 5.
Use large Soloist files (ST3) is selected to use the optional large Soloist databases, *.ST3 files, instead of the smaller ST2 files.
The ST3 files have improved phrases, but the solos take longer to create.
Create Long Phrases: Set this checkbox to “true” (enabled) if you would like the Soloist to use the longest musical phrases it
“knows.”
If OK to treat the V Major triad as a V7 is set, all jazz MIDI Soloists and some jazz and country RealSoloists will treat the V
chord as V7 (dominant seventh).
Melody Influenced Solos
When musicians solo for a song, the solo is typically influenced by the melody as well as the chords. Band-in-a-Box can also
allow the melody to influence the type of solo generated by its Soloist feature. The result is a much better solo generated for the
song.
You will see the Embellished Melody on the notation as the Melody plays, so you can see the Embellished notes. When [Stop]
is pressed, the notation will revert to the original (unembellished) melody. The embellishment changes timing of notes,
durations, velocities, legato, as well as adding grace notes, additional notes and turns. Here is a “before and after” example that
shows a typical embellishment of a Melody.
Normal (unembellished) Melody…
Embellished Melody…
As you can see in the notation examples, the embellished melody adds an anticipation in
bar 9, and in bar 10 adds extra notes, timing changes, and grace notes to “spice up” the
melody.
If you disable the Embellisher, by de-selecting the Embellish Melody during Playback or by pressing the Ctrl+Alt+E keys, then
the melody (or solo) will play as normal with no changes.
Melody Embellisher Settings
The Embellisher settings are accessed during playback with the Embellisher button in the main screen toolbar, or with the menu
item Melody | Embellish Melody | Embellish Melody Dialog, or with the key strokes Ctrl+Alt+L.
There is a Melody Embellisher dialog that allows you to:
- Customize the settings of the Embellisher or choose Embellisher presets.
- Make a particular embellishment permanent.
Live Auto-embellish during every playback is the same
setting as the Embellish Melody during playback checkbox
in the [Embellish Melody] toolbar button. If enabled,
embellishment will occur during every playback. If
disabled, embellishment will not occur unless you choose
the [Embellish NOW] button in the dialog.
Settings: The settings that affect the embellishment can be
turned on and off and given a percentage strength.
Humanize: The velocities, durations (legato), and timing of
the notes are humanized. The original velocities etc. of the
notes are ignored. The option to only humanize the timing
of the music if the timing was “stiff” to begin with allows
the Embellisher to leave the timing of human input
melodies alone and humanize only the ones that were
entered in step-time.
Adjust Octave: The octave of the Melody is changed to the
best octave for the current Melody instrument. For
example, if the instrument were a piccolo, the octave would
be raised to the best range for a piccolo.
Anticipations: An anticipated note is playing a note early (“ahead of the beat”).
“Laid-back” feeling to Melody: If set, the Melody will be delayed a little, providing a laid-back feeling.
Track to use: The Embellisher is usually referred to as the Melody Embellisher, because you would usually want to have it on
the Melody track. But if you like, you can choose to embellish the Soloist track.
[Restore Original Melody]: If you have done this, and want to restore the original Melody, you can press this button.
Preset: The presets allow you to quickly choose common combinations of settings for the Embellisher.
Memo: This describes the current embellishment, with statistics counting the number of embellished notes.
[Update Current Embellishment]: If the song is playing and the Embellisher is enabled, you can update the embellishment by
pressing this button. This is useful if you’ve changed settings and want to hear what the new embellishment sounds like.
[Defaults]: This button reverts to the original Embellisher settings.
[More]: There are additional settings, in the Embellisher Additional Settings dialog. This allows you to set advanced settings
for the Embellisher. These include:
Vibrato Depth: The amplitude of the vibrato, in a range from 0-127.
Vibrato Speed: This is the speed of the vibrato (slow-fast) range 0-127.
Only use Vibrato if Note is this many ticks: For example, if set to 120 ticks (one quarter note), then only notes of duration at
least 120 ticks will get vibrato.
Start the Vibrato after this many ticks: For notes that will get vibrato, the vibrato will start after this many ticks.
Adjust Octave Method: If the octave is to be adjusted, it will either only adjust it if the notes are outside the playable range,
or always adjust it to the best octave, according to the setting you make here.
Dynamic Range: Refers to the range of velocities used for the humanization. Useful range 30-50.
Legato Settings: Refers to the amount of legato for the notes. Useful range 55 to 75.
[Stats]: This displays the same thing that appears in the Memo field but will display it even when there is no current
embellishment.
[Export] [Import]: You can save/load your own presets for the Embellisher. When you have made a custom setting in the
Embellisher dialog, press the [Export] button to save the data as an .EMB file. When you want to recall the saved preset, press
the [Import] button, and load in a previously made .EMB file. You can share your favorite presets with other installations of
Band-in-a-Box using the EMB files.
Set the start point for the recording and select the destination track. If there are underlying MIDI notes in the destination track,
you can choose the option to merge or overwrite them.
Pressing the [Filter] button will open the Record Filter dialog, which allows you to choose the types of MIDI data to be
recorded.
Press the [Record] button or the R key to begin recording.
Stop recording by pressing the Esc key or the spacebar, or by clicking the [Stop] button. The Notes Recorded dialog will then
open.
[OK - Keep Take] saves the take you just recorded. Remember that it’s
easy to fix small glitches in the Editable Notation window or in the Event
List editor.
[Take Again] lets you quickly reject a take and start the recording again.
Press the A key to do this with a keystroke.
[Cancel] ends the recording session; nothing is saved. To start again,
press the [Record MIDI] button or the Ctrl+R keys.
Copy 1st chorus to whole song: If you have recorded one chorus of the song, checking this at the end of the recording will
copy the same recording to all of the choruses.
Overdub Underlying melody: You have the option to merge the recording with the existing melody. If there is no underlying
melody, this option will be grayed out.
Retain Melody past last recorded: You have the option to erase any melody after the last recorded melody note or keep it. Use
this feature when you want to punch out at the end of a take.
If you have recorded to a multi-channel track, the dialog shows additional options to select the output channel and the
instrument for that channel.
Recording to an external sequencer
Many people use Band-in-a-Box in live situations. If you are unable to bring your computer with you, a good alternative is a
hardware sequencer or a keyboard with a built-in sequencer that reads Standard MIDI Files. To transfer songs to the Sound
Brush, follow these simple steps:
- Make a MIDI file of the song by pressing the button.
- Either save the file directly to a floppy disk or copy it to the floppy from your hard drive.
- The Sound Brush is then able to read the IBM formatted disk with MIDI files on it.
Click on the place where you want to paste to (by clicking at the time line on top of the Notation window) and then choose Edit |
Paste. You can specify a precise paste location in the Paste Melody dialog.
Melody Wizard
For songs with melodies, there are QWERTY keys (Enter, \ , T, 6) that trigger notes from the melody as the song is being
played. Other keys trigger 1-4 approach notes from below or above. The notes can be recorded, to humanize a stiff melody with
better timing, and approach notes also useful for sight reading, rhythm practice, or to perform. This feature works with
harmonies.
- Melody notes: T, 6, Enter, \
Melody/Soloist Sequencer
Normally, you would want a single part on the Melody or Soloist track, but since MIDI information can have separate channels,
it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the tracks. For the following discussion, we will assume that you’re using the
Melody track, but the same functions are available for the Soloist. When the Melody track has been set to “Multi(16)-Channel”
we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.”
Also, for this discussion we will assume that you have a multi-channel track loaded in. Let’s load a MIDI file, using File | Open
MIDI file, and choosing a MIDI file like C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\violet.MID.
If you want to use the 16 separate parts for the Melody track, you need to set the Melody Track type to “Multi-Channel.” This is
done from the Melody menu or with the [Sequencer] button.
Now, when you are in this multi-channel mode, output from the Melody track will be on whatever MIDI channel the
information is stored on and will not be using the Melody MIDI Channel.
You can examine the track to see the channels by looking at the event list, which you can access by pressing the [#] button on
the Notation window.
You will notice that the information in the event list is color coded by channels for multi-channel tracks. For example, channel 7
is pink, and channel 10 is gold.
In the example picture, we have set Channel 2 (Bass) and Channel 4 (Trumpet) to show on the notation, and have set all of the
channels to play (to hear them).
For a specific channel, (e.g., channel 3: piano), we see the following information.
Channel 3: Acoustic Piano (this is the patch name found on the track).
842: There are 842 events in the track, usually every note is an event.
We have customized the piano track so that it can be heard (play=true), but not seen in notation (Show=false).
So now that we’ve customized the display, we are seeing the bass and trumpet on the notation and hearing the entire track.
Removing All Tracks Except Melody from a MIDI File
One use for the Sequencer mode is to load in a MIDI file, and then delete all of the channels except the melody,
so that you can allow the Band-in-a-Box rhythm section to provide the accompaniment. To do this, open the
Sequencer window, and use the Edit pull down menu to delete all tracks except the melody.
Once you have done this, you don’t need the Melody | Track Type to be multi-channel anymore, so you should set it to be Track
Type [Single Channel], so that it will be like any other Band-in-a-Box song and use the Melody channel for playback.
2. Record a melody. At the end of the recording, pick a channel that is not already used by Band-in-a-Box. BB uses
channels 2-10, so channels 11 to 16 are available for your counter melody.
3. Repeat step 2 by recording additional melodies.
Humanize Track
Quantize routines can leave the music sounding stiff and unmusical. Some routines attempt to humanize a track by adding
“randomization,” which rarely has the desired effect since humans don’t randomly change timing or volume. Band-in-a-Box
uses intelligent humanization routines to humanize a melody from one feel to another, from one tempo to another, and vary the
amount of swing to 8th notes. The results are very musical, with natural sounding melodies.
Let’s look at some of the parameters found under Humanize.
In this example, Melody | Edit Melody Track | Quantize, Time Adjust | Humanize Melody was selected. The window for
Humanize Soloist is the same.
As you can see, we have broken down the Humanize effect into 5 main
categories: tempo, lateness, 8th note spacing, legato, and feel.
The best way to learn how these parameters combine is to try them (you can
always press the UNDO button if you don’t like the results.)
For example, try changing the tempo of a song to see the changes that this will
make to the 8th note spacing and lateness. Press the [Quantize NOW] button
to apply your changes to your song.
Tip: Often, when musicians play at faster tempos they play the swing 8th notes closer
together and a little later.
We feel that these categories are straightforward and you should have no trouble achieving the desired results. Remember to
apply such parameters as Legato and Lateness sparingly, then press the Quantize NOW button to apply your changes to your
song.
You can edit events including all MIDI events and lyric events using the Event List Editor. It can be opened in several ways.
In the Event List Filter, select the type of information you want to display. In this case, it is program changes (patches) only.
The track will then display with the program changes only.
Note: A demo song PianoRollDemoSong.MGU in the C:\bb\Documentaion\Tutorials\Tutorial – BB 2005 Demo folder contains some MIDI data,
which can be seen in the Piano Roll window.
Track Selection
Click here to select the track to display.
Note: The accompaniment tracks will be overridden every time you press the [Generate and Play] button, so if you want to retain your edits,
press the [Play] button instead or freeze the track.
Note Duration
Set the default duration of new inserted notes. It is easy to mouse-edit a note’s duration after a note is inserted, so it is
usually sufficient to select a typical note duration that makes sense for your purposes and then mouse-edit the
duration of “exception” notes after they are inserted.
View/Insert Channel
If a track contains multiple channels, “All” will display MIDI events on all channels. Otherwise, select the channel
that you need to see. If “All” is selected, new MIDI events are inserted on the Band-in-a-Box track’s assigned
channel.
Except for perhaps multi-channel Guitar tracks, Band-in-a-Box plays all track events on the assigned track channel.
Therefore, in almost all cases, the channel of track events does not matter.
For instance, if the Melody track is set to transmit on channel 4, all events on the Melody track will be sent on
channel 4 regardless of the “actual channel” of each track event.
Ghost Notes
When viewing a single channel, notes on other channels can be ghost-displayed in light gray. This is useful when
viewing multi-channel tracks.
View/Edit Graphic Data
Determine what graphic data to view or edit in the bottom Graphic Event panel. Choose Velocity,
Controller, Program Change, Channel Aftertouch, and Pitch Bend. If “Chan” is not set to “All,” only the
selected channel events will be displayed.
Playable Track
When the Playable Track mode is on, any note you enter will be heard during playback unlike RealCharts
notes.
Draw Velocity
If this checkbox is enabled, notes will be drawn with a faded color based on their velocity.
Track Auto Vertical Scroll
If you check this, the Piano Roll will automatically scroll vertically when switching tracks to keep the
average note range in view.
Keyboard Pitch Panel
1. Click on a single note of the keyboard to select all notes of the clicked pitch.
2. Click-drag on the keyboard to select all notes in a pitch range.
3. Shift-click-drag to add another set of notes to the selection.
4. Ctrl-click-drag to invert a pitch selection.
For instance, you could drag C5 thru C6 to select an octave of notes. Then Shift-click C3 to add all C3 notes to the
selection. Then Ctrl-click C5 to remove all C5 notes from the selection.
Zoom Buttons
These buttons will zoom the Note Panel vertically.
Select notes and click this button. The vertical pitch range and horizontal time range will adjust to fill the Note Panel with
the selected notes.
This will return to the previous view range after zooming in on a region.
This will zoom the window so that all track notes are visible at a glance.
These buttons will zoom the window horizontally.
Note Panel
Horizontal bars represent notes. Notes can be selected, edited (start time, pitch, duration), inserted, and deleted.
Overlapping notes are displayed in bold aqua color, making them easy to identify. Overlapped notes can be eliminated from the
right-click menu in this window.
Note Selection
Selected notes are red.
If multiple notes are selected and you want to move all selected notes, use Shift-click-drag. Otherwise, a click on a note will
deselect the previous selection, and it will only select/edit the clicked note.
If multiple notes are selected and you want to transpose all selected notes, use Shift-click-drag. Otherwise, a click on a note will
deselect the previous selection, and it will only select/transpose the clicked note.
Insert a Note
Hold the Shift+Ctrl keys. The cursor becomes a pencil. Click where you want the note and it is inserted with a duration from
the “Dur” drop-down menu, and on the channel selected by the “Chan” drop-down menu.
If “Snap” is enabled, the note is inserted at the nearest grid boundary. For instance, if the snap-to-grid setting is a quarter note,
inserted notes will snap to the nearest quarter note boundary.
There are many on-screen visual cues to assist cursor positioning. The Cursor Position Time Markers in the Time Rulers can
assist time positioning. The Cursor Pitch Marker in the Keyboard can assist pitch positioning. The Cursor Location Info Panel
gives precise time and pitch info. Also, the Note Panel has time grid markings, and pitch accidentals are marked in light gray on
the background.
Delete a Note
Select a note (or a group of notes), then tap the Delete key. Alternately, select notes, right-click, and choose Delete Selected
Events in the pop-up menu.
You can also use an eraser tool. Hold the Shift+Ctrl keys and hover the cursor over a note. When the cursor becomes an eraser,
click on a note to delete it. If multiple notes are selected, all selected notes will be deleted.
This panel graphically displays non-note MIDI events, which are specified in the Chan, View/Edit, and Controller Type
controls.
Zero-value events are drawn as small hollow squares, to make them easy to identify.
When graphically inserting controller and pitch bend events, the event density is adjustable from one event per 1 tick up to one
event per 30 ticks.
You can increase/decrease velocities of the selected notes with hotkeys or the right-click menu.
+ (plus) increases velocities of all selected notes by 1.
Shift++ increase velocities of all selected notes by 5.
– (minus) decreases velocities of all selected notes by 1.
Shift+- decreases velocities of all selected notes by 5.
~ (tilde) randomizes velocities of the selected notes (-1 to +1).
Shift+~ randomizes velocities of the selected notes (-5 to +5).
Control
If “View/Edit” is set to “Control,” the Controller Type control becomes visible.
The Graphic Event Panel will display the chosen controller type. If “Chan” is not
set to “All,” only the selected channel events will be displayed.
The Expression controller is recognized by most modern synthesizers including most General MIDI synths. However, some
older synths do not recognize this controller. Expression is an alternative to “7 Main Volume MSB.” Use the Expression
controller for individual tracks and reserve the main Volume controller for overall track loudness. That way, you can use the
Band-in-a-Box main window Volume controls without affecting individual notes in the track.
In the example shown, the intro flute ostinato pattern fades in, and then fades back out, via the expression controllers. These
events were entered with the Line Tool. Notice that before the trumpet comes in, there is a single expression event of value 127,
to kick the loudness up to normal.
Single controllers are inserted by moving the mouse cursor to the desired position and then clicking the mouse button.
The Modulation controller is not firmly defined, but it is usually a Vibrato or Tremolo effect (especially in General MIDI
synths).
Play the demo song and watch how Modulation has been added to some notes to add Vibrato. It is usually best to use a modest
amount. With graphic edits, too much is almost always too much!
Program Change
Set the “View/Edit” control to “Program,” and the program changes will display in the Graphic Event
Panel. The demo song intro has a flute program change. Then the first chorus is trumpet, the second chorus is flute, and the third
chorus is soprano sax.
Pitch Bend
Set the “View/Edit” control to “Pitch Bend.” Play the demo song and watch how a few pitch bends have
been inserted to “scoop” some note attacks, “sting” the middle of a note, or “fall off” some note releases.
Event Selection
Selected Events are red.
To scale a selected group of events, Shift-click-drag vertically on one of the events in the selection.
To slide a selected group of events, Shift-click-drag horizontally on one of the events in the selection.
Insert Events
Line Tool
With no modifier keys, the “white space” cursor is a Line Tool. Move the cursor to white space and then click-drag to draw a
line. When the mouse button is released, a series of events are inserted which follow the line slope.
Spacing=1 Spacing=30
Pencil Tool
Move the cursor over white space and hold the Shift+Ctrl keys. A Pencil Tool appears. Shift+Ctrl-drag to freehand-draw a
curve. If you don’t get the curve quite right on the first pass, just keep holding the mouse button and move the mouse back-and-
forth to draw your desired freehand curve. When the mouse button is released, a series of events are inserted to follow the
freehand curve.
To avoid choking the MIDI stream, the maximum event density is one event per 10 ticks. Repeated events of the same value are
not inserted. Therefore, many freehand curves have a fairly low density.
Delete Events
Make a selection of events with the Ruler or by clicking on events. Then tap the Delete key. You can also right-click and choose
Delete Selected Events in the pop-up menu.
You can also use an eraser tool. Hold the Shift+Ctrl keys and hover the cursor over an event. When the cursor becomes an
eraser, click on an event to delete it. If multiple events are selected, all selected events will be deleted.
Select All Note Events (Of Current Channel) (right-click on the Graphic Event Panel or Graphic Event Ruler): If the “Chan”
combo box is set to “All,” this item will select ALL GRAPHIC EVENTS of the CURRENT VIEW/EDIT TYPE on ALL
CHANNELS. Otherwise, ALL GRAPHIC EVENTS of the CURRENT VIEW/EDIT TYPE are selected which match the
CURRENT MIDI CHANNEL. For instance, you could select all channel 4 modulation events, then Delete, to easily remove all
of those events from the track.
Cut: Copy selected events to the clipboard and then remove them from the track. Can also be accomplished with the menu Edit |
Cut (or Ctrl+X) action. If you wish, it is possible to cut from the Piano Roll, and then paste into the Notation window, or vice-
versa.
Copy: Copy selected events to the clipboard can also be accomplished with the menu Edit | Copy (or Ctrl+C) action. If you
wish, it is possible to copy from the Piano Roll, and then paste into the Notation window, or vice-versa.
Paste - Replace: If no events are on the clipboard, this item is dimmed. The paste occurs at the time location of your right-click.
Move the mouse cursor to the desired insert location. Right-click on the Note Panel, Graphic Event Panel, or any of the Rulers.
Then choose this item from the pop-up menu. Any previous event types in the paste range which match event types in the
clipboard are removed before the clipboard data is added to the track. If the “Chan” combo box is set to All, pasted events keep
their original (copied) MIDI channel. Otherwise, the pasted events will be re-channeled to match the “Chan” combo box.
Paste - Merge: If no events are on the clipboard, this item is dimmed. The paste occurs at the time location of your right-click.
Move the mouse cursor to the desired insert location. Right-click on the Note Panel, Graphic Event Panel, or any of the Rulers.
Then choose this item from the pop-up menu. Events from the clipboard are merged with existing data in the track. If the
“Chan” combo box is set to All, pasted events keep their original (copied) MIDI channel. Otherwise, the pasted events will be
re-channeled to match the “Chan” combo box. The feature can also be accomplished with the menu Edit | Paste (or Ctrl+V)
action (to match the Notation window, which also uses a merge style of pasting). Before using the main menu Edit | Paste (or
Ctrl+V), first make sure the insertion marker is set to your desired paste time location. This is easy to do. Just click or drag in
the Chord Ruler to place the insertion marker where you want it. Then tap Ctrl+V.
Re-Channel All Events to the Track Channel (Ch = xx): Re-channel all notes and graphic events (the entire track) to the MIDI
Output channel assigned for this track. Sometimes this can come in handy to bring some “sanity” into Piano Roll editing. For
instance, though the default Melody output channel might be channel 4, meaning that Band-in-a-Box transmits any events in the
Melody track on channel 4. The actual events in the Melody track might be channel 1, or a mixture of several channels. For
ordinary playback or note tweaking, it doesn’t matter if the event channels are “mixed up,” as long as you have the view channel
set to All. But if you wish to use Paste - Replace, the Paste - Replace function is smart enough not to “stomp on” a track’s
events that differ from the channels of the clipboard MIDI data. So if you force all events to the track channel, the Paste -
Replace function will always replace appropriately.
Re-Channel Selected Events to the Track Channel (Ch = xx): Re-channel only the selected events to the track channel.
Re-Channel Selected Events to the View Channel: When editing a multi-channel guitar track or editing an imported multi-
channel MIDI file, this command may be useful. Beware that it might initially appear confusing. For instance, one might set the
view channel to ALL, and make a selection (intending to set these events to Ch 12). Then set the view channel to 12, and of
course the selected events disappear (if the events had some other MIDI Channel). But then when you invoke “Re-Channel
Selected Events to the View Channel,” the MIDI events will reappear on the Piano Roll.
Eliminate Overlapped Notes: Overlapped notes are displayed in bold aqua color, making them easy to identify. Selecting this
menu command will remove the overlap.
Create Mute Region to mute generated accompaniment: This menu item is available in the Playable Track mode. When you
select this, a green label will show at the top, and you can extend it by dragging horizontally. When you play the song, the
Audio files can also be opened from the File menu with the command Open Special | Open Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV,
CDA). Open an MP3/WAV/WMA or audio CD track, and play back at 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 speed. This is great for transcribing or
analyzing audio.
If you load in an audio song (WAV file, MP3), when the song plays you can:
- Change the tempo of the audio to slow/speed up the song.
- Press Ctrl+[-] for half speed, Ctrl+[=] for full speed.
- Highlight an area in the Audio Edit window and press [Loop Selected Area]. This will loop the audio.
- Use the Audio | Set Audio Master (Base) Tempo menu item to ensure that tempo stretches are based on correct master tempo.
These features are useful as an aid for transcription.
If MySong.MGU is loaded and a same named audio file (MySong.WMA, MySong.MP3, MySong.WAV, etc.) is present, Band-
in-a-Box will open the audio file to the Audio track. This allows third parties to make audio files with chords in them, by
making a MySong.MGU and MySong.MP3 pair of files, which will load into Band-in-a-Box yet will have the audio compressed
to take up little disk space. For example, make a teaching set of trombone files for Band-in-a-Box, with audio trombone track,
and Band-in-a-Box file with chords, all fitting in a small file size.
Equalize Tempos
If you have an audio file that wasn’t recorded at a fixed tempo, you can change so that the tempos in the audio are all at the
same. We call this an “equalization” of the tempos.
Open the Audio Edit window with the [Audio Edit] button or the Ctrl+Shift+A keys, and select the Audio Chord Wizard
mode.
Then, set bar lines for the whole audio, and press the [Equalize Tempos] button.
Tip: Press the video button on the Audio Edit window toolbar to see how you can set bar lines.
Audio Offset
The Audio Offset feature allows you to synchronize any point of the audio file with bar 1 of the Band-in-a-Box song – usually
to sync the audio file with the rest of the song.
Then, as the song is playing, use the tap tempo feature (the minus key, pressed 4 times in tempo) to set the tempo of the piece.
Your audio file will then start playing at bar 1 of the Band-in-a-Box song in sync with the audio starting at the place you have
marked as bar 1, and the bars will be in sync (approximately in sync, they will drift as the tempo of your live performance
varies.) You can put tempo changes on certain bars to keep it perfectly in sync if you want to.
Recording Audio
You can record your live vocal or instrumental performance and save it to an audio wave file along with the Band-in-a- Box
accompaniment. Make sure that you have a microphone plugged in to your sound card, or a connection from a mixer, keyboard,
or other audio device connected to the Line In jack on your sound card.
The [Record Audio] button opens the Record Audio dialog.
Rules: This defines the rules for the auto-fix. You can see
the description for each rule in the above area.
Process MIDI: If this option is enabled, any MIDI note on
the track will be processes as well. Notes within the
selected region will be changed according to the chosen
rule.
Sensitivity Level: Increasing the sensitivity level will
cause weaker notes to be detected. Decreasing it will cause
weaker notes to be ignored and unaffected by the auto-fix.
Transient Level: Increasing the transient level will make
transients (e.g., beats like plucking sounds or drum hits)
louder. Decreasing it will make transients quieter.
Smoothing ms: This is the length of time that notes will take to change in milliseconds. Increase this for instruments that sound
better with slower bending between notes like vocals or pedal steel. Decrease for rigid sounding instruments like piano.
Pitch Correction: This will correct the tuning of notes. For example, a guitar might have one string out of tune, and notes
played on that string will be pitch corrected.
Extract Stems - This will extract stems from the selected region. Individual instruments such as bass, drums, and vocals will be
extracted onto their own separate Utility tracks. This feature requires a stem splitter application to be installed.
Generate - This allows you to generate RealTracks.
Settings - This allows you to customize the appearance of the window.
The wheel button will open the Audio Edit Settings dialog, which allows you to customize the appearance of the window.
Draw interpolation: If this is enabled, the
curved lines will be drawn between sample
points, representing real sound.
Interpolation quality: This is the accuracy
of the interpolation drawing.
Default fade type: Choose the type of curve
used for the automatic/manual cross-fading.
“S-Curve” is good for most situations and is
the best for very short fade durations since it
will not introduce a noise.
Auto cross-fade regions: When a region of
audio is being modified or replaced, the
beginning and ending of the region will be
cross-faded with the existing audio to make a
smooth transition. This applies to Cut, Paste,
Silence, Amplify, and Normalize.
Default duration in samples for cross-fades: This is the number of samples that will be used for audio cross-fading. This
duration will be shortened automatically when processing very short regions of audio.
Synchronize insert/delete edits with MIDI on track: If this is enabled, then when inserting or deleting regions of audio, MIDI
on the same track will be shifted accordingly to keep the MIDI and audio in sync.
Mouse wheel zooms to edit cursor instead of mouse pointer: If this is enabled, the mouse wheel will zoom to the edit cursor
instead of zooming to the mouse cursor.
Center screen to edit cursor when zooming: If this is enabled, the edit cursor will scroll to the center of the window when
zooming with the mouse wheel. This is only applicable if “Mouse wheel zooms to edit cursor instead of mouse pointer” is
enabled.
Delete decompressed WAV files when loading songs: If your song has any compressed audio tracks (e.g., mysong.m4a for
mysong.sgu), disabling this setting will keep a copy of the decompressed WAV file that is created. This will allow song loading
to be faster the next time it is loaded.
First, press the volume automation mode button on the window’s toolbar.
This will show blue lines on the track. The waveform is still visible but it’s darker so that we can
focus on the blue lines right now.
You can click anywhere on the blue line to add a node (a small blue dot), which acts as an anchor.
If you add more nodes and then move some of them up or down, the blue line will be drawn between
nodes that you’ve entered. And the position of the blue line at any given point determines the amount
in decibels that the audio is increased or decreased at that point. When you play the song, the volume
of the background vocal is essentially balanced out between two sections.
You could have the background vocal start off quieter and have it gradually become louder.
The first task is to locate bar lines in the audio so that the Audio Chord Wizard can detect chords accurately and the audio will
play in sync with the Band-in-a-Box song.
You can add bar lines with the [Add Bar Line] button or with the L key on your keyboard. A bar line will be placed at the
audio edit cursor or at the playback cursor if the song is currently playing.
When you start entering bar lines, the program automatically sets the tempo of the song to the tempo of the first bar of the audio.
After you’ve added the bar lines, if you adjust the first or second bar and the tempo of the first bar changes accordingly, the
program automatically changes the tempo of the song to match.
The [Add/Delete Bar Lines] button menu has options to add bar lines based on your song structure or tempo. You can delete all
of the existing bar lines or only the ones within the highlighted region.
If Auto Marking is enabled, then Band-in-a-Box will automatically add and arrange bar lines based on the bar lines you have
added manually. The “auto” bar lines will show in light blue, and the “user” bar lines will show in purple. You can change these
colors in the Audio Edit Settings dialog if you want.
If Auto Analysis is enabled, then Band-in-a-Box will re-analyze the chords in the audio whenever you add or move a bar line,
or when you edit the audio data. Keep this setting disabled if you prefer to set all bar lines first (i.e., establishing tempo), and
then analyze the chords when you are done.
Bar lines can be moved with the mouse. Just click and drag the thumb control at the bottom. If you move an “auto” bar line, it
will become a “user” bar line.
You can also right-click on the thumb control to get a context menu with options to switch a marker
type (“user” or “auto”), delete the bar line, or set the time signature for the bar. The menu also
shows you the tempo of the bar, based on the time signature of the bar and the position of the next
bar line.
Use the [Analyze] button to analyze the chords in the audio. The chords detected in the audio will be written into the Chord
Sheet. You don’t need to do this if you have “Auto Analysis” enabled, but you might want to if you have erased or made
changes to the chords in the Chord Sheet.
When you add or move bar lines, Band-in-a-Box will automatically make a tempo map, so your song is in sync with the audio.
Any changes you make in the Audio Chord Wizard mode are undo-able. This was previously not possible with the standalone
Audio Chord Wizard.
When you open the Chord Sheet, you will see the Audio Chord Wizard has entered the chords and the tempo map.
Harmonizing Audio
The audio harmonies include following features.
- Harmonizing the audio with up to 4 voices.
- Correcting out-of-tune notes.
- Transcribing the audio to notation.
First, open an audio file (WAV/WMA/MP3/M4A) or a Band-in-a-Box song file with audio. Then, go to the menu Audio or
Harmony, and select Audio Harmonies, Pitch Tracking, Fix Tuning. This will open the Audio Edit window and the Audio
Harmony dialog.
Tip: If the Audio Edit window is already open, press the [Edit] button on its toolbar and select Harmonize to open the Audio Harmony dialog.
MIDI tracks have 4 slots. The first slot can take a synthesizer (e.g., Sforzando, Coyote GM, Garritan Aria, and HyperCanvas)
and the other 3 can take audio effects (e.g., reverb, compression etc.).
Audio tracks (RealTracks, the Audio track, or Utility tracks) have 4 slots. There is no synthesizer slot, so they have 4 for audio.
Click on a plugin name, and use the menu to choose a plugin, load or save a preset or a group of plugins, change plugins
settings, and do more.
Alternatively, click on the [Video] toolbar button and select Video Player. Then, when the Video Window
opens, click on the [Open] button on its toolbar and select a video file.
Play, Stop or Move to a position in the video using the Transport toolbar.
As the song plays, you can slow down the video, and the audio will slow down and stay in sync.
The quality of the audio at slower tempos is great - better than most video player programs. The video slowdown range is 50-
100%. If you want slower than that, you can select values as low as 12%, which is an 8X slowdown (1 second would take 8
seconds), and still has good quality. Note: When set to values lower than 50%, the Video Window is disabled, but the audio
continues at the extreme slow tempo. This is a great tool for transcription. You can select a range in the Chord Sheet window
and use Transport - [Loop] button to loop a section of the video at a low tempo for example.
You can size the window by dragging the corner.
There is a [Full] button to make the video full screen, and the Esc key will go out of the full screen mode.
The [Settings] button will open the Video Settings dialog which allows you to adjust the audio and video playback time.
Offset in ms: This will adjust the video playback in milliseconds.
A positive value will make the video play later while a negative
value will make it play earlier.
Sync method: When the video and the audio are out of sync.
“Video to main program” will change the video position. “Main
program to video” will change the audio position which may cause
a noise. “Do not sync” will never attempt to re-sync.
Minimum sync interval: This allows you to set a minimum number of seconds between attempts to re-sync the video and the
audio.
Sync drift tolerance: This allows you to set a maximum drift time in milliseconds between the video and the audio. If they are
out of sync less than this value, then the program will not try to re-sync.
When you press Stop, the tempo reverts to the original tempo.
There are 4 modes to the woodshed tempo field.
1. “Up only,” which is getting faster each loop “forever,” well until tempo = 500, which is BB’s maximum tempo.
2. An “up then down” mode that goes up by [a settable increment] up to [a settable maximum] and then starts going down by
the increment back to the original where it restarts. For example, a song with a tempo of 140, if you set the tempo to increase
by 5, to a maximum increase of 100, the song will go from 140,145,150 etc. to 240, then go to 235,230… back to 140 and
cycle again.
3. An “Up then Reset” mode, that goes up in increments up to the settable maximum, then resets to the original and starts
again. For example, a song with a tempo of 140, if you set the tempo to increase by 5, to a maximum increase of 100, the
song will go from 140,145,150 etc. to 240, then go to 140 and start again.
4. An “Up and stay at Max” mode that goes up until the settable maximum and stays there.
Modes 2 and 3 are analogous to a “treadmill workout,” with programmed changes in speed.
Chord Options: When you choose one of these presets, it makes a number of settings in the Chord Options section of the
dialog. You can override them in this dialog.
Chord Resolution: This is the minimum number of beats for a chord. For
example, if you set it to “2 beats” then the Chord Wizard will never attempt
to come up with different chords that are only a beat apart. If you have a
song that has a short section that does include chords every beat, you can
redo that section of the song with a “1 beat” resolution. (Default = 2 beats)
Include Slash Chords: If set, the Chord Wizard will include “slash chords”
like F7/A or Cm/G.
So that we can see how well the Chord Wizard did, we can compare it to the “correct chords” of the song, input by a musician
listening to the song.
As you can see, by comparing the two sets of chords, the Chord Wizard got almost all of the chords correct in this example. The
Chord Wizard purposely avoids chords like “C13.” It will put a simpler “C7” instead, since this is more like a typical lead sheet.
If you’ve read in the entire MIDI file, you have 103 bars of chords on the Chord Sheet. This actually contains 3 choruses of the
song. You might want to reduce that to a single chorus by setting the chorus end of the song to bar 36 and then erasing the
excess bars (after bar 36) by choosing Edit | Erase.
Examining the song that has been interpreted by the Chord Wizard.
You will notice that the title (Violet Song), key (F), and tempo (120) have been set to the values found in the file. Part markers
are not set; the Chord Wizard doesn’t try to guess where part markers might be occurring. You need to put the part markers in
yourself. You also need to choose the style to use (a jazz swing style in this case). If you examine the Melody track (by opening
the Notation window and right-clicking on some notes or pressing the Event List (#) button), you will notice that the Melody
track contains notes from Channel 4, which is what we specified in the Chord Wizard dialog.
Normally, we’d want to import an entire MIDI file worth of chords, but if you want to import some bars, then deselect the
Import complete song checkbox, and specify where to start in the MIDI file (i.e., # of lead-in bars in MIDI file), what bar to
start at in Band-in-a-Box (Insert to BB starting at bar #), and the number of bars to import (How Many Bars to import?).
Other Settings for the MIDI Chord Wizard
OK to use PG Music Chord names from MIDI File: Band-in-a-Box and PowerTracks Pro Audio songs contain special events
that write the exact chord names into the MIDI file. So, if the Chord Wizard sees these events, it will use them instead of
interpreting the chords, since they are likely to be completely accurate. If you prefer to ignore these chord events, disable this
option.
Write Chord Summary Notes to Soloist track: This setting is only used for diagnostic or special purposes. When set, the
Soloist track will contain a special track that has a chord written every 2 beats (or whatever the setting for chord resolution is)
that contains every note found for the chord. This shows you the type of logic that the Chord Wizard is basing its decisions on.
If you encounter a song that gives incorrect results for the chords, you can try this setting and then examine the Soloist track to
see the actual notes of the chords. Chord-stepping through the track (using [Ins] and [Del] on the Numpad) allows you to
quickly hear the chords.
Include continuous controllers and pitch bend / Include Patch Changes / Include Lyrics: You can optionally include
controllers, pitch bend, patch changes, and lyrics from the MIDI file.
Include notes early by: Use this setting to allow for playing in the original MIDI file that is pushed ahead of the beat. At the
Band-in-a-Box resolution of 120 PPQ, a setting of 15 equals a 32nd note (i.e., 1/8th of a quarter note).
Practice Window
The Practice Window allows convenient “1-click” access to many Band-in-a-Box features that help you with practicing. These
include the Ear Training dialog, games (Pitch Invasion etc.), Metronome, CopyMe, Sight Reading, 101 Riffs series, and more.
To open the Practice Window, press the [Practice] button on the toolbar and choose Practice Central from the
pulldown menu. You can also go to menu Window | Practice Window or use hotkeys Alt+Shift+L.
After the list of Practice Folders, you see a list of “Favorite Folders” – these are the folders that you have
visited recently.
Once you have selected a folder, you then press the [Songs] button, and you will see a pop-up menu of the
file names for that folder, with the current song having a check mark. Load in a song by choosing the menu
item.
Press the [Play Tonic] button to familiarize yourself with the root note of the scale as a reference point.
- Click on any of the other note names to hear that root.
- Click on any of the chord extensions to hear that sound.
Guessing the root
You can test yourself on roots only or root AND extension. Press [Guess a New Root] and you will hear a root played.
Press the [Replay Root] button to hear the root-to-guess replayed. If you need help, press [Play Tonic – C] to hear the root
again.
When you think you know the root, press the root name on the list of note names at the left.
If you guess incorrectly, you will see a message that says, “Wrong Root.” You will then hear the note that you guessed playing,
followed by the root-to-guess note again.
If you guess correctly, you will see a confirmation of that, and can play again.
Press the [Stop] button to stop the game.
Guessing the Root and the Extensions
The [Guess a New Chord] game works in the same way as the Root game, except that here you are guessing chord extensions.
The root is always whatever the setting is at the left. Click on the extension to guess, and [Replay Chord] button to hear the
chord again.
In the [Guess Chord and Root] mode, you need to guess both the Root and the Extension. You can guess them in any order.
Click on the root, and when you get it correct you can move on to the extension.
Types of Roots to Include: For the Roots, you can choose which types of roots to include. This can be any of the 12 semitones,
or just the scale tones, or just the 1-4-5 of the scale.
Extension to Include: For the extensions, you can include all of the extensions listed in the dialog, or just the subset that are
common extensions.
Types of Voicings to Include: The chord extension will be played using the voicing type that you specify in the voicing types
combo box. These can be open, closed, or root position voicings. This setting also applies to the voicing used when you are
previewing a chord.
For Pitch Invasion, choose a level that will specify the number of note types that will be invading. The
LEVEL determines the speed of the notes.
To shoot the aliens, click on the on-screen keyboard, MIDI keyboard or QWERTY keys.
The program settings allow you to customize the game.
Press the [?] button for more information.
Music Replay
Music Replay develops your pitch, rhythm, and melody recognition by replaying what the program plays, in note, rhythm, or
melodic modes.
For Music Replay, choose the mode of the game. There are three modes:
1. Note Replay
Vocal Wizard
The “Vocal Wizard” displays the best song keys for your vocal range!
This feature helps you choose the best song key for your vocal range. Open the Vocal Wizard, enter your vocal type (baritone,
tenor, etc.), or choose a custom range. Then the wizard analyzes the song and recommends the best keys for that song. Options
available to “include/exclude falsetto range,” “restrict choices to these keys […],” and “transpose now.”
Before we enter the Vocal Wizard, we’re going to load in the song Old Folks at Home.MGU (present in the
C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2005 folder). This song is in the key of F, so we will use the Vocal Wizard to find
the best key for a baritone.
To enter the Vocal Wizard, choose the menu item Window | Lyrics | Vocal Wizard.
You can see from the screenshot that the Vocal Wizard has picked the key of D (colored green) as the best key for the song,
using the baritone vocal range. Other recommended keys are colored yellow. Un-recommended keys are colored grey and
include the current key of the song (F).
Let’s explore the areas of the Vocal Wizard screen.
There are 4 areas that require your input.
1. Entering your Vocal Range.
Here you enter your “comfortable” vocal range, from lowest note to highest note. If you can sing falsetto, you can also enter
the highest falsetto note, and the % of falsetto notes that would be acceptable as falsetto notes.
You can also select a preset (like Baritone Male or Contralto Female). Or you can select one of eight “User Preset slots” to
enter and save a custom range (if you press the [Save & Name User Preset] button).
2. Selecting the keys that would be “allowable.”
Most musicians have favorite keys, so this area allows selection of keys that would be acceptable for the Vocal Wizard to
choose. For example, if we choose “Jazz” keys, we will see that the Vocal Wizard now recommends the key of C instead of
D.
4. Selecting the track to analyze. You’d usually pick the Melody track but can also choose the Soloist track.
You can then analyze the Melody by pressing the [Analyze] button. Most functions automatically re-analyze the song but
pressing this button forces a re- analysis of the song. This displays the analysis of the song.
1. A purple area describes the current range of the song, low note to high note, and compares it to your vocal range.
2. The radio buttons show each of the 12 semitone keys and show a score for each key. The lowest score is the best.
In the example Old Folks at Home, you can see that D is the best key, but any of the keys from G to Db are also good keys in
the selected vocal range.
3. The area in black at the bottom gives an analysis of the vocal range if the song was transposed to the chosen key.
Now that the Vocal Wizard has told us the best key for this song, we can either close the dialog, or
transpose it now to the recommended key (or any other key that we have selected with the radio buttons).
The Vocal Wizard can also work in an automatic mode, transposing a song to the best key as soon as it is loaded, without having
to visit the Vocal Wizard dialog. This is done by checking the “Auto-transpose to best key when a song is loaded” option. By
doing this, you can ensure that any song you load will be in the best key for your vocalist! And if the key isn’t deemed to be
ideal, just visit the Vocal Wizard to see an analysis of the ranges to pick an alternate key.
To turn the Rhythm Guitar Chord Tutor on, open the Guitar window and press the [Tutor] button.
Guitar Window
This is a window for guitar and bass players! The on-screen fretboard displays any track on guitar, bass, mandolin, ukulele, or
banjo. This feature has many options such as auto-setting of correct positions, notes named on-screen, auto-octave adjust to play
in selected position, and a resizable guitar fretboard.
To open the Guitar window, press the [Guitar] toolbar button or the Ctrl+Shift+G keys, or choose the Window |
Guitar Window menu item.
Guitar Fretboard
To see the guitar neck displayed in DADGAD, choose Melody | Track Type | Guitar – DADGAD Tuning.
When you open the Guitar window and choose the Melody track, you will see the DADGAD tuning.
The examples above are for DADGAD tuning but apply similarly to all 11 alternate tunings included.
Guitar Window Toolbar
The [Settings] button opens the Guitar Settings dialog, which allows you to set the guitar options.
The [<] [>] [<-] [->] buttons will chord step advance or note-step advance. The chord step advance is the most commonly used
function. It is also accessible by the hotkeys Ins and Del on the numeric keypad and will advance or go back one chord at a
time, leaving the chord displayed on the guitar.
You will see the name of the current note that the mouse is over. If you click on the guitar at that position, the note will sound. If
the Notation window is open (in Editable Notation or Staff Roll mode), that note will get inserted on the notation at the current
position on the time line – you can disable that option to insert notes.
To change the track to display, click on the track selector button and select a track from the menu. You can also hover the mouse
cursor over it and use the mouse wheel to quickly switch tracks.
The [Tutor] button runs the Guitar Tutor.
The [POS] button toggles between the two popular positions displayed with note names.
The [Chord Solo] button generates a guitar chord solo based on the existing Melody track using correct guitar fret positions.
When you have a note or chord highlighted using the Chord Step Advance keys ([Ins] or [Del] on the NUMPAD keypad), press
the [Ch-] or [Ch+] (insert guitar chord) button on the guitar, or [7] or [8] on the NUMPAD keypad. Each time you press the
[Ch-] or [Ch+] you will see that the guitar chord changes to a different voicing, cycling through the available 5-10 voicings
possible for each chord. (Some notes won’t have any chord voicings, for example a C# note on a Cmaj7 chord, because it is
always a passing tone.)
In a similar manner, you can convert a chord to a guitar note using the insert guitar note button. Pressing the [N-] or [N+] (or [3]
or [4] on the NUMPAD keypad) repeatedly cycles through playing the same note on all 6 strings.
Guitar Settings
The Guitar Settings dialog allows you the ability to adjust various parameters on the virtual guitar fretboard so that music can
be displayed effectively (and easily) on this window, regardless of the original instrument intended for the track data. It also
offers the ability to enter notation using the virtual guitar and play back track data in specific fretboard positions for educational
and sight-reading purposes.
Press the Guitar Settings button on the left of the Guitar Pro® window and then enable the force 11-16
channels option.
Export the Track (menu File - Export - MIDI).
Then, in Band-in-a-Box, click on the [Open] button and choose the menu item Open Entire MIDI File (.mid) to Melody Track to
load a Guitar Pro® MIDI file into Band-in-a-Box.
You can then play the file and watch the guitar fretboard to see it. Band-in-a-Box has a large guitar fretboard, sizable with many
options, so you may like displaying some of your Guitar Pro® files in Band-in-a-Box.
- The default settings for this feature can be customized by pressing the [Settings] button.
This dialog allows you to set various options on the Big Piano.
- You can set a specific range for the Big Piano, a starting note and a number of octaves, by over-riding the “auto” settings.
- “Show out-of-range notes” ensures that all notes will be displayed.
- If the “Send Notes to Notation Window” checkbox is enabled, clicking a virtual key on the big piano will insert a note to the
notation track. (Note: The Notation window must be opened and set to editable notation mode.)
- If “Note Guides” is selected, guide notes will be shown on the keyboard. The guide notes can be scale tones, chord tones, or
roots only.
- Note Names and Note Colors can be used as in the Notation settings.
- There is an option to Show Out-of-Scale notes in Yellow.
- The size of the piano keyboard can be entered in pixels, or set with the preset buttons, or set by dragging the bottom border of
the window.
Tip: The hint line at the top of the window describes the current control under the mouse cursor. Use the hint line to learn the mouse-
responsive areas of each drum instrument.
Control Buttons
- Record: Puts Band-in-a-Box in the Record mode so drums can be recorded.
- Play: Starts song playback.
- Rewind: Stops and returns to song start.
- Stop: Stops song playback.
- Size Buttons 1/1 - 1/2 - 1/4: Clicking on these buttons changes the size of the drums window to full size, half size, or quarter-
size. (You can also resize the drums window to any size by dragging a window border.)
- Settings: Adjusts program behavior. See settings window section below.
Computer “QWERTY” Keys
Numeric keypad
Press computer keys to play drums.
Drums are grouped on the computer keyboard by category. The kick, snare, and hi-hat sounds are on the
lowest keyboard row. The lower-middle row contains toms and cymbals. The upper-middle row
contains Latin drums, and the top row contains Latin hand percussion. The Numpad keys contain the
rest of the Latin hand percussion plus the electronic tones.
Chord “Breaks”
This feature is great for practicing tempo control.
Select the # of bars, and Band-in-a-Box will play for, say 4 bars (selectable), and then will rest all instruments for the next 4 bars.
During the silence, you keep playing (comping, drums, melody, etc.), trying to stay in tempo. Drummers can mute the drum part.
When the band comes back in after the 4 bars, you will get instant feedback on how well you have maintained the tempo, as
indicated by whether the band comes back in time with you or not.
Once set, this feature works automatically with all songs until you turn it off.
To access the Chord Breaks feature, press the [Chord Breaks] button from the Practice window and then
select “Insert Breaks.”
It can also be accessed with the [Arrange] button in the Preferences dialog.
You then choose how many bars the program should play, and how many bars the program
should not play.
This setting remains in effect for all songs. Turn it off if you want to resume normal playing of
songs.
Scale Wizard
The Scale Wizard allows you to easily generate scales, which appear as notation on the Soloist track. Options include
Instrument Range, Patch Selection, Jazzy Mode (will use Lydian dominant scales for some 7th chords), and Diatonic Mode
(keeps scales relative to the song key).
You can access this feature from the Soloists | Scale submenu.
Scale Direction: When playing a new scale, either start on the root of the scale
(going up) or start with the closest scale tone (moving up or down). The two
modes are:
1. Ascending. The scales will always start on the root that is in the octave
above the Lowest Note that is set and will play in ascending order.
2. Walking. The scales will start on the nearest scale tone to the previous tone
that was played. The notes will ascend to the Highest Note setting, and then
descend (by scale tones) down to the Lowest Note.
Write to Track: Choose Melody or Soloist track to write the scales to
Lowest Note is the lowest note to play for any scale. C5 (note 60) is middle C.
Highest Note is the highest note to play, used when the scale direction is up and down (Walking).
Scale Tones Diatonic to Key Signature: If diatonic, minor scales will be according to the key (VI minor is Aeolian etc.).
Otherwise, all minors will be Dorian.
Use Jazz Scales: If set, will use Lydian b7 chords. Chords like Bb7 in the key of C will have Lydian b7 scales (i.e., A#4 in the
scale).
Patch: Send this MIDI patch (instrument) when playing the scale.
[Defaults] sets to default values.
[OK - Generate Scales] writes the scales to the notation of the selected track, Soloist or Melody.
Find File
So many files, so little time? This feature is a “Swiss Army Knife” that allows you to find a Band-in-a-Box song (or any file that
Band-in-a-Box can open), including filtering by words found in the file name or any text in the file. Go to File | Open Special |
Find File to open this dialog.
Tip: This dialog also opens with the S S 1 1 Enter keys.
Plug-In Settings
To get to the DAW Plugin settings dialog, press the [Plugin] button and choose the
menu item Options for DAW Plug-in.
Alternatively, go to the Preferences dialog and click on the [DAW Plugin] tab.
CoyoteWT
The Coyote Wavetable DXi synth is included with Band-in-a-Box. This works with Band-in-a-Box and other DXi compatible
host programs to produce realistic instrument sounds and is compatible with all the latest Windows® operating systems,
including the 64-bit version of Windows® 7, 8, 10, or 11.
The CoyoteWT can be installed automatically when you install Band-in-a-Box, or you can install it at a later date by running the
file SetupCoyoteWT.exe from the C:\bb\Data\Installers folder.
Selecting the CoyoteWT
To use the Coyote Wavetable as your driver, press the [MIDI] toolbar button and select MIDI/Audio
Driver Setup from the drop-down menu. This will open the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup dialog.
Enable the Use VSTi/DXi Synth option and press the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button.
Coyote WT Overview
The main display panel lists the sixteen available MIDI channels down the
left side with the program, bank number, and name of each instrument patch
assignment. During playback the number of voices (notes) being used by
each instrument is displayed.
Reverb: Clicking on this menu item brings up a dialog in which you can control the reverb parameters. The available controls
are:
- Room Size: select one of:
- Club (the smallest simulated room)
- Stage
- Hall (the largest simulated room)
- Damping: Setting the slider to the leftmost position simulates a room with hard, reflective walls. Setting the slider to the
rightmost position simulates a room with absorbent walls. The effects of this control are fairly subtle.
Click on OK to apply the changes.
Enable Compressor: Clicking on this menu item turns the compressor on or off. When it is on you will see a check mark beside
the menu item. When the compressor is enabled, the overall dynamic range will be slightly compressed (mostly by boosting the
quieter signals), and the sound will have a little more “presence.”
Enable Limiter: Clicking on this menu item turns the limiter on or off. When it is on you will see a check mark beside the menu
item. When the limiter is enabled, the overall volume level is increased, and in order to keep momentary peaks from clipping or
distorting, CoyoteWT briefly reduces the volume just before the peak occurs and then increases it again after the peak is over.
The volume changes are performed smoothly and are usually inaudible. The increased volume is desirable because it increases
the overall signal-to-noise ratio.
Tuning Adjust: Clicking on this menu item brings up a dialog in which you can enter an adjustment to be applied to all samples
in the sample-set. The adjustment is specified in terms of cents, where one cent is 1/100 of a semitone.
Limit Polyphony: Clicking on this menu item brings up a dialog in which you can specify the maximum polyphony (number of
simultaneous notes that can be played). If your CPU is not powerful enough to handle 100 notes at once (some are not) you may
be able to reduce audio clicks by choosing a number lower than 100. This is usually preferable to the artifacts produced when
you run out of CPU power.
EQ and Volume Adj.: Clicking on this brings up a dialog in which you can specify the amount of boost or cut to be applied to
the low or high frequencies. You can use this to compensate for the frequency response of your speakers, your sample file, or
just to accommodate your preference. The bass (low frequencies) and treble (high frequencies) can each be boosted or cut by up
to 12 dB. Positive numbers produce a boost; negative numbers produce a cut. You can also specify an overall volume
adjustment. The allowable range is limited to plus or minus 3 dB.
Enable High-Quality Resampler: CoyoteWT modifies the pitch of a note by resampling. Normally you should leave the default,
high-quality, enabled. However, if you are using a slow PC (say, 500 MHz or less) you may get better results by disabling high-
quality mode.
Tip: There are detailed Guitar Tuner instructions in the online Help topic
connecting an Instrument.
The Tuner must be able to receive audio from your instrument via
the line-in or microphone input of your sound card. Please make
sure that either the Microphone In or Line-In is enabled in the
Recording Properties of the Windows® Mixer (or the appropriate
Mixer application for your sound card).
Master Tuning
This function allows you to tune your sound card or module to another instrument, as well as adding a testing function to see if
your sound card supports Master Tuning. This is useful if you’re playing along with an instrument or recording that can’t easily
be re-tuned like an acoustic piano. A setting of 0 is the default A = 440.
Select the Options | GM Settings, etc. | Master Tuning menu item to open the Master Tune dialog.
Tip: Not all sound cards/modules support the Master Tuning
feature. To see if your sound card supports Master Tuning,
press the [TEST] button in the dialog shown above.
MIDI Monitor
MIDI Monitor displays a listing of data received from computer MIDI Input and/or Band-in-a-Box output, useful for
educational or diagnostic purposes.
The MIDI Monitor opens with the [MIDI] button on the main screen toolbar, or with the menu command Window |
MIDI Monitor.
Tip: To display the data received from the computer MIDI Input,
the MIDI THRU option must be enabled in Band-in-a-Box.
The MIDI Monitor has options for 1-based patch numbering and patch name display. Quick View Filter presets (such as “Notes
Only,” “Controllers Only,” “Program Changes Only,” “Programs including Bank Changes”).
MIDI Monitor - Main Window
MIDI Display Controls
Event: The current event number since the display was last cleared.
Display Filter
The Display Filter dialog allows you to select what MIDI events will be recognized by the MIDI Monitor program.
Tip: Virtually any combination of display events can be selected in the filter. It is
therefore possible to select combinations that do not display any MIDI events at all.
The MIDI Monitor will warn you about the more obvious “nil” combinations, but if you
find that you are not receiving what you expected, carefully re-examine these filter
settings.
Fretlight® support
The Fretlight® is a cool electric hardware guitar that has LED lights on the frets.
Plug in the wired Fretlight to your computer, and Band-in-a-Box will find it. Then, any output that happens on the Band-in-a-
Box Guitar window will automatically get mirrored to the Fretlight so that you see the guitar played on your Fretlight. Now you
can, using your Fretlight:
- See the Artist Performance Tracks played by Nashville Legend Brent Mason show up on your Fretlight guitar as you hear the
tracks.
- Set the Guitar Tutor in Band-in-a-Box to play strumming chord shapes, which works for any song in Band-in-a-Box (choose
your chord types jazz/pop/folk etc.)
- See RealTracks played on your Fretlight guitar, as you hear them played by the Masters in audio.
The backlit LCD provides a two-line readout, and buttons and a wheel allow control of many Band-in-a-Box features. Select
songs and play/stop/pause/loop. Select/mute/solo tracks and volume/tempo changes are all supported. And best of all, when the
song is playing, the chords of the song are displayed in time on the backlit LCD screen.
You can, for example, put the TranzPort unit on your piano at home (or your music stand on a gig) and load/play/control and
view chords for songs, all while far away from your computer – all wirelessly up to 30 feet – even through walls! Selectable
transpose lets the TranzPort show chords in a non-concert key (e.g., Eb Alto) while the computer shows concert -great for jam
sessions! Or display the scrolling lyrics of the song on the TranzPort for a wireless Karaoke session! The TranzPort also works
“right-out-of-the-box” with other popular music software, including Sonar™, Logic®, and many others.
Using TranzPort with Band-in-a-Box
First, you need to purchase a TranzPort unit, and install it.
Now, make sure that the TranzPort is installed and working. You can determine that it is installed and working by running
Band-in-a-Box and looking at the list of MIDI Drivers (Options | Audio/MIDI Driver Setup). If “TranzPort” appears on the list
of MIDI-IN and MIDI-OUT drivers, then the TranzPort is installed correctly.
Important: DO NOT SELECT the TranzPort drivers, since it is not a sound module. Band-in-a-Box will automatically find the TranzPort unit to
send/ receive data.
To start using the TranzPort
- While Band-in-a-Box is running, “wake up” the TranzPort by pressing a key on the TranzPort (STOP key for example).
- The TranzPort display will show
“Title of BB song” <tempo> <Current Track> <track volume> <patch #/name>
For example, the screen might say
- “My Tune”
- 120 Mel v 122 p1 Acoustic Piano
- Track < and Track> buttons change the current track Bass/Drums/Piano/Guitar/Strings/Melody/Soloist/Thru
Controlling Patches/Tempo/Volume
- The WHEEL changes the tempo.
- Shift+WHEEL changes the volume of the ALL TRACKS.
- [Prev] [WHEEL] changes the volume of the current track.
- [ADD] [WHEEL] changes the patch of the current track using Favorite Patches.
- [NEXT] [WHEEL] changes the patch of the current track, cycling through all patches.
- MUTE AND SOLO mutes or solos the current track.
- Shift+MUTE, will mute/un-mute ALL tracks.
Loading Songs
- [IN] button opens the “Favorite Songs” dialog. The LCD screen of the TranzPort displays the current song, and the WHEEL
cycles through the various songs. When you’ve found the song that you want, press PLAY to load and play the song (or
BB Remote
Remote control for desktop Band-in-a-Box for Windows®
BB Remote is an app for your iPhone. It is used as a remote control to control your existing desktop version of Band-in-a-Box
2011.5 or higher. The sounds will come out of the desktop program, not the iPhone. You must have the desktop version of
Band-in-a-Box to use the program at all.
BB Remote is available from the Apple® App Store.
Note: To allow BB Remote to connect, make sure that Band-in-a-Box Server is running on your desktop Windows® PC. You need to have a
program called C:\bb\bbhelper\BandInABoxServer.exe running. If it is running, you will see a musical note icon on your Windows® system tray
in the right lower corner of the Windows® taskbar. You can run or install the server from the main Band-in-a-Box Windows® program, using
the menu item Windows | BB2Go. You need to have BandInABoxServer.exe running in the system tray- see pgmusic.com/help102 for details.
Note: There is another application for iPhone that we make, called Band-in-a-Box for iPhone that lets you generate new songs – with the
sound coming from the iPhone - and it isn’t a remote control like this one. More about Band-in-a-Box for iPhone at pgmusic.com/help100.
The BB Remote app has different screens, accessible by swiping the screen to the left or right.
The Chords view lets you see the chords of the song, and the This allows fine control of playback, including jumping to
current bar of the song highlights during playback. For example, sections, choruses, # bars etc. and looping.
you could be seated at your piano, far from the desktop PC, and
be loading in and playing songs, with the sound coming from
your desktop PC, but you see the chords and current bar on the
iPhone.
BB Remote - Mixer BB Remote - Patch Selection
The Mixer window of BB Remote for iPhone allows you to The patch selection window of BB Remote for iPhone
mute/solo or adjust volumes, panning, reverb, tone, or patches of allows you to view or select patches. If you press play
the desktop program in real time. again, the changed patches will sound in the song.
Program Tutorial
Instructions for using Band-in-a-Box iPhone version
Run the BB iPhone program by clicking on the icon. You will then see the Band-in-a-Box screen. This consists of:
- Top Toolbar area (File Mixer Settings Play/Stop Chord Keyboard).
- Title display line.
- Chords area.
If you want to edit information in a song, press the Chord Keyboard icon. This will open the Chord Keyboard and a “Song
Parameters” section at the top to choose style, tempo and song form.
Let’s open and play an existing song.
Add required 8 beat Styles must have some 8-beat patterns and at least one “a” substyle pattern if “b” substyle patterns are
and blank patterns present. This will create them by duplicating lower rows.
Flip current Swaps the “a” substyle and “b” substyle patterns for the current instrument.
instrument
Flip entire style Swaps the “a” substyle and “b” substyle patterns for the entire style.
Set embellish … Opens options for embellishing the currently selected instrument part. Embellish does not apply to bass
current instrument and drums.
Set embellish …all Opens options for embellishing all Piano, Guitar, and Strings parts. Embellish does not apply to bass
Piano/Guitar/Strings and drums.
Reduce style (to 16th For styles that you want to reduce from 8th notes to 16th notes, e.g., an 8th note style at a tempo of 260
notes) to a 16th note style at a tempo of 130.
Expand style (to 8th To expand a 16th note style to 8th notes, e.g., a 16th note style at a tempo of 130 into an 8th note style
notes) at a tempo of 260.
Help
These menu items are quick links to the main Help and to StyleMaker topics in particular.
Index (F1)
Topic Search (Ctrl+F1)
StyleMaker Overview
Tutorial 5 Editing an Existing Style
Tutorial 6 Making a New Style
Drum Patterns
Bass Patterns
Piano/Guitar/String Patterns
How To (Shift+F1)
StyleMaker Toolbar Buttons
These options are also available from the StyleMaker window pull-down menus.
Saves and overwrites existing style using current name.
Saves the style but allows you to rename it first.
Plays the current pattern.
Stops the playback of the current pattern.
Plays the current pattern over a specific chord.
(Drum Grid Editor) Allows creation or editing of a drum grid pattern.
The StyleMaker displays current patch numbers for the parts on the main window.
In defining a custom drum kit in the StyleMaker, you can use the drum notes found in a MIDI file. For example, if you are
making a Latin style called “mambo,” you could load in a Mambo MIDI file that you made, and then the [Import notes from
.MID] function would extract the drum notes from the MIDI file and put them on the drum grid.
Drum Screen Alternate Notes
What are alternate notes?
Alternate notes can be entered for any note. This tells Band-in-a-Box to randomly choose a different note to the one specified.
For example:
- You might want a note to be a closed high hat 80% of the time, and an open high hat 20% of the time.
- You might want a note to be high conga 60% and low conga 40% of the time.
- Or high tom 30% of the time and NO note the other 70%.
This allows one drum pattern to sound like many, because it will be played different ways depending on which of the notes are
picked.
Relative Weight: (Usual Setting =5) Relative Weight is the number that you assign to
the pattern from 1-9. Numbers from 1-8 indicate how often you want the pattern to be
played in relation to the other patterns on the same row. A weight of 9 is a special
setting that ensures that the pattern will ALWAYS be played. Patterns assigned a
weight of 9 usually have other options set which instruct the pattern to only be played at
certain times (bar after a drum fill for example).
Playback Bar Mask: (Usual Setting =0) Playback Bar Mask determines on what bars of the song the pattern will play. The bar
numbers are counted relative to the last part marker. Bar 1 is the first bar after a part marker for example. A bar mask setting of
0 is the default. This lets the pattern be played at any time.
Other bar mask settings:
- Bar 1 of 4
- Bar 2 of 4
- Bar 3 of 4
- Bar 4 of 4
- Bar 5 of 8
- Bar 6 of 8
- Bar 7 of 8
- Bar 8 of 8
- pre-fill - refers to the bar before a fill
- fill - refers to the bar of a fill. This is not applicable to drums because there is a special row for drum fills.
- post-fill - refers to the bar after a fill, which is the same as the first bar after a part marker.
Drum Fill On Substyle: (Usual Setting =0) This setting is only relevant on the Drum Fills line. It lets you specify if you want
the drum fill to be used on the “a” substyle, the “b” substyle, or either. The default setting is “either.”
Late Triplets: (Usual Setting =0) This is only relevant in drum patterns with time base =12 (triplet feel). If you want the 3rd
triplet to be played late, as is usually done in slow jazz styles, then set a number from 0-10. The default is 0 = not late at all. A
typical setting for a slow triplet style is triplets late =5 where one unit is 120/beat.
This type of pattern is found in earlier Band-in-a-Box styles. Later styles use live MIDI drums, which are edited as notation. The
same options are used.
Editing Live Drums Patterns (or patterns imported from a MIDI file)
Live drum patterns are recorded in real time from a MIDI controller - either MIDI drum pads or a velocity sensitive MIDI
keyboard. You can also import MIDI patterns from any standard MIDI file with the StyleMaker’s Pattern | Import Pattern from
MIDI file command.
To edit these patterns, press the notation button in the StyleMaker toolbar to open the Pattern Editor Notation window.
Edit the drum notes in the Editable Notation or Staff Roll view, just as you would edit regular notation.
You will see that this window is different from the Drums window, it has rows for different lengths of patterns – 8 beat, 4 beat,
2 beat and 1 beat – for both the A and B substyles, and a row for endings.
To see a bass pattern, select any numbered box and click on the notation button. The StyleMaker Pattern Editor will open,
showing the selected pattern as notation.
Click on this button to enter the Editable Notation mode. In this mode notes can be edited, added, or deleted as in the regular
notation
A new pattern can be created by selecting an empty cell in the StyleMaker grid and then opening the StyleMaker Pattern Editor
window to enter notes with your mouse. A quicker way to make a new pattern is to record it live from a MIDI keyboard or any
other MIDI controller that is connected to your computer.
Recording a New Pattern
New patterns are recorded by playing them live in real time as the StyleMaker plays an accompaniment on the drums and other
instrument parts for the style. If you don’t want to hear other tracks - say you just want to play along to the drums – any track
can be muted with a right-click on the track name in the Band-in-a-Box main screen.
Go to the correct row for the length of the pattern you want to record (8 beat, 4 beat, etc.) and click on an empty cell. Recording
is started with the [Rec] button. When it is clicked, the drums and any other tracks that are present will start to play but
recording has not begun.
Relative Weight: (Usual Setting = 5) Set this higher/lower if you want the pattern
to be played more/less often than the other patterns on the same row. This number
is also displayed on the main StyleMaker screen. A setting of 9 (always) is a special
setting that instructs the pattern to always be played instead of the other patterns on
the same row. These patterns always have other options set which specify the times
that this pattern would be eligible to be played.
Playback Bar Mask: (Usual Setting = 0) Playback Bar Mask determines on what bars of the song the pattern will play. The bar
numbers are counted relative to the last part marker and range from 1-8. Bar 1 is the first bar after a part marker for example.
Other bar mask settings:
- Bar 1 of 4
- Bar 2 of 4
- Bar 3 of 4
- Bar 4 of 4
- Bar 5 of 8
- Bar 6 of 8
- Bar 7 of 8
- Bar 8 of 8
Special Bar Masks:
- pre-fill - refers to the bar before a fill
- fill - refers to the bar of a fill (this allows you to put in “bass fills” for example)
- post-fill - refers to the bar after a fill, which is the same as the first bar after a part marker.
Playback Beat Mask: (Usual Setting = 0) Set the beat mask to a beat from 1-4 if you want the pattern to only be played on
certain beat numbers. 1= Beat 1, 2= Beat 2, 3= Beat 3, 4= Beat 4.
Roman Numeral Mask: (Usual Setting = 0) If you have a pattern that should only be played on the I chord or the IV chord (of
the key), you can use these Roman Numeral Masks. This setting is rarely used.
Chord Type: (Usual Setting = Any) This setting is very useful. This allows you to record patterns that will only work on certain
types of chords. For example, you can record a specific riff that will only work on a minor 7th chord. You then play the pattern
on a Cmin 7 (not a C7). There are chord types for most types of chords.
Interval To Next: (Usual Setting = Any Interval) This setting allows you to restrict the pattern to be played only if the next
chord is a certain interval away. For example, you can record a bass pattern that is walking up a fourth and then assign an
Interval of Up 4th so that the pattern would only be played if you’re going up a 4th.
Half Octave range: (Usual Setting = Full Octave) This is a new setting in the StyleMaker. Usually, a pattern will be picked on
any of the 12 roots. You can select a smaller range, either A to D, or Eb to Ab. In this case the pattern would only be picked if
the chord in the song is in that range.
Play Pattern Pushed how often / # Ticks to Push Pattern: (Usual Setting = 0) Pushed patterns are patterns that are played
before the chord begins. Jazz styles typically use pushed patterns for the piano. Patterns are recorded in the normal way (non-
You can see which tracks have intelligent guitar parts by looking at the title window of the Guitar fretboard, when the track is
highlighted. If it is a Guitar Style track, it will say [Guitar voicings] after the name of the track. The usual track that has the
intelligent guitar styles is of course the Guitar Part. Some of the styles have more than 1 guitar, so the piano and/or strings part
might also have an intelligent guitar part. In these cases, you can also view the guitar on those tracks.
The styles can be set to use different types of voicings for guitar. For example, there are Jazz, Pop, and Folk (open position)
voicings. Also, some of the styles allow the guitar to play advanced chords and inversions. Some of the styles play chord
patterns, so the chord in the song might be F7, but the guitar plays a “walking-chord” pattern of F7, Cm7/G, Abdim, F7/A on
each beat. There can be fingerpicking styles that have a lowest note alternate between root and 5th.
Guitar Parts use channels 11 to 16 for the notes, corresponding to strings 1 to 6 of the guitar. When you make a MIDI file, the
notes will all get written on a single guitar channel. Sequencers like PowerTracks Pro Audio will recognize guitar parts on all 6
channels, so if you want to write the MIDI file from an intelligent guitar style, you can set Band-in-a-Box to do this from the
Options | Preferences | Write Guitar part on 6 channels option.
To make a Guitar Style:
Press the [Misc] button to enter the Misc. Style Settings window, and then press the [Guitar
Macros] button to open the Settings for Guitar chord macros dialog.
Note: A macro is a single note that triggers a preset chord pattern.
Enable Guitar Macros for: Choose the tracks that you
want to put guitar parts on. Use the Piano and Strings to
layer multiple guitar parts.
In the drop-down Guitar Chord Types to Use combo
box, set the type of chords to use: Jazz, Pop, Folk, Half
Note (sax), Ukulele, Mandolin, 5-string Banjo or
alternate guitar tunings.
Set the complexity of the chords to use. These can be
single chords, chords with variations, inversions, and
chord “walking” patterns. If you want a simple guitar
style, set the first one to 100%, and the rest to 0%.
Strum Speed / Faster Strum Speed: Set the strum
speed and fret range that should be played on the guitar.
Only include first chord of pattern: The Guitar styles
have an option to keep the same chord for the whole
pattern when using databases that have changing chords
within the pattern. If set, databases that have changing
chords like the “Half Note (sax)” chords will only use
the first chord in the pattern.
Exit the dialog and record a guitar pattern using Guitar Macro notes.
When the recording of the pattern finishes, enable OK to use Macro Notes and Use Guitar Macros.
Save the style, using the convention of putting an exclamation (!) somewhere in the name (e.g., as the first
character in the filename) to indicate that it is an intelligent guitar style.
This dialog allows you to set some miscellaneous settings for the style. They are:
Long Name (32 chars): A long style name can be stored in the style (up to 32 characters), and this will appear on screen and in
StylePicker.
Waltz?: If you want to make a waltz with the StyleMaker, check the “Waltz?” checkbox in the Misc. Style Settings dialog.
Then the StyleMaker will record and play patterns in 3/4 time. The “8 beat row” will record “6 beat” (2-bar patterns); the “4
beat” will record 3 beat (1 bar) patterns. The “2 beat” and “1 beat” still record 2 and 1 beat patterns. The new style is made as a
waltz, and will play with a 3/4 lead in. There is no need to put a 3/4 time signature change in bar 1.
Jazz Style?: This lets Band-in-a-Box know if the style you’ve made is a jazz style or not. If it’s a jazz style, it will use the Jazz
Snare/Bass Drum instead of the Pop Snare/Bass Drum, and makes some other decisions based on this setting.
Tempo: This allows you to set the tempo of the style. This is stored with the style. You can also change this tempo by the tempo
button on the StyleMaker main screen. Tempos can also be changed by the [ and ] keys. When you create a new song, the tempo
will be set to the tempo of the style.
Resolution: Styles can either have Triplet (swing eighth notes) Straight (even eighth or sixteenth notes) resolution.
Use Latin Drum Kit: Check to use a Latin drum kit in this style with instruments like maracas, cabasa, and agogo.
Velocity Boost of pushes: Pushes can get a velocity boost, so that they are played louder than other patterns. A usual setting
would be 10.
# ticks to push: Styles can be pushed with the StyleMaker. This will cause the patterns to be played a little ahead of the beat, a
certain % of time, which gives your arrangement a more human (musical) feel.
Band-in-a-Box uses a resolution of 120 PPQ, i.e., 120 ticks to a quarter note.
- 30 ticks = sixteenth note
- 40 ticks = triplet eighth note (Swing)
- 60 ticks = eighth note
Choose the number of ticks for each push to use.
Substyle Pushes: The % of notes that are pushed can be set separately for each track and for the “a” and “b” substyles.
In this example, the Bass track patterns will get pushed (randomly) 10% of the time in the
“a” substyle and 20% of the time in the “b” substyle.
Allow Volume Changes with Style: Usually you don’t want specific volume changes in a style. But if you decide to change the
volume of instruments, you can do it by setting this to YES and then entering the Volumes you want in the settings below. (A
better way to change the volume of a track is to use Pattern | Volume Adjust (Alt+W) to set the volume of each pattern
individually.)
MultiStyles: Styles can now have names stored for the substyles. This is especially useful for MultiStyles to describe the
various substyles.
‘Riff’ voicing type uses chord tones: This is an option for piano, guitar, and string patterns. If selected, voicing modifies to
match the chord and scale. Deselect for a simple transpose ignoring chord type.
RealDrums Settings (Audio Drums, instead of MIDI drums): It is also possible to assign RealDrums (audio drums) to a
particular Band-in-a-Box style.
Enable Style uses RealDrums (audio drums) in order to designate a RealDrums style, and then press the [RD] button to select
your RealDrums style. Whenever the current style is played, it will use your RealDrums style provided that RealDrums are
enabled in the RealDrums Settings dialog. There are also additional volume controls here.
Note: There is a hotkey combination to turn RealDrums on/off (Ctrl+Shift+F6). This also works while the song is playing.
To make your overall dB setting a bit higher or lower for this particular Band-in-a-Box style you can enter a setting here. There
are also fields for adjusting the “a” or “b” subsection volumes only.
If you remove the check mark from either Allow “a” substyle RealDrums or Allow “b” substyle RealDrums the one with the
checkmark remaining will be used for the entire song, regardless of what substyle is currently called for in the song.
Choose Vary ^ styles with each play to hear a different variation each time [Play] is pressed, so the song sounds fresh each
time. One time you will hear it with brushes, the next time with sticks and ride cymbals, etc.
The [Set MultiDrums] button will open the Create Multi-Drums dialog, which allows you to create the Drums track with
multiple drum/percussion parts, drum loops, UserTracks drums, and even RealTracks.
You can select a timebase (normal-time, double-time, half-time, or triple-time) for the Drums track with the Timebase option.
[Guitar Macros]: These settings determine what type of guitar chords will be used, and only apply if the patterns are recorded
using the guitar macro notes, and if the pattern is set to use guitar macro notes.
[Allow Late Notes]: This opens the Settings for Making Late notes quieter dialog. Notes played near the end of a pattern will
usually conflict with the next chord. So, it’s best to prevent notes near the end of a pattern from playing. In the Arrangement
Options dialog under Options | Preference | [Arrange] button there a global setting for “Allow late notes in pattern, just before
chord change” and a percentage setting for how often they will be allowed.
[Style Memo etc]: This opens the Extra Style Settings dialog, which allows you to enter a memo, examples, genres, and other
parameters to the style.
Press the [More..] button for the More Settings (for Rests, Pushes, RealTracks) dialog.
Extra Style Settings
This allows you to enter a memo, examples, genres, and other parameters to the style. The dialog opens with the [Style Memo
etc] button in the Miscellaneous Style Settings dialog.
Styles can have multiple RealTracks. For example, you could have a Real Guitar and Real Bass - and also RealDrums for the
drum track.
Styles can also use MIDI Soloists. For example, make a style with a banjo part that has the same quality as the Band-in-a-Box
Banjo Soloist. Here we are assigning an Earl Scruggs Bluegrass solo to the Strings part.
Use the dB or volume offset to match the level of your RealTracks audio or MIDI Soloist to the rest of the style. To apply the
MIDI volume offset, enable the “MIDI Velocity Changes supported” checkbox.
The RealTracks or MIDI timing offset can be used to offset the selected track by a certain number of ticks, either plus or
minus. A minus number will give the style a laid-back feel, a plus number will “push” the part.
Timebase allows styles to use Half-Time and Double-Time RealTracks. We include some of these styles.
For example, you can make a jazz ballad style (tempo 65) that uses a sax Soloist
at tempo 140 (playing double time).
Custom Settings: Styles can have settings such as custom panning, reverb, and tone, plus plug-ins and loops. Simple versions
of RealTracks, ‘held’ notes only versions of RealTracks, and Direct Input (DI) instruments can be used.
Note: For styles that store extra information (such as panning, reverb, tone, substyle names, plug-in names etc.), an extra file with a .stx
extension is saved. STX files are not needed for most styles, just ones that need to store this extra information.
[Multi/Medley]: A style can have a huge number of RealTracks by using the RealTracks multi/medley feature which allows a
single track to have up to 10 RealTracks. For example, you can have choirs with different singers and several guitars on the
same track. To do this, press the [Multi/Medley] button, and when the Create a Medley of different RealTracks dialog opens,
select RealTracks to use and the playing option (switching or playing simultaneously).
Plugin: If you want to save a style with specific plug-ins (MIDI synths or audio plug-ins) you can set them here. Plug-ins use
.tgs files, which must be in the C:\bb\DX Settings folder.
Loop/UserTracks/RealDrums: You can assign a loop, UserTracks, or RealDrums for any track.
[Add Custom MIDI track from another style]: You can add a custom track from another MIDI style by using the main menu
of the StyleMaker, Style | Import Instrument from Style.
This dialog allows you to assign instruments to a style. When the song is played back using the style, these patch changes will
be sent to your synthesizer. Remember, these are General MIDI Instrument numbers, not the patch numbers of your synth
(unless you have a General MIDI synth).
If you don’t require a specific instrument for the style, leave the setting at 0 < No Patch Change >.
Styles can have different instruments (patches) for the “a” and “b” substyle. For
example, you can have drum brushes on the “a” substyle, and sticks on the “b”
substyle, or acoustic piano for the “a” and electric piano for the bridge.
The patch changes take effect immediately in the style, so that when you are recording Bass part for example, you will hear the
bass patch that you have selected.
Melody Patch/Soloist Patch: If set to other than 0 < No Patch Change >, all Melodies/Soloists will be played on the specified
instrument. If you’re making a “Grover Washington” style for example, you might want any melodies to be automatically set to
saxophone.
Thru Patch: If you set the Thru patch to other than 0 < No Patch Change >, the instrument that the user plays along to your
style will be the patch that you set. If you’re making a “Heavy Rock” style, you might want to set the Thru patch to be Rock
Guitar if you expected that the user would want to always play along on Rock Guitar.
Advanced Editing of Patterns
Patterns can be “tweaked” with the other advanced features in the StyleMaker - Trim Pattern, Late Notes, and the Event List
Editor.
Trim Pattern
The Trim Pattern routine deletes notes past the end of a pattern, or (optionally) a specified distance from the end of a pattern.
This can be accessed from the Pattern | Trim Pattern(s), row(s) command.
In the dialog displayed, we are trimming 50 ticks from an 8-
beat pattern. This means that the information past 8 beats
(less 50 ticks) will be deleted. This feature is useful to erase
“busy playing” that is present near the end of a pattern, and
also delete notes that are just taking up space in the style.
The global setting for late notes in Options | Preferences [Arrange] will reduce the volume of the late notes for a smoother
transition from one chord to another.
Event List Editor
The [#] button in the StyleMaker Pattern Editor notation window opens an event list for editing, inserting, or deleting
notes in the patterns.
Once you choose the option, you select whether it is a bass track to import, or a piano track (actually any track other than bass or
drums). A bass track uses notes below C4 (MIDI note #48) and above the lowest note you select in the dialog.
If you select piano track the notes will all be mapped to a C7 chord, it is not important that the chords on the spreadsheet are
correct. However, if you are importing a bass track, it is important that the chords are correct. You can select options to allow
patterns that are anticipations, and also convert chords to “macro notes.” Force mapping to “tritones” is useful for guitar or
string parts that you might only want 2 notes for.
Once you have mapped the track to the notes, you can examine the Melody track to make sure the results are what you want,
and then use the Pattern | Import From Melody track command, and set the # of patterns to import, etc. This function allows you
to read in any track of music from a MIDI file that you’ve created, and quickly convert it to patterns in the StyleMaker. Since
the StyleMaker requires all patterns based on a C7 chord, this function automatically maps the entire track to notes on a C7
chord. You can then import any # of patterns (using the function to choose the number of patterns to import).
Editing Patterns
Slide Pattern X ticks
This is another option available on the StyleMaker menu. This allows a pattern to be time shifted any number of ticks, based on
a PPQ setting of 120.
The StyleMaker screen displays the number of patterns, which combined with the map to C7 function, allows you to quickly
import any MIDI file track into the StyleMaker and make a style from it.
There are other additional StyleMaker features such as definable instruments on the drum grid, 32nd notes on the drum grid,
“live” drums, the ability to load-in patterns from MIDI file to the drum grid or live drums, etc. to facilitate importing patterns
from MIDI files.
Velocity Adjust
This function adds or reduces the velocity of a single pattern, row of patterns, or all patterns in an instrument. It is useful for
reducing or increasing the volume of an entire instrument or fine-tuning the velocities in a style.
Choose the menu items Pattern-Velocity Adjust (for 1 pattern, 1 row, or whole instrument) and input the velocity change to
make for the pattern(s). This will add or subtract a certain velocity value to the patterns.
Style Checker
Analogous to a “Spell Checker,” this function analyzes your style-in-progress and identifies possible problems. The results are
output to a text window, allowing you to examine the patterns and fix them if required. It identifies patterns that might be “too
busy” or incorrect macro notes etc.
To access the Style Checker, open the StyleMaker (Ctrl+F9), and choose Style | Style Checker. You will then get a text report
about the style, listing possible problems with the style. Here is a sample printout:
-----Start of style checking ------JAZQUINT.STY
Drums: Row 1, Column 1 First pattern of instrument shouldn’t contain masks in it. It should be generic.
Piano: Row 1, Column 3 Non Chord tones found (other than C, E, G, Bb) and pattern is not set to a chord mask, riff based, or
MACRO.
Style Summary
This displays a text window summary of the style, including lots of information about the style such as # patterns, # patterns for
each substyle, patches, pushes, volume changes, guitar patterns, and more. To access the style summary, from the StyleMaker,
choose Style | Style Summary. You will then see a detailed text summary of the Style.
Usually you’d want to customize these snapshot bars to control which bars get included in the “a” or “b” substyle. In the
violet.MID style, the Style Wizard has offered to include Bars 9-101 (inclusive) and wants to put them all on the “a” substyle.
Continuing on, we want to make a great sounding style, so it is important that we have the following two items correct:
The “BB Parts” have to be correct. We can audition the MIDI file by playing a loop and listening to the MIDI file
and muting channels by clicking on the “Channel” checkboxes. From that, we can hear the individual parts and
assign them correctly, as we would like them in the style. By playing the MIDI file inside the Style Wizard we can
tell which bars to use for the “a” and “b” substyles.
Note: The Style Wizard has entered some of these settings automatically – but you have to type in the data as shown.
Example 2: The left edge of the highlighted area represents the beginning of the drum hit that occurs at bar 15, and the right
edge of the highlighted area represents the actual downbeat of bar 15.
dbadjust=x
If a value is entered here, when the RealDrums track is played in Band-in-a-Box, the volume will be raised (or lowered if a
negative value is entered) by the amount entered. This is used to balance the RealDrums against the other DXi instruments. This
amount can be fine-tuned once the style is completed and it is possible to test it in Band-in-a-Box.
If no dbadjust amount is entered, the program defaults to an adjust of 0.
dbadjustA=x
dbadjustB=y
You can adjust the volume of the A section and B section patterns separately in the same manner as “dbadjust” using
“dbadjustA=“ and “dbadjustB=.” The final volume of the parts will be based on the “dbadjust” amount added to the adjust for
the substyle in question. For example, let’s assume these values were entered:
Dbadjust=-5
DbadjustA=-2
DbadjustB=3
The total volume adjust for the A section would be (-5) + (-2) = -7. The total volume adjust for the B section would be (-5) +3=
-2.
MultibarPatternPercent=x
When Band-in-a-Box is choosing a RealDrums pattern (see “patterns” below) for a particular bar in a song, it randomly selects
from all possible patterns that fit based on their relative weight. If, however, a percentage is entered here, then before this step it
determines whether the current bar will be use a multi-bar pattern based on the percentage. If this occurs, Band-in-a-Box
eliminates all 1-bar patterns as possibilities for the current bar of music. For example, if “MultibarPatternPercent=20” is entered,
then every time Band-in-a-Box searches for a pattern, there is a 20% chance that it will eliminate 1-bar patterns as possibilities.
If “MultibarPatternPercent=80” is entered, then every time there will be an 80% chance that 1-bar patterns will be eliminated as
Example 3: The left edge of the highlighted area represents the eighth note before the downbeat of bar 6, and the right edge of
the highlighted area represents the downbeat of bar 6.
If no amount is entered for these values, Band-in-a-Box determines the amount based on whether or not the Band-in-a-Box style
being used is a swing or straight 8th style.
ASubstyleAllowed=NO
BSubstyleAllowed=NO
Using either one of these lines blocks all patterns for the specified substyle, and then uses the patterns of the remaining substyle
for the entire song, regardless of the substyle selected in Band-in-a-Box.
This can be useful for altering an existing style. For example, if you have a style made that uses brushes at the A section and
sticks at the B section, but you want to change it so that it only uses sticks, you can enter the line “AsubstyleAllowed=NO” into
the text file. All of the B section patterns will be used for both A section parts and B section parts in Band-in-a-Box. This is also
a useful tool in making “Alternate” styles (see “Alternate Styles and Expanded/Reduced Styles” below).
It is important, however, to not enter both of these lines. If you do this, Band-in-a-Box will not be able to find any patterns at all,
and you will get an error message.
Pattern Definition
All patterns are defined in the text file using lines of text containing seven elements, with each of the seven elements separated
by a comma. The seven elements are: 1) the text “pattern,” 2) type of pattern, 3) section definition (A, B or all), 4) weight (how
often the pattern will be played), 5) Mask (restrictions on where the pattern can be played), 6) duration of the pattern in bars, 7)
the location of the pattern in the style wave file.
Here are some examples of defined patterns:
pattern,Normal,A,2,1,2,75
pattern,Fill,A,1,0,1,58
Example 4: All of the highlighted bars in this example are “normal” bars.
Here are some examples of Normal patterns defined:
• pattern,Normal,A,2,0,1,3
• pattern,Normal,A,5,3,2,11
• pattern,Normal,B,5,1,2,75
• pattern,Normal,B,2,5,2,64
Endings
Example 5: The two highlighted bars show where an ending is played in Band-in-a-Box.
Count-ins
Count-ins are always 2 bars long, and always occur at the beginning of a song (unless the count-in is disabled in settings).
Count-ins are usually sidestick tapping “one… two… one, two, three, four,” but you can put anything in these two bars. You
can have a person actually counting in, or you can have 2 bars of drum fills as your count-in, etc.
2. Section Definition
Band-in-a-Box styles and RealDrums styles have two “subsections,” an “A” subsection and a “B”‘ subsection. When
defining patterns, you need to specify whether the pattern is intended to be played during “A” section or the “B” section. For
patterns to which the section is not applicable, you can fill this space with a “0.” These include the count-in and the ending.
You can make an exception for the ending, if you want to specifically designate an ending to occur only when the preceding
bar is “A” or “B.” Instead of “0,” you would enter “Aending” or “Bending.” Just remember that if you do this, you need to
cover both eventualities. If you enter a “0” ending, this on its own covers both cases.
Here are some examples of “A” patterns:
• pattern,Fill,A,1,0,1,8
• pattern,PostFill,A,8,0,8,1
• pattern,PostFill,A,5,0,1,9
• pattern,PreFill,A,4,0,2,7
• pattern,Normal,A,2,0,1,3
• pattern,Normal,A,5,3,2,11
Here are some examples of “B” patterns:
• pattern,Fill,B,6,0,1,32
• pattern,Fill,B,5,0,1,58
• pattern,PostFill,B,4,0,2,17
• pattern,PreFill,B,7,0,1,57
• pattern,Normal,B,5,1,2,75
• pattern,Normal,B,2,5,2,64
Here are some examples of “0” patterns:
• pattern,Count-in,0,5,0,2,-1
• pattern,ending,0,1,0,1,33
Here are some examples of special-case endings:
• pattern,ending,Aending,5,0,2,37
• pattern,ending,Bending,5,0,2,77
3. Weight
Every time that Band-in-a-Box needs to find a RealDrums pattern to insert into a Band-in-a-Box bar, it first finds all possible
patterns that would fit (based on the type of pattern, the section definition, the mask and the length), and then it picks randomly
from those patterns based on the weight assigned.
The weight is a number between 1 and 8 (there are special cases where you can use 0 or 9 which we will examine at the end of
this section). When Band-in-a-Box has amassed the list of possible patterns, it then adds up the weights of all of these patterns,
and then the chances that each pattern will be selected is based upon a percentage determined by the weight of the pattern
divided by the total.
For example, if Band-in-a-Box is finding a “normal” pattern for bar 3 of the song, and it has determined that these four patterns
are the only possibilities:
• pattern,Normal,A,5,1,4,11
• pattern,Normal,A,1,0,2,17
• pattern,Normal,A,7,3,2,13
• pattern,Normal,A,2,1,1,20
The first thing it would do would be to add up all of the weights. In this case, 5+1+7+2=15. The chance that each pattern will be
picked in this instance is determined by its own weight divided into the sum. Here then, are the chances for each pattern to be
picked in this instance:
• pattern,Normal,A,5,1,4,11: 5/15=0.333 or 33%
Example 9: Bar 1 shows a shot, bar 3 shows a hold, bar 4 shows an 8th note push, and bar 7 shows a 16th-note push.
The single drum hits are generally recorded at the end of the wave file, after the main drum groove, but they do not have to be.
Like patterns, shots are also defined in the text file using lines of text containing several elements: 1) the text “shot,” 2) type of
shot (0 for shot or hold, 1 for pushes), 3) the bar number of the shot in the style wave file, 4) the number of ticks (1 beat = 120
ticks) before or after the bar number the shot occurs, 5) the duration of the shot in ticks, 6) weight, 7) volume of the shot
Here are some examples of defined shots:
Shot,1,82,-2,455,1,100
Shot,0,83,5,360,1,90
Shot,1,171,240,200,1,80
The six elements that come after the text “shot” are explained here in further detail:
1. Type of shot
The type of shot needs to be either 0 or 1. If 0 is entered, the shot will be used when chords are entered with two periods (shot)
or three periods (hold). If 1 is entered, the shot will be used when chords are entered with two or three carets before them (8th &
16th note pushes).
2. Bar number in style wave file
Like with patterns, you need to remember that RealDrums styles use –1 based numbering, so you need to subtract 2 from the bar
number as you see it in your audio editor. More than one shot can be played in a single bar, and you would use the tick adjust
amount to distinguish between the two.
3. Tick adjust
The shots do not necessarily have to occur at the bar lines, and the tick adjust can be used to tell Band-in-a-Box exactly where
the shot starts. Simply measure the number of ticks from the downbeat of the bar number entered to the start of the shot, and that
is the number that should be entered here. If the shot starts before the bar number that was entered, a negative number should be
entered here.
For example, if a shot is recorded at bar 82, but on closer examination it appears that the shot was played two ticks early, it
would be entered as such:
Shot,1,82,-2,455,1,100
In another example (see example 10 below), a shot is played at the third beat of bar 171. In this case you need to use the tick
adjust to indicate that it a full two beats after bar 171. Since one beat is 120 ticks, two beats would be 240 ticks, and it would
therefore be entered as such:
Shot,1,171,240,200,1,80
Example 10: Here the shot begins at bar 171 (173-2), at the third beat, or 240 ticks into the bar.
4. Duration
Unlike patterns, which use numbers of bars for durations, the shots use ticks for durations. So, for example, if a shot lasts for
three beats, you would enter 360 (3 beats * 120 ticks per beat).
Here is an example of a shot that lasts for three beats:
Chan.: A 1-instrument harmony will use Channel A only. Additional instruments can use Channel B and C.
Tip: These channels are set to numbers in the Harmony Channels Dialog, accessible by selecting the [Harmony] button under the Options |
Preferences | MIDI Channels, options… menu.
Octave: This allows the harmony to “drop-down” or “go up” by a number of octaves. This octave change will only happen in a
certain range, as chosen in the LOW and HIGH settings.
Tip: There is also an Overall Harmony Octave setting that changes the octave of the entire harmony setting (accessible by pressing the [More]
button).
O. Double (Octave Double): This setting lets you double any voice. Usually, you want to do this by doubling an octave below
(i.e., octave = -1), but you can set the octave from -2 to +2. The doubling will always be on the same channel, if you want a
different instrument to double the voice, and then use the Melody Doubling Voices.
V. Boost (Velocity Boost): This allows you to increase or decrease the velocity (loudness) of each voice, to make the voice
stand out more or less in the harmony. Default = 0.
Patches: The Patches setting at the bottom allows you to assign a patch to the harmony. If you set “No patch,” the harmony
won’t change the patch. This is a useful setting for making a generic harmony that doesn’t change the patch of the Melody or
Thru channel, for example.
[Update]: Changes that you make to the harmony settings won’t take effect until you press this button.
[Copy] [Paste]: You may Copy a Harmony to the clipboard, and then move to a new harmony and Paste the harmony to the
new location.
[Save] [Save As]: Because the harmony is saved automatically for you, you won’t need to ever press these buttons. All the 256
harmonies are saved in a single .har file called DEFAULT.HAR. If you have run out of harmonies, you can start a new harmony
Tip: To share Soloists with your friends, use the [Export] button to save your Soloist to a disk, and use the [Import] button to bring in a Soloist
from a disk. You can save your Soloist to another Soloist file (*.s1) by pressing the [Save As] button.
Insert the title of your Soloist in the Title box, and any memo note you wish to add. (The Num field will be filled in for you.)
For the Memo box, you can put in information like extra legato, straighter 8th notes, on top of the beat, laid back, etc.
The Soloist is box allows you to define what type of notes the Soloist will play (i.e., swing 8th notes, straight 8th notes, 16th
notes, etc.)
Choose ST2 Database: There are several databases of Solo ideas to choose from. The [*.ST2] button will open the Open File
dialog for the C:\bb\Soloists folder where you can select a database (ST2 or ST3) appropriate for the type of song the Soloist
will be playing over (e.g., J_SWING.ST2 for jazz swing songs).
Note: If you have an .ST3 database available for the style of soloing you want to generate, you can still choose the .ST2, and the program will
automatically substitute the appropriate .ST3 file if, (a) it is available and, (b) you have selected the “Use Large Soloist files” checkbox in the
More Soloist & Melodist Settings dialog.
Patch Change: Press the [Choose] button in the Soloist Editor to select the instrument the Soloist should play (i.e., Tenor
Saxophone). You may also select an instrument from the “Patch Change” window but selecting an instrument with the [Choose]
button also fills in the specific note range for that instrument.
Harmony: If you wish to have a harmonized solo, select the harmony type by clicking on the Harmony box and choosing from
the drop-down list.
Change Instrument: This allows you to quickly set how the Soloing will “take turns” with other instruments. Use this option to
change instruments every chorus, every 4, 8, 16 bars, etc. Press the [Set..] button to choose the instruments you want to change
to, including the appropriate note rang for each instrument. The Sub-Soloist checkboxes are for use ONLY with add-on hybrid
Soloists such as the ones found on the SOLOISTPAK for Band-in-a-Box. These checkboxes can be used to “sub” a different
instrument and playing style in a Soloist which contains more than one playing style, such as BG_BAND.ST2 found on Soloist
Disk Set #5. For more information on additional Soloist Disk Sets and the additional features available with them, contact PG
Music.
To modify (if required) the “Phrase Length,” “Space Length,” and “Outside Range”
parameters, simply click in the box you wish to change and type-in the new number.
For example, change the “Legato Boost %” to 10 %. This will add 10% to the
duration of the notes.
Adjust the lateness by -5 to have the Soloist play the notes more “on the beat” than
other jazz Soloists.
Adjust the 8th note spacing by -5 to have your Soloist play 8th notes in a more even
feel than other jazz Soloists.
The “Increase Velocity” setting will increase the velocity of each note in the solo by the value entered or DECREASE the
velocity if a negative value is entered.
If you have the number of the RealTracks instrument to edit, you can select it by clicking on the [RealTracks #] button and
typing in the numbers.
The [< Previous RealTracks] [Next RealTracks >] buttons will step back and forth through the list of RealTracks Soloists to
make your selection.
The Artist Name is given, and also the Style Names for styles that use the particular instrument.
The Holds Number ‘a’ Substyle and Holds Number ‘b’ Substyle identify the location of the files played when shots or held
chords are entered into a song. The “Normal” column applies to the normal version of RealTracks (e.g., an electric guitar
RealTracks that was recorded with an amplifier), and the “Direct Input” column applies to the Direct Input version of
RealTracks (e.g., an electric guitar that was recorded directly, bypassing an amplifier).
Holds dB offset ‘a’ substyle / Holds dB offset ‘b’ substyle: The volume level of the Holds that play can be adjusted in a range
of +/- 64 dB. There are separate settings for “a” and “b” substyles.
Audio Reverb for this RealTrack: The Audio Reverb for the instrument can be adjusted.
[Set Medley RealTracks]: Similar to the Soloist Medleys, it is possible to have multiple RealTracks instruments change in
sequence.
Timebase: The new élastique Pro V2 time stretching and pitch transposition engine by zplane.development expands the
possibilities for playing RealTracks in half, double, or even triple-time.
Technical Tip: This information is stored in a file called RTExtra.bin. If you plan to change these settings and want to preserve them, you
should make a backup copy of this file, because PG Music upgrades may overwrite it.
File Menu
New is used to blank the Chord Sheet and start a new song.
Open (F3 or Alt+Shift+F3 or S S 4 Enter) shows and opens all available file types (MGU, WAV, WMA, MP3, MID, KAR,
CDG, and CDA). And it remembers your preference, so you can restrict it to a certain file type.
Open Special shows menu items for opening songs.
Open Next Song (Shift+F8 or S S 8 Enter) and Open Previous Song (Ctrl+Shift+F8 or S S 7 Enter) will open the
next/previous song in alphabetical order. If the song loaded has a file name of “Paul,” choosing load-next-file will find the next
file in alphabetical order after Paul, maybe it would be “Peter.”
Tip: If you’re working with a lot of Band-in-a-Box songs doing editing etc., remember the “Open Next Song” commands – they will save you a
lot of time!
Open (Using Standard Dialog) (Alt+Shift+F3 or S S 4 Enter) uses the standard Windows® dialog.
Open Filtered by Build-in Style lists only the songs in a folder with the current style.
Open Song with Melodies (Alt+F3) lists only the songs that have melodies (*.mg?).
Open Favorite Songs (Shift+F3 or S S 2 Enter) opens the dialog that shows the last 150 songs played.
Favorite Folders (Alt+Shift+F or S S 6 Enter) opens a list of recently used folders for quick access.
Open Karaoke (KAR) File (S S 1 3 Enter) allows you to open a Karaoke file, displaying the lyrics and chord symbols for the
song.
Open SongPicker (Ctrl+F3 or S S Enter or S S 1 Enter) opens the SongPicker, which shows information for up to 60,000
songs. It has many filter features for finding songs. You can also search songs that have similar chord progressions or melody
fragments.
Open SongPicker in Current Folder opens the SongPicker in the current folder of the last loaded song.
Open SongPicker in Home Folder opens the SongPicker in the home folder, which is C:\bb\Songs or as set in the SongPicker.
Open SongPicker in Favorite Folder opens the Favorite Folder dialog which allows you to choose any previously used folder
where a song was loaded from, and then open the SongPicker in that folder.
Open MIDI File (S S 9 Enter) loads a MIDI file into Band-in-a-Box and the MIDI file will play with the chords intelligently
interpreted on-screen. MIDI files read in Section Markers and show them as part markers.
Open MusicXML File imports a MusicXML file (.musicxml/.XML/.MXL) from your notation programs such as Finale,
Sibelius, and Guitar Pro to Band-in-a-Box.
Open ABC Notation Music File imports an ABC notation file.
Open LyricLab Chords-Lyrics file (L L Enter) is to import lyrics and chords generated by LyricLab.
Open Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV) (S S 1 0 Enter) will open an audio file in WAV, MP3, Windows® Media Player
(WMA, WMV) or CD Audio (CDA) format. Play back at 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 speed for transcribing or analyzing.
Open Audio with Chords (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV, CDA) (S S 1 4 Enter) will open a WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV, or CD
Audio file and also figure out the chords and bar lines.
Find File (S S 1 1 Enter) finds a Band-in-a-Box song (or any file that Band-in-a-Box can open), including filtering by words
found in the file name or any text in the file.
Revert to Saved reloads the current song in the last saved state.
Save Song (F2 or Ctrl+S) saves the current song under original title.
Save Song as... is to save the current songs with a different name or in a different location.
Save Special shows menu items for saving songs.
Save Song with Patches and Harmony: All settings are normally saved with Band-in-a-Box files. If you want to save certain
patches with a song, then type in the number of the patch (instrument) that you would like. Leave the other instruments at zero
(0) for No Patch Change. Remember that - as with all other Band-in-a-Box functions - you use the General MIDI number for
the instrument, regardless of the synth you are using. You can also freeze selected tracks in this dialog.
Save Song as MIDI File saves the song as a Standard MIDI file. You can save in Type 1 (multi-tracks) or Type 0 (single
track) files. Karaoke MIDI files are also supported.
Save Song as MusicXML File: Band-in-a-Box supports MusicXML so you can easily export your Band-in-a-Box songs into
notation programs such as Finale, Sibelius, and Guitar Pro, while still retaining the chords from the Band-in-a-Box song.
Edit Menu
Note: If you select (highlight) a region by dragging the mouse and then choose one of the Edit menu commands, the dialog will automatically
adjust to the correct values, based on the region that you’ve highlighted.
Undo and Redo allow you to undo or redo most operations including track generation. You can also use Ctrl+Z to undo and
Shift+Ctrl+Z to redo.
Cut functions like a delete command to remove bars from a song.
Copy is to copy chords to a clipboard. Copying a section of chords can be done in the same manner as copying text in a
Windows® word processor. To select the region to copy, place the mouse cursor at the bar to begin the selection. Then, holding
down the left mouse button, drag the mouse over the region. As you do this you will see that the region will be inverted (i.e.,
looks dark). When you have selected the desired region of chords to copy, release the mouse button. Copy the selected region to
the clipboard by using the keystrokes Ctrl+C or selecting the Edit | Copy menu item.
Copy Special shows more options for copying.
Copy From…To… / Copy Breaks (Rests/Shots/Holds): One of the best ways to copy chords is the Copy From… To…
command, or pressing Alt+C, which opens the Copy Chords and/or melody dialog. The Copy Rest command will similarly
bring up the Copy Rests dialog to allow copying of rests. These dialogs allow you to specify the number of bars to copy, the
location to copy to, and the option to copy the Chords, Melody, Soloist, and/or Lyrics.
Copy/Move Tracks allows copying or moving data (audio and/or MIDI) from one track to another.
Copy Song(s) to Text on Clipboard or File(s) allows you to select the items to include when you copy the chords in the song.
It also allows you to copy or save all songs in a specific folder to the clipboard or save them as text file(s).
Paste: Assuming you have already copied some chords to the clipboard, you are then ready to paste the copied chords into
another part of your Chord Sheet. Move the highlight cell to the bar to begin the paste of chords. Copy the chords at the
highlighted bar by using the keystrokes Ctrl+V or selecting the Edit | Paste menu item.
Tip: The copied section remains in the clipboard and can be used repeatedly. If your song is in the form verse-verse-bridge-verse, you can
simply copy the first verse to the clipboard, and then paste in the other verses. The clipboard contents remain even if you load in a new song,
so you can copy and paste between songs.
Paste Special - from Clipboard Text to Song(s) (Ctrl+Shift+V) allows you to select the items from the clipboard and the
destination of the paste. You can paste them into a new song or the current song, or save them as a new song. If multiple songs
are copied on the clipboard, you can use an option to save them all as song files.
Erase From… To… (Alt+K) opens the Erase Chords and/or Melody dialog, which allows you to specify the number of bars to
erase and option to erase the Chords, Melody, Soloist, and/or Lyrics.
Insert Bar(s) inserts a certain number of bars into the Chord Sheet.
Delete Bar(s) removes a certain number of bars from the Chord Sheet.
Nudge Chords/Melody feature allows moving a range of chords by any number of bars and beats.
Song Form shows menu items for a song form.
Song Form Dialog (Arrange song like AABACAA) allows you to define sections of a song (A, B, C, etc.), and then rearrange
the song by typing the form you want (e.g., AABABAACA.)
Settings for This Song (Ctrl+N) opens the Song Settings dialog for settings such as endings, tags, style variations, pushes,
rests, and chord embellishments to make your song interesting and varied. The dialog can also be accessed by pressing the
[Song Settings] button on the main screen.
Repeats/Codas/1st-2nd Endings: You can add repeats and endings so that the Lead Sheet window will display and print using
1st /2nd endings.
What add-ons do I have? will search your directory to tell you which add-ons you have and which you don’t.
Language Selection allows you to change language from English to another language for display. If there are other languages
supported by your version of Band-in-a-Box, then they will be displayed in this dialog. International language versions are
available for download from https://www.pgmusic.com/support.bbw.international.htm.
MIDI Patch Maps, etc. shows menu items for editing a General MIDI patch map, setting favorite patches, and more.
Save Default Configuration (Mysetup.DK file) will rewrite the Band-in-a-Box configuration file (Mysetup.DK) with your
current settings. This file contains:
- MIDI Channels/Patches/Volumes/Reverb/Chorus/Bank
- Patch Map
- Favorite Patches, Favorite Combos settings
- Drum Kit
Save Alternate Drum/Patch File .DK and Load Alternate Drum/Patch File .DK allow you to save different custom drum kits
or load preset or custom kits.
Display General MIDI Patch Numbers opens the General MIDI Patch List for reference.
Send a SysEx File (*.SYX) is a command that sends SysEx information to your MIDI device.
Whether you want to load different patches (or ones you have “tweaked” with a patch editor/librarian such as the SC-Pro
Editor/Librarian) into your MIDI device or whether you have a synth that requires a SysEx to set it to a certain mode, you can
easily send SysEx files with a configurable delay (the default is 100 ms).
If you want to send a SysEx file to your MIDI device automatically at the start of each session, you need to make a file called
STARTUP.SYX, and put it in the C:\bb directory. Then, each time the program is started, it will send the appropriate SysEx
commands contained in this file to your MIDI device.
If you need to send a SysEx file at any time during a session, choose the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Send a Sys-Ex File
(*.SYX) option. This opens a dialog from which you can choose a file to send. Since some MIDI devices require a delay time
between parts of a SysEx message, there is a default delay value of 100 ms between each part of the message.
If you need to change the default delay, go to the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Make an Advanced Patch map menu item
and enter the Sys-Ex Delay to a value in milliseconds (ms). If it is set to 0 ms, the program will revert to the default of 100ms.
The smallest delay setting is 1(ms).
Technical Notes:
SysEx files are files that can be made with programs such as PG Music’s PowerTracks Pro Audio or SC-Pro Editor/Librarian. They begin with
a F0(hex) byte and end with a F7 byte.
Examples where you might want to use a SysEx file with Band-in-a-Box are:
- Employing a custom setting or patch you have made with the SC-Pro Editor /Librarian.
- Sending a General MIDI mode ON message automatically when Band-in-a-Box boots up.
Choose Patch from General MIDI Patches allows you to select a patch for the currently selected instrument from an
organized list of GM patches.
Choose Patch from Higher Bank allows you to select a patch using the advanced search and higher bank/patch support
capabilities.
Make a Patch Map (Advanced Settings): Patch maps contain information for mapping the patches and drum notes to your
synthesizer as well as Velocity offset, Octave offset, bank Controller 0 setting, bank Controller 32 setting, etc. There are also
advanced options like sending a SysEx file by loading the .DK file.
Edit these settings in the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. submenu by choosing Make an Advanced Patch map.
Favorite Instruments
The [Favorite Patch] button in the Preferences dialog opens the Favorite Instruments dialog.
Play Menu
Note: Most commands in the Play menu are performed by onscreen buttons or by the keystrokes listed to the right of the menu command.
Play: This plays the song from the start with the current arrangement.
Play Special shows more options for playing the song.
Play (with Generation) (F4): This generates a new arrangement and plays the song.
Play (with no Generation): This plays the song without generating a new arrangement.
Generate (even if tracks are frozen): When you do this, the song will regenerate, the tracks will get rewritten, and the song
will stay frozen. So, if you’re freezing songs to get the instant playback with RealTracks but get tired of the “same-old” frozen
arrangement, just press Shift+Play, generate a new arrangement, and press Save. Then the new “fresh-frozen” arrangement will
play instantly, even with many RealTracks.
Tip: Obviously, you wouldn’t use this feature to force regeneration of a frozen song if you have made custom edits to the song that you don’t
want to lose, unless you’ve saved the song and have a backup copy.
Play from Bar … (Ctrl+F): Choose a chorus and bar to play from with the current arrangement. Tracks won’t be regenerated.
Use this command during playback to jump to any bar in the song.
Play from Current Position (Ctrl+G): When the song is stopped this command starts playback again at the bar with the
highlight cell.
Go (Open and Play): This lets you select a song in any directory and plays it automatically.
Stop (Esc or Spacebar): This stops playback or recording. To resume playback from the current bar, use the Play From Current
Position command or the [Play from Bar…] toolbar button. To play from the start of the song, press the [Play] toolbar button.
Pause (Ctrl+H): This pauses the song. Repeating this command resumes play from the exact location where the song was
paused.
Play & Loop Highlighted Section (F10): Drag the mouse cursor to select a region of bars in the Chord Sheet and then use this
command to play the selected region as a loop.
Looping
- You can loop any section of the song. The program will then start playback at the first loop point and play the looped section
until stop is pressed or looping is turned off.
- Looping of a section of the song is enabled with the Loop Section Enabled command in the [Loop] toolbar button, the Loop
Section Enabled command, or the keystroke NUMPAD 1.
- Open the Loop Section Settings dialog with the menu command, by clicking the [Loop] button in the toolbar, or pressing
NUMPAD 2.
Melody Menu
Track Type: Normally, you’d leave the track type set to Single Channel, but you can set it to:
- Multi (16) -Channel – All channels get preserved, and outputted on the channels, this would be useful for importing an entire
MIDI file and playing it from the Melody channel (using a silent style).
- Guitar – Channels 11 to 16 will display on the guitar as strings 11 to 16, TAB will show, the notation will be up an octave,
and the MIDI file will contain the channels preserved.
- Piano – In this mode, channels 8 and 9 are treated as the left and right hand of a piano part.
- Selecting any one of Bass, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo (5-string), or Violin will display the correct tablature in the Notation
window and the correct fretboard in the Guitar window.
- Set the track to match any of the 11 alternate guitar tunings, such as DADGAD, Open G, or Double Drop D, supported by
Band-in-a-Box. Then you will see the correct notes on the guitar fretboard, in the notation and tablature.
- If the track has drums that use GM Drum notes, you can select Drums to see drum notation.
Melodist – Generate Melody and Chords (Shift+F5) opens the Melodist feature.
Melodist Maker submenu items allow you to edit Melodist files using the Melody Maker.
Start a Melodists File allows you to make and edit Melodists saved under the filename of your choice. See the Melodist Editor
dialog for additional details on importing/exporting/saving Melodists.
Edit a Melodists File opens an Open File dialog where you can select any Melodist file (*.MEL) to edit.
Edit Current Melodists File opens the Melodist dialog with the currently installed Melodists file.
Refresh Melodist (Shift+F7) allows the Melodist full access to all melody ideas contained in its database.
Sequencer Window for Multi-Channel Melody: There are 2 tracks in Band-in-a-Box to add your own recordings. These are the
Melody and Soloist tracks. Normally, you would want a single part on each of them, but since MIDI information can have
separate channels, it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the Melody and Soloist tracks. When the Melody or Soloist
track has been set to “Multi (16)-Channel” we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.” Selecting this command will then open the
Sequencer Window. Then you can customize which channels will play and display.
Edit Melody Track shows menu items for editing the Melody track.
Import Melody from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Melody track.
Import Melody from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted into the clipboard (e.g., from a sequencer
such as PowerTracks).
Record Melody (Ctrl+R) opens the Record MIDI dialog to record a MIDI melody.
Record Melody from Bar… (Ctrl+Alt+R) starts recording at the current location of the highlight cell after playing a two-bar
lead-in.
Step Edit Melody allows you to enter/edit a melody in step time from the Notation window. This uses an event list.
Quantize, Time Adjust shows menu items to quantize, humanize or adjust the Melody track.
Quantize Melody opens the Quantize Track dialog. The Humanize Melody… feature is an advanced version of this function.
Soloist Menu
Track Type: Normally, you’d leave the track type set to Single Channel, but you can set it to:
- Multi (16) -Channel – All channels get preserved, and outputted on the channels, this would be useful for importing an entire
MIDI file, and playing it from the Melody channel (using a silent style).
- Guitar – Channels 11 to 16 will display on the guitar as strings 11 to 16, TAB will show, the notation will be up an octave, and
the MIDI file will contain the channels preserved.
- Piano – In this mode, channels 8 and 9 are treated as the left and right hand of a piano part.
- Selecting any one of Bass, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo, or Violin will display the correct tablature in the Notation window and
the correct fretboard in the Guitar window.
- Set the track to match any of the 11 alternate guitar tunings, such as DADGAD, Open G, or Double Drop D that are supported
by Band-in-a-Box. Then you will see the correct notes on the guitar fretboard, in the notation and tablature.
- If the track has drums that use GM Drum notes, you can select Drums to see drum notation.
Soloist - Generate and Play a Solo (Shift+F4) opens the Select Soloist dialog where a preset Soloist style can be selected or
your own Soloist can be defined.
Soloist Maker is a submenu of editing Soloists files. If you want to make your own Soloists or modify an existing Soloist, use
the Soloist Maker (edit) module. The Soloist Maker allows you to define the parameters essential to a Soloist’s playing, such as
instrument range (i.e., tenor saxophone), extra legato playing, playing more on top of the beat, playing straighter 8th notes than
usual swing 8th notes. In addition, you can set phrasing options, such as how long the phrase should be, and how much “space”
to leave between phrases. You can also set how “outside” the playing should be.
Start a Soloists File allows you to make and edit Soloists saved under the filename of your choice. See the Soloist Editor
dialog for additional details on importing/exporting/saving Soloists.
Edit a Soloists File opens an Open File dialog where you can select any Soloist file (*.SOL) to edit. To edit the Soloist you are
using, use the Edit Current Soloist File command.
Edit Current Soloists File opens the Select Soloist dialog with the currently installed Soloists file.
Refresh Soloist (Shift+F7) allows the Soloist full access to all solo ideas contained in its database. Use to refresh after several
Soloists have been made.
OK to Load Soloists with Songs: Enable this option if you want Soloists to be automatically loaded with a song that was saved
with Soloist information.
Allow Soloist Harmony (on THRU Harmony): Enable this option to permit the Soloist to utilize the Harmony features. This
will allow the Soloist to make a harmonized solo with the harmony of your choice. See the Select Soloist dialog for additional
details.
Sequencer Window for Multi-Channel Soloist: There are two tracks in Band-in-a-Box to add your own recordings. These are
the Melody and Soloist tracks. Normally you would want a single part on each of them. But, since MIDI information can have
separate channels, it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the Melody and Soloist tracks. When the Melody or Soloist
track has been set to “Multi (16)-Channel” we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.” Selecting this command will then open the
Sequencer Window. Then you can customize which channels will play and display.
Edit Soloist Track is a submenu of editing options.
Import to Soloist Track from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Soloist track.
Import to Soloist Track from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted into the clipboard (e.g., from a
sequencer such as PowerTracks).
Audio Menu
The Record Audio function is used to record audio using a microphone plugged into your sound card or a guitar (or mixer)
plugged into the line-in on your sound card.
The next two items, Record Audio and MIDI (Melody) and Record Audio and MIDI (Soloist) refer to the situation where you
want to simultaneously record audio (vocals etc.) as well as MIDI. You can record MIDI to any track.
The Plugin menu command refers to running a plug-in audio effect. This applies an audio effect such as Reverb or Chorus to
the already recorded audio part. Band-in-a-Box comes with a large selection of high-quality audio effects built-in, such as
Compressor, Gate, Distortion, Reverb, Echo, Chorus, Flanger, Ring Mod, Tremolo, Tone Control, Graphic EQ, Parametric EQ,
Gain Change, De-Ess, Auto-Wah, Pitch Shift, Exciter, Enhancer and Hum Filter. DirectX plug-ins from PG Music and other
makers are also supported.
Edit Audio shows menu items for editing the audio.
Copy Fist Chorus to Whole Song copies the first chorus of audio to the rest of the song.
Erase Audio from All Choruses is used to erase the entire audio.
Erase Audio from Chorus will erase the first chorus, middle choruses, or the last chorus.
Erase Region of Audio will erase a specified region of bars/beats of audio.
Adjust Volume Level of Audio Track changes the volume of the Audio track itself. It uses a sophisticated peak-limiting
algorithm to ensure that increases in the volume do not result in clipping of the sound, which would be heard as a loud
distortion. It accepts units of decibels (dB). Zero means no change in the level, whereas +6 would be a doubling of the sound,
and –6 halves the sound level.
Timeshift Audio (ms) is used to time shift the whole Audio track a certain number of milliseconds. Normally you wouldn’t
have to time shift a track at all. There are settings in the Audio Settings dialog that can adjust for synchronization differences
between your sound card and MIDI devices (for example, the VSC has a 430ms latency). But the time shift audio command
can be useful in special cases.
Tip: 1000ms = 1 second. Positive values move the Audio track ahead, negative values move it back.
Insert Silence in Audio Track lets you insert silence of the specified length at the specified location. For example, if you
decide to add an extra 2 bars to the intro in Band-in-a-Box, and you’ve already recorded an audio, you should insert 2 bars (8
beats in a 4/4 time signature) into the Audio track as well.
Delete Region of Audio Track will delete a region of audio, eliminating the created gap.
Convert Channels (Mono/Stereo) allows you to convert the Audio track from stereo to mono, or vice versa. There is an option
to choose the percentage of each channel.
Audio Drivers/Settings opens the Audio Settings dialog where you can select an audio driver (WAS, ASIO, or MME) or the
settings.
Playback Mixer / Playback VU Meter takes you directly to the Windows® Playback control to adjust volumes on your sound
card. Note that not all sound devices have VU meters.
Recording Mixer / Recording VU Meter takes you directly to the Windows® Recording control to adjust volumes on your
sound card. Note that not all sound devices have VU meters.
Export Song as Audio File allows you to save the song as an audio file.
Import Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV) will open an audio file in WAV, MP3, Windows® Media Player, or CD Audio
format.
Audio Edit Window (Ctrl+Shift+A) opens the Audio Edit window where the wave file can be viewed and edited.
Audio Harmonies, Pitch Tracking, Fix Tuning opens the Audio Harmony dialog, which allows you to harmonize the audio or
correct out-of-tune notes.
Harmony Menu
Melody Harmony (Select) (Alt+F10) shows you the complete harmony styles list and allows you to choose one for the current
Melody track.
Thru Harmony (Select) (Alt+F11) shows you the complete harmony styles list and allows you to choose one for the current
Thru track.
Favorite Melody Harmonies (Ctrl+F10) shows your favorite 50 harmony styles (based on recent usage) and allows you to
choose one to use on the Melody track.
Favorite Thru Harmonies (Ctrl+F11) shows your favorite 50 harmony styles (based on recent usage) and allows you to choose
one to use on the Thru track.
Real-Time MIDI Harmonies: This feature allows you to play harmonies in real time. Use this with your MIDI keyboard (while
Band-in-a-Box is stopped). When the dialog is open, you can play a chord with the left hand (below the split point set in the
dialog), and the chord you play is and displayed in the dialog. Then, the notes that you play in the right hand will get
harmonized according to this left-hand chord. If you set the “Only Harmonize if Left hand chord held down,” you will be able to
control what notes get harmonized by holding down the chord when you want a note to be harmonized.
Audio Harmonies, Pitch Tracking, Fix Tuning opens the Audio Harmony dialog, which allows you to harmonize the audio or
correct out-of-tune notes.
Harmonies Maker shows menu items for making or editing harmonies.
Start a New Harmonies File allows you to make and edit Harmony styles saved under your own filename.
Edit a Harmonies File allows you to edit a Harmony file that is in the C:\bb\Data directory.
Edit Current Harmonies File allows you to edit the Harmony file that is currently loaded on your system.
Convert Harmony to Melody Track converts a single line Melody track to include the current harmony selection, with options
to convert the whole song or specify a range of bars, to eliminate note overlaps, and loosen note start times.
Convert Harmony to Soloist Track converts a single line Soloist track to include the current harmony selection (On the Thru
harmony), with options to convert the whole song or specify a range of bars, to eliminate note overlaps, and loosen note start
times.
Harmony Settings shows menu items for using harmonies.
OK to Load Harmonies with Songs: Enable this menu item if you want to load any harmony settings that were
saved/embedded in a given song.
Save Harmony with This Song: Enable this menu item to allow Band-in-a-Box to embed the harmony settings for the current
song so that they may be recalled automatically at a later time.
Change Harmony with New Chord: Enable this menu item to allow the program to vary the harmony characteristics (e.g.,
inversions) each time a new chord is encountered in the song.
Allow Melody Harmony (Shift+F10): Enable this menu item to allow harmonies on the Melody MIDI channels.
Allow Thru Harmony (Shift+F11): Enable this menu item to allow harmonies on the Thru MIDI channels.
Allow Soloist Harmony (on THRU Harmony): Enable this menu item to allow the Thru MIDI channels to utilize the harmony
features for the Soloist track.
Use Passing Harmonies for THRU: When playing along on a MIDI keyboard (or the Wizard) using a Thru harmony, you can
use passing harmonies. For example, on a C7 chord, with an Ab note, the harmony might be a B diminished chord, which is a
passing harmony.
Only THRU Harmonize if note held down = 36 (C3): By setting this option you can specify to only harmonize the note if a
certain note is held down. (The default note is a C two octaves below middle C.)
Window Menu
The Window menu launches various windows in Band-in-a-Box.
Tracks Window (F7 or M Enter) opens a one-stop-shopping floating window to pick a style and/or any of the 8 track types
(RealTracks, RealDrums, Loops, UserTracks, MIDI SuperTracks, Custom MIDI Tracks, MIDI Soloists, and Melodists)
Help Menu
Index lists all the Help topics. Type in a keyword under the “Index” tab to go to the topic you want.
Help Topics shows menu items to open various Help topics.
Newest Features describes the new features in the current version.
Feature Browser (/ Enter) opens the Feature Browser dialog that lists many features in Band-in-a-Box and allows you to browse
them, find the feature by text filter, read descriptions about the feature, find how to launch the feature, access to the online
information or video about the feature, and do more.
Program Manuals (pdf) shows menu items for opening the program manuals.
Display Program Manual will open a .pdf file of the full Band-in-a-Box manual. Follow the bookmarks to find specific topics.
Display Program Upgrade Manual will open a .pdf file of the upgrade manual for this particular version of Band-in-a-Box,
which may include new documentation not yet added to the full manual. The upgrade manual is often a more convenient way
to reference the new features in Band-in-a-Box without looking through the full manual.
Show Help Hints: Band-in-a-Box has comprehensive fly-by hints that appear when you move over an item. These include hints
for the dialog boxes and various windows. You can set the hints to display none, basic, or detailed information.
Tip of the Day: This feature can be set to run automatically when Band-in-a-Box opens. If you want to add your own tips, you
can edit the BBW.TIP file. Just put a tip on a single line (no carriage return till the end of the tip). Tips are limited to 255
characters per tip. Band-in-a-Box automatically compiles the BBW.TIP file at startup of the program to a binary file called
BBW.TPB.
Check for Updates: User can check/download/pause/continue/install for a newer version (not free), newer build (free), and
updated RealTracks files (free). You can set whether you want any checking for updates at boot up to be done, and if so, how
often. (Note: A setting of 0 days will check every time you run the program.) You can also press the [Refresh] button to check
for a major or minor upgrade of the program and RealTracks patches. Download free updates within this dialog when available.
What add-ons do I have?: One of the greatest strengths of Band-in-a-Box is the ability to add-on and enhance the program
through add-on RealTracks, RealDrums Styles, Soloists, and more. The “What Add-ons” feature in the Help menu scans your
computer’s Band-in-a-Box directory and displays what add-ons are and aren’t found. To see the latest add-ons, click on the
[www.pgmusic.com/addons.htm] button to go directly to the add-ons page on the PG Music Inc. website.
Web www.pgmusic.com shows links to some important pages on the PG Music Inc. website. Selecting one of these topics will
automatically launch your Web browser and direct you to the PG Music website.
About Band-in-a-Box opens a dialog with key information such as the version number you are running and computer system
information.
Utilities
Display Log Text file of Yellow/Green Messages: The yellow/green flash messages and date/time are saved in a file called
C:\bb\Data\Logs\FlashMessageLog.txt. You can open this file inside the program at any time by choosing this menu command
or pressing the L O G Enter keys.
Chord List
Commonly used chords are displayed here in bold type.
Notes:
It is not necessary to type upper or lower case. The program will sort this out for you.
Any chord may be entered with an alternate root (“Slash Chord”) e.g.: C7/E = C7 with E bass.
Separate chords with commas to enter 2 chords in a 2-beat cell, e.g., Dm,G7
Major Chords
C, Cmaj, C6, Cmaj7, Cmaj9, Cmaj13, C69, Cmaj7#5, C5b, Caug, C+, Cmaj9#11, Cmaj13#11
Minor Chords
Cm, Cm6, Cm7, Cm9, Cm11, Cm13, Cmaug, Cm#5, CmMaj7
Half Diminished Chords
Cm7b5
PG MUSIC INC.
29 Cadillac Avenue
Victoria, BC V8Z 1T3
Canada
Sales
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: Toll-free in USA & Canada: 1-800-268-6272 or 1-888-PG-MUSIC (746-8742)
Phone: Toll-free outside USA & Canada where International Freephone service is available:
+ 800-4PGMUSIC (800-4746-8742)
or 1-250-475-2874 (tolls apply)
Fax: Toll-free in USA & Canada: 1-877-475-1444
or 1-250-475-2937 (tolls apply)
Technical Support
E-mail: [email protected]
Be sure to visit the FAQ pages at www.pgmusic.com for information about known troubleshooting issues as well as the latest technical support
bulletins.
416 Index
Edit ....................................................................................... 325 Lyric Window Options ......................................................... 204
Live Harmony ...................................................................... 353 Menu .................................................................................... 203
Select.................................................................................... 130 Note-Based Lyrics................................................................ 202
Harmony Channels & Settings ................................................. 345 Main Screen
Harmony Menu......................................................................... 353 Chord Sheet ............................................................................ 49
Held Chords................................................................................ 93 Mixer ...................................................................................... 45
Help Menu ................................................................................ 355 Overview ................................................................................ 37
Hi-Q MIDI Sound....................................................................... 80 Sizable Window ..................................................................... 37
Humanize ................................................................................. 230 Status Bar ............................................................................... 38
Hybrid Styles ............................................................................ 304 Toolbars ................................................................................. 41
Import MIDI File ...................................................................... 228 Track Radio Buttons .............................................................. 38
Import Song ................................................................................ 88 Tracks Window ...................................................................... 53
Install Manager ..................................................................... 8, 273 Margins............................................................................. 200, 207
Installation .................................................................................... 8 Master Tuning .......................................................................... 278
Intelligent Guitar ...................................................................... 296 Medley Maker .................................................................. 141, 210
Interpret Chords from MIDI ..................................................... 255 Melodist ..................................................................... 114, 115, 210
Interval Tutor............................................................................ 259 Melodist Maker ........................................................................ 331
intrface.bbw .............................................................................. 342 Melody
Intro Chords........................................................................ 98, 212 Adding ......................................................................... 129, 224
iPhone ....................................................................................... 283 Copy ....................................................................................... 95
Jazz Chord Symbol ................................................................... 193 Edit ....................................................................................... 230
Jazz Down Chords ...................................................................... 99 Embellishing ................................................................ 129, 221
Jazz Up Chords ........................................................................... 99 Entering in Notation Window .............................................. 225
jBridge .......................................................................................... 9 Harmonizing ........................................................................ 130
Jukebox....................................................................................... 86 Importing from MIDI File .................................................... 228
K Quick Copy............................................................................. 96 Loosen Start Times .............................................................. 130
Karaoke .................................................................................... 204 Recording ..................................................................... 129, 224
CDG Files ............................................................................ 204 Melody Embellisher ......................................................... 129, 221
KAR Files ............................................................................ 144 Settings................................................................................. 221
Key ....................................................................................... 16, 87 Melody Menu ........................................................................... 348
Latency ................................................................................. 11, 14 Melody Wizard ................................................................... 73, 225
Layers ......................................................................................... 51 Memo ....................................................................................... 137
Lead Sheet ................................................................................ 196 Menu
Fake Sheet Mode .................................................................. 197 Audio ................................................................................... 352
Harmony Display ................................................................. 198 Edit ....................................................................................... 337
Margins ................................................................................ 200 File ....................................................................................... 334
Memo ................................................................................... 201 Harmony .............................................................................. 353
Options ................................................................................. 199 Help ...................................................................................... 355
Lead-in Counts ........................................................................... 67 Melody ................................................................................. 348
Linear View .............................................................................. 135 Options ................................................................................. 340
Live Harmony........................................................................... 353 Soloist .................................................................................. 350
Local OFF ................................................................................ 342 Window ................................................................................ 353
Local ON .......................................................................... 342, 344 Metronome ................................................................................. 67
Looping ................................................................................ 43, 63 MGU files ................................................................................. 140
Overall Setting ....................................................................... 61 MicroChords ............................................................................... 89
Screen................................................................................... 184 MIDI Chord Wizard ................................................................. 255
Loops ................................................................................ 114, 119 MIDI Driver Wizard ..................................................................... 9
Loosen Start Times ................................................................... 130 MIDI File Options .................................................................... 145
LyricLab File .............................................................................. 60 MIDI File to Style .................................................................... 306
Lyrics........................................................................................ 201 MIDI Instruments ....................................................................... 75
Bar-Based Lyrics................................................... 127, 201, 205 MIDI Keyboard .................................................................... 73, 88
Big Lyrics Window .............................................................. 204 MIDI Keyboard Wizard...................................................... 73, 225
Conversion ............................................................................. 61 MIDI Monitor ........................................................................... 278
Copy to Clipboard ................................................................ 205 MIDI Normalize ................................................................... 65, 74
Document Window .............................................................. 203 MIDI Options ........................................................................... 344
Event List ............................................................................. 202 MIDI Settings ........................................................................... 345
Line-Based Lyrics ................................................................ 201 MIDI SuperTracks ............................................................ 114, 121
Lyric Edit Window............................................................... 202 MIDI Track Picker ................................................................... 122
Index 417
MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup ........................................................... 8 Entering ................................................................................ 187
MiniBurn .................................................................................. 147 Mouse Editing ...................................................................... 192
Minimize Rests ......................................................................... 189 Moving ................................................................................. 189
Misc. Style More Settings ......................................................... 301 Names ................................................................................... 193
Misc. Style Settings .................................................................. 299 Offs ....................................................................................... 344
Mixer .................................................................................... 45, 68 Properties .............................................................................. 196
MME ........................................................................................... 14 Velocity ........................................................................ 192, 194
Motif ........................................................................................... 90 Nudge Chords ........................................................................... 133
Multi-Channel ........................................................... 129, 198, 226 Open............................................................................................ 55
Multi-Drums ............................................................................. 175 ABC Notation File .................................................................. 60
MultiPicker Library .................................................................. 114 Audio File ............................................................................... 60
MultiRiff ................................................................................... 160 Favorite Folders ...................................................................... 60
MultiStyles........................................................................ 102, 112 Favorites ................................................................................. 58
Music Replay ............................................................................ 261 Karaoke File ........................................................................... 59
MusicXML File .................................................................. 59, 142 LyricLab File .......................................................................... 60
Mute Track.................................................................................. 69 MIDI File................................................................................ 59
Mutes .......................................................................................... 46 MusicXML File ...................................................................... 59
MXL File .................................................................................... 59 Next Song ............................................................................... 59
Natural Arrangements ........................................................... 65, 67 Previous Song ......................................................................... 59
Non-Concert Visual Transpose ............................................. 16, 81 SongPicker.............................................................................. 55
Normalize Velocity ............................................................... 65, 74 Options Menu ........................................................................... 340
Notation .................................................................................... 183 Output Chords to External Device .............................................. 74
Beat Resolution .................................................................... 186 Output Chords to Track............................................................... 75
Bends .................................................................................... 189 Pan .............................................................................................. 46
Chord Step Advance ............................................................. 184 Panning ....................................................................................... 70
Clef ....................................................................................... 194 Part Markers........................................................................ 49, 102
Drum Notation .............................................................. 184, 187 Patch
Duration Lines ...................................................................... 193 Changing at any bar .............................................................. 137
Edit Note Values................................................................... 190 Patch List Convert....................................................................... 77
Editable................................................................................. 185 Patch Map ................................................................................. 345
Editing Notes ........................................................................ 191 Patches
Entering Notes ...................................................................... 187 Allow Change ....................................................................... 344
Entering Rests....................................................................... 188 Patches on Higher Banks ............................................................ 76
Forced Rests ......................................................................... 189 PedalBass .................................................................................... 66
Guitar Tab Entry ................................................................... 186 Performance Track .................................................................... 150
Lyrics.................................................................................... 201 PG Music Reverb ...................................................................... 181
More Options ........................................................................ 195 Piano Hand-Split ............................................................... 195, 219
Notation Symbols ................................................................. 189 Piano Roll Window ................................................................... 232
Note Duration ....................................................................... 187 Piano Window........................................................................... 268
Note Properties ..................................................................... 196 Pick a Loop ............................................................................... 119
Options ................................................................................. 192 Pitch Invasion ........................................................................... 261
Other Options ....................................................................... 195 Play ................................................................................. 17, 43, 63
Resolution............................................................................. 186 Play Along Wizard.............................................................. 73, 225
Rests ..................................................................................... 188 Play Loop .................................................................................... 71
Section Letters ...................................................................... 189 Playable Tracks ................................................................. 164, 188
Section Text.......................................................................... 191 Plug-in Mode ............................................................................ 274
Staff Roll .............................................................................. 192 Options ................................................................................. 275
Standard ................................................................................ 185 Plugin Settings (drag n drop) .................................................... 275
Toolbar ................................................................................. 183 Plugins Options ........................................................................... 47
Transpose ............................................................................. 194 Practice ..................................................................................... 255
Velocity Lines .............................................................. 192, 194 Practice Window ....................................................................... 258
Video .................................................................................... 142 Preferences ................................................................................ 342
Note Arrangement Options ............................................................. 64
Changing Pitch ..................................................................... 189 Audio Reverb ....................................................................... 181
Channel Numbers ................................................................. 193 Big Piano Settings ................................................................ 269
Colors ................................................................................... 193 Channels ............................................................................... 345
Duration ........................................................................ 187, 193 Drum Kit............................................................................... 346
Edit ....................................................................................... 190 Fav.Patch .............................................................................. 346
418 Index
General MIDI Patch Edit...................................................... 345 RealCharts ............................................................................ 152
Global Overrides .................................................................... 61 RealTracks Picker ........................................................ 118, 154
Guitar Settings...................................................................... 266 Reverb .................................................................................. 153
Harmony Channels & Settings ............................................. 345 Saving .................................................................................. 170
Lead Sheet Options .............................................................. 199 Settings................................................................................. 151
Lyric Window Options ......................................................... 204 Shots..................................................................................... 153
MIDI File Options ................................................................ 145 Stems ............................................................................ 115, 156
MIDI Options ....................................................................... 344 Thickening ........................................................................... 167
MIDI Settings....................................................................... 345 Using in Songs ...................................................... 118, 154, 158
Notation Options .................................................................. 192 Video .................................................................................... 168
Open/Save ............................................................................ 342 Volume Adjust ..................................................................... 152
Plugin Settings ..................................................................... 275 Recently Played Songs ............................................................... 58
RealDrums Settings.............................................................. 171 Record
RealTracks Settings.............................................................. 151 Wizard .................................................................................. 225
Drum Kit .............................................................................. 346 Record Audio ................................................................... 131, 244
Soloist/Melodist ................................................................... 217 Record Filter ............................................................................. 224
Transpose ............................................................................... 61 Record MIDI .................................................................... 129, 224
Preview Chords .......................................................................... 92 Regenerate RealTracks ............................................................. 160
Print .......................................................................................... 205 Regeneration window ............................................................... 161
Margins ................................................................................ 207 Reharmonist.............................................................................. 100
Options ................................................................................. 205 Remix Full Vocal Songs ........................................................... 109
Progress Bar ............................................................................... 45 Remote Control ........................................................................ 281
Pushes ............................................................................ 66, 91, 221 Render to Audio File ................................................................ 146
Quantize ................................................................................... 230 Repeats ..................................................................................... 134
RealCharts ................................................................................ 152 Reset to factory ......................................................................... 340
RealDrums ........................................................................ 114, 170 Rests ..............................................................................66, 93, 188
Artist .................................................................................... 157 Copy ....................................................................................... 94
Audio Reverb ....................................................................... 180 Reverb ...........................................................................46, 70, 180
Changing at any bar ..................................................... 137, 174 Rhythm Guitar Chord Tutor ..................................................... 263
Groove Selection .................................................................. 176 Roland RA Series ....................................................................... 74
Making ................................................................................. 310 Root ............................................................................................ 92
QuickList.............................................................................. 174 Sample Rate................................................................................ 14
RealDrums Picker ........................................................ 118, 172 Save .......................................................................................... 139
Settings................................................................................. 171 ABC Notation File ............................................................... 143
Stems ............................................................................ 115, 173 Audio File ............................................................................ 146
Using in Songs ............................................................. 118, 172 MIDI File ............................................................................. 144
Volume Adjust ..................................................................... 171 MusicXML File.................................................................... 142
RealTracks ........................................................................ 114, 151 Performance ......................................................................... 150
+/- Files ................................................................................ 153 Save Frozen Tracks .............................................................. 141
Artist .................................................................................... 157 Save Notation as Video ........................................................ 142
Audio Reverb ....................................................................... 180 Settings................................................................................. 140
Best RealTracks ................................................................... 158 Text File ............................................................................... 143
Best Sub RealTracks ............................................................ 158 Scale Generation....................................................................... 271
Changing at any bar ..................................................... 137, 165 Section Letters .......................................................................... 189
Copy ..................................................................................... 163 Section Paragraphs ................................................................... 103
Cut........................................................................................ 163 Section Text.............................................................................. 191
Delete ................................................................................... 163 Section Text Layer ..................................................................... 51
Fix .......................................................................................... 40 Select Melody Harmony ........................................................... 130
Folder Location .................................................................... 152 Sequencer Mode ........................................................ 129, 198, 226
Generate 7 Variations of WAVs .......................................... 164 Set MicroChords......................................................................... 90
Holds .................................................................................... 153 Settings for Transpose ................................................................ 61
Instant Preview............................................................. 118, 155 Setup
Medleys ................................................................................ 166 Audio ..................................................................................... 11
MultiRiff .............................................................................. 160 MIDI ........................................................................................ 8
Panning ................................................................................ 167 sforzando .................................................................................... 80
Paste ..................................................................................... 163 Shots ........................................................................................... 93
Playable Tracks ............................................................ 164, 188 Simple Arrangements ........................................................... 66, 68
Pushes .................................................................................. 153 Simpler Arrangement ....................................................... 115, 156
Index 419
Sinsy ................................................................................. 190, 246 Standard Notation ..................................................................... 185
Slide Tracks ................................................................................ 70 Right-Click Menu ................................................................. 185
Soft Synth Latency Adjust .......................................................... 11 Status Bar .................................................................................... 38
Solo ............................................................................................. 46 Stems ........................................................................ 115, 156, 173
Adding .................................................................................. 123 Style
Solo a Track ................................................................................ 69 About ...................................................................................... 15
Soloist ....................................................................................... 114 Aliases .................................................................................. 111
Best Soloist RealTracks ................................................ 123, 214 Applying ............................................................................... 104
Custom Solo ......................................................................... 217 Band ..................................................................................... 105
Edit ....................................................................................... 327 Changing at any bar .............................................................. 136
Melody Influenced................................................................ 217 Choosing........................................................................... 15, 62
Mode .................................................................................... 216 Current Style......................................................................... 104
More Soloist & Melodist Settings ........................................ 217 Enable/Disable...................................................................... 112
Select Soloist Dialog .................................................... 124, 215 Favorite................................................................................. 111
Trade Four ............................................................................ 216 Forced Styles ........................................................................ 112
Wizard .................................................................................. 217 Hybrid Styles ........................................................................ 304
Soloist Maker ............................................................................ 327 Load Next Style .................................................................... 104
Soloist Menu ............................................................................. 350 Load Previous Style .............................................................. 104
Soloists...................................................................................... 114 Not Found ............................................................................. 104
Song Recently Used....................................................................... 111
ABC Notation File................................................................ 143 Replace MIDI w/ RealTrack ................................................... 67
Allow Patch Changes ........................................................... 344 Song Titles Browser ............................................................. 110
Automatic Song Title ........................................................... 213 StylePicker............................................................................ 105
Chorus .............................................................................. 16, 88 StyleMaker ................................................................................ 286
Embellishment ........................................................................ 66 Advanced Editing ................................................................. 303
Endings Option ....................................................................... 66 Alternate Drum Note ............................................................ 291
Entering Chords ................................................................ 15, 89 Assign Instruments to Style .................................................. 303
Favorites ................................................................................. 58 Bass Patterns......................................................................... 292
Find ...................................................................................... 273 Define Custom Drum Kit...................................................... 290
Framing ............................................................................ 16, 87 Drum Patterns ....................................................................... 289
Import ..................................................................................... 88 Event List Editor................................................................... 304
Key ................................................................................... 16, 87 Extra Style Settings .............................................................. 300
Memo ................................................................................... 137 Guitar Macros ....................................................................... 296
New ........................................................................................ 87 Import Instruments ............................................................... 305
Opening .................................................................................. 55 Import Patterns from MIDI ................................................... 305
Part Markers ........................................................................... 49 Late Note .............................................................................. 304
Recently Played ...................................................................... 58 Making RealDrums............................................................... 310
Saving ................................................................................... 139 Menus ................................................................................... 286
Saving as Audio File ............................................................ 146 Misc. More Settings .............................................................. 301
Saving as MIDI File ............................................................. 144 Misc. Style Settings .............................................................. 299
Saving as MusicXML ........................................................... 142 Override Guitar Style............................................................ 297
Saving as Performance ......................................................... 150 Overview .............................................................................. 286
Saving as Text File ............................................................... 143 Pattern Velocity .................................................................... 303
Saving Chord Sheet as Video ............................................... 142 Piano/Guitar/String Patterns ................................................. 294
Saving Frozen Tracks ........................................................... 141 RealTracks ............................................................................ 302
Saving Settings ..................................................................... 140 Settings for Guitar Macros.................................................... 296
Settings ................................................................................... 65 Slide Pattern ......................................................................... 306
Simple Arrangements ....................................................... 66, 68 Soloist ................................................................................... 302
SongPicker ............................................................................. 55 Style Checker ....................................................................... 306
Tempo............................................................................... 16, 87 Style Log .............................................................................. 304
Title .................................................................................. 43, 87 Style Summary ..................................................................... 306
Song Form Maker ..................................................................... 101 Toolbar ................................................................................. 288
Song Title Generation ............................................................... 213 Trim Pattern .......................................................................... 303
Song Titles Browser.................................................................. 110 StylePicker .................................................................... 15, 62, 105
SongPicker .................................................................................. 55 Options ......................................................................... 109, 117
SoundTrack Generator .............................................................. 213 Styles
Staff Roll Notation .................................................................... 192 MultiStyles ................................................................... 102, 112
Standard MIDI File ........................................................... 144, 228 Substyle ................................................................................ 102
420 Index
Substyle .................................................................................... 102 Setting .................................................................................. 281
SuperTracks .............................................................................. 121 Tuner ........................................................................................ 278
Sync .......................................................................................... 344 Unfold....................................................................................... 133
SynthMaster Player .............................................................. 10, 77 Updates ..................................................................................... 355
System Requirements ................................................................... 7 UserTracks................................................................. 114, 120, 176
Tab.................................................................................... 186, 194 Development Settings for Current Bar ................................. 180
Tempo .................................................................................. 16, 87 Utility Track ............................................................................... 38
Changing at any bar ............................................................. 136 Velocity Lines .................................................................. 192, 194
Relative Tempo ................................................................ 16, 87 Vibrato...................................................................................... 222
Tap ................................................................................... 16, 87 Video
Text File ............................................................................. 96, 143 Chord Sheet .......................................................................... 142
TGS Files.................................................................................... 80 Notation................................................................................ 142
Thru ............................................................................... 38, 74, 344 RealTracks ........................................................................... 168
Velocity Boost................................................................ 73, 344 Video RealTracks ..................................................................... 168
Time Signature ......................................................................... 135 Video Window ......................................................................... 254
Tone............................................................................... 46, 70, 180 Vocal Synth ...................................................................... 190, 246
Toolbars...................................................................................... 41 Vocal Wizard ............................................................................ 262
File Section ............................................................................ 42 Volume ...................................................................... 39, 46, 67, 70
Song Section .......................................................................... 43 Allow Changes ..................................................................... 345
Tools Section ......................................................................... 44 Changing at any bar ............................................................. 137
Tracks Section ........................................................................ 45 Volume Automation ................................................................. 250
Transport Section ................................................................... 43 VST .................................................................................... 47, 253
Views Section ........................................................................ 44 VST/DX Synths/Plugins ............................................................. 47
Track Radio Buttons ................................................................... 38 VSTi ............................................................................................. 9
Automatic Labels ................................................................. 343 VSTSynthFont64 .......................................................................... 9
Custom Labels...................................................................... 343 VU Meters ............................................................. 46, 69, 131, 245
Track Settings and Actions ....................................................... 125 WAS Driver................................................................................ 12
Tracks Window .......................................................................... 53 Window Menu .......................................................................... 353
Track-to-Track Copy ................................................................ 132 Windows Audio Session ............................................................. 12
Transpose .................................................................... 61, 136, 194 Woodshed ................................................................................. 255
Non-Concert Visual ......................................................... 16, 81 XML File ............................................................................ 59, 142
TranzPort .................................................................................. 280 YouTube ................................................................................... 142
Index 421
PG Music Registration Form
Please register your program. Registering your PG Music software entitles you to free, unlimited technical support, product
upgrades notice, and news about new product releases. If you haven’t registered your PG Music software yet, please take a few
moments and do so now.
How to Register
Mail to PG Music Inc., 29 Cadillac Avenue, Victoria, BC V8Z 1T3, Canada
Fax to 1-250-475-2937 or toll-free to 1-877-475-1444.
On-line at www.pgmusic.com
Telephone 1-250-475-2874, toll-free in North America at 1-800-268-6272, or + 800-4746-8742 where Universal International
Freephone Service is available.
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