User Guide

Chapter 6: Band-in-a-Box PowerGuide
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where you can type in a short memo about the song, style, etc.
A red border around the [M] button indicates that the song has a memo. The keystrokes Option+M will also launch
the Song Memo.
Automatic Song Summary
The Song Summary panel automatically displays a full summary of the song (title/tempo/patches used in the song),
as well as other special features, such as substyle patch changes or harmonies and MIDI or Real instruments/drums
in use. This saves much of the work required to type this information into the memo manually.
Enter/Copy/Move Lyrics
These features enable the typing, editing, and exporting of song lyrics.
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. These
allow someone to type in Csus2 and the program will accept it. You can also use it for shortcuts, like if you entered
j@maj7, Band-in-a-Box would let you type Cj for CMaj7. See the file pgshortc.txt in the Band-in-a-Box folder for
examples of shortcuts.
Refresh Chord Shortcuts
After editing chord shortcuts in the SHORTCUT.TXT file you must use this command to save the changes.
MIDI Setup
Connecting to MIDI
Here is an illustration of the connections for a MIDI system using a MIDI Interface to connect to an external MIDI
synthesizer.
The Band-in-a-Box program running
on your computer sends a stream of
MIDI data via the MIDI Driver to
your MIDI interface.
- The MIDI interface transmits information between the computer and your synthesizer.
- The Synthesizer or Sound Module (e.g. Roland Sound Canvas) produces the musical instrument sounds.
Band-in-a-Box tells it what notes to play and how to play them.
- Stereo Speakers or Headphones are connected to your synthesizer so that you may hear the music.