Not too OT: Band in a box

Whistle
1

Has anyone heard of this product? I have a very old piece of software called “The Jammer”. It let’s you enter a series of chord names (C, D etc) and it will compose a rhythm around your chords. It’s old and has horrible MIDI sound but it’s really nice for practicing. Great for speed training too.

Now there’s a “Band in a Box” which is supposed to be similar but better.

2

Rank right up there with wine in a box?

3

Sorry. This post belongs in the Band in a Box forum, the Almost OT forum, or the Almost on Topic forum.

4

Oops. Wrong forum. So nobody’s heard of or used it?

5

Nope, sorry Flysterino, not heard of it. :frowning:

6

I’ve heard of it, but only in passing. Don’t know any details

7

Hey Flymoi!, sacre bleu

Do a Google search for ban-in-a-box and you will get 125,000 hits. There appears to be updates to that program.

MarkB

8

My friend has it but I don’t know much about. I have heard of it though. :smiley:

9

A have heard about it, but it is all second hand info. Band in a box is very popular. What I remember is people use it to do arrangements and lay down drum tracks, mostly for guitar singer/songwriters.

  • Bill
10

http://www.pgmusic.com/biabwindemo.htm

:smiley:

11

THanks for the input. I’ve been to their site. I guess I’ll have to download the demo. The problem with anything that generates midi is the so-called instruments sound like an old PC speaker buzz. That’s with a GOOD soundcard.

12

I use it all the time for practice. If anyone else has it, I’d be happy to send along my tune books and styles…

13

Cool. I don’t really want to buy the 250.00 version. All I really want are some blues styles, jigs, reels, bluegrass and country. I don’t know what the basic setup comes with but I’m currently checking their web site.

14

Maybe you have already looked into it, but MIDI sound fonts? Lots of hard disk space and a high speed connection are suggested.

  • Bill
15

Using the Roland Virtual Sound Canvas software synth you can get quality multitimbral playback from Band-in-a-Box that rivals expensive dedicated hardware synths:

http://www.pgmusic.com/rolandvs.htm

here’s some recordings comparing the soft syth output with the real devices:

http://www.pgmusic.com/dare_to_compare.htm

I’ve used this setup on several laptops with very good results, and it doesn’t require a lot of CPU, easily runs on pretty much any Pentium-3 system with no problem. I’ve even run VSC with BIAB it on an old P-166 HP laptop, and while it wasn’t very zippy, it did work.

BIAB is a very capable platform for use as a practice tool. I’ve been a great fan of PG Music for many years.