Since it's Thursday, let's honor the #TBT trend and take a look way back to Band-in-a-Box® 2004!

Some of the new features released with this version included:
-All New 32-bit Program Engine
-DirectX Instrument Synthesizer (DXi plug-in) Support
-Amazing Audio Vocal Harmony routines: You can apply a harmony to the audio part!
-Load a MIDI file into Band-in-a-Box using a single keystroke
-New "Hybrid Styles" feature that allows you to play and create a style that has instruments from up to five different styles!
-Transpose Each Chorus
...and more!

A detailed list for the 2004 New Features can be found here: www.pgmusic.com/pdfs/bbwin_version_2004.pdf

Check out the Band-in-a-Box® 2004 for Windows New Features video, narrated by Peter Gannon:



Did you have (or still have) Band-in-a-Box® 2004? What was (is) your favorite feature?

I had this version, and over a decade before it. This small new feature was my favorite, something I still use every day:

Chords like C7+ can be typed without using the shift key.
Now the program automatically converts the "=" symbol to the + key.

This, I think, was the last version that had any significant change to the printed notation. It introduced the ability to have first / second endings as well as repeats. So 13 years without any further updates.

Sure, there have been some changes, including music XML, that may or may not work, but nothing that compares to changes that have happened in the rest of the application.

I know I have been loath to update since, unlike some users, I do need the printed output, more so than the multiple Real Tracks, or Real Band.

I think it's time to make changes to notation.

Dave, you could start another thread where we could focus on this. But let me just ask, are you familiar with the free but powerful notation program, Musescore? It reads BIAB files directly, not just via Music XML.

Matt, I have tried Musescore, but found that it didn't really handle the multi line lyrics very well. Now, admitted it was a while ago, and things could have changed, but my main beef is that I really feel that BIAB should by now, be able to produce a much better printed output.

For instance, why is each bar on a staff line the same physical length, regardless of the number of notes or lyric syllable. But I have commented on this many times. Why, again, do we have to create a song in linear form, just so that we can get a decent printout.

I found this post, presumably showing how far the product has come in the last 13 years, didn't acknowledge that notation hasn't experience the same growth. But again, PGMusic is showing how much has changed, not what hasn't

There have been many improvements to the notation. For example, here are the improvements in the 2017 version. Each year has a similar list.

Notation has been enhanced:
The Guitar Notation display has been enhanced. You can now enter and display bends, slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs with notation graphics indicating these elements. You can create all these in the note edit dialog, and import/export from/to XML files.
A rapid notation entry mode has been added for piano and guitar music. To do this, open up the Piano or Guitar window, use the new features to have right/left cursor keys to set the current notation position, and then click on the piano or guitar to enter notes. This is much faster than previous methods in many cases.
The notation timeline is much more visible while editing, as it is a yellow wide transparent vertical line on the notation.
Entry of Forced Accidentals is quicker now, without a pull down list required.
Band-in-a-Box® now remembers previous width & height when saving notation as image.
Band-in-a-Box® notation now has a checkbox to keep ratio the same when changing Width or Height in Save image dialog.
RealScore Chords font is now selectable on the Notation window fonts menu.
Music XML (notation export/import) has been enhanced. We've worked with Finale, GuitarPro, and Sibelius to enhance features and compatibility with Music XML. For example, we now read/write more chord types as well as guitar tab, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides from/to XML.

But Peter,
It really doesn't change the fact that the print notation (that is the paper representation of the song) hasn't had any significant updates since 2004.

I agree that ther have been data input updates, but we still have fixed bar lengths, although we can assign the number of bars on a line. It's still very difficult to get note lyrics to line up when dealin with multi note bars. The last bar on a line can cause all sorts of problems due to lyrics wrapping to the line below.

I love BIAB; note, lyric and chord entry is a breeze, and the sound of the 'band', even with basic midi is amazing.

Perhaps BIAB is not a piece of notation software, and I should consider investing in a dedicated notation software, but I am not prepared to create duplicate copies all of my songs. BIAB notation could be a lot better, or at least provide a simple but comprehensive interface to another program. Wouldn't it be nice to use the same dialogue we use today to get a professional looking fake sheet?