2011 (Windows)

Chapter 5: Melody Embellisher 31
Chapter 5: Melody Embellisher
Overview
When a musician sees a lead sheet that has a melody written out, he/she would
almost never play it exactly as written. They would change the timing to add
syncopation, change durations to achieve staccato or legato playing, add grace
notes, slurs, extra notes, vibrato and other effects. Now you can have Band-
in-a-Box do these automatically using the Embellisher. If you enable the
Embellisher, any Melody will be embellished as it is played, so that you hear a
more lively and realistic Melody - and it's different every time. The
Embellisher is only active while the music is playing; it doesn't permanently
affect the Melody track. There is an option to make the Embellishment
permanent, so that if you like a certain embellishment you can add it to the
Melody track. This is especially useful to spice up songs that have been
entered in step time with “robot-like” velocities and durations of notes. Using
the Embellisher makes it sound like a person was playing instead of a
computer!
The Melody Embellisher feature is turned
on and off by the Embellisher checkbox on
the main screen.
The Embellisher
settings
are accessed from the menu item Melody |
Embellisher during playback, or the Embellisher button on the main screen.
The Embellisher only functions during playback. If enabled, the Melody that
plays will be embellished. 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.