User Guide

Chapter 2: Summary of New Features 9
Clearer piano display. The instruments displayed on the on-screen piano now make use of higher resolutions, so
that each instrument display is clearer.
Range of bars for MIDI files. When making a MIDI file, you can now select a range of bars
to be included. Highlight any range of bars, and the MIDI file will be made for just that range.
Support for 11
th
chords. A new option (in Prefs-Display) for “11
th
chords” allows
display of “9sus” chords as “11” (e.g., Bb11 instead of Bb9sus).
Direct open or import of WMA, MP3, and CD-Audio files. You can open or import a Windows Media Audio
file (WMA) to add to the BB song, or an MP3 file (including variable-bit-rate files). This allows you to open or
import the most commonly used audio formats into Band-in-a-Box. Once opened, you can play the audio track
along with a Band-in-a-Box song, or slow down the playback without affecting the pitch.
Export of audio as WMA file has been enhanced, using Microsoft's newest Windows Media compression codecs,
which are rendered directly rather than with a command-line utility.
The MIDI Monitor has been enhanced, with options for 1-based patch numbering and patch name display. Quick
View Filter presets such as “Notes Only,” “Controllers Only,” “Program Changes Only,” and “Programs including
Bank Changes.” Improved stability when using softsynths.
The Piano Roll has been improved, with
- Overlapping note indicator. Overlapping notes are displayed in bold, making them easier to identify.
- Trim overlapping notes command.
- Adjustable Max control density to control the time-granularity when graphically inserting Controller and
Pitch Bend events.
- Eraser tool for quickly deleting individual notes or controllers.
- Two graphic event mouse editing modes (for scaling gestures). Add mode will add/subtract the mouse-
drag amount to all selected events. Multiply mode will scale selected events by a mouse-drag percentage.
- Un-Zoom to return to previous view range after zooming in on a region.
- Zoom All to zoom the window so all events are visible at a glance.
- Ghost display. When viewing a single channel, notes on other channels can be ghost-displayed in light gray.
You can now direct render to audio as separate tracks. If this option is chosen, separate WAV files get written
(mono or stereo) for each track (names MySong_Bass.WAV, MySong_Drums.WAV, etc.) so you can import tracks
to your favorite sequencer as audio files. For direct rendering, you can also choose whether you want the output file
to be mono or stereo.
Loosen note start times. There is a dedicated function to vary the start times of notes on the Melody or Soloist
tracks, with options for what notes to affect (harmony, chords, and amount of variance). Choose menu item
Melody-Edit-Utilities-”Loosen Start Times.”