User Guide

Chapter 15: Reference
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Drum Brushes
Most GM modules have brushes available on patch 41 on the drums. On some Sound Blasters you need to load a
GS sound font for this to occur, and you need to use the Sound Blaster software to do this (AWE Control Panel). On
the Yamaha XG, you likely need to send a “GS mode on” message from the GM menu in Band-in-a-Box. 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.
First bar of first chorus of song gets a drum cymbal crash
If selected, the first bar of the song (following the intro) might get a cymbal crash. Usually this is left unselected,
since most drummers wouldn’t play a crash cymbal on bar 1 of the song.
Normalize MIDI velocities to
If performing live, or at a jam session, it helps to have the volume of all of the songs be similar. With the
“Normalize MIDI velocities” feature, you can level the volumes to a setting you enter. For example, you can set all
volumes to be 70 and the program will make each song play within those levels.
When you have set the normalize to “on” the title window at the top
of the screen reports that Normalization is set to 70, and that the
velocity of the currently playing song has been increased from 49 to 70.
Including Melody, Soloist
The normalization will affect bass, drums, piano, guitar and strings. If you select the “Including Melody, Soloist”
option, the normalization will also affect the Melody and Soloist parts.
When a song is loaded, but the required style is not found
In this group of settings you can control the behavior of the program when a required style is not found. Text files
like c:\bb\A_PGMUSIC.NA list the substitute styles to use.
You can make your own *.NA file, but call it something like MYSTYLES.NA. Don’t edit the A_PGMUSIC.NA
file.
OK to substitute with a similar style
If set, this will enable the substitution of styles using the c:\bb\A_PGMUSIC.NA text file and any other *.NA files
supplied by third-party styles developers.
If nothing similar found, use this style
This is the style that will be substituted if no better substitute is found in the A_PGMUSIC.NA text file or any other
*.NA files.
Message if no style or substitution found
If no substitute style is found, what type of message (if any) should be displayed?
Message if substitution style found
When a substitute style is found, what type of message (if any) should be displayed?
Insert Breaks (silence) in arrangement
This feature is great for practicing tempo control. Select the # of bars, and Band-in-a-Box will play for, say 4 bars
(selectable), and then will rest all instruments for the next 4 bars. Once set, this feature works automatically with all
songs until you turn it off.
Count-in and Metronome Options
This Preferences button opens the Count-in and Metronome Options dialog.
Drum Lead-in options
Allow Lead-In Bars
People who use Band-in-a-Box for soloing practice will likely turn the lead-in off to allow endless looping
uninterrupted by the lead-in count. To eliminate the lead-in count, select Allow Lead-In Bars to = NO, this will start
the song from bar 1 with no lead in.
1 bar lead-in
If this is set, the count-in will be a single bar instead of 2 bars.