I believe that sticking with things that are tried and true is always the best way to achieve success. Being on the cutting edge has always been dicey. That said some folks like pioneering the trail. Me personally i prefer a solid working environment and not having to fuss with things to make them work.
Hi David. I wondered where you'd gone. The mood certainly fits the title. It looks like a lot of work, but isn't it great to hear it in print, so to speak? USB's can take a running jump. I have more that don't fit than do. Good stuff. Vic
There's a metronome? Personally I never use the metronome. With a drum track and the count-in, I've never felt the need to use a metronome in any of my music recordings. Even when I move it to my DAW, I simply set the tempo in the DAW and rely on the tracks for timing. There are rare exceptions to this. For example if I have a pause for effect in the song and everything comes in at the same time after the pause/hold, timing is critical and with no reference, the metronome in the DAW is essential. But that's pretty rare and I usually only resort to the click out of desperation.
First of all.... Unfold the song using edit.. song form.. unfold. This puts the song into a linear form and eliminates the mysterious repeats. For the endings, as mentioned, you can select the standard 2 or 4 bar endings as they tend to work well for most songs. However, if they don't provide what you specifically want, you can always create your own custom ending easily. How you do it will depend on how you want the song to end, but generally I will add about 8 extra bars to the end to give me room to do what I want and have room for the fade. You can do fancy stuff or even a simple slow down to a hold. I like to call it the "roll your own" approach to endings.
A very interesting twist. I think it will be a good marriage. While Akai hardware is not something I am planning to acquire at nearest future, I was following their development. One of the last offerings, MPC Key 37 with a touch screen is a pretty neat piece of hardware. Bottom line, as long as they do anything fishy with NI licenses, I am happy for them.
Hi David! Reading your development summary (yes, I like reading these) and then listening to the song recording, the result you have achieved is impressive. Those voices sound real. It is good to see you back on the forum and posting your work! Andrew
Now, however, there's a new tool that can backwards engineer the lyrics to determine the exact song that the AI trained on when it put your lyrics together.
That won't work unless they (whoever "they" are) can determine with certainty whether the song lyrics were written by humans. Love songs alone are enough to break that. A simple example: I write a song whose entire lyrics consist solely of "I love you". I came up with this innovative idea myself because I looked at my wife, thought "I love you", and decided to write a song about it. But after those three words, I ran out of ideas. An AI like the one described above MUST find a gazillion songs that were used to train the lyrics AI I allegedly used.
Hi Scott. Some lovely tones on the guitar. "Wonderful Land" does spring to mind. I did wonder if there may be a synth and a strum clashing tonally. Just a thought. Could be my ears. Vic
David, This sounds great. It has a bit of a Michael Feinstein feel to it. Excellent arrangement and band. I also love the mix - it sounds "live". Very nice! Bob
Unless I have a full written coda, I usually use the options in the bottom left of that dialog box to add an ending and the option start two bars early. That means the two bars can contain the turnaround. Frustratingly BIAB only allows this for multi-chorus songs.
Sleepwalkingi'm lost in a hazy dream passing places so familiar but i've never seen travelling by night follow your light upside down, inside out, in between like a puppet on a string or a caged bird that sings i am helpess and held in your sway i wait for you to give me some clue sleepwalking, sleepwalking awayEffectsMaster Buss: HoRNet ThirtyOneMK2, Lurssen Matering Console (Classical (Warmer)) Lead Vocal: Curves Equator, Al Schmidt (Vocal) Solo Flugelhorn: Kontact (Sketches of Flugelhorn), Sunset Sound (Plate 1) Bass: Al Schmitt (Bass) Drums: Al Schmitt (Drums) Piano: Al Schmitt (Piano) String Quartet: Ambiante (Recording Studio 1), Trackspacer, Al Schimtt (Strings), Abbey Road Plates (Lush Strings) Background Vocals: Sunset Sound (Live Room/Studio 1), Sunset Sound (Plate 2) Instruments ~2316:Bass, Acoustic, JazzWaltzSlowRonA-B Sw 085 ~2322:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm JazzWaltzSlowKenny Sw 085 ~~4475:Piano, Acoustic, Soloist JazzWaltzSlowRH Sw 085 4639:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm VintageCountryWaltzTremolo Sw 085 JazzWaltzLewis^01-a:Brushes, Snare , b:Brushes, Busy Snare Synth V VocalsLead Vocal: Danny Male Vocals: An Xiao 2, Danny, Feng Yi 2, Liam, Ryo 2, Saros II, Oscar Female Vocals: Weina 2, Natalie, Quing Su, Solaria, Sheena, Felicia Background Half the year's almost gone, and I hadn't written anything, so I decided it was time I sat down and did something. I found the _JWLZBPW.STY, which I though sounded pretty cool. I figured that I should at least make some changes to the chord progression, so that's what I did. Don't listen too closely, because there are a lot of questionable harmony choices. I exported a backing track and imported it into SynthesizerV. I picked Danny as the lead vocalist because I'd bought it a couple months ago, and hadn't used it yet. The song didn't really have a verse/chorus feel, so don't expect to find a strong chorus, or any chorus, for that matter. I figured an instrumental in the middle would help to break things up. It had a sleepy sort of vibe, which explains the lyrics. I added a string quartet, because those are always fun. I exported the chords from BiaB and imported them into MuseScore. In the Tools menu I used the Realize Chord Symbols[b] to automatically fill the chords into the piano staff. I then chose [b]Explode to fill in the string quartet staves. I adjusted the notes so they were in the correct range, and then spent a couple hours fiddling with the notes to make them sound like they were sort of coherent. There's a lot of chromatic movement, so it's got a very "oily" sort of feel in parts. I duplicated the vocal and moved the notes to make harmonies. SynthesizerV has an option where you can "thicken" a melody. I then "exploded" those and assigned a bunch of different voices to them, so they'd sound a bit more choral. I was going to play the solo part with my EWI, but I couldn't find the right USB cable, so I used the Sketches of Flugelhorn VSTi and drew into the piano roll in my DAW. I chose a bunch of VSTs that would hopefully give it a vintage flavor, and here it is, ready for your ears. Comments of any sorts are welcome - there's a good chance I'll still fiddle around with this.
Hello, I’m considering buying a new Windows laptop, and some of the latest models use ARM processors (Snapdragon X Elite / Windows 11 ARM64). Before I make a decision, I would like to know whether Band‑in‑a‑Box 2026 works reliably on Windows ARM systems. I already contacted PG Music support, but the reply only pointed me to the general Windows requirements page, so I’m hoping that users here may have real‑world experience. Could anyone who has tried Band‑in‑a‑Box on Windows ARM please comment on the following points? 1. Installation and execution – Does BIAB 2026 run correctly under x86‑64 emulation on Windows ARM? – Any crashes, freezes, or performance issues? 2. RealTracks / RealDrums – Do RealTracks generate and render properly under ARM emulation? – Any issues with audio stretching or pitch shifting? 3. VST / VSTi plugins – Are VST2/VST3 plugins working under Windows ARM? – Have you tested large instruments (Kontakt, SampleTank, etc.)? 4. Audio drivers – Do ASIO drivers (Focusrite, Steinberg, MOTU, etc.) work correctly on ARM systems? – Or do you have to fall back to WASAPI? 5. Overall recommendation – Would you recommend Windows ARM for "advanced" BIAB use (RealTracks, VST instruments, ASIO), or should I stick with Intel/AMD for now? Any feedback, benchmarks, or personal experience would be extremely helpful. Thanks a lot!
No, Band-in-a-Box does not accept arrangement commands like intro, variation and ending. Band-in-a-Box can record notes one at a time, chords one at a time and controller commands (CC) like volume, expression and panning. Arranger keyboards like the Yamaha PSR-SX920 can control their sound in real time; you press a key or button and you hear the results while the music is playing. Band-in-a-Box does not create in real time. Either you enter commands into Band-in-a-Box or you playback and listen. You can't do both at the same time. +++ This +++ article explains midi. The article includes a list of controller codes (CC) that Band-in-a-Box accepts.
ok... Looks like I need to keep an eye on these. Yamaha PSR-SX 920 Yamaha Genos 2 KORG Pa5X How to connect to a computer and record from a DAW to the computer's DAW.
To wrap things up on this thread, we successfully held our 1st gig. The Tascam, laptop, backing tracks, keyboard and other equipment all worked fine. And I did bring a portable DAP as a backup which was not needed. The laptop and DAW works so well, including synced chord display that I'm thinking that Mario's idea of a backup laptop might be the way to go if we continue to gig. As a matter of fact, when we meet to practice in my jam room I'm now using the laptop/interface/DAW method to play stem-separated elements of our chosen backing tracks; most often just the drums. And the icing on the cake is that we're instantly setup to record our practice sessions so they can be reviewed afterwards and emailed to potential bandmates. Compared to 40 years ago, things are so much easier today. Thanks go to everyone that supplied ideas.
You are on the right track. Just need to check some more boxes. Have a look at this video which might assist: You probably need to check "Generate 2 bar ending" and "Use 4 bar ending for RealTracks", then add the chords that you need in the last 4 bars.
I have a pretty simple version of the Jazz standard Bluesette that I created in BIAB and am struggling to create an ending for the song. The tune is set up pretty simply and I wanted to have: 1. Head/Melody In 2. Three choruses for solos 3. Head/Melody Out Found a couple of forum posts but there doesn't seem to be a straightforward way to do this. I was experimenting with the Ending Options, but can't seem to figure out how they work and the modal help pop-ups don't seem clear on how to create an ending. I've attached some examples of what I have so far. Thanks
Hi AB The lyrics are still relevant today, as we're getting swamped by mass produced, pimple powered, meaningless finger gestured, baggy panted, baseball cap pop! Well updated using a good style choice. Short and sweet unfortunately. Great work AB.... go forth and find more rock. Kind regards.
FWIW I haven't found a MIDI melody and chord program that I would purchase. Most are aimed at hip hop, trap, etc genres. I haven't heard one yet do a complete song that I liked. I have found the best is BiaB's melodist and/or soloist. Again it will not give me a complete song but I always find a phrase or two that I can turn into a song. You might want to try that.
+++ Press Release +++ Native Instruments is the developer of Kontakt as well as the mastering and audio production tools iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx.
No, Band-in-a-Box does not accept arrangement commands like intro, variation and ending. Band-in-a-Box can record notes one at a time, chords one at a time and controller commands (CC) like volume, expression and panning. Arranger keyboards like the Yamaha PSR-SX920 can control their sound in real time; you press a key or button and you hear the results while the music is playing. Band-in-a-Box does not create in real time. Either you enter commands into Band-in-a-Box or you playback and listen. You can't do both at the same time. +++ This +++ article explains midi. The article includes a list of controller codes (CC) that Band-in-a-Box accepts.
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I'd be grateful for your thoughts. Tracks (bits and pieces) in song:- 
Comments of any sorts are welcome - there's a good chance I'll still fiddle around with this.
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