2011 User Showcase Awards.... Congratulations to....
You may have won a free Band-in-a-Box 2012 Everything Pak ..... check here
Over the past year, we’ve had over 400 compositions posted to the User Showcase. Wow! Many thanks to all that have contributed.
We’d like to thank and recognize these amazing contributions that people have made!
So we announce the User Showcase Awards...to the top 15 contributors of 2011 – a free Band-in-a-Box 2012 Everything Pak for Windows (including the 20 PAK bonus)
We’ve reviewed the contributions from Jan 1 to Dec 1, 2011, and have based the results on a combination of the following criteria:
- most contributions
- good arrangements/productions
- use lots of BB or RealBand (RealTracks or MIDI)
- other contribution to the forum (songwriting tips etc.)
And the winners (alphabetical order) are:
Don Gaynor
eddie1261
George Nelson
Ian Fraser
jford
Kemmrich
MarioD
Mr_Songman
PgFantastic
Robh
rsdean
Steve Young
Sundance
tommyad
Tommyc
If your name is on the list.... congratulations! You have won a free Band-in-a-Box 2012 Everything Pak Hard Drive (including free shipping of course)
To collect your award, please contact
marketing@pgmusic.com (by Dec. 31, 2011) (attn: Cat Cantwell), and provide details of where you want it to be sent.
If you've already purchased 2012, we will refund your purchase price. If you already have BB 2012 via another means (beta testing etc.), then you can designate "someone else" to receive it (just send that info privately in your email).
Once again, thanks to all the creative people who create, produce and share these wonderful songs!
Actually Peter the thanks should go to you and the rest of the PGMusic staff. BiaB an extremely useful tool! It has kept me and I’ll bet a lot of other musicians playing and recording. I have learned a lot about musical genres that I couldn’t have explored without it. It is a great learning, practicing, recording and live playing piece of software that just keeps getting better and better.
Then to put the icing on the cake you have set the bar for customer service and satisfaction so high that I know of no other software company can even come close.
Keep up the outstanding work and thank you very much - MarioD
Wow, my first songwriting award ever. This is way too cool.
My first thought was that's amazing -- my second thought was that I was on a pretty good list of folks!! My last thought was, what a great product BIAB is and what a great company PG Music is.
I started writing songs back in 2007 and my number one issue was drum/percussion and then filling out the sound with other instrumentation. I finally upgraded to BIAB 2009 and voila, instant better production. I also use BIAB as an actual composing tool where I let the automatic intros feature and the demo songs push me in directions I might not have gone before. (Unfortunately, BIAB can't do a thing about my lead singing!!)
In any case, I am very appreciative of this recognition and mucho thanks to the entire development, production and customer service staff at PG Music!!!!
Kevin
Peter,
What a great Idea "User Showcase Awards"
It is a very nice thank you for all the work these folks have
done helping the rest of us.
Also nice recognition for their "Music and other efforts".
Great Idea also as encouragement to the rest of us.
Thanks,
Congratulations to the winners....
Congratulations winners
That's a brilliant effort and a well deserved result!
Happy Christmas to you all,
Noel
Quote:
Actually Peter the thanks should go to you and the rest of the PGMusic staff. BiaB an extremely useful tool! It has kept me and I’ll bet a lot of other musicians playing and recording. I have learned a lot about musical genres that I couldn’t have explored without it. It is a great learning, practicing, recording and live playing piece of software that just keeps getting better and better.
Then to put the icing on the cake you have set the bar for customer service and satisfaction so high that I know of no other software company can even come close.
Keep up the outstanding work and thank you very much - MarioD
Yes Congrats & KUDOS to all the winners!!
I would like to strongly SECOND MarioD's above comments about PG (KEEP IT UP)!
Larry
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. To say I was thankful to have this amazing software to give my songs "life" would also be an understatement.
To have this great forum in which to bounce ideas around with great people is awesome.
Thanks Peter for making all of it possible.
Cheers - Ian
Way to go guys. You too Ian.
Now I'm going to quit crying. Stupid old man.
Congratulations everyone!
Steve
Hey Peter,
Thank you so much - this was quite unexpected and very appreciated.
Bob
Wow! What a pleasant surprise!
Peter, thank you so much for producing such an outstanding product. And thank you to all the staff at PG Music. Your service is unsurpassed, in my opinion. I am so honored to be included with such a great group of people here.
Thanks!
Steve
Fantastic. Congrats to all the winners, and to all the folks in the Showcase! (Gotta get some of my own stuff in there....)
Very nice. I'm constantly impressed by PGMusic, what a great idea.
Congrats to the winners, and enjoy!
Congratulations to the winners and also to all of the contributors!
PS: Nice touch Peter.
Merry CHristmas All!
Congrats guys... well done
Dr Gannon, Peter, such a wonderful gesture from a wonderful guy! Your generosity never ceases to amaze me. Your loyalty to your customers along with your five-star customer service places pg music head and shoulders above whomever is in second place. I am left without words adequate enough to express my sincere gratitude to you and your entire crew. Thank you again.
Wow, I really appreciate being among such a great bunch.
Really Peter, all thanks go to you, and your incredible staff. Jeff, Andrew, Rob, and so many more.
I am amazed at what you can do with this software. I am amazed at the amount of enjoyment i gain from it. I am sure many others here are like me, busy life, little time. To have a tool like this to help make a hobby, or vocation so much more fun, not to mention the ease it allows in creativity.
One thing i want to really stress, I have fancier DAW software programs on my computer, bigger names, like Sonar, Reaper, and others, but i hardly ever open them. Between BiaB, and Rb i can get it done.
Congratulations to all the winners - and everyone else who makes these forums such a great place to hang out at!
What a wonderful surprise!
I’m all misty eyed here doing the happy dance…
Thank you Peter and staff for such a thoughtful gesture.
I love using this software and what a super company!
Hi,
Well, I am gob-smacked!!
What can I say but thank you so much for this Christmas present.
Without Band in a Box my musical life would be gray. It gives color to my music.
Christmas wishes to you and your wonderful staff.
Best regards
George
Well what a great start to my day. To say I was surprised would be a huge understatement!
I would like to echo the comments of Mario, Steve and others regarding not only the excellent product supplied by the guys from PG but the wonderful after sales service and technical back up.
Thank you so much!
I am also proud and privileged to be sharing the list with such a talented, friendly and helpful bunch of people.
Well done to all, and thank you for your help over this past year!
Thank you all again
Martin - an extremely chuffed Martin.
Congrats to all winners, you deserved it. Thank you very much PG!!!
Jan
WOW!
What other software company does stuff like this??
This gesture is not only a testimony to the company, it speaks volumes about the kind of person whose passion for music and compassion for humanity add such value to this life! Dr Gannon, my hat is off to you once again! This world is a better place because you are in it!
I'm so happy for all the winners! EXCELLENT choices every one!
Congratulations, and thanks for taking time to share your music
And thanks to everyone at PGMusic for your part in the equation... what a remarkable team, remarkable product, remarkable humanity!
Congrats to all the winners
Cheers
Nels
WOW i don't even have BIAB yet and this is so impressive to me . This has me even more pumped to get it soon i hope. What a Grate gesture By PG.
Wow I Won ! What software company would do this ,only the greatest software company ever ! I don't know how to thank you enough Peter ! I am so broke that my phone got cut off this month ,so this is incredible news for me ! Yee Haw from Tommy Cole and Thanks again Peter you made my Christmas !
Congratulations to all the winners and well done, you deserve it
And a Big Thanks to Peter and the team at PG for the great software.
musiclover
Congrats to all the winners, and thanks to all the folks at PG for creating this wonderful software.
Regards,
Bob
Quote:
Actually Peter the thanks should go to you and the rest of the PGMusic staff. BiaB an extremely useful tool! It has kept me and I’ll bet a lot of other musicians playing and recording. I have learned a lot about musical genres that I couldn’t have explored without it. It is a great learning, practicing, recording and live playing piece of software that just keeps getting better and better.
Then to put the icing on the cake you have set the bar for customer service and satisfaction so high that I know of no other software company can even come close.
Keep up the outstanding work and thank you very much - MarioD
Very well said, Mario.
As a songwriter without an actual 'band', BIAB has enabled me to put 'form and structure and genre' to all my lyrics, in addition to enabling me to explore different possibilities for each of those things.
I really didn't know how I was going to do it before I found BIAB. Now when I do assemble the instrumentalists, my songs are basically ready to go!
The DAWs and the notation programs and the audio editing programs and the MIDI editors and the virtual instruments and FX are all useful tools, but none do what BIAB does.
I just watched "Social Network" last night, and in the end Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook prevailed over the wannabes and parasites because of the obvious excellence of his idea/product, and I couldn't help thinking about BIAB, and how unique and empowering it is.
Great concept, Peter.
These awards are a great idea, even if my songs didn't get one. Congrats to all the deserving winners.
Kent K
Wow COOLEST Company Ever ! Thank You Peter , who'da thunk it ,win something for having fun and sharing ! Can't wait to hear CarlosA style !
And, while we're on the subject of giving out rewards, a big thank you to all the people on this forum who daily help people like me understand band-in-a-box a lot better. You talk about a help desk, this one is the greatest.
Hi All,
Firstly Congrads to the showcase winners. I see the list of winners names but is there a list of the actual winning songs as I would like to listen to them. Not sure how mine own songs compare but it would be nice to get some opinions or even advice from others.
In all the years I have been using biab I had not realised there was a Showcase I have always gone straight to the biab forum mostly looking for a solution to a problem so this is a new discovery for me.
Can anyone suggest a free hosting site I can use to store my own songs for others to hear as I don't have my own website or can they be uploaded straight from my PC - I'm a bit green on this.
Many thanks.
Jeff
Yay to all the winners, and of course to Peter for doing this.
Wow, congratulations to all the winners.
Quote:
JBlue7:... I see the list of winners names but is there a list of the actual winning songs as I would like to listen to them. Not sure how mine own songs compare but it would be nice to get some opinions or even advice from others....
.. Can anyone suggest a free hosting site I can use to store my own songs for others to hear ...
Go here: http://www.pgmusic.com/user-showcase/ , sort by the artists' names, find the "winners" and then listen to as many as you wish. I don't think Peter just picked the folks with the "best" songs -- there was other criteria involved. As you go through the songs, you will see different hosting options. I usually use soundclick but reverbnation, soundcloud and others are popular, too.
I hope to hear some of your stuff soon.
Kevin
Thanks for the info Kevin,
Ah That explains it, winners were not picked on a specific song. I'm sure I'll hear some great stuff onmy travels.
Apolagies as I think I placed my question in the wrong showcase area.
Regards Jeff
Quote:
Can anyone suggest a free hosting site I can use to store my own songs for others to hear as I don't have my own website or can they be uploaded straight from my PC - I'm a bit green on this.
Many thanks.
Jeff
jeff,
i use www.soundclick.com which is very easy to use. i'm anxious to hear your tunes.
Many Thanks Don,
Yes I joined Soundclick yesterday and I'm still finding my way around, all looks pretty impressive but a lot to take in and set up. I'll post some songlinks as soon as I am. Hopefully I'll also get around to hearing more of every one else's songs in time too.
Regards.Jeff
Congratulations to all the winners and a thank you to all the show case contributors. I don't post my appreciation there as much as I should, but I often lurk and listen to the fantastic songs.
Congratulations to the award recipients and also to Peter and crew for their tireless efford to make BIAB the best experience for us musos!!!
Happy Holidays, folks
Cheers,
Mike
Hello all,
I also wanted to add my voice to congratulate all of the user forum award winners and to staff at BIAB for making such a useful product. I am very familiar with the quality of work from the winners and have enjoyed their original compositions and their the use of BIAB.
Thank you again and i hope everyone has a happy and prosperous new year!
This is AMAZING!!!
First that PG Music did this, and second that I was on the list. Had someone called me to tell me I won the 2012 Everything Pack, I would have asked them what radio station was pulling a prank phone call on me.
And the irony that is my life continues, because I just TODAY saw the 12 day old post!!
Thank you all at PG Music.
There are SO many people to thank. I want to thank the drummer who did my drum tracks. (Oh wait, that was Real Band.) And I want to thank the guitar player for his great solo work. (Oh wait, that was Real Band too.) But special thanks to the steel guitar player. Good ones are so hard to find. (Oh wait, once again that was Real Band.) Come to think of it, I barely played anything. I did the writing and the singing, and the arranging of clips I cut and pasted....
You guys at PG truly rock. Or swing. Or country. Whatever.
(Too far?)
Quote:
This is AMAZING!!!
First that PG Music did this, and second that I was on the list. Had someone called me to tell me I won the 2012 Everything Pack, I would have asked them what radio station was pulling a prank phone call on me.
And the irony that is my life continues, because I just TODAY saw the 12 day old post!!
Thank you all at PG Music.
There are SO many people to thank. I want to thank the drummer who did my drum tracks. (Oh wait, that was Real Band.) And I want to thank the guitar player for his great solo work. (Oh wait, that was Real Band too.) But special thanks to the steel guitar player. Good ones are so hard to find. (Oh wait, once again that was Real Band.) Come to think of it, I barely played anything. I did the writing and the singing, and the arranging of clips I cut and pasted....
You guys at PG truly rock. Or swing. Or country. Whatever.
(Too far?)
You deserved it Eddie. You jumped into the programs with a vengeance, and also helped others trying to learn how to use them. Looking forward to some new songs from that new Everything Pack!
Congratulations.
Regards,
Bob
Thank you very much for the award. I can't stop smiling. This is the most amazing software that can be imagined. It truly inspires and fertilizes the creative process. I have had a tough year personally but this award is the shot in the arm that I needed to get back on track again with some new songs. Thanks to all the contributors for their creative efforts and for taking the time to listen and comment on other peoples songs. Thanks again to Peter and the staff. I am your biggest fan. Tom
Big congratulations to all the winners, and big thumbs up to Peter and company for coming up with such a great idea.
For the last year or so, I've been heavily involved in work, and then afterwards shooting has taken up a lot of time for me, so when I do get time to sit down at my keyboard, I'll just use the built in arranger function instead of opening BIAB and putting in a song. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does get boring and old after a while, hearing the same old thing every time. That's why Band In A Box has always been like a breath of fresh air for me.
BUT, and this is a big 'but', the reason I use an arranger keyboard is that I never really learned how to play piano. Melody and chords was all I ever really knew, which works very well in either an arranger keyboard, or BIAB. On the down side, I never learned theory, scales (yes, basic, but I never took lessons seriously), or any of the skills that would let me write music. I have to wonder how many others are like me?
So, I put it to the winners of this year's Awards, would you dedicate an area of the Showcase forum to 'The Art of Writing Music?' I know that it's possible for me to create a song out of nothing from BIAB, but I'd like to have something that is my own, and learn the keys to doing it. As a teacher once told me, if you have the keys, you can open any door. He taught keys to opening doors. Would you collectively be willing to teach those of us who don't know the keys to writing music?
Gary
Josie,
I guess my problem is I'm not educated enough in the musical arts to even know what kind of chord progression to write, or the melody to follow it.
As I said, and as Pat pointed out in the other thread, using BIAB to generate parts of the song is great, but I guess, for me, it doesn't explain WHY the song is the way it is.
Gary
Quote:
... I guess my problem is I'm not educated enough in the musical arts to even know what kind of chord progression to write, or the melody to follow it. ... Gary
Gary,
Want to learn music theory quickly (at least the chord progression part)? Find your top 10 favorite songs and study the structures (verses, "lifts", choruses, bridges, intros and outros ...) and figure out the chords used in each section of those tunes (lots of help on the internet). Program the chord progressions into BIAB (come close, don't worry about trying to do a perfect "cover") and then write your own lyrics to those chord progressions. You will find that almost all of the songs conform to this progression chart: http://mugglinw.ipower.com/chordmaps/part3.htm (scroll down to Concept #6 - The Simple Map) or, if you get complicated with substitutions galore, then look at this chart: http://mugglinw.ipower.com/chordmaps/part5.htm (2nd map, in C). Writing lyrics to existing songs and melodies is called "Ghost Writing". I have done it a few times and I have found it very easy to change the melody/phrasing to make it a unique song.
Note: When you find chords and lyrics for your favorite songs on the internet, make sure you check a few sources -- there are lots of errors out there.
Kevin
Interesting idea, Kevin. Thanks for the suggestion.
I downloaded and installed BIAB 2012 last night, and also upgraded my GPO and JABB to the latest versions....boy, do I love that Aria player over the Kontakt player! Looks like I'll finally actually be able to use those libraries in a useful way!
We'll see what 2012 brings.
Gary
Just found out I was on the list. Thanks Pg, thanks to all on this great forum.
brilliant idea believe me an award like this to all those songwriters will give them a lift to write more music and even those who didnt win will Im sure write even better songs to get on the winners list