Technical information

Chapter 14: Reference
294
Notes:
- It is not necessary to type upper or lower case. The program will sort this out for you.
- Any chord may be entered with an alternate root (“Slash Chord”) e.g.: C7/E = C7 with E bass.
- Separate chords with commas to enter 2 chords in a 2 beat cell, e.g., Dm,G7
Tricky Chords:
C5b This is “C flat 5.” It is spelled this way to avoid confusion.
C2, C5, C4, C69, C7alt, Cm7#5
You can type C-7 for Cm7 (i.e. use the minus sign) or C7-9 for C7b9.
Shortcut Chords:
If you enter a lot of songs, you'll appreciate these shortcut keys.
J = Maj7
H = m7b5 (H stands for Half diminished)
D = dim
S = Sus
Example: To type CMaj7, just type CJ (it will be entered as CMaj7)
Add your own chord shortcuts.
Have you found a chord that Band-in-a-Box doesn't recognize? If so, add it to your chord shortcuts file, and Band-
in-a-Box will allow you to type in that chord in the future. This also lets you define chord “shortcuts,” one-letter
abbreviations for longer chord names (“J” for “Maj7” etc.). 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) “Csus2@C2.” Then
Band-in-a-Box will enter the chord C2 if you type in Csus 2.
The text file c:\bb\Shortcut.txt allows you to add new chord shortcuts. Note that this file doesn't ship with Band-in-
a-Box (or it would overwrite your file!). The file \bb\pgshortc.txt for shortcuts supplied by PG Music. You can add
your own shortcuts in a text file you make yourself and name \bb\shortcut.txt.
Band-in-a-Box files
Essential Program Files
Band-in-a-Box for Windows requires the following files to operate.
BBW.EXE Executable file.
BBWDLL4.DLL DLL handling playback.
CPALETTE.DLL Required DLL.
ZZ*.STY Band-in-a-Box needs Style Files for the built-in Styles.
ZZDEFAULT.HAR These are the default harmonies.
BBW.LST This is the text file for the Style List Information.
CTL3DV2.DLL This is the required DLL for 3D dialogs and controls.
PGMUS.TTF PG Music notation font.
PGTEXT.TTF PG Music text font.
Transferring Files Among Computer Platforms (IBM to Mac)
Many of the Band-in-a-Box song/style and patch map files are directly compatible. Any Macintosh file
automatically gets a 128-byte header added on to it by the Macintosh system.
If transferring the files by modem, make sure the Macintosh modem software strips off the header off the files.
Other than that, the files are identical.
Note: Atari files are the same format as IBM files; no conversion is needed.