User Guide

Chapter 14: User Programmable Functions
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Example 7: Normal pattern needed for bar 13.
In example 7, if Band-in-a-Box is trying to find a normal pattern for bar 13, it will look for patterns with a mask of
0, 1 (because it is an even number of bars from the part marker) or 5. If it were trying to find a normal pattern for
bar 14, it would look for patterns with a mask of 0, 2, or 6.
5. Duration
PostFill and Normal patterns can be any number of bars long, however there is a practical range that is commonly
used. Other patterns are restricted to a certain number or range of bars. Here is a list of the pattern types, and the
ranges of durations:
Fills – 1 bar long only
PostFills - 1 bar or higher, generally no higher than 8 bars
PreFills – 1 or 2 bars long only
Normal – 1 bar or higher, generally no higher than 8 bars
Endings – 2 bars long only
Count-ins – 2 bars long only
The difference between favouring short patterns and long patterns is a balance between consistency and variation.
Long patterns may sound more consistent, because you will be hearing large portions of raw audio, exactly as the
drummer played it. On the other hand, with short patterns, there will be more variety in the phrases, because there
will be many more possible combinations when single bars are mixed and matched together. Many people will
favour a combination of long and short patterns. Also, while it is possible to have very long patterns, it is important
to remember that patterns will not cross part markers, so if you designate 16 bar patterns, but in your Band-in-a-Box
songs you have part markers every 8 bars, those 16 bar patterns will never be played.
Example 8: Normal pattern needed for bar 5.
In example 8, if Band-in-a-Box is trying to find a Normal pattern for bar 5, it can pick a 1, 2, or 3 bar pattern, or a 4
bar pattern that ends with a fill. It can not pick a pattern that is more than 4 bars long.
Another thing to keep in mind is that for any given bar in the style wave file, you can have as many different
patterns defined as you like. So, for example, you can define a 1 bar pattern that starts at bar 5, you can then also
define a 2 bar pattern that starts at bar 5, a 4 bar pattern, 8, etc.
In deciding what lengths of phrases will work well, an important thing to consider is whether or not certain bar lines
make good cut-off points. For example, let’s assume that in a style wave file, at the 4
th
beat of bar 15 there is a crash
cymbal that decays into bar 16, but fades out before the end of bar 16. Bar 15 would likely not be very good as a 1
bar pattern, because you would have situations where bar 15 would be used, and would then go directly to a
different random bar that likely does not have a cymbal decay, so you would hear an abrupt cut-off which would
greatly reduce the musicality of the drum part. In situations like these, you would then make sure that other patterns
did not end with bar 15 as well. For example, a pattern at bar 14 would not be good as a 2 bar pattern, because it
would cut off in the same place, but it would be good as a 3 bar pattern. Conversely, bar 16 would not likely make a
good pattern at all, because it will start with a cymbal decay that had no start to it. This doesn’t mean that bar 16
will never be used, it will just never be the start of a pattern.
A good rule to follow is to try and have at least one 1-bar PostFill, Normal, and Fill patterns for each subsection, just
to make sure that all possible circumstances will be covered. Once you have that, you can determine what other
patterns will work well based on the phrasing of the drummer.
6. Location
The final element in pattern definition is the location of the pattern in the style wave file. This number represents
the bar number in the wave file, but it is important to remember that this is a –1 based numbering system. The first
two bars of the wave file are reserved for the count-in, which are considered to be bars –1 and 0. The drumming
starts at the third actual bar of the wave file, but is referred to as bar 1. So, if you are viewing bars in an audio
editor, remember that when you reference these bars in your text file, you need to subtract 2 before you enter them
in the patterns.