® Version 12 for Macintosh OS X ® Copyright 1989-2004 PG Music Inc. All rights reserved.
PG Music Inc. License Agreement CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE COMPLETING THE INSTALLATION OF THIS SOFTWARE. USAGE OF THE SOFTWARE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. LICENSE A. The program may only be used on a single machine. B. You may transfer the program and license to another party if the other party agrees to accept the terms of this Agreement.
Table of Contents PG Music Inc. License Agreement 2 Chapter 1: Introduction 6 Chapter 2: QuickStart Tutorial 8 Step 1 – Typing in the Chords ............................................................... 8 Step 2 – Choosing a Style .................................................................... 11 Step 3 – Play your song! ......................................................................
Chord Preview/Builder .........................................................................66 MIDI file “Chord Wizard” ...................................................................68 Applying Styles ....................................................................................70 Playing, Pausing, and Stopping Songs .................................................72 Changing Volume, Panning, Reverb, Chorus, Bank ............................74 Saving Songs ....................................
Chapter 11: User Programmable Functions 144 The StyleMaker............................................................................... 144 The Harmony Maker.......................................................................... 167 The Soloist Maker.............................................................................. 173 The Melodist Maker .......................................................................... 176 The Guitarist Maker......................................................
Chapter 1: Introduction The latest version of Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh is built for OS X, and adds many new features! This exciting new version of Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh runs “Native” in OS X Jaguar or Panther (version 10.2 or higher recommended) and includes many new and enhanced features. Band-in-a-Box version 12 is fully Mac OS X carbonized.
And much more … People familiar with the previous versions of Band-in-a-Box will be pleased to know that we have kept the same functionality of our previous releases. The new features are optional and don't interfere with familiar methods of using the program. All songs, styles etc. are completely compatible with previous versions, so that you can upgrade without losing any of your existing work.
Chapter 2: QuickStart Tutorial Creating music with Band-in-a-Box is as easy as 1-2-3! In this tutorial, you’ll see just how easy it is to get Band-in-a-Box making music for you. Step 1 – Typing in the Chords There are numerous ways of entering chords into Band-in-a-Box. We’ll discuss five fast ways of entering chords: 1. Using the Computer Keyboard 2. Playing directly on a MIDI Controller Keyboard 3. Using the Chord Builder 4. Importing Chords from a MIDI file 5.
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 select a specific bar using 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, if you wanted to add (or change) a chord in bar 20, you would highlight bar 20 on the chordsheet. Next, type in your chords.
Chord Wizard Dialog When the Chord Wizard dialog opens, press the [Open (Change)…] button to choose the MIDI file that you want Band-in-a-Box to interpret the chords from. To help Band-in-a-Box interpret the chords better, you can choose a preset for the song. Choose from among such genres as Pop, Rock, or Jazz Standard. Loading an existing Band-in-a-Box format song Press the [song] button. The first time you use this button, Bandin-a-Box will offer to build a song list for you.
Step 2 – Choosing a Style Band-in-a-Box creates backing arrangements based on the chords you type in, applied to a particular Style. What’s a Style? A style is a set of rules that determine how Band-in-a-Box creates music using your chords. By adjusting the rules, we have created hundreds of styles that are appropriate for everything from Country to Bebop. Some style examples would be Jazz Swing, Blues Shuffle, Hip Hop, Country 4/4, Pop Ballad, Waltz and Medium Rock to name just a few.
Selecting a Style using the StylePicker. This window shows styles listed by Styles Set number, and by genre. Select a Set or genre from the left pane, and choose the specific style on the right pane. There are memos and examples for each of the styles. Styles with a similar feel and tempo range to the current selection (prototype) are marked with an (*) asterisk. These styles are possible substitutes for the prototype.
many times we want the program to play through the chords, in what key and how fast. Framing the Song To tell Band-in-a-Box where the start and end of the song is, we look at the middle of the Band-in-a-Box main screen. Locate the framing settings, there are three of them. The numbers (1 -32) in brackets are the bar numbers for the beginning and the end of the Chorus. The number 3 to the right of the brackets is the number of times the Chorus repeats.
Chapter 3: Summary of New Features New Features in Band-in-a-Box Version 12 for Macintosh OS X… All New 32-bit PPC Carbonized Engine. Previous versions of Band-in-a-Box were 68K code, which required translation by the processor to operate on newer Macs. The new program is rebuilt with a 32-bit-clean carbonized PPC engine, so that it runs natively in OS X. Program operations are much faster, including up to 3 times faster notation redraws, song and soloing generation.
Example of odd-time signature support: Load in a demo song like Songs: 11_8_Pop.MGU. This loads in the “11/8 Pop” Style. When you press Play, you’ll hear a count-in in 11/8 time. The 11/8 time signature is stored within the style, so you can switch at any bar to a 4/4 style, and the song will change time signatures easily. Also, if you change from a 4/4 style to an 11/8 style, the Melody will still stay nicely in time with the bars. With the pro version we include 5/4, 7/8, 24/16, and 11/8 time signatures.
New Count-In Options “Count-in” can be Drum Patterns instead of “1-2-1234.” There is a new option in Preferences to select count-in type. You can specify to have Band-ina-Box play 2 bars of a drum pattern 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 is a great way to avoid “dead air” between songs, and keep the drumbeat going.
Strauss-in-a-Box Transform 4/4 Melody to a Waltz 3 /4 (“Strauss-in-a-Box”). You can now automatically transform any 4/4 song/melody to a Waltz 3/4 feel. Simply load in any 4/4 song and change the style to a Waltz style. The program will offer to transform the melody so that it works as a Waltz (or choose the added menu item Melody-Edit-Utilities-Transform to 3/4). This function is referred to as “Strauss” in honor of Johann Strauss – the famous Waltz composer.
To use this feature, load in any song in 3/4 time. Then load in a 4/4 style. If there’s a Melody (or Soloist) present, you’ll be asked if it’s OK to change the Melody from 3/4 to 4/4. If you click YES to that, the transformation will occur and you can listen to the Melody in 4/4 time. If you click NO to the offer to transform the Melody, you can still convert it later by choosing Melody | Edit | Utilities | Transform 3/4 to 4/4.
Drum count-in options Option to hear the drum count-in even if the drums are muted or disabled. This is great for drummers who play along with Band-in-a-Box and mute the drum track. Previously, when the drum track was muted or disabled in a song, the count-in drum click wouldn't play. Now there's an option to play the drum count-in in all circumstances. To set this option, choose Edit | Preferences and set “Lead-in drum count if drums muted” to true (default is true). StylePicker Enhancements.
StylePicker Dialog “show all” button StylePicker Dialog “show all” button added which removes any filter set. Mono/Stereo menu options Mono/Stereo menu options are available to easily switch all parts to mono or stereo. Also, if your current settings are mono, the program will offer to convert to stereo when you exit the MIDI Driver selection dialog. On the GS Menu, see the dedicated menu items to set to Mono or Stereo.
For example, Soloist 188 is edited so that it will play at most 5 notes per beat. Dedicated menu items added on GM Menu Dedicated menu items added on GM Menu for “Turn Local On,” “Turn Local Off,” and “When program quits, turn local on.” “Local” refers to sounds generated by playing on an external MIDI keyboard, if set to “off,” Band-in-a-Box will play the keyboard via the THRU part, if set to ON, both Band-in-a-Box and the keyboard might be playing the same THRU part.
− Ctrl+Shift and E/R change the Reverb, − Ctrl+Shift T/Y changes the Chorus, − Ctrl+Shift U/I changes the Pan, − Ctrl+Shift O/P changes the Bank. Configuration Files Band-in-a-Box stores its preferences files in the main Band-in-a-Box folder. These are the configuration files for the OS X version. The names in brackets are the names of the same files under OS9.
This represents the command key. The up arrow is for the Shift key. This represents the Option Key. ^ The caret symbol represents the Control key. New Program Hints Added Band-in-a-Box supports the OS X style hint tags (“yellow windows”) that appear when you hold your mouse over a button, menu item, or dialog item. In addition, if you hold the Command key down, a “Long hint” will appear with additional information.
Let's check out Styles Set #38 Note: Styles Set #38: If you ordered Band-in-a-Box 12 as an upgrade, the package includes Styles Set #38: About Time. (This is not one of the styles disks that are included in the first time purchase unless you order the MegaPAK.) If you have the first time version of Band-in-a-Box and don't have a Bandin-a-Box Folder: #38 Style Demos folder, use the \BB\SOLODEMO directory of Band-in-a-Box for this example.
Chapter 4: Guided Tour of Band-in-a-Box You can arrange, record, save, and print your own song ideas with Band-in-aBox. Just type in the chords to any song; choose a style and press [Play] to hear the “band” play a full arrangement. Have some fun by changing to different styles. For even more fun record a MIDI Melody – or have Band-in-a-Box write a Melody for you. Add Harmony, an automatically improvised Soloist, an Intro, and print out a lead sheet and play along.
The first time that you select the [Song] button Band-in-a-Box automatically writes the song list. From then on, the song list opens when the [Song] button is selected. Check “Play when selected” to automatically play the song selected. For even more fun, play along with the band! Once you have selected a song, you’ll see the chords in the chordsheet, so it’s easy to read and play along.
Change the Sound Band-in-a-Box has several instrument parts - Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, Solo, Strings, Melody, and Thru. You can change patches on any part. The easiest way to change patches on a part is to select the part by clicking on the desired part to change. Click on the Instrument Panel box. You will then see a menu of 128 instrument names. This list is the General MIDI patch list. Scroll down the list to find the patch that you want.
Add a Melody Band-in-a-Box is much more than an arranger and accompanist. You can also record your live MIDI performance to the Melody track, enter a Melody in the Notation note-by-note, or use the Wizard to record from your computer keyboard. Enable the Embellisher, and the 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.
Use the preset Soloist settings, or choose your own Solo Mode and the Choruses where you want a solo. The Soloist Maker [Edit…] button gives access to the advanced settings in the Soloist Editor where you can edit existing profiles or create new Soloists of your own. To see the Soloist part play in standard music notation open the Notation window and press the [S] button at the far right of the instrument buttons. Notation window showing Soloist part.
Band-in-a-Box Standard Notation window. The Standard Notation window is for notation display and the entry of chords. Just type a chord name and it will be inserted at the current time line location. The time line is the black vertical stripe just below the notation tool bar. Toggle between Standard, Editable, and Staff Roll notation modes with the [N] button. Press the [Opt.] button to set Notation window options such as resolution, chord position, split point, transpose options and more.
Swing (triplet) Resolution Straight (sixteenths) Resolution Tip: Edits you make to Band-in-a-Box instrument parts will be overwritten when the [Play] button is pressed and the program generates a new arrangement. To hear your edits use the [Replay] button to play the song without regenerating the parts. Edited instrument parts can be permanently saved to a MIDI file with the [.MID] button. The Melody and Soloist tracks aren't affected, only the instrument parts generated by the program.
Automatic Songs - “The Melodist” Feel like composing a brand new song? With Band-in-a-Box you can compose a new song, in the style of your choice complete with intro, chords, melody, arrangement and improvisations, all created by the program! All you have to do is pick from one of the Melodists and press [OK] - the program then automatically generates the intro, chords, melody, and arrangement in the chosen style.
Import A MIDI File With the amazing Band-in-a-Box Chord Wizard, you can convert any MIDI file into a Band-in-a-Box song, complete with Melody and Solo parts. MIDI File Chord Interpretation Wizard Many people who play music by ear think of songs in terms of “Chords and Melody.” However many MIDI files lack chord symbols, so they become difficult to learn without the user having to figure out the chords in a time consuming process.
Select your MIDI file to import with the [Open (Change)…] button. The Chord Wizard will automatically detect the settings for your song, choosing a Preset will help the Chord Wizard make the correct choices for the type of song you are importing. Make Your Own Songs Now that you know how much fun it is to play music with Band-in-a-Box, you’ll be pleased to see how easy it is to make songs of your own. This section shows you how to make a new song, with step-by-step instructions from start to finish.
Copying and pasting a section of chords Since many songs repeat the same sequence of chords throughout, a faster method to enter a song into Band-in-a-Box is to COPY and PASTE the repeating chords. Highlight a section of chords by dragging the mouse over them while holding the left mouse button. The area will be blackened/highlighted. Press Cmd+C, or select the Edit | Copy menu item. The highlighted area will be copied to the clipboard.
Category List: Use the Category list on the left to select a style category (Jazz / Pop etc.) or a style set. Click on the list to choose. Style List: Once chosen, you’ll see the list of styles available in that category or style set. You’ll see the name of the style, and the file name for the style. Memo and Examples: Click on a style to see a memo for the song, a list of songs that could be played using that style, and the suggested tempo range.
Set the Tempo Let’s set the tempo to 160 beats per minute. The tempo is displayed in the song title window with a default setting of 120 beats per minute. Click with the mouse to adjust the tempo in increments of 5 beats per minute. Clicking on the top of the numbers increases the tempo setting, clicking on the bottom decreases it. The tempo can also be typed into the Main Settings dialog, which opens from the menu Song | Title/Key/Tempo/Embel…, or with the keystrokes Cmd+K.
Record a Melody Band-in-a-Box has 2 built-in sequencer tracks so you can record and edit your own melodies or solos. These tracks are recorded from a MIDI keyboard (or other MIDI controller) connected to Band-in-a-Box by your MIDI driver. Press the [Rec] button to begin recording. This launches the Record Track dialog box. You can punch in, overdub, and record directly to the ending or the tag, and use the filter to choose which MIDI events are recorded.
Tip: Looking for inspiration? At the click of a button, the Band-in-a-Box Melodist will write completely 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. Adding Lyrics to your song Click on the [Lyrics] button in the toolbar to open the lyrics window.
Chapter 5: The Main Screen Overview of the Main Screen Here is the main screen of Band-in-a-Box, as it looks after you load in a song. 40 1. The Status Bar is used to show the program running status (i.e. playback, paused, etc.) and the name of the song at the top of the screen. 2. The Synth Window is the area between the Status Bar and the Piano Keyboard where instrument patches are set and levels are adjusted. This area also includes buttons for Band-in-a-Box plug-ins. 3.
Status Bar The first thing to note is that the name of the song that is open is identified in the window title at the top of the screen. This feature is handy when you want to know the status (and the title) of your song at a glance. You'll also see the length of the song in minutes and seconds, this updates if you change the tempo and press the [Play] button. Plug-ins To launch the Drums Window, click the Drums button, or choose the GM – Drum Kit Window option.
Synth Window / Piano Keyboard The Piano Keyboard This keyboard displays the notes that are being played by all instruments on various parts of the piano keyboard during playback (except drums). The MIDI Thru is also displayed on the Keyboard. Synthesizer Window Part Settings The Bass/Piano/Drum/Guitar/Soloist/Strings/Melody and Thru buttons are referred to as Parts. Settings that can be changed for an individual part include Reverb, Chorus, Pan, Bank, Volume, and Instrument.
The Favorite Instrument Panel allows you to assign up to 10 of your favorite instruments for each instrument part. Selecting Favorite Instruments (Patches) To select a Favorite Instrument for a particular part, you need to select the instrument part by clicking on the desired part. Then click on one of the 10 Favorite buttons. The Favorite Instrument that was assigned to one of the numbers between 1 and 10 will appear in the Instrument Panel.
the melody or soloist track without an external MIDI keyboard, and can even be used to trigger the Soloist Wizard. Also, play along using the Wizard can use the harmony feature, so you can play along live from your QWERTY keyboard in 4-part Saxophone harmony for example. Turning the Wizard On/Off Click on the [Wz] box to turn the Wizard feature On/Off, or select the Wizard Playalong option from the Song menu, or press Option+W. The Wizard is only active during playback.
music without a MIDI keyboard that doesn't sound as stiff as most music entered in step time. This is how it works: - Press [Rec] to record. - As the song plays, play the melody that you want on any Wizard key, using the same key for each note, in the rhythm of the melody. The Wizard notes won't be the exact melody, but don't worry about that as you record. - When you're finished, go to the Notation window. You now have the notes with the correct durations and times, but the wrong pitches.
The [Play] button starts generation and playback of a song. The [Stop] button is to stop a song that is currently playing. The [Replay] button allows you to replay a song without reconstructing it. The [Hold] button pauses the currently playing song. Press the [Hold] button again to resume playing the song. The [From] button allows you to play a song from a particular bar. The [Rec] button launches the Record Track dialog box allowing you to record a melody for your song.
In the Title window you can create a Song Title, change the Style of the song, change the Key Signature the song is using, define the Tempo of the song, define where the Chorus begins and ends and how many Choruses the song has. To change these settings, click on the setting you wish to change. Favorite songs button Favorite styles button The favorite songs button [F] activates a list of your most recently played 150 songs.
choose from a list of only your most frequently used harmonies. Pressing the [M] button allows you to choose from the full list of harmonies. The F10 key disables the Melody harmony. The [T] button is for Thru harmony. Whatever you play along on your MIDI keyboard while the song is playing will be auto-harmonized in real time - in this case using a Tenor Banjo type harmony. Pressing the [f] button allows you to choose from a list of only your most frequently used harmonies.
The chord you choose will be automatically inserted into your song (chordsheet or notation view) at the current cursor location. Then, Band-in-a-Box is ready for the next chord. You can insert up to two chords per bar in this fashion. User Settings for the Main Screen You can choose different colors for the chordsheet area of the screen, and you can also choose to use larger fonts for the chord display. These two settings are found in the Edit | Preferences 2 menu.
Chapter 6: Band-in-a-Box PowerGuide In the QuickStart Tutorial it’s as “easy as 1-2-3” to make great music on your computer using the intelligent automatic accompaniment features of Band-in-aBox. This PowerGuide provides detailed song making instructions and configuration settings for the Band-in-a-Box “power user.” Song Settings Song settings include the title, key signature, and tempo for a song and the Band-in-a-Box style for its arrangement.
To change the key, click on the key signature. This displays a popup menu where you choose the new key that you would like. Band-in-a-Box then asks if it is “OK to transpose Lead sheet?” If you answer [Yes] the entire song will be transposed to a new key. Answer [No] and the key signature will change but the song will not be transposed. Select [Cancel] to exit without changing the key signature. Setting Tempo The tempo of the song is displayed on the main screen in the Title window.
Adding An Intro. You select the beginning and end bars of the chorus. If you select a bar greater than 1 for the first bar of the chorus, then Band-in-a-Box knows that you want the previous bars for an intro. Example: 4 bar intro to a song. Type in the 4 bars of intro chords, starting at bar 1 of the chordsheet. Then at bar 5 you will begin typing in the chords of the chorus.
Number of choruses to play. Click on the number where the number of choruses are displayed on the Title/Key/Tempo/Chorus Window and select the number of choruses from the Pop-Up Menu or select Total Choruses = from the Song menu or press +l. The number of choruses will then be displayed. Additional Song Settings The Additional Song Settings dialog box is accessed by selecting the [More …] button in the Main Settings dialog or choosing Additional Song Settings … from the Song menu.
For example, in Jazz Swing, since the “b” substyle is Swing, all of the middle choruses will have swing bass. (The “a” substyle is playing half notes on the bass.) Allow Pushes in Middle Choruses Default = This is used if you have put pushes into a song, but don't want the pushes to play in the middle choruses. The middle choruses are usually used for soloing, so you may not want the pushes to play.
You can disable the ending for a certain song. You can disable the endings for all songs by clearing the checkmark for the “Allow Any Endings” setting in the Edit | Preferences menu item. Start the 2 bar ending early The usual Band-in-a-Box ending is 2 bars appended to the end of the song. This new option gives you an alternative to end the song on the last bar of the song.
move the chord highlight cell around the chordsheet. Click on any bar to position the highlight cell, then type in the chords for that bar. The highlight cell covers two beats, or half a bar in 4/4 time. Two chord names can be typed into the highlight cell (separated by a comma e.g. C, C#dim) so up to four chords per bar may be entered. To enter a chord, type its name using standard chord symbols (like C, or Fm7, or Bb7, or Bb13#9/E) and press the return key.
Shortcut Chords. If you enter a lot of songs, you'll appreciate these shortcut keys: - J = Maj7 - H=m7b5 (H stands for Half diminished) - D=dim - S=Sus Example: To type CMaj7, just type CJ (it will be entered as CMaj7) Add your own chord shortcuts. Have you found a chord that Band-in-a-Box doesn't recognize? If so, add it to your chord shortcuts file, and Band-in-a-Box will allow you to type in that chord in the future.
Insert or Delete Bars Inserting or deleting measures in the chordsheet saves a lot of copying or retyping of chords when changes are made to an arrangement. The commands to insert or delete bars from the chordsheet are: - To insert bars choose Edit | Insert Measure(s) or given # of bars. - To delete bars choose Edit | Delete Measure(s) or a given # of bars.
2 bars of C chord (no break on bar 2). This is the usual situation without any break. Note that the piano plays rhythmically on bar 2. Rest on bar 2. This rests the instruments until the next chord on the chordsheet. The rest is typed in as a C chord followed by one period. A shot is put on bar 6. The shot plays a staccato chord on bar 6, and then rests until the next chord on the chordsheet. The shot is typed as a C chord followed by two periods. This illustrates a held chord on bar 10.
- G for Guitar - S for Strings C.bd To exempt instruments, add their letters following the break. Typing C...p This will put a held chord on all instruments except the piano. c.bd will put a rest on all instruments EXCEPT the bass and drums. Pushes Pushes in Styles. “Pushes” (also called anticipations) are chords that are played before the beat. For example, in Jazz Swing, the piano player often “pushes” a chord change by playing the chord an eighth note before the beat.
This allows you to select the various Breaks (Rests, Shots, and Held Chords) by clicking on the various settings. You can change to different beats in the bar, typing in new chords on the different beats. Copying and Pasting a Section of Chords Copying a section of chords is done in a manner similar to copying text in a word processor. Highlight the area you would like to affect and select the desired action(s) from the EDIT menu. (See below for additional details.) Copying chords to the clipboard.
can just copy the first verse to the Clipboard, and then paste in the other verses. The clipboard remains even if you load in a new song, so you can copy and paste between songs. Copy Chords and/or Melody You can copy and paste the chords, melody, and solo for a range of bars in the Copy Chords and/or Melody dialog. Press the [Copy] button to launch this dialog box, or select Edit | Copy From.. To, or press Option+C. Erase Chords and/or Melody Select Edit | Erase From ..
In addition to the Standard Notation window, you can also enter or display chords in Roman Numeral Notation, Nashville notation, or Solfeggio Notation. For example, the chord Gm7 in the key of F would be displayed as IIm7 (in Roman Numeral Notation), 2m7 (in Nashville Notation), and Rem7 in Solfeggio. These systems are very useful for learning or analyzing tunes, because they are independent of the key signature.
The song continues to play in one substyle until it encounters a new part marker. There will always be a part marker at bar 1 so that Band-in-a-Box knows what substyle to begin with. Substyle “a” is usually used for the Verses of the song. Substyle “b” is usually used for the Bridge of the song, and for soloing in the Middle Choruses. All of the middle choruses of the song will automatically play in the “b” substyle.
When making any changes to a measure using the Edit Bar Settings dialog box, Band-in-a-Box will place a colored indicator box around the measure number of the measure that had been edited. Change the Number of beats/bar. The initial time signature of the song is determined by the style (e.g. Jazz =4/4, Waltz =3/4). In certain songs you will want to insert time signature changes at a certain bar. For example you might want a single bar of 2/4, or 8 bars of 3/4 time etc.
You should select a style that is present in the Styles folder in Band-in-a-Box (or the same folder where the song resides). Note: If you want to mix styles with 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures you should make the main style used in the song a 4/4 style. You could then change back to 3/4 at bar 1 if you want. - When you select a style change, you'll notice that there is a red frame drawn around the bar line.
Previewing Chords This feature allows you to hear chords as you to type them in. When you are entering chords onto the Chord sheet (or notation window), after you type a chord name, press Shift+Return. This enters the chord onto the chord sheet and then plays the chord for you, using the patches on the Piano part and Bass part. You can also listen to a chord that has already been entered, by just pressing Shift+Return after moving to that bar with the chord.
You can now click on the root of the chord (in the “Root” group), the extension (Maj7 etc.), and also 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'll hear the bass note played on the Bass part, and the extension played on the Piano track. 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.
Press the [Open (Change)…] button, and select the MIDI file to import. Choose a preset, and the Chord Wizard will interpret the chords in that style. Press the [INTERPRET CHORDS NOW] button to see the chords written into the Band-in-a-Box chordsheet. Chord Wizard results – interpreting from a Standard MIDI File. The dialog has options to read channels into the Melody and/or Soloist tracks. Read in Chords from a PG Music or Band-in-a-Box MIDI file.
- “Jazz Up” - This function simply converts triads to 7th chords, producing a lead sheet more suitable for Jazz. If you have a song with triad chords like C or Dm, you can choose to “Jazz Up” the chords. When you do this, you get an option of whether you'd like to see Maj7, Maj6 or Dominant 7th for the major triads. - “Jazz Down” - This function converts 7th chords to triads, for a lead sheet more suited to Pop music.
The first 24 styles that we made were built-in to the program, and are still referred to as “Built-in Styles.” These styles are no longer built-in to the program, making them editable like all other Band-in-a-Box styles. The built-in styles may be selected from the S pull down menu. They are a convenient way to quickly apply a basic style to a song. User Styles The other styles that we make are called user styles because they are editable.
Style Aliases Let's say you have a new style for Jazz called “Dizzy.” You can create an alias so that when Band-in-a-Box looks for a Jazz Swing style, it will load in “Dizzy” instead, so you don't have to change all your songs that were made with the old style. And when you find a new favorite style, just change the alias. Aliases are accessed by the M | Style Aliases… menu item. To make an alias, click on the original style then select the style you would like to substitute in its place.
+a, or - Press the keystrokes - Press the F4 function key, or - Select the menu command Song | Play. To play a song in Band-in-a-Box from a particular measure, - Press the or - With the song stopped, type the letter x on the computer keyboard to restart from the current location of the highlight cell, or - Select Play From Bar # from the Song menu, or - Press Ctrl+f.
Changing Volume, Panning, Reverb, Chorus, Bank To change the volume, panning, reverb, chorus, or bank of a part: 1. Select the part by clicking on the desired part to change. 2. Then click in the box for the desired setting to affect. 3. Clicking on the number in the box will change the value by 1. To increase the setting, click on the upper half of the number. Click on the lower half of the number to decrease the setting by 1. 4.
If you would like to save certain patches with a song type in the number of the instrument patch that you would like. Leave the other instruments at “0” for no patch change. Fill Patches To fill the patch boxes with your current patch settings, press the [Fill Patches] button. This saves you having to type in the patches to save with songs. Forgot the number of the patch you wanted? No problem. Just click on the [View Patches] button and up pops your numbered patch list.
Melody and Thru harmony assignments and the Soloist selected to play on the song. You can also save the instruments as “On” or “Off” for each song. For example, you could have a song with no piano part. Usually, these settings are set to “On,” as you would normally like all members of your “band” to participate. Other parameters that may be saved (volume, reverb, etc.) are shown on the left side of the window.
Boost Vel. of 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. Show Chords with push/rest chars The push character is the caret symbol (^). So a C chord with a push is displayed as ^C. C. on The rest character is a period (.). So a C chord with a rest is displayed as chordsheet.
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 uncheck this box. Allow Style Pushes If for some reason you don't want a style to have pushes, you can uncheck this box. Chord Display Type This box allows for non-standard display of chords on the chordsheet area.
Allow Any Endings Song endings can be turned off for all songs, or on a song-by-song basis. To turn song endings off for all songs uncheck the “Allow Any Endings” option. To turn the song ending off for a single song select the Additional Song Settings option from the Song menu and uncheck “Generate 2 Bar Ending for This Song.” Limit Screen size to Use this setting to choose the size of the screen you want to display. Menu Limit Determines the number of items that can be listed in a menu.
Pause Play till MIDI (or key) Allows playback to be started from another keyboard or the computer keyboard. The Band-in-a-Box arrangement will be generated then the program will pause until the MIDI or keystroke signal is received. Close window when not in BB Closes the Band-in-a-Box window when the Finder or another program is chosen. OMS/FreeMIDI Playback in background (FreeMIDI and OMS are supported only in Band-In-A-Box™ OS9, booted from Mac Classic) Enables OMS or FreeMIDI playback in the background.
If checked, 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). When saving the file as a MIDI file, any notes on the guitar channels (11 to 16) are preserved, so that any fret positions are preserved.
Send GM mode at startup For sound modules that are GM compatible, this command will ensure that the module is ready to accept GM-specific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information. Send GS Mode On at startup For sound modules that are GS compatible, this command will ensure that the module is ready to accept GS-specific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information.
Most GM modules have brushes available on patch 41 on the drums. On some, you need to load a GS sound font for this to occur. On the Yamaha XG, you likely need to send a “GS mode on” message from the GM menu in Band-in-aBox. But if your module just doesn't have brushes available, then you can set this option, and the style will remap the notes to different drum instruments that don't have brushes.
Shrink/Expand The Shrink command will reduce durations of chords by ½ (e.g., 4beats>>2beats, 2beats>>1beat). Expand doubles the durations of chords (e.g., 1beat>>2beats, 2beats>>4beats). Unfold (convert to 1 big chorus) 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. When selected, Band-in-a-Box will display all choruses and verses of a song without loops or repeats.
Edit Chord Shortcut.txt This will edit the file SHORTCUT.TXT using Teach Text. This is the chord shortcuts file. Make sure to save the file after editing. Changes won’t take effect until you choose Edit | Refresh Chord Shortcuts. If you find a chord that Band-in-a-Box won't accept like Csus2, when it expects C2 instead, you can enter this on a single line (without the quotes) “sus2@2.” Then Band-in-a-Box will enter the chord C2 if you type in Csus2.
Selecting a MIDI Driver To select a MIDI driver go to M | Select MIDI Driver or QuickTime… to open the MIDI Drivers dialog. Choose the MIDI driver that you want to use, then click on [OK] to close the dialog. MIDI Settings The MIDI Settings dialog box lets you make settings for each part (bass/drums/piano etc.) and also to set the Harmony channels.
CHANNELS: Range 0 to 16. (If set to 0, part will be Off). Some synths (e.g. MT32), give higher priority to lower channel #'s, so if you are “running out of notes” you should assign important parts (e.g. Melody) a lower channel than other parts (e.g. Guitar) OCTAVE: This adjusts the octave of the part. Range is -2 to +2, usually set to 0. (Bass is usually set to -1 for General MIDI instruments.) PATCH: Range 0 to 127. These are General MIDI patch numbers.
Style Volume Changes: Default = Styles occasionally come with volume changes. To prevent these, uncheck this box. Extra Note Offs: Default = Leave this box unchecked unless you are having trouble with stuck notes when you press [Stop]. If you check this box, Band-in-a-Box will send a sweep of all notes off. Concert Pitch Adjust: Default = 0 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.
Setting the Harmony Channels Melody Harmony Channel A Always uses the Melody channel Melody Harmony Channel B Default =11 Melody Harmony Channel C Default =12 Thru Harmony Channel A Always uses the Thru channel Thru Harmony Channel B Default =13 Thru Harmony Channel C Default =14 Band-in-a-Box already uses 7 channels (Bass, Drums, Piano, Guitar, Strings, Melody and Thru channels). Adding these 4 harmony channels produces potentially 11 channels of information.
Click on the [Vocalist] button if you have such a device connected to your MIDI system. Band-in-a-Box will then send it the appropriate chord information automatically as your song is playing (e.g., root position triads). Then you can sing along to any Band-in-a-Box file and the Vocalist will harmonize your voice according to the root position chords that Band-in-a-Box is sending to it.
Make your choices of options as described below, and then click on the [Play Juke Box] button to start the Jukebox playing. Press the and arrows onscreen, or the [ or ] keys to select the “Previous Juke Song” or the “Next Juke Song” respectively, or choose these options from the Song menu. Jukebox Options Include Songs without Melodies: If checked, the program plays songs with and without melodies - that is songs within the Songs folder.
choose a Saxophone solo for the first chorus, a Trumpet for the next, and a Guitar or Piano for the last chorus. - When you select [Play Juke Box] the Select Soloist dialog will pop up 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.
Chapter 7: Notation and Printing Notation Opening and Closing the Notation Window To get to the Notation inside Band-in-a-Box you need to open the Notation window. You can do this by pressing the [Notation] button. You can also open the Notation window from the menu (File | Notation Window) or by pressing +w. The Notation window covers the previous window (the chordsheet) and is fixed (not movable). Close the Notation window by pressing the [Notation] button again.
Current Note This box displays the name of the note that the mouse is currently over. This is helpful to know what note will be inserted when you click to insert a note. Note or Rest Checkbox These determine whether a Note or a Rest will be inserted when a mouse is clicked. Mono Mode When this checkbox is selected, the notation is entered as monophonic (one note only). This is useful for melodies that only have one note playing at a time.
allows you to read along with the solo, or print a hard copy. Why not mute the Soloist track and play the Solo yourself. Just press the button to change the track. You may do this while the song is playing. Note: The instrument tracks are not created by Band-in-a-Box until you press [Play], so you may notice that the track is blank (or shows a previous song) until the song has been played once! Exploring the Notation Current Time position.
As you can see, the Notation window contains the notes and chords of the song. The bar numbers are also present, with the chorus number in brackets ( ). If there is a part marker present at the bar, the bar number will be displayed in blue, and there will be a letter “a” or “b” indicating the part marker. Notation Modes There are 3 modes to the Notation window, 1. Notation Mode To display or print notation. 2. Editable Notation Mode To enter or edit notation. 3.
You will notice the grid of vertical lines that indicates where the notes will be placed. This song is in Jazz Swing, so Band-in-a-Box has automatically set the grid resolution to swing triplets, 3 grid lines per beat. This resolution can be changed in the Notation Window Settings dialog, but Band-in-a-Box should set it to the correct value, based upon the style that is currently in use.
Certain areas of the screen are not valid locations to drop a note. The mouse cursor will change to a busy cursor to indicate an invalid location. If you try to drop a note in an invalid location, nothing will happen. Moving a note in time. If you want to change the start time of a note, drag the note with the left mouse button to the new location. This is a simple way to move the note. Alternatively, you could edit the note numerically with an option click on the note. Changing the pitch of a note.
This mode is similar to the Editable Notation mode, except the beats begin right on the bar line. You can also see the durations of the notes visually, represented by horizontal blue lines. Similarly, you can see the velocities of the notes displayed as vertical blue lines. Note: If you can't see these lines press the [Opt.] button to ensure that you have set the “Show Bar/Beat Lines,” “Show Note Durations,” and “Show Velocity Lines” to “Yes.
This will provide even eight notes. You shouldn't have to change this setting very often, as Band-in-a-Box sets it for you. The “Resolution” setting determines how the program rounds the note times and durations when translating a track into standard notation. For example, a resolution of 4 will cause the program to round each note and duration to the nearest 16th note when displaying the music (in 4/4 time).
Use Chord Scale for Enharmonics Band-in-a-Box ill automatically use the chord tones (1, 3, 5 and 7) in choosing its enharmonics. If “Use Chord Scale for Enharmonics” is checked, Band-in-aBox will also use the enharmonics for the passing tones of the chord scale. Enharmonics for Chord Tones are automatically based on the chord, as shown. 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.
Tip: The notation of Jazz Swing music will often be improved by a Tick Offset setting of about minus 5. This is because Jazz music is typically played a little after the beat or, in Jazz terms, “laid back.” Minimize Rests The “Minimize Rests” checkbox, when checked, will cause Band-in-a-Box to display the music with minimal rests. Use this setting if notes are displayed as shorter than you intended. For example, if eighth notes are displayed as sixteenth notes because you recorded them staccato.
To type the Ab that you see here, type Ab. Then to move to the Gb7 that is on beat 3, press the RIGHT CURSOR Key. To enter an Ab chord on beat 1 and a Db7 beat 2, type Ab,Db7 (i.e. 2 chords separated by a comma ). Note: You can also use Option+Z or select Chord Settings option from the Edit menu to enter chords. This pops up a dialog box that lets you type in the chords, and also sets options like pushes, rests, and shots. Convert Harmony Part to Notation track.
Printing Lead Sheet Style Printing Your created songs can be printed out in the style of a lead sheet style. Most songs will fit on 1 page, so your printout will look similar to a standard lead sheet. You can easily make and printout a custom fake book of all of your tunes, and you can easily transpose parts to print out for trumpet /sax players etc. The printout includes title, bar #s, composer, style, and copyright information.
Print Options Dialog Box Include Chords. If selected, this will include the chords of the song on the lead sheet. Remember that you can set the height of the chords relative to the staff in the Notation Window Settings dialog box. Include Notes. If you want only a chord lead sheet with no notes, then turn this off. Otherwise it should be true. Bar #s below by. Sets the position of the bar numbers below the staff. The range from highest to lowest position is 1 to 7. Lyrics.
Print Range (First Chorus / Last Chorus / Whole Song). You can either print the First Chorus, Last Chorus, or the Whole Song. When you change this setting, Band-in-a-Box will reset to auto-fit the printout to one page if possible. Normally, you'll want to print the first chorus of the song. You'll want to print the last chorus in a song that has a tag ending, or a song that you want to see the 2 bar ending printed. The whole song could be printed if you've played differently for each chorus.
Chapter 8: Automatic Music Features Automatic Songs - “The Melodist” Feel like composing a brand new song? With Band-in-a-Box you can compose a new song in the style of your choice - complete with intro, chords, melody, arrangement and improvisations, all created by the program! All you have to do is pick from one of the “Melodists” and press OK - the program then automatically generates the intro, chords, melody, and arrangement in the chosen style.
Once you launch the Melodist, you will see the Generate Chords and/or Melody dialog. Let's explore the dialog screen. The left of the screen has the list of the Melodists. In the example above, the “Swing Tenor” is selected. This Melodist will generate intro, chords, melody harmony, style, and solos using the group of settings preset with this Melodist. For example, “Swing Tenor” uses “Jazz Easy Style” (J~EASY.STY) and a Tenor Sax patch, and the Melody and Chord settings in the Melody Maker.
This section determines what aspects of the song are going to be generated. - If you want to generate Chords, Melody, and an Intro, make sure that these items are selected. - If you'd like a Pedal Bass figure during the intro and at the end of sections, select the Insert Bass Pedals option. - Selecting Solo in Middle Ch. will generate an improvisation in the middle choruses of the song. - If you'd like Band-in-a-Box to generate a title for your song select the AutoTitles option.
- The Form selection box allows you to choose between a song generated with a specific form (AABA 32 bars) or no form. The AABA defaults to 32-bar form, which is the most popular song form. Note: Melodists may alternatively be set to 64 bars (e.g. Melodist # 18 ColeP 64 bar form). The song “form” refers to the pattern that the verse and chorus repeat. An “AABA 32” form has 4 sections of 8 bars each - the “a” section is the verse and the “b” is the chorus (or bridge) of the song.
second would be transposed up to the key of Gb. Melodists store these settings, and some Melodists are set to transpose the A2 sections. If you don't want to allow Melodists to transpose the form in this way, set the A2 transpose to none. If set to “section plus” it will transpose the A2 section, and might transpose 2 bars early or 2 bars late. The song will only be transposed if the particular Melodist is set to transpose the section. The Song Key area determines the key for the song.
If you have set the Melodist to “Generate Part of Song” this would (in the example above) generate only bars 5 and 6 of the song form (in the A section of an AABA form). If the form of the song were AABA, you'd normally want the regenerated section to be repeated throughout the form, in all of the “a” sections. The Replace Thru form will set the Melodist to copy the generated bars 5 and 6 to the other “a” sections (bars 13, 14 and 29, 30).
The Melodist Jukebox will continuously generate new songs, and play them in jukebox fashion. You can set the range of Melodists to include in the jukebox (using the From…To settings) or keep the Jukebox on the same Melodist by deselecting “Change Melodists.” To Launch the Melodist Jukebox, press [Juke Songs Now] (option+j). Normally you'd want the Melodist to be written to the Melody track. If you'd prefer the Melody to be written to the Soloist track (e.g.
ideal type of sight-reading practice; playing along to music that you haven't heard before. - Ear Training: Play along with the Melodies and chords that the program is generating, without looking at the music. Since Band-in-a-Box is always using intelligent chord progressions and melody phrasing that a professional would actually use, you are learning to recognize chord progressions and melody phrases that you will encounter in real playing situations.
Automatic Intros The Melodist will automatically generate an introduction for the songs it creates. It is also possible to generate an introduction for any song from the Edit | Intro Bars Auto-Generate menu option (Ctrl+Shift+B). This will create a chord progression that gets inserted as an intro to the song, based on the optional settings you choose. Chord Types can be Jazz or Pop. Intro Length can be 2, 4 or 8 bars to suit the tempo of the song.
Country/Pop soloists and others, or create your own soloists using the “Soloist Maker.” Select a Soloist To select a pre-made Soloist, click on the [Solo] button on the toolbar, press Shift+F4, or choose SOL | Generate and Play a Solo. This will launch the Select Soloist dialog. Now, select the type of Soloist (“Soloist type” list box) and choose the appropriate style. This will bring up a list of Soloists in that style.
on practicing your solo phrasing and playing in time without concerning yourself with which notes to play (Band-in-a-Box will supply the correct notes.) Tip: The Soloist will use the velocities you play or pick its own, depending on the setting in the Edit | Preferences (2) | Soloist Prefs... “Use MIDI Volume for Soloist Wizard” checkbox.
words, wherever a THRU harmony is selected, the Soloist part will use the THRU Harmony settings. 2) We have designed the Soloist not to repeat any solo ideas so that the solos are always fresh, with new ideas forming and playing all the time. As a result, we have included a Refresh Soloist menu item under the SOL menu that, when selected, will allow the Soloist to “think about” all of its musical notions again.
Tip: For added effect, add a guitar chord solo to the Soloist part using the Chord Solo button on the Guitar and choosing Solo as the destination. Or simply choose a Guitar Harmony like 32 J Pass. Custom Solo Generation You can redo any part of the solo that you don't like with the ability to generate and regenerate parts of the solo. There is a [Custom…] button on the Select Soloist dialog.
Soloing over Slash Chords The Soloist analyzes slash chords (like C/Bb) to determine the best scale type to use (e.g. Bb Lydian). There's nothing you need to do, this function happens automatically behind the scenes. Fours Soloing Band-in-a-Box can generate the first four or the second four bars. “Trading fours” refers to a solo lasting four bars, usually followed by a different melodic solo (or drum solo) for the next four bars.
Launch the Chord Solo function with the [Ch. Solo] button, or select MEL | Generate Chord Solo. Select Guitarist Window. Once you press the Chord Solo button, you'll see the Select Guitarist window. Here are the steps needed to generate your Chord Solo: 1. Select the Guitarist to Use. In the main list at the left of the Window, you see the list of Guitarists that is already defined. For example, you can see that Guitarist #2 is called “Jazz Guitar, single position.
3. Confirm the Guitar Patch Selection. The Guitarist that you pick (see item #1) will already have chosen the guitar patch to use, but you can override it with this setting. 4. Select the Range of the song to use. You can either generate a chord solo for the whole song, or just a region of the song. In either case, remember that you need to have an existing melody to work with. You can use the Melodist to generate a melody if you don't have one. 5. Select the Main Guitar Position to use.
You'll now see a message box confirming that a chord solo has been added. Playing the Guitar Chord Solo The playback will begin automatically, and you'll see the guitar voicings on the guitar neck. For example, at Bar 8, the chord is a C#dim and Band-in-a-Box has voiced a Bb melody note with a 4-note guitar voicing of Bb, E, C#, and G. This particular solo will be played in a single position, because those are the parameters of this particular guitarist.
3. The chords are strummed, to simulate a real guitar player. 4. The Track Type for the Melody has been set to Guitar, and the MIDI file will be saved with the Guitar Channels (11-16) preserved which preserves the fret positions. Note: All of these items can be customized in the Guitarist Maker, which is launched by the [Edit...] button in the Select Guitarist dialog. Redo Part of the Solo Let's redo part of the solo at a higher fret position. This particular song GIT_TEST.
Chapter 9: Recording Tracks Overview Band-in-a-Box has a built-in sequencer allowing you to record and edit up to two MIDI tracks. One track is the Melody track, the other is the Soloist track, and they are identical in function. Most often melodies are recorded, but the two sequencer tracks can be used for any type of MIDI recording – overdubs, extra parts, or 2-part melodies. MIDI can be recorded into Band-in-a-Box in a number of ways: - From a MIDI keyboard or MIDI controller connected to your computer.
- at a specified bar, - at the tag, - from the end of the track. If you select “Overdub Underlying Notes,” you will hear the melody that you're overdubbing. Click on the [Filter] button to open the Record Filter dialog. This lets you choose which MIDI information you want to record and which you want to leave out. This lets you eliminate unnecessary MIDI information. Click OK to return to the Record Track dialog, and press the [Record] button or the letter “r” again to begin recording.
[OK - Keep Take] will save the take that was just recorded. 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 Notes You have the option to merge the recording with existing melody. If there is no underlying melody - this option will be grayed out. Retain Past Last Recorded You have the option to keep or erase any melody after the last recorded note.
Velocity Type in a velocity to control the volume that the note is played at. Change the velocity to zero to stop a note from being played. Note that you can globally change the volume of a melody track, from the melody pull down menu Time Represents the total time in ticks for the current event from the beginning of the song. At 120 ppq resolution, a quarter note equals 120 ticks and a bar of 4/4 time is 480 ticks. This number includes the lead-in bar of 480 ticks.
3. As the song plays, play the melody on any keys on the bottom two rows of the QWERTY keyboard, in the rhythm of the melody. The “wizard” notes won't be the correct melody of course, but don't worry about that as you record. When you're finished, look in the Notation window. You’ll see notes in the right places and with the correct durations, but with the wrong pitches. 4. Drag the notes with the mouse and drop them on the correct place on the staff.
Import Which Channel(s)? You'll need to know which channel(s) of your MIDI file the melody is on. You then select these channels for Band-in-a-Box to read in. If you select all of the channels, Band-in-a-Box will read all of the channels and merge them to the Melody track. You can import and play the complete file on the Melody track if the Track Type is set to “Multi (16) Channel” in the MEL menu.
This feature is useful for stimulating ideas, for creating instant songs for sight reading exercises, to demonstrate different musical styles, or for background music. Additional Options for Melody/Soloist Track Manipulation of melodies is done with functions like insert/delete beats, time shift track, copy melody from bar... to bar..., etc. Press Option+C to Copy Chords and /or Melody over a range of bars. Time Shift Melody. This will move (slide) the melody a certain number of ticks.
We have broken down the Humanize effect into 5 main categories: 1. Tempo 2. Lateness 3. 8th note spacing 4. Legato 5. Feel The best way to learn how these parameters combine is to try them. You can always press [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. Tip: Usually, when a musician plays at faster tempos, he/she plays the swing 8th notes closer together, and a little later.
syncopation, change durations to achieve staccato or legato playing, add grace notes, slurs, extra notes, vibrato, and other effects. Now you can have Band-ina-Box do these automatically using the Melody Embellisher. If you enable the Embellisher, any melody will be embellished as it is played, so that you hear a livelier and more realistic melody - and it's different every time. The Melody Embellisher feature is turned on and off by the Embellisher checkbox on the main screen.
- Customize the settings of the Embellisher. - Choose Embellisher type from presets. - Make a particular embellishment permanent. The Melody Embellisher dialog is launched from the MEL | Embellish Melody Dialog menu item (control+option+l) or the Embellisher (grace note) button on the main screen. “Live Auto-embellish during every playback” is the same setting that is on the main page checkbox. If enabled, embellishment will occur during every playback.
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. Normally the embellishment occurs live when the song is playing, and doesn't affect the Melody track permanently. But if you like the embellishment, and want to apply it permanently to the melody, you can choose the [Make Current Embellishment Permanent] option.
Humanize: The velocities, durations (legato), and timing of the notes are humanized. The original velocities etc. of the notes are ignored. This is useful when the melody has been entered in a stiff manner. 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. There is an additional setting for the octave in the “More” settings dialog.
Extra Notes: Extra notes are added between melody notes. Unembellished … In this before-andafter example, an Eb and E note are added between the D and F. With Extra Notes added … Note “Turns”: With a note turn, a single note is replaced by a group of notes that includes the original note and the semitone or scale tones above and below. Unembellished … In this before-andafter example, the C note is replaced by a “turn” of 3 notes with a note a scale tone above the C.
This allows you to set advanced settings for the Embellisher. These include, - Vibrato Depth: This is the amplitude of the vibrato, ranging 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: e.g., If set to 120 ticks (one quarter note), then only notes of at least that duration will get vibrato. - Start the Vibrato after this many ticks: For notes that will get vibrato, the vibrato will start after this many ticks.
Chapter 10: Built-in Drums Animated Drum Kit This sizable window is a cool animated 3D display of a complete drum kit, with all 61 Drum sounds displayed on their instruments. Watch the various drum instruments being played, or play-along/record on any of the drum instruments by using QWERTY keys or a mouse. Very educational and lots of fun! To launch the Drum Kit window, click the Drums button, or choose the Windows | Drum Window option.
Drum Display All the General MIDI percussion instruments are shown.
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. Multi-Note Drums Instruments Kick Drum - Ac.
Numeric Keypad Drum Keys Strike 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 numeric keypad keys contain the remainder of the Latin hand percussion plus the electronic tones.
Drum Window Settings Press the Settings button (to the left of Rewind button), to adjust Drum Window Settings. Note: If your computer video is in 256-color mode, the colors in the Drums window may sometimes appear strange. To display the drum window at its best, use Thousands-ofcolors (16 bit) or millions-of-colors (24 bit) video modes. Velocity: When playing drums with a mouse or computer keys, the shift key toggles between two levels of note velocity.
Chapter 11: User Programmable Functions The StyleMaker Overview of the StyleMaker The StyleMaker is the section of the program that allows you to create brand new styles or edit existing styles. This is done by recording patterns for each of the Drums, Bass, Piano, Guitar, and Strings parts. If you don't want an instrument in a style, you don't need to record any patterns for it. The simplest style consists of 1 pattern each for the instruments that you want in the style.
Next interval masks Only when next chord of song is certain interval (e.g., up a fourth) But the StyleMaker is loaded with options and features that allow your styles to grow in complexity and number of patterns. For example, it is possible to input up to 600 patterns in a given style. In addition, patterns can be classified by many ways allowing them to be played only at appropriate times.
B patterns This row is for 1 bar drum patterns for the “b” substyle. Fills This row is for 1 bar drum patterns for the “a” substyle. Endings This row is for endings. Endings are 2 bars (2 patterns of 1 bar each). Tip: If you are making a simple style, you only need to use the top row (“a” patterns). Bass / Piano / Guitar / Strings patterns: - Are played in real time from a MIDI keyboard, MIDI guitar, etc.
A period indicates no pattern and a number from 1 - 9 indicates that a pattern has been recorded with the actual value corresponding to the desired weight the pattern is to be given relative to other similar patterns. Patterns that you don't want to hear very often in the style are given low weights. Usually you will use weights in the range of 0 - 8 where 0 = no pattern recorded 1 - 8= pattern recorded 9 = special weight that is really given a much higher weight internally by the program.
recorded and displayed on the screen refers to the weight assigned to that pattern. Normally if you have three similar patterns with equal weight they will be picked equally, but if you assign lower or higher weights in the range 0 - 8, you can fine tune how often patterns are played. Note: Normally weights are in the range 0 - 8.
- changing patches saved with style - adding/editing drum patterns to a style - copying and pasting drum patterns - recording additional bass patterns - adding strings to a style by importing strings from another style Let's edit the Light Rock Style, which is called ZZLITROK.STY. 1. To select a style for editing from the main screen: Mouse click over top of the style on the Title window. This area on the main screen indicates the style that is currently in memory.
B pattern is the row to record for the “b” substyle. Fills are recorded on the Fills row. Endings are recorded on the Endings row. (2 consecutive patterns of 1 bar.) Let's have a closer look at the A Pattern row. Each of the numbers represents a drum pattern that has been already recorded. There are 8 patterns that have been recorded on this line. The numbers themselves are called weights. The weights can be from 1 to 8 (a weight of 9 is a special case explained below).
- Accept the generic settings in the Drum Pattern Recorded dialog box. You will see your new pattern on the Fills line as represented by a weight number. Let's use COPY/PASTE to simplify creating a new drum pattern. - To make another fill, move to an existing fill. - Choose the [COPY] button to copy that drum fill to the clipboard. - Move to an empty pattern. - Choose the [PASTE] button to paste in the previous drum fill.
- Select the ZZLITROK.STY style. - Press the OPEN button to open this style. - Choose an empty 8-beat “b” String pattern (because that is where the String pattern was recorded in) and press the [PASTE] button. - Press the [SAVE] button to save the Lite Rock style with Strings. The strings will play in the “b” substyle only, because that's how they were made in the Miami Pop style. You could now import the Guitar from the ZZCONTRY.STY for example, using the steps above.
The screen will look like this. The solid box indicates the currently selected pattern. Empty patterns are indicated by a (.), i.e., patterns that have not been recorded yet. If a pattern has been recorded there will be a number in place of the (.) indicating the weight of the pattern. The 4 rows are for the different types of patterns, “a” substyle, “b” substyle, Fills and 2 bar Endings.
A typical pattern may look like this: This pattern is in a timebase of 12, you see 4 beats with 4 divisions per beat. (In a Timebase =12, only the first three divisions of each beat are accessible.) The numbers are velocities. Move around the Drum Pattern screen and type in the numbers as above. These are velocities and should range between 0 and 127. The fastest way to put the numbers onto the screen is to use the hot keys on the bottom row of the typewriter keyboard - XCVBNM,.
Stop playback by pressing the [STOP] button or the < Spacebar >. Press the [PLAY] button again to hear the pattern again if you have made changes. When the pattern is sounding like you want, press the [EXIT] button. Drum Pattern Options 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.
9. PRE-FILL special value - refers to the bar before a fill 10. FILL refers to the bar of a fill (not applicable to drums because there is a special row for drum fills). 11. POST-FILL refers to the bar after a fill (same as the first bar after a part marker). Drum Fill on Substyle (USUAL SETTING = Any) 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 Any.
pattern based on a C7 chord. You can use all 12 notes, but should just play the pattern as you would if the chord was a C7. You should center the bass patterns around MIDI note 48 (C3). Tip: If you are uncertain what to play, edit another style that comes with the program by pressing the [LOAD] button and selecting another style - you can then play the bass patterns by pressing the [PLAY] button to see what patterns we used to make it, and imitate them in your style.
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: 1. pattern played at odd number bars only 1, 3, 5, 7, 9... 2. pattern played at even bars only 2, 4, 6, 8, 10... 3. pattern played on 3rd of 4 bar (3, 7, 11, 15...) 4. pattern played on 4th of 4 (4, 8, 12, 16, 20...) 5.
Play Pushed - how often % Usual Setting = 0 % #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 pushed) and then you assign the % of time and amount (in ticks, 120 ticks = 1 beat) to push the pattern. The pattern only plays pushed in the song (not in the StyleMaker).
If you're making a simple piano pattern you'll only need to record pattern(s) on the A 8 beat row (the top row). These patterns will get chosen for every chord, regardless of the length. But if you want the style to play different patterns when the song is encountering chords that last 1, 2, 3, or 4 beats, you should record separate patterns on these rows. Recording Piano Patterns Move to the top row of the piano area, in column 1. Press the [REC] button. This will begin the recording of the piano pattern.
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.
this case, the pattern would only be picked if the chord in the song is in that range. Interval - Chord 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.
(recorded in C) will be transposed a maximum of 2 semitones down, and therefore up to 10 semitones up to play all 12 possible roots of the chords. Type Of Voice Leading Usual Setting = Transpose Only Transpose Only = C7 chord based Smooth voice leading Riff based The easiest type of voice leading is transpose only. If the notes C E G Bb were played as a C7 pattern, the Band-in-a-Box would transpose that voicing to a F7 chord as F-A-CEb, which is fine but not very smooth.
Waltz If you want to make a Waltz style, check the Waltz checkbox. 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 (1bar) 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. You will also notice that any style will play better if set to 3/4 time.
along with the default instrument volumes. Remember to always use 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, type a 0 for no patch change. The patch changes take effect immediately in the style, so that when you are recording Bass parts for example, you will hear the bass patch that you have selected.
The strings will play in the “b” substyle only, because that's how they were made in the Miami Pop style. You could now import the Guitar from the ZZCONTRY.STY for example, using the steps above. It is quite easy to quickly add instruments to styles by importing instruments from other styles.
(e.g., PowerTracks Pro for Windows ) 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 Edit | Preferences… “Write Guitar part on 6 channels” option. As previously mentioned, you don't need to be aware of the details of how this is done; you just play the styles as usual. Let's Examine the Intelligent Guitar Styles Load in the song! Freddie.MGU from the “Songs” folder.
live playing on the Thru channel. Sophisticated options control usage of passing harmonies (diatonic, dominant approach and chromatic), drop octave voicings (e.g. drop 2), octave doubling, patch selection, and more. An unlimited number of harmonies can be created and can be saved to disk as harmonies files. Changes in harmonies can be heard “live” as a song is playing. This screen allows you to design a harmony. This harmony can be used in the future for the melody or the thru harmony part.
exit the Harmony Maker, and start a song with a melody playing (like Old Folks at Home.mgu). Now go back into the Harmony Maker. Voices You'll see the voices down the left side of the dialog box. Mel is the melody. Voice 2 is a chord tone below the melody. Voice 3 is 2 chord tones below the melody. Voice 4 is 3 chord tones below the melody. Voice 5 (rarely used) is an additional chord tone, usually the 9th or 11th in the scale. Mel2 and Mel3 are used to double the melody.
For example, in the Shearing Quintet harmony, we want the 2nd voice of the Piano part to drop down an octave when the melody note is higher than MIDI note 68 (the Ab above middle C). So when the melody is higher than this, the harmony will become a “drop 2” voicing. There is also an Overall Harmony Octave setting, available by pressing the [More…] button that changes the octave of the entire harmony. O. Double (Octave Double) This setting lets you double any voice.
rename that harmony “Shearing - modified” and you can make changes to it (such as using different instruments). You should never have to press these [Save] buttons since the harmony is saved automatically for you. All of 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 harmonies file by pressing the [SaveAs]. For example, if you want to make a disk of add-on harmonies, you can make one and save it as MyName.HAR.
Use Close Harmony This only applies to 2 and 3 part harmonies. If set to =0, then it will use only close harmonies (mainly 3rds for 2 part harmonies). If set to =1, it will use mostly 3rds, with some 6ths for 2 part harmonies. If set to =99, it will use mostly 6ths, with some 3rds for 2 part harmonies. If set to =100, then it will use only wide harmonies (i.e. mainly 6th for 2 part harmonies). If set to between 2 and 98, it will vary between close and open harmonies (for 2 and 3 part harmonies).
Overall Harmony Octave This is very useful setting. It sets the overall octave of the harmony. For example, when we made the 5-part Trumpets harmony, we wanted the harmony to always be played an octave higher than the recorded melody. This is because the 5-part harmony is spread over 2 octaves and needs a high Volume Adjust of Entire Harmony You can set an overall adjust to the entire harmony, so it will be quieter.
10 easy steps to make a Soloist: 1. Bring up the Soloist window by pressing the [Solo] Button or Shift+F4. 2. Select a blank spot in your list of soloists and press the Soloist Maker [Edit] button. 3. Insert the title of your soloist and any memo note you wish to add. (The Num field will be filled in for you.) Call this one “Bebop Saxophone.” For the memo, you can put in information like, “Basic bebop Sax solo, will work with most swing styles. Check “Double Time?” if tempo is slower.” 4.
Chapter 11: User Programmable Functions 175
The Melodist Maker In addition to the 50 Melodists supplied with the program, this module lets you define or edit your own melodists. You can choose the parameters to control the type of chords, melody and intro to be generated, as well as a number of settings controlling song form, theme continuity, endings type, anticipations, feel, style, harmony, soloist, patch changes and more. Launching the Melodist Maker The Melodist Maker is launched from the Melodist selection dialog.
The Num selection box allows you to select the Melodist that you'd like to edit. The top area of the Melodist Maker screen allows you to set the Title of the Melodist and supply a Memo. The ST2 area allows you to select the associated ST2 database for the Melodist. Here are some ST2 Melodist databases. - MEL1.ST2 (Jazz Swing, 8th notes) - MELPOP1.ST2 (Pop Ballads, 16th notes) - MELWLZ1.ST2 (Waltzes, 8th notes) - MELROK1.
- The Legato Boost changes the legato (length) of the notes generated. Instruments like Saxophone have longer legato phrasing. - Lateness refers to how much after the beat the notes are played. This is normally left at zero for Melodists. - 8th note spacing is usually left at zero. If set to a non-zero value, the 8th notes will be farther apart (units of 120ppq). - Increase velocity is used to increase or decrease the volume of the Melodist.
This is normally left at 100%. But if you want to force the Melodist to stick with the same theme throughout the song, set this to a lower value (say 80%). It shouldn't be set much lower than 80. Unusual Placed Phrasing Default =0 The Melodist tries to make phrases that are appropriate for the position in the song. For example, the first 2 bars of the melody are appropriate for “opening phrases.
The Tempo Range setting determines the tempo range that the tune will be created with (it will be a random tempo in the range). The auto-tempo setting must be set on the Melodist Selection screen for the tempo range to work. Transpose A2 Section Default = 30 In songs with an AABA form, it is common for the second “a” section to be transposed. For example, the first “a” section might be in the key of Eb, and the second would be transposed up to the key of Gb.
The Guitarist Maker The [Edit…] button in the Guitarist Selection window launches the Guitarist Editor, where you'll see the options for making or editing Guitarists. - The Guitarist is selected from the “Num” field. - You can title the Guitarist using the “Title” field. - The Memo field allows a 100-character memo about the Guitarist. - The Guitar Patch is selected using the Guitar Patch field.
example), the chords will be limited to chords that can be played within the current position and up to 5 frets away from the current position. - Force Open Position forces all of the guitar voicings to the open position. The exception is when the melody notes are so high that they can't be played using open position voicings. If the melody is in a high range, and you want a “forced open position,” you should likely transpose the melody to a lower octave prior to generating the solo.
In the settings as illustrated, if the note occurs less than 100ms after the previous note, the note will not be voiced as a chord. If the note is followed by another note within 80ms, then the note will not be voiced as a chord. Strumming Settings If the Guitar Chord were all played at the same time, it would sound as if it was “plucked.” Guitar playing is more typically a strum. Strum Speed: If you set the Speed of the strum to, say, 80ms, then the guitar chord will be “strummed” over a period of 80ms.
- Barre chords are chords that require the index finger to be played in a Barre position. - Include Open Strings can be set to Never/Sometimes/Favor. If set to “Never,” no chords that require and open string will be played. If set to “Favor,” it will play open strings whenever possible, and “sometimes” is a “middle ground” setting. Include Chords with this # of Notes. You can select the # of notes for chords to be included in the chord solo. In the example above, chords with 2-6 notes will be included.
- The “7ths/9ths” setting should be used for Jazz. This adds the embellishments of C to Cmaj7 and Cm to Cm7. - The “7/9/11/13” embellishment should be used for “Advanced Jazz” Guitarists and add 11ths and 13ths voicings. If you make changes to the Guitarist settings, you need to manually save them, by pressing [Save As], and then finding the Band-in-a-Box folder and saving the file as default.git. Individual Guitarists can be copied, pasted, exported, or imported to/from disk.
Chapter 12: Tutors and Wizards MIDI File Chord Wizard MIDI File Chord Interpretation Wizard Many people who play music by ear think of songs in terms of “Chords and Melody.” However many MIDI files lack chord symbols, so they become difficult to learn without the user having to figure out the chords in a time consuming process. Now you can open up any MIDI file in Band-in-a-Box, and Band-in-a-Box will automatically figure out the chords of the song for you.
Press the [Open (Change)…] button to select the MIDI file that you'd like to import. If you select the “All” checkbox, then all files will be displayed. If you deselect the “All” checkbox, then only filenames ending with .MID will be displayed. Note: Any Band-in-a-Box song can quickly be converted into a MIDI file by pressing the [.MID] button, or with the keystrokes Option+S, or from the menu File | Save Standard MIDI File.
- Choose the MIDI file Chord Wizard dialog by choosing File | Import Chords from MIDI File. - Press the [Open (Change)…] button to select the MIDI file, and then choose the file that you'd like to import. In this case it is called “Violet Song.MID.” Once you load in the file, you'll notice that the Chord Wizard has analyzed the MIDI file and made these determinations for you. It has automatically determined that the “Violet Song.
The chording (comping) parts are found on Channels 3, 6 and 7. The Melody is found on Channel 4. There are no other parts like the Melody that should be put on the Soloist track. Presets for Chord Options Now, after loading in the MIDI files, you'd normally have a look at these settings to see if they seem reasonable for your MIDI file. If they are not, you can change the settings. For example, if you know that they key signature of the song is not F but is C, then you would set that.
the Chord Wizard will never attempt to come up with different chords that are only a beat apart. Tip: If you have a song that has a short section that does include chords every 1beat, you can redo that section of the song with a 1-beat resolution. Include Slash Chords: If set, the Chord Wizard will include “slash chords” like F7/A or Cm/G. Bass Part Type: You can set this to “Root only,” “Root third and 5th,” or “Walking bass.
For the song “Violet Song.MID,” we know that this is a Jazz Swing type of song, so we press the preset called “Jazz Standard.” By doing this, we see that the chord options have then been set to Chord Resolution of 2 beats, no slash chords, walking bass, sus chords, 7th chords, and Jazz lead sheet. These settings look OK for our Jazz song; if we wanted to customize it (for example to allow slash chords) we could do it at this point. So, to recap, using the Chord Wizard is a 3-step process.
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. You can see these by loading in the song “Violet Song.MGU.” The “correct chords” for the song “Violet Song.MID.” As you can see, by comparing the two sets of chords, the Chord Wizard got almost all of the chords correct in this example.
checkbox, and then specify where to start in the MIDI file (i.e. “the # of lead-in bars in MIDI file”) and what bar to start at in Band-in-a-Box (“Insert to BB starting at bar #”) and the # of bars to import (“How many bars to import”). For example, using the song “Violet Song.MID,” we could redo a section of the song using different settings (for example, a chord resolution of 1 beat instead of 2 beats).
The Guitarist Guitar Fretboard Window This is a window for Guitar and Bass Players! The onscreen fretboard displays any Band-in-a-Box track on Guitar or Bass. This Guitar window has features such as auto-setting of correct positions, notes named on screen, auto-octave adjust to play in selected position, and sizable guitar fretboard. Guitar players will be able to “read-along” to a Melody/Solo simply by looking at the guitar fretboard.
Automatic Settings for Guitar Display Band-in-a-Box does many things automatically on the guitar window, to insure that the notes are displayed intelligently on a guitar fretboard. These include: - Automatically setting the 2 positions that will display the note names based on the key.
The Guitar Settings Dialog Note Display Options: If MIDI Thru is selected (Default=On), the Guitar will display the music played on a MIDI keyboard. If Current Track is selected (Default=On), the current track will be displayed. The guitar will display information on channels 11 to 16 on strings 1 to 6 if Multi-Channel Mode is set to on (default). Channel 11 is referred to as the 'base channel' (Default=11.). You can edit notes on the Notation to set the channels of the notes.
The Fretboard color can be brown or black. (Default=brown) If you elect to not display note names, you can select “Use Inlays” and a Guitar inlay will be displayed along the neck. The inlays will only display if note names are not being displayed. If Send Notes to Notation Window (Default =On) is set, when you click on the Guitar notes (and the notation window is open in editable notation mode or note roll mode) the note will be inserted at the current time line on the notation window.
The note names will get displayed in up to two positions, depending on the settings for Show Notes at Aeolian Position and Show Notes at Phrygian Position (Default=True). The Guitar can be sized using the Guitar Width and Guitar Height setting or the preset buttons that set the size. The Auto-Switch position setting allows the program to automatically switch the display of the guitar when a new track is loaded in. This auto-chooses the best position to display the track.
To turn the Guitar Tutor on, launch the Guitar window and press the [Tutor] button. Enable the Chord Tutor display by setting that checkbox. This will silently display the chords on the guitar fretboard. If you would also like to hear the notes, select the “Play chords through MIDI” checkbox. The Tutor part uses the MIDI Thru part to playback on. You can control volume, panning, etc. by using the Thru settings at the top of the main Band-in-a-Box screen. You can select the patch in the Tutor dialog.
The Guitar Tutor stays enabled until you change the Guitar track to another track (for example, to change it to the Bass track). You can easily re-enable it by clicking on the [Tutor] button again. Using the Guitar Tutor By enabling the Tutor, you'll see (and optionally hear) guitar chords played on the guitar along to any song. Load in a Jazz song and start it playing (e.g. Old Folks.MGU). You'll notice that the associated style (GARNER.
Chord Substitution Wizard Reharmonizing a song with the Chord Substitution Wizard is a fun and educational way to perform or practice a familiar song in a brand new way. This feature is very easy to use; simply highlight an area of chords and select “Chord Substitution.” The possible chord substitutions are instantly displayed for you.
The appearance of this dialog depends on what chords are present at the highlighted bar. This bar number is shown in the dialog and may be changed. In the example above, the chord is an F7 chord, so the substitutions shown are for an F7 chord. The substitutions shown may work for up to 4 bars, depending on the substitution. In the examples above, the substitutions work for 2 bars. You can control what types of substitutions to see by using the Jazz/Pop checkbox.
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 F7 chord with a Cm7 F9 progression.
- The [Builder…] button allows you to try different chords, and build up chords by selecting root and extension. - The [Chord Subs…] button is the one that we're interested in this time. By pressing this button you'll now see a dialog with substitutions selected for the chord progression that begins with F7 for 2 bars. There are a number of substitutions that have been identified. For example, the first substitution replaces the two bars of F7 with a Cm7, F7 progression.
Chord Builder The Chord Builder is launched with the menu item User | Chord Builder or with the keystrokes Ctrl+Shift+H. Chords are previewed as they are built. You can now click on the root of the chord (in the root group), the extension (Maj7, etc.), and also 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.
Chapter 13: CoreMIDI and QuickTime OS X CoreMIDI and QuickTime OS X Tutorial Selecting a MIDI Driver Band-in-a-Box for OS X offers two MIDI Output options - QuickTime Music Instruments and CoreMIDI. QuickTime Music does not require a Mac MIDI Interface or external synthesizer. The OS X version of QT Music, has better fidelity and lower latency than the old Mac Classic QuickTime Music Synthesizer. This QuickTime Music option is the simplest way to quickly make Music with Band-in-a-Box.
CoreMIDI requires some setup, but is not terribly complicated. CoreMIDI with a MIDI Interface and External Synthesizers If you have not done so already, follow the manufacturer’s instructions to install your MIDI interface. Installation details may vary, depending on the manufacturer and the model of your MIDI Interface. Hint: It is helpful to occasionally check your manufacturer’s web site and download/install MIDI Interface driver updates which might become available.
If your MIDI Interface has been properly installed, the picture of your MIDI Interface will automatically appear in the AMS window, showing input/output “pins” for each MIDI input and output socket on your MIDI Interface. You need to inform Audio MIDI Setup about your external devices (keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines, mixers, etc.).
This example shows Band-in-a-Box configured to receive/record from a MIDI keyboard on MIDI Interface Port 8. Band-in-a-Box transmits tracks on an assortment of synthesizers, connected to various MIDI Interface ports. This scheme would be useful on a large MIDI setup, if your best Drum sounds are on a Port 5 synthesizer, best Piano is on a Port 2 synthesizer, etc. Your setup does not have to be so complex.
Inter-Application Communication via Virtual Ports (compatible with Jaguar and Panther) The Band-in-a-Box Virtual Output allows MIDI Output to be “piped” into another MIDI/Audio application. Here is an example of controlling the Rax real time Audio Unit host (Rax can be downloaded from http://www.grantedsw.com).
Rax will now receive MIDI from Band-in-a-Box. For testing purposes, you can select the Apple DLS Music Device in the Rax Main Window. Hint: The Apple DLS Music Device is an Audio Unit softsynth which has properties very similar to the QuickTime Music Synthesizer. Additional Music Device soft synthesizers are available from other manufacturers. If you install additional third-party Music Device softsynths, they should show up in the Rax track selector.
Inter-Application Communication with IAC (Panther only) With OS X 10.3 Panther (or later), you can also “pipe” MIDI between applications, using an IAC bus. Open Audio MIDI Setup, enable the IAC driver, and add one IAC port. Hint: Some IAC versions have a bug if using more than one IAC bus. Go to the Band-in-a-Box ‘CoreMIDI Choose Ports’ dialog, and select IAC on all output ports.
Chapter 14: Reference Band-in-a-Box Menu Descriptions File Menu New is used to blank the chordsheet and start a new song. Open song… is used to open an existing song. Open Filtered by Style lists only the songs in a folder with current style. Open Song with Melody lists only the songs in a folder with melodies (*.mg?). Open Favorite Songs opens the dialog listing the last 150 songs played. Open Song by Title opens the Song List with the full title, file name, and style of each song in the folder.
for a word or phrase to find a title quickly. For example, type in “Old folks” and the search will find the song title “Old Folks at Home,” as well as any other songs with “Old folks” in the title. Import Chords from MIDI File uses the MIDI file chord wizard to interpret chords from any MIDI file, and also read tracks to the Melody and Soloist tracks. (re)-make Song Titles list makes the list of song titles for the current folder. It can be used to update the list when new songs are added to a folder.
Rename any Song on Disk… or Rename Current Song on disk… allows you to rename files. Delete a Song from Disk… deletes a song file without exiting the program. “Nuke it!” (delete current song from disk) deletes the current song. Load Previous Style/Load Next Style This function, (analogous to the Load Next Song function) loads in the previous (or next) style in alphabetical order of the file name.
Edit Menu Edit | Undo and Edit | Redo allow you to undo or redo most operations. Edit | Cut functions like a delete command. It removes bars of chords from a song. Edit | Copy and Edit | Paste are to copy chords from one part of the song to another. Copying a section of chords can be done in the same manner as copying text in a word processor.
Copy From…To… / Copy Rests / Erase From… To… One of the best ways to copy chords is the Copy From… To… command, or pressing Option+C, which will launch the Copy Chords and/or Melody dialog. The Copy Rests command will similarly bring up a dialog to allow copying of rests. The Erase From… To… command launches the Erase Chords and/or Melody dialog.
Preferences dialog. Boost Vel. of 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. Show Chords with push/rest chars The push character is the caret symbol (^). So a C chord with a push is displayed as ^C. The rest character is a period (.), so C. shows a C chord with a rest.
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 uncheck this box.
To turn the song ending off for a single song select the Additional Song Settings option from the Song menu and uncheck “Generate 2 Bar Ending for This Song.” Limit Screen size to Use this setting to choose the size of the screen you want to display. Menu Limit Determines the number of items that can be listed in a menu. OK to Load Harmony w/songs If checked, the harmony settings for each song will be loaded and saved with each song. If set to NO, the harmony setting won't be saved or loaded with the songs.
Allows playback to be started from another keyboard or the computer keyboard. The Band-in-a-Box arrangement will be generated, then the program will pause until the MIDI or keystroke signal is received. Close window when not in BB Closes the Band-in-a-Box window when the Finder or another program is chosen. OMS/FreeMIDI Playback in background (FreeMIDI and OMS are supported only in Band-In-A-Box™ OS9, booted from Mac Classic) Enables OMS or FreeMIDI playback in the background.
If checked, 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.
OK to save/load rev/vol/chorus w/songs Offers global control over additional song settings (i.e. reverb, chorus, etc.) that can be saved and/or loaded with each song. Send GM Mode At Startup For sound modules that are GM compatible, this command will ensure that the module is ready to accept GM-specific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information.
Lowest Bass Note (E2 = default) Styles will normally play bass notes (down to the low E) if the pattern won'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 real low (so you can get a low C if you want to)! My soundcard or MIDI doesn't have brushes – remap them Most GM modules have brushes available on patch 41 on the drums. On some you need to load a GS sound font for this to occur.
“knows.” (Note: This option may also increase Soloist creation times. Disable this feature if you are using a slower or low-memory equipped computer.) The “Soloist/Melodist Velocity Adjust” box allows you to quickly boost or reduce the volume of the Soloist or Melodist part relative to the other instrument parts. For a realistic “mix,” they are set slightly louder than the other instruments/parts in a song. The default is 5.
Song Menu Title/Key/Tempo/Embel… Opens the Main Settings dialog. This dialog offers you the option to set the title, key, and chorus begin/end, etc. These settings are usually entered on the main screen. Chorus begins at … Shows the bar number for the start of the chorus. Choose this command to set a new beginning for the chorus by clicking on the bar in the chordsheet. Chorus ends at … Shows the current bar setting for the end of the chorus.
Overall Loop If checked the song will play again from the beginning it time it reaches the end. Additional Song Settings These additional song settings are saved with the song. Vary Style in Middle Choruses Default = If checked, the song will play in substyle B throughout the Middle Choruses. The Middle Choruses include all choruses except the first and last. If not checked, the middle choruses will play “a” and “b” substyles as set in the chordsheet with part markers.
notes on the bass.) Allow Pushes in Middle Choruses Default = This is used if you have put pushes into a song, but don't want the pushes to play in the middle choruses. The middle choruses are usually used for soloing, so you may not want the pushes to play. Allow Rests in First Chorus Default = This is used if you have put rests into a song, but don't want the rests to play in the first chorus.
Generate 2 Bar Ending for This Song Default = You can disable the ending for a certain song. You can disable the endings for all songs by clearing the checkmark for the “Allow Any Endings” setting in the Edit | Preferences menu item. Start the 2 bar ending early The usual Band-in-a-Box ending is 2 bars appended to the end of the song. This option gives you an alternative to end the song on the last bar of the song.
S Menu Use this list for a quick pick from the list of 24 original Band-in-a-Box styles. You either can pick a musical style before or after you have entered the chords to a song. Once you load a style, the song will be played back using your chosen style. All style files have a .STY extension. Besides these built-in styles, there are many more styles available for use with the Band-in-a-Box. Here are other ways to access styles. Pressing the [.
MIDI Menu MIDI Settings This dialog box allows you to setup settings for each part (Bass/Drums/Piano etc.). You can also set the Harmony channels by pressing the [Harmony] button inside this dialog box.
Open Current OMS Studio Setup… (FreeMIDI and OMS are supported only in Band-In-A-Box™ OS9, booted from Mac Classic) If using OMS this will take you to the Studio setup. This will be grayed out if OMS is not active on your system. OMS MIDI Setup… Opens the OMS MIDI setup dialog, if OMS is installed. This will be grayed out if OMS is not active on your system. **OMS Parameters (choose ports) Select MIDI Input and Output ports for OMS. This will be grayed out if OMS is not active on your system.
Make General MIDI Patch Map… This opens the GS Patch Numbers dialog, where you can make a customized General MIDI patch map for your non-GM instrument. Type in the patch number that your synth uses for each instrument listed. For example, suppose that your sound source has Acoustic Piano at patch location 41. In the General MIDI Patch Edit dialog, select the box to the left of Acoustic Piano and type 41. Do the same for all of the instruments in the General MIDI patch list.
Edit Drum Kit (Note Values)… If you have been unable to find a preset drum map that matches your synth's drum notes, then you may need to type in the drum notes that your sound source uses. To do this, you need to hook your MIDI controller up to play the Drum sounds from the Keyboard. Play up and down the keyboard to hear all the drum sounds. Locate note 36 as a starting point. Type the MIDI note numbers for the various instruments as you find them on your drum machine or keyboard.
Choose Patch from Higher Bank… This will display a list of higher bank patches as found in *.PAT text files. Choose a .PAT file from the Synthkits folder. Insert Current MIDI Chord Enters the last MIDI chord played on the MIDI controller into the current location in the song. Output chords to external device… This is useful with an external arranger that can read chords in real time. Bandin-a-Box will output chords in root position on the selected channel during playback.
Hp Menu Balloon Help is available with context appropriate help for many on-screen items. Use the Help menu to enable the balloon help, and then you'll see balloon help for main screen items, menu items and more. Balloon Help is present only in Band-In-A-Box™ OS9. Band-In-A-Box™ (OS X version) uses the new Help Tags, which give equivalent (but better) functionality. Overall description of program… An introduction to Band-in-a-Box and its operation. Version – new features!… The new features in this version.
Launches your Internet browser and loads the PG Music Inc. home page. User Menu Load Style From Disk… Go to the file dialog and open a style from the Styles folder. Load Favorite Styles… Opens the favorites list of the most recent styles selections. Save Style As… Save a new style or and edited style, or rename an existing style. Make A New Style (STYLE MAKER) Launches the StyleMaker with a blank new style. Edit Existing User Style Launches the StyleMaker with the current style selection loaded.
Current Style: This shows the file name of the current style in use. Style Information… Shows a summary of information about the current style. OK to Load Styles w/ songs Normally this is checked so that songs load with the associated style. But let’s say we’ve discovered a new style, and want to try it out on many different songs. In that case, we would ensure that this item is NOT checked. Then when a song is loaded, it will play in the new style we are trying out.
Play Current Chord Click on any chord and use this command or press Shift+Return to instantly hear how it sounds.
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). Record Melody… launches the Record Tracks dialog to record a MIDI melody. Record Melody From Bar # lets you click on any bar to start recording there. Step edit Notes… allows you to enter/edit a melody in step time using an event list. Quantize Melody… opens the Quantize dialog.
Quantize Durations. This quantizes the END of the notes. By default, this is set to “Off.” Humanize w/ straight feel / Humanize w/ swing feel Band-in-a-Box uses intelligent humanization routines, which can humanize a melody from one, feel to another, from one tempo to another, and vary the amount of swing in 8th notes (but not randomly). The results are very musical with natural sounding MIDI melodies. Humanize Melody… Opens the Quantize to New Tempo or Feel dialog.
Move to Soloist Track Copies the entire contents of the Melody track and erases the original data from the Melody track, preparing it for a new track or data. Swap Melody and Soloist Track This performs a “double copy/move” so that the data that was in the Melody track is transferred to the Soloist track and visa versa. This is also known as track bouncing. Melodist – Generate Chords and Mel launches the Melodist feature.
Convert Harmony to Melody Track Converts a single line Melody track to include the current harmony selection. Remove Harmony (or guitar solo) from Melody Track Removes a harmony from a track, providing that the harmony was put there by Band-in-a-Box in the first place using the Convert Harmony to Melody Track command. Generate Guitar Chord Solo… Opens the Select Guitarist dialog for generating a guitar chord solo. Rechannel to Guitar Display… This takes a melody, and converts it to Guitar Channels 11 to 16.
Eliminate Note Overlap – Preserve Double Stops / Eliminate Note Overlap – Remove Double Stops eliminates note overlap while double stops are either preserved or eliminated. Transpose One Octave DOWN / Transpose One Octave UP transposes the Melody part one octave in either direction. This is often useful if the Melody instrument has been changed. Transposing can be done while the song plays. SOL Menu Generate and Play a Solo...
Band-in-a-Box comes with over 100 Soloists built-in. If you want to make your own 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 than most jazz musicians, and playing straighter 8th notes than usual swing 8th notes.
Import Soloist from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Soloist track. Import Soloist from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted into the clipboard (e.g., from a sequencer such as PowerTracks). Record Soloist … records a MIDI part to the Soloist track instead of recording to the Melody track. Record Soloist From Bar # … records at the current location of the highlight cell.
Copy to Melody Track copies the entire contents of the Soloist track to the Melody Track. This is useful for a temporary holding area for your soloist or for bouncing tracks. Move to Melody Track copies the entire contents of the Soloist track and erases the original data from the Soloist track, preparing it for a new track or data. Swap Melody and Soloist Track performs a “double copy/move” so that the data that was in the Soloist track is transferred to the Melody track and vice versa.
- 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. - Multi – All channels are preserved and output on the channels. This would be useful for importing an entire MIDI file, and playing it from the Melody channel (using a silent style). - Piano – In this mode, channels 8 and 9 are treated as the left and right hand of a piano part.
GS Menu Reset Sound Canvas to Factory… resets the module to factory settings. Reset Sound Canvas And Send BB… sends a reset message to the Sound Canvas and then sends the startup Band-in-a-Box patch changes. Adjust Master Volume… sets the overall output level for Band-in-a-Box. Reverb Type … or Chorus Type … Roland GS instruments allow different type of reverb and chorus settings. These settings boxes allow you to make a selection.
This allows you to use the same channel for 2 parts, so that you hear a layer of 2 instruments playing the same part. Send General MIDI Mode ON sets the external module to General MIDI mode. This command will ensure that the module is ready to accept GMspecific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information.
Har Menu Melody Harmony… Shows the current Melody harmony selection. Click to open the Select Melody Harmony dialog. Thru Harmony… Shows the current Thru harmony selection. Click to open the Select Thru Harmony dialog. Favorite Melody Harmonies… This option brings up your favorite 50 Harmony styles (based on recent usage) and allows you to choose one to use on the Melody track.
Edit a Harmonies File… allows you to edit a Harmony file that is in your \bb directory. Edit Current Harmonies File… allows you to edit the Harmony file that is currently loaded on your system. OK to Load Harm. w/ songs Toggle this option “On” if you want to load any harmony settings that were saved/embedded in a given song. Save Harmony with this song Toggle this option “On” to allow Band-in-a-Box to embed the harmony settings for the currently open song so that they may be recalled automatically later.
Windows Menu Notation Window toggles between the notation and the chordsheet views. Drum Window launches the animated Drum Kit. Guitar Window launches the on-screen Guitar fretboard. List Editor Window launches the List Edit utility for editing MIDI events. (The Event List Editor is not present in the OS X version, though it should get added in the future.) Switch to Next Track / Switch to Previous Track selects parts in the row of Notation buttons.
Keystroke Commands – “Hot Keys” It's often faster to use keystrokes instead of picking up the mouse. We've added many keystroke “hot keys” to mute instruments or to adjust volume, panning, reverb, chorus, or bank of instrument without using the mouse. Keystroke List This is a list of keystroke “hot keys.” These keys are also listed on the pull down menus beside the function.
Press [+] to just set the tempo. [+] Records a melody to the currently loaded song. r Plays the song from the current cursor position. x Enters lyrics in the Lyrics window. l Moves the cursor to the right. tab Moves the cursor to the left.
< > Advance page # in either direction. l Displays the Lyric Mode. Hit ESC or '=' to exit. p Set/Advance Part Marker at cursor location. During Playback delete Pauses Song / Resumes Playing Song. [+] or [=] Increments Patch number by +1. [+] Decrements Patch number by +1. shift [+] Increments Patch number by +5. shift [+] Decrements Patch number by +5.
Hold down Ctrl+Shift and [+] and [=] keys to decrease /increase patch by 1. For example, let's change the Piano part to Rhodes Piano using keystrokes. 1. Press Ctrl+4 to select the Piano part. 2. Press Ctrl+Shift+2 to select the Favorite #2. That is Rhodes Piano.
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Index dialog ! 166, 198 67 chord options 2 bar ending 67, 203 early 55 Chord Preview generate 55 chord progression 202 66 32-bit engine 14 chord root 205 A2 Transpose 110 chord shorcuts accidentals 101 Chord Subs button 204 Chord Substitution Wizard 201 85 alias substitutions 72 alternate root 67 anticipations 136 Apple Audio MIDI Setup 207 chord substitutions 20 range of bars 203 undo 202 Audio memos Auto-Chord Substitution dialog 202 settings auto-substitution 2
comping Concert Pitch adjust See favorite songs 47 88 favorite styles 47, 70 From button 73 22 GarageBand 6 35 GM menu 21 Copyright 258 grace notes 136 CoreMIDI 206 Guitar Configuration files new copy chords 57 display settings 195 pgshortc.txt 57 launching 194 shortcut.
181 interpret chords chord embellishments 184 auto interpret 187 chord types 183 custom settings 187 Guitarist Maker 181 Intros 52 28 Jaguar 6, 210 Guitarist Editor harmonize melody Harmony Jazz down chords 70 changing 66 Jazz up chords 70 low root 16 jukebox 31 setting channels 89 Jukebox 91 47 JukeBox 24, 90 Harmony area Harmony Enhancements 103 convert harmony to notation 103 remove Hold button 91 Options 91 key 103 13, 34 Kill Intro 112 23 Kill Melodist
toolbar Choose Unusual Chord Progressions 40 Melodies Recording Melodist 179 Chord Substitutions Throughout the Form 179 125 32 Dialog 176 Force Long Phrases 179 64 bar form 110 A2 Transpose 110 Allow Style Changes 109 Mix Minor and Major Chord Progressions 179 Auto-Tempo 110 Number of Variations Auto-Titles 109 Simple 1 and 2 endings 179 Defaults 110 Tempo Range 179 Favorites 113 Transpose A2 Section 180 Form 110 Unique Themes 178 Unusual Placed Phrasing 179 st Gener
odd-time signature support MIDI previous style Channels Setting drivers 14 18, 215 87 Soloist note density option 20 86 Sololists increased 15 video memo support 20 Files 129 new song 34 Note Offs 88 notation 29 settings 86 note colors 87 setup 85 Note Offs 88 sync 87 octave Standard MIDI chord entry 9 MIDI file 87 odd-time signatures 14 choose tracks 76 omit lead-in options 76 opening styles Save 76 OS X MIDI File Chord Interpretation Wizard 33, 186 136 Oct
patches popup settings 42 soloist Pause song 116 76 till key 80 pause song 73 shortcut.
Embellishment 54 Alternate notes 154 framing 13 Entering Notes 154 Intros 52 Late Triplets 156 loading 10 Making Patterns 152 Screen 153 Patches Allowing 87 Tempo Changes 153 save options 74 Timebase 153 saving 74 Substyles Changing 63 Tempo Change at bar Editing existing styles 148 Embellish Patterns 162 Half Octave Range 158, 161 Importing Patterns 165 Interval to Next Chord 158, 162 66 spacing 132 Macro Notes (Bass) 159 standard MIDI file 117 Macro Notes (Pi
Smooth StylePicker Trademarks 163 11, 26, 35 filter 19 load previous Selecting Styles Set #38 About Time substitutions tempo Text hints third party styles Ticks 206 84 70 vibrato 137 19 Video memos 20 Virtual Ports 210 24 Rax 202 voicings 210 167, 199 Volume 63 13, 37 66 Allowing Changes 87 Changes 74 window title 41 Wizard 43 23 instrument 44 19 playing 44 recording 44 smart notes 44 130 Title window 47 Tool Bar 45 track type 130 266 137 Unfold Tempo Chan
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