Technical information

Chapter 12: Tutors and Wizards
217
The “Channel selector” presets help with the selection of the channels as described above. The
[None] button de-selects (mutes) all of the channels. The [All] button selects (plays)
all of the channels. The [Solo] button will “solo” the last channel that was pressed before the Solo button was
pressed.
The “BB” part button selects all of the channels that are currently using the “BB Parts,” i.e., the Drums/
Bass/ Piano/ Guitar/ and Strings.
The “BB Part” section is the area that you choose which channels to use for the “BB Parts”
in your style. There are 5 possible instruments in the style – Drums, Bass, Piano, Guitar,
and Strings. Tracks that are not part of the rhythm section (i.e., melody or soloist parts) or
“extra” instruments that you don't want to use in the style should be assigned to a BB Part
setting of None (----), “Melody,” or “Other.”
The Style Wizard automatically sets these “BB Parts” for you, but you should over-ride
these settings to your own choices for the style. For example, if the program has chosen an
instrument for Band-in-a-Box part of Strings, and you don't want strings in the style, then
change that BB Part setting to “----” (none) or “Other.”
The Patch setting is the patch (instrument) that is found in the MIDI file, and it
is the
suggested one to use in the style. You can change the patch if you'd like to use a different patch in the Style.
The #Notes column reports the number of notes that are found on each channel. This is helpful information in
deciding which BB Parts to assign. For example, if only 10 notes are used on the channel, it's unlikely that the
channel is playing much in the file, and shouldn't be used as a BB Part in the style.
The [Auto-Set…] button instructs the Style Wizard to re-make the settings for the Tracks Area and
Snapshots of the Style
Wizard. The Auto-Settings are already invoked when you load a MIDI file, so you would rarely need to press this
button explicitly.
The [+] button beside the [Open] button also allows loading of a MIDI file, but displays
the Interpret
Chords from MIDI file dialog (the Chord Import Wizard) to allow you to tweak settings controlling the chord
interpretation. For example, if the interpretation of the chords isn't accurate, use this button for different settings.
The [=] button will re-load a MIDI file that is already on the Melody track.
For example, if you've loaded in a MIDI file to the Melody track (outside of
the Style
Wizard), and would now like to make a style from it, you just need to load in the MIDI file from the Melody track to
the style wizard. This won't cause an interpretation of the Chords; it uses the current chords on the Chordsheet.
Play Looped Sections
The [Play] and [Stop] buttons and “Loop at Bar” allows playback of a
region of the MIDI file. As you hear the playback, you audition various
channels for the style by using the “Channel” checkboxes to mute/un-mute
tracks. The “Loop at Bar” setting is the bar for the loop to begin.
The # bars is the number of bars for the loop following the “Loop at bar” setting.