User Guide

Chapter 2: QuickStart Tutorial

Choose File | Import Chords from MIDI File on the File menu, or use the keystrokes

Ctrl+Option+I, to open the 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, Band-in-a-

Box will offer to build a song list for you. We’ve included many demo songs for you to

use, and they are listed in the song list.

You could also load a pre-existing song by using the File | Open song… menu item, or by

pressing the F3 function key, which will launch the familiar Macintosh file dialog. Note

that most songs will automatically load a “Style,” which we’ll learn about in the next

section.

Going to the next step …

Now that you have chords on your chordsheet, you are ready to move on to step number

two.

Step 2 – Choose 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.

If you don’t find a pre-made style that suits your tastes, create one from scratch using the

StyleMaker. Making custom styles with the StyleMaker is explained in detail in the full

documentation.

Four Fast ways to Open a Style

Method 1: From Disk

To open a user style from disk, you can just type the F9 key. You will be presented with

the familiar Macintosh file dialog from which you can select a specific style from the

Styles folder.

Method 2: The StylePicker

You can use the StylePicker window to select your style. Select the

[Style] button above the chordsheet, or type Ctrl+F9 on your

computer keyboard.