Hi,

To tell the truth I got BIAB on floppy disk the first time and it has been so long ago I can't remember why I got it.

Over the last ten years I have almost stopped playing live for many reasons, not the least has been old age and health.

In retirement I have had the time to get involved learning to use "home studio stuff". BIAB fit right into that program.

The longer I use BIAB the more it becomes a learning tool on several levels.

If you live past seventy there are certain things that I assume happen to most everyone. Most noticeable is that most of your friends and band mates die. Also things you loved to do are no longer possible, like flying my airplane and running my boat. Music is what I have left that I seriously like.

In many ways BIAB has been something of a replacement for the people I have played with who are no longer with us. Of course it does not replace anyone but at least is something to play with.

I have younger friends and play in their bands from time to time but it is and never will be the same. There is no way to truly recapture the past with 99.999% of the younger people. My history is just not relevant to them any more than I really understand why they like the things that have been popular in the last few years.

I sometimes wonder if living my life vicariously through a computer really makes any sense...lol

Cheers,


Billy

i bought BIAB on floppies to create backing tracks for a duo i played in. all midi in those days and the freebie with BIAB was PowerTracks. can't remember how i got on to BIAB but i think it was the music store in london who originally mentioned i could download backing tracks from the internet or 'there's band in a box and you can choose who is in your band.' which wasn't quite accurate but got me interested. all the styles were built in and i remember buying floppies with new midi styles from PG over the internet.

in fact when we played live we used PT DOS version to play the type O files on a laptop connected to a roland sc7 through a serial port.

funny in those days how much we used to have to know about pcs etc - eventually transferring to Windows 95 and having special versions of config.sys and autoexec.bat for different tasks like music and playing games. none of which i can remember and couldn't do these days.

but some of the basic lessons - rough out in BIAB and finalise in PT (now RB) taught me things that people coming to BIAB these days have missed out on and have great difficulty doing something which is quite simple.

and like you i can't sail my boat any more. parkinson's disease means i would probably fall overboard. it also means my guitar playing is getting severely limited and pc music more the norm for home consumption. playing out no longer happens.

I bought it to use as backup for practicing.

Hi Bob,

Sorry to hear about the Parkinson issue. I spent a year going through all sort of test because I had "Parkinson like symptoms". At the end of all that the Dr. said "I don't know what is wrong with you".He told me that that I did not have Parkinson but I may have something related and if I did it would be fatal and not treatable. Well...I did not die, so who knows...lol

I still go out in my boat sometimes on calm days but not alone and wear a auto inflatable life jacket.

Nice question. I haven't see this asked in many years.

I play almost all wind instruments but no rhythm instruments, so I needed something to generate chords and rhythms to compose and arrange music. I had been using the little Yamaha sequencers including the QY-10, and although they were incredible at the time, they were limited in variations. I went into Sam Ash in New York City to ask if there were newer models, and they steered me to a software approach, BIAB. This was back in, I think, 1993.

Many here on the forum do not know that there was an earlier BIAB forum that ceased in summer 2000 when new forum software was installed. All the early posts, and post counts, were lost. Some of us have been here a long time...

When I'm in the nursing home someday, all I will need is a laptop, headphones, and BIAB.

I got it mainly because I am a misanthrope. I don't want people coming into my house for ANY reason. Real Band (what I prefer) gives me quality players who are available to do tracks whenever I feel like working, with no schedules to coordinate. The "players" play very well, do more takes if I want them, never complain about it, never show up drunk, and are always on time. And I only had to pay them once. My CD was 90% tracks and 10% me. I have done a few songwriter showcases and got nothing but compliments about my "backing band".

I like computers (and dogs) SO much more than people. Covid quarantine has actually been quite enjoyable for me. I order stuff, people bring it to me in a day or two. Once I retired from work, I retired from people too.

Way back when BiaB was available for PC (DOS only), Motorola Mac and Atari computers on floppy disks I bought a copy to practice improvisation on my saxophone with.

To practice improv I had been using recordings, but this gave me the ability to play virtually song I wanted, and try out ideas without embarrassing myself in front of other band members.

Later on when BiaB started allowing end users to make styles I tried my hand at it. I made about a dozen and gave them to my friends. My friends told me they liked them better than the BiaB built in styles (aren't friends great?).

I wrote a few more, took out an ad in Electronics Musician and sold a few. One day Peter Gannon called and offered to convert the Atari formatted styles to PC (it was called IBM format back then). Before long I had a side business selling styles and I am still writing style e-disks and fake e-disks today.

Notes

Hi Matt,

It has been obvious to me from the start that you have been around here for a good little while. The 20K plus post sort of give it away. lol How you do dat??

I think needing some instrument that you don't play is most likely a pretty common reason for buying BIAB. I only know a few musicians who can play drums, guitar, bass and keys must less play brass and woodwind. I was kinda hoping I would fall overboard while being on my boat alone before I was required to go to a nursing home. Look at all the money my wife would save if I drowned fifty miles off shore...lol


Hi Eddie,

I guess I like most people or a least tolerate them . lol I do like some dogs better than some people I have met. Animals in general trust me more than humans. Dogs and cows like me for some unknown reason. Birds have landed on my head or shoulder many times, especially on my boat.

I wonder how many people buy BIAB who do not play any musical instrument.

Due to terrible timing, I could not find anyone who would play along with me.

BIAB bands don't complain about timing and eventually I did get better.

...Deb

like Matt i remember the old forums and the willingness to help was the same. and we're all growing older with PG Music!

Huh? Would speak a little louder so I can hear ya

I first bought BiaB on a floppy for my Atari computer and to be honest I didn't like it. IIRC I thought the styles were too stiff. There were not many styles back then. So I stayed with Dr T's sequencer and did my own MIDI stuff.

After our wedding band called it quits I still wanted to keep playing, but not in another band. I wanted to play what I wanted when I wanted. I tried BiaB again and have been with it for many years now.

I thought BiaB might save me time.

I had been doing mostly MIDI arrangements of my tunes since the advent of MIDI.

I got the MegaPAK in 1999, I think. Along with GigaSampler (the forerunner of the now-defunct GigaStudio) I was able
to construct arrangements at relative light speed.


I totally underestimated how BiaB would impact my musical (creative) life.


Biggest surprise:

"How easily I could get (had gotten) into a rut."

Typically, I'd begin with the way I originally imagined the tune / song and try to match it with BiaB. (I still do that.)
My breakthrough came one day when I wasn't completely satisfied with the results, and listened to what I had come up with through all the styles, even sometimes with different time signatures.

I was amazed at some of the results (most sounded terrible).

What resulted was a creative explosion for me.

Today, over 20 years later, I still regard

1. GigaStudio 4
and
2. BiaB

as the two greatest pieces of music software I've ever purchased (I started in the 1980's.)

First time I tried BIAB 10+ years ago, in hope to find a continuation of my Yamaha QY100 sequencer/arranger, which was an excellent piece of hardware 20 years ago. I tried it for an hour and uninstalled it.

Couple of years ago I decided to give it another shot, and got frustrated again. GUI scared me to death! I could not understand, why software so creative has this outdated design. I was about to close the door on BIAB but couple of senior members convinced me to be more open minded. In a couple of months I realized that this will be my main to-go software for music inspiration.

Before I moved to college I played with couple of bands, but it was never my intention to perform for crowds. I enjoy making songs for the joy of creating, not aiming for perfection. My thinking is, you can always expand on quality if you have good "bones". I was pleasantly surprised to find that many members here are also putting the concept of idea, composition and arrangement in front of judgement of production quality.

To draw the line. With very limited time I have for my music hobby, BIAB allows me to experiment with different styles on the fly, without sacrificing the quality. To be able to make those wonderful musicians play what I want them to play, without hating me for it.

Plus, forum members, that for the most part are wonderful people and musicians that will try to help and explain things without poisonous sarcasm. (*sarcasm can be good if applied in homeopathic dosages, like cyanide in B12 vitamins)

P.S. I do think I am lucky in the way to jump on the wagon at the time I did. I do see major improvements being made in relatively short period of time I was around. Hoping there is more BIG ones to come in the next year or two

When I first learned about being able to buy and download midi backing tracks I went laughing and kicking down the road. That must have been in about 1996. I didn’t even have a computer or access to the internet. Had to go over to a neighbor and sit there to find and download.

I used to copy these onto a stiffy disk and play them on my Yamaha keyboard.

In 1999 I had an pocket sized external sound module thingy, with a keyboard, sounds and styles ( it was made by Roland and I called it “Phillip”). I took it with me when I sailed from cape to rio and spent hours in my bunk exploring the possibilities of computer generated accompaniment.

From 2001 till 2010 I took a break from music completely and then in 2010 I took some vocal lessons... that lead me to a duo... which lead me to song writing and recording... which in 2011 lead me to Biab.

I'm glad it did. Keep on doing what you're doing.

You're making music much more accessible to a ton of people.

It helps all of us who enjoy playing music by having listeners who can better appreciate what they're hearing.

I had decided to record my songs and I wanted to do it myself. This was about ten years ago. I had dabbled with Audacity and then bought Sonar. I thought the bundled vst instruments were what I needed to add drums and bass to the guitar and vocal tracks I'd record myself. I guess they were, but I wasn't interested in learning midi.

Then I heard some of the productions Guitarhacker posted in the Cakewalk Sonar forums. They were wonderful. He recommended I check out BIAB and he went on to explain how he used Real Tracks in his original songs. I was sold. Thank you, Herb!

I posted 'One of Those Days' to the Showcase in December, 2013.

I used Master Tracks Pro on my Atari, which got ported to Mac and when Microsoft went with windows 3.1 I jumped on it there as well.

I still use MTPro for doing pure MIDI sequence work. Unfortunately it's been abandoned and there will be no more updates. It's still very powerful, has a nice set of tools, and there is no Audio to complicate the menus so my work gets done much quicker than it does with Cakewalk, or Power Tracks Pro Audio (two other fine tools when I need audio as well).

Notes

For many years I would create my own midi tracks for the odd bit of music for myself and my ex. All my live playing was done with fellow musicians. We rarely used other types of tracks although I did put some MIDI songs into a keyboard I had. I did know some guys that spoke of BIAB and I had seen it a number of years ago but it was not for me.

After retiring about 6 years ago my wife and I moved from Tasmania up to a retirement village on the Gold Coast. Not long after I arrived here folks asked if I would do some songs for them. I needed some backing tracks pronto and got BIAB Pro. Then in a short time discovered RealTracks and have been creating backing tracks ever since until March this year (I did my last show and everything shut down).

Lately I’m back to playing with MIDI and have spent a small fortune on things such as Kontakt and VSL Synchron Orchestra stuff. But BIAB is still there generating bits I want albeit with an increased use of MIDI. I do this mainly to maintain some form of sanity in this new age of shut downs and to see how far I can push it for myself.

Thanks to PG, BIAB and the Forum Folk.

Tony

Back about 20 years ago I purchased a Roland keyboard and figured out that I could create some pretty good backing tracks to back my guitar playing using it's accompaniment styles. As I began to get more gigs I wanted to improve the quality and flexibility of the back-ups and purchased my first version of BIAB from Bob "Notes" Norton. I've been gigging with BIAB ever since (although I'm on hold at this time due to Covid-19). Due to the variety of styles that BIAB offers, I've been able to play in several different genres without having to hire a new band each time. Although I haven't gotten rich, the money I've made has more than paid for the yearly upgrades.

Thanks Peter and BIAB!

+1 for Bob 'Notes' Norton and his 3rd party styles. I remember one of his early ads in a Recording magazine, and we had a nice chat.

Kudos to Peter Gannon for recognizing the value Bob adds to BIAB, and to Bob for quality work.

I totally agree. I have a number of Notes' styles and they are great!

I had my first version of BiaB floppy disks given to me after expressing an interest in it. If I recall, I was actually more interested in the Powertracks program that came with it.
/there were benefits to having parents that owned a music store <grin>/

I too remember the old forum.
The often mentioned (and missed) Mac and I were working on a website project when he mentioned to me that he had just registered on the new forum. So I went over & re-registered, becoming member number 32. Man that was a long time ago.

Mac is member 11 and Peter is 12, I always found that humorous. Mac was all over everything. Hard to believe he ever slept.

WoW...this is turning out to be a real BIAB history lesson.

I was wandering the internet looking for a backing track for Jobim's Wave. I followed a few links but they were awful tracks. Then I went to the next link, and there it was. A really good backing track. By Notes Norton! Got it. loaded it, played a sax melody line over it, and it worked out well. I still don't know what goes in to making a style, but I know he does good ones.

To create backing tracks, but it's like a rabbit warren and I keep getting side tracked. Recently, I've spent more time on the forum than using it, but I can't help getting the full upgrade every year. I think I'm a BIAB addict....

I bought BIAB back in 1995. I needed bass and drums to accompany me on my solo hotel gig. Now-a-days I use it more to make lead sheets for the jazz group I work with, although we haven't had any gigs for months due to Covid-19.

The first time was when BiaB was all midi. I didn't like the audio results and didn't have the time to devote to thoroughly learn midi.

The second time my wife gave me a 2011 BiaB ProPAK CD. The ability for RealTracks to follow song key signature changes hooked me.

You know how someone starts a song in one key but that key doesn't work for the singer so everyone tries different keys until they find one that's better? That was amazing then and still amazes me.

Once I settle on a chord progression and style I still enjoy cycling through keys. Some songs just sound better in a certain key. Band-in-a-Box is more than a one trick pony but that one trick was all it took for me.

I bought it for the steel guitar.

As per "Mac's" advice back in 2004 (I think) I bought it to get me out doing live gigs again. Best music move I have ever made as since then I have done many hundreds of shows I would never have done without BIAB.

Thanks Again Mac!

I still miss good ol' Mac. He was a nice guy, and very generous and helpful contributor to our extended family here.

But life goes on.

Notes

Yes sir

My introduction to BIAB was a bit bizarre. I didn't have any PRN radiology techs on staff in the TB clinic, so I had to rely on a temp manpower company to provide techs when my radiology tech called in sick or was on vacation. My tech took a 2 week vacation, and when she came back she found that the temp had downloaded a bunch of WAREZ that had infected the radiology department's main PC with a virus. Our IT department was less than helpful in getting the virus removed, so I stayed after work and tried to remove the virus and identify the source of infection.

Turned out that the temp radiology tech was a part time musician and had downloaded a folder with several pirated versions of music software including BIAB 11 which was all MIDI at the time. Not being familiar with the program, I took a copy off the infected computer and took it back to my studio to see what it was. Impressed with what it sounded like through my Yamaha keyboard, and discovering that I could export MIDI from it and use it in Cakewalk, I looked the company up online and purchased version 12. I think at the time the PG Music was offering free demo downloads of their software so I'm not sure why the software Pirates were packaging it together with their Pirated stuff.

I fired the temp.