Which other softwares do you use to supplement BIAB? In this thread, I suggest we only talk about 'semi-automatic' softwares.
I am thinking of the Ezkeys software, and perhaps EzDrummer, both are made by Toontrack.
Captain Plugins, by Mixed in Key, are also relevant.
I tried the demo of ORB Producer Suite and was also very impressed. Perhaps I will buy it in the near future.
For guitar, in theory, RealGuitar seems to be the most appropriate. However, when I used it, I found it a bit clunky and clumsy.
UJam's guitar Softwares are very good. However, at this time of writing, I understand that you still cannot drag the midi patterns into your DAW and have to play it live.
UJam's guitar Softwares are very good. However, at this time of writing, I understand that you still cannot drag the midi patterns into your DAW and have to play it live.
I'm confused on this comment. I can take a MIDI file from BIAB/RB and import it into Pro Tools and have the UJAM guitarist or bassist play the MIDI riffs. Sometimes I have to transpose an octave here or there to get the MIDI to trigger but I've never had an issue. Could you elaborate? Thanks!
Hi, I don't talk about the sound of Ujam Softwares. I only referred to its rhythm patterns in the Guitar softwares.
Ujam Beatmaker 2 allows users to simply drag the midi patterns into the DAW without playing anything on the midi keyboard. But their guitar Softwares are not yet updated with this feature.
But their guitar Softwares are not yet updated with this feature.
That is not true.
I own Virtual Guitarist Iron and Virtual Bassist Royal. I've been working with these products for a year and they can both play MIDI files directly on import of the MIDI file into Pro Tools.
UJAM Basses ver 2 now drag export the midi pattern of current chord, I asked them to put the pattern and chord name in the file name. I think they will have the same for Guitars and Drums soon. The good thing with them is that they are session players playing the phrases as well as having a sample set of the instrument. Watch for EZBass out soon.
The new RapidComposerVST beta has audio tracks as well as midi tracks in the VST. You can create phrases for any virtual instrument containing the keyswithes, they can be moved and will automatically fit any chord/scale. You can use it in Biab with Element as you can't chain midi plugins in Biab. It will import the BB Chord Output midi track.
A can of worms opened here sure, but it's alwise nice to know what others use. Toontrack, i once bought EZdrums, then a sale deal on superior drums. Latter i really like, a recommended SDX is Metal machinery, even if you don't like head banger stuff.
I prefer Cubase Pro, especially for it's extensive midi and audio tools.
EZ keys is a handy quicky tool, buy you usually spend a lot of time fixing occasional notes.
Matt, any experience with Dorico or even Cubase notation?
I usually stick to BIAB for lead sheets, melody/chords. Might be not enough for Jazz and Classical arrangement works.
Matt, any experience with Dorico or even Cubase notation?
Yes, I tried Dorico. And more than a dozen others. I hate them all. None come close to the ease of data entry of Encore. But Encore (which I beta tested for decades) is dreadfully buggy unless you know exactly how to avoid the crashes, and even then it crashes on me several times each session. So I move my score out of Encore as fast as possible.
I tried Cubase briefly when I thought SONAR was a lost cause. It’s strength is MIDI. But I had no overriding reason to change from the DAW I knew.
BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors
Hi, for notation I tried Dorico Elements which makes very good output, but has limitations (it's elements). So the best thing for quick use and good output (even a kind of book) is EasyABC. Install is a little bit tricky, but it has good Xml in- and output and makes nice Pdfs. And, it is free. Maybe ABC is not for the real professionals, more for hobbyists and folkies, mostly celtic or irish.
I don't have it but believe any guitar player would find +++ MidiGuitar2 +++ by JamOrigin useful software to have in their musical toolbox.
MidiGuitar2 is software designed to convert an analog guitar signal into midi. Unlike many software programs MidiGuitar2 is pretty good at converting polyphonic guitar. Where it fails is while it can detect multiple notes played at one time, the program can not determine the string each note is played on.
The Encore-case! As Matt points out, that was some genius software, but it crashed on you at the blink of an eye. Still, was so intuitive.
Tried Forte Notation, Musescore, Finale. To me, nothing comes close. Funnily, the Finale notepad strikes me as one of the best available, right now.
And for me, I need to see the melody while practicing tunes. So, I use the Melody track in BIAB and have the Sheet window open. I’m sure a lot of musicians work the same way.
The trouble with the Sheet or lead sheet window is: *Inconsistent use of accidentals *Displaying the whole sheet (8 or 10 single staff lines, 4 bars per line...) makes Biab crash often and this has been so since biab 2012. Has something to do with the screen resolution, but I can’t fix it. *Displaying the whole sheet makes the chords unreadable. If you make the chord font bigger, the chords are no longer well placed, even with the engraver option. *And chords with extensions are often made really small. *The sheet doesn’t display pushes, holds and other accents... as in the New Real Book *First endings, tags, endings... are a mess to work with. Should be as used in notation: al coda, coda, 1st, 2nd *A-B sections should be more flexible: every chorus is either “as on the chord window” or “all parts play B-style” in the middle sections.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to be able to stay inside biab: in theory you have everything you need: chords, melody, notation, arrangement options and the underrated conductor. All that exporting to DAW or notation, makes you lose all the possibilities of biab, like *switching styles and feels, *Rearranging chords *Making other tag-endings and trying them out *Using Bar settings for altering instruments or volume of accompanying instruments
Biab, Kontakt, Sampletank and lots of nice libraries, from Fluffy audio to Abbey Road drums. Check out these great contemporary Jazz Styles: www.jazzstylezz.com
...I can’t stress enough how important it is to be able to stay inside biab: in theory you have everything you need: chords, melody, notation, arrangement options and the underrated conductor. All that exporting to DAW or notation, makes you lose all the possibilities of biab, like *switching styles and feels, *Rearranging chords *Making other tag-endings and trying them out *Using Bar settings for altering instruments or volume of accompanying instruments
These are critical points, and thanks for highlighting them. Why is/should there be a requirement to take the song outside of the native operational environment to enable it to deliver a feature that should / is supposed to be part of the product's environment. If the feature-set is identified as available 'in the box' then it needs to do everything the feature states, whether this is notation, multi-riff inclusion, or other.
Externalizing the music to actually deliver a feature that the product states it can already do shouldn't be a requirement.
BIAB & RB2024 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
...I can’t stress enough how important it is to be able to stay inside biab: in theory you have everything you need: chords, melody, notation, arrangement options and the underrated conductor. All that exporting to DAW or notation, makes you lose all the possibilities of biab, like *switching styles and feels, *Rearranging chords *Making other tag-endings and trying them out *Using Bar settings for altering instruments or volume of accompanying instruments
These are critical points, and thanks for highlighting them. Why is/should there be a requirement to take the song outside of the native operational environment to enable it to deliver a feature that should / is supposed to be part of the product's environment. If the feature-set is identified as available 'in the box' then it needs to do everything the feature states, whether this is notation, multi-riff inclusion, or other.
Externalizing the music to actually deliver a feature that the product states it can already do shouldn't be a requirement.
You guys are doing a great job at articulating a fundamental problem at the core of BIAB. It tries to be "too many things to too many people", in other words "jack of all trades, master of none". It simply "can't always finish what it starts". As a result it is not always the "right tool for the right job". The "swiss army knife" of music apps. But lets not "through the baby out with the bath water".
BIAB's strength in my eyes is "feeding the inspiration and getting the creative juices flowing." That is where it shines. All those areas you guys have mentioned allow you to think about what more can be done and needs to be done and how to go about doing it. The fact that there are better tools to accomplish many of those things is simply our good fortune.
I long ago decided I needed to start in-the-box and then get out of it as quickly as possible to take advantage of tools of the trade which excel at each of their individual functions. My wish-list item for BIAB is better integration with the rest of the music app world.
And to answer the original question, here is a sampling of my go to standalone apps (excluding plugins). I have a couple more I would recommend but they are currently not on my top tier listing for shortcuts.
Surprisingly, I rarely take my music out of BiaB. I rarely import into a DAW and add other features.
If BiaB states it can deliver certain functionality that meets my requirements, then that's what I need and BiaB should be my one-stop-shop.
Problem is, that it can do some of these things as long as it is acceptable to the the user to export to another product to actually deliver those features. BiaB is no longer 'in the box' at all.
BIAB & RB2024 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
I do not even come close to using all of the BIAB features. Simply put I needed quality backing tracks (not wanting to sound like the record) but to do my own arranging that fits my take on every song and BIAB was and still is the answer. BIAB got me out of the studio into live paying venues, hopefully it will again after the virus is under control, and because of that I am thankful for P.G. Music everyday.
Ha, Dan’s setup looks a lot like mine: Pianoteq, Sampletank, Musescore, Cakewalk. I’m sure a lot of users have similar collections. Much as we love our box, we are always trying new and different stuff.
Videotrack puts it most eloquently: in the box. And make the box better, cause the idea itself is good. But in a more powerful and smart wording.
Danny C, I get you, I think. With all shortcomings and frustrations in the box, it is still the best.
Biab, Kontakt, Sampletank and lots of nice libraries, from Fluffy audio to Abbey Road drums. Check out these great contemporary Jazz Styles: www.jazzstylezz.com
In addition to Band-in-Box, I use RealBand, Diamond Cut Audio Restoration Tools for wav file editing, and Cakewalk by Bandlab for the VSTi plugins that RealBand doesn't handle well.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA
User Video: Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box®
The Bob Doyle Media YouTube channel is known for demonstrating how you can creatively incorporate AI into your projects - from your song projects to avatar building to face swapping, and more!
His latest video, Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box, he explains in detail how you can use the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box with ACE Studio. Follow along as he goes from "nothing" to "something" with his Band-in-a-Box MIDI Melodist track, using ACE Studio to turn it into a vocal track (or tracks, you'll see) by adding lyrics for those notes that will trigger some amazing AI vocals!
Wir waren fleißig und haben über 50 neue Funktionen und eine erstaunliche Sammlung neuer Inhalte hinzugefügt, darunter 222 RealTracks, neue RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, "Songs with Vocals" Artist Performance Sets, abspielbare RealTracks Set 3, abspielbare RealDrums Set 2, zwei neue Sets von "RealDrums Stems", XPro Styles PAK 6, Xtra Styles PAK 17 und mehr!
Add updated printing options, enhanced tracks settings, smoother use of MGU and SGU (BB files) within PowerTracks, and more with the latest PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 update!
Download and install this to your RealBand 2024 for updated print options, streamlined loading and saving of .SGU & MGU (BB) files, and to add a number of program adjustments that address user-reported bugs and concerns.
Did you know... not only can you download your Band-in-a-Box® Pro, MegaPAK, or PlusPAK purchase - you can also choose to add a flash drive backup copy with the installation files for only $15? It even comes with a Band-in-a-Box® keychain!
For the larger Band-in-a-Box® packages (UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition), the hard drive backup copy is available for only $25. This will include a preinstalled and ready to use program, along with your installation files.
Backup copies are offered during the checkout process on our website.
Already purchased your e-delivery version, and now you wish you had a backup copy? It's not too late! If your purchase was for the current version of Band-in-a-Box®, you can still reach out to our team directly to place your backup copy order!
Note: the Band-in-a-Box® keychain is only included with flash drive backup copies, and cannot be purchased separately.
Handy flash drive tip: Always try plugging in a USB device the wrong way first? If your flash drive (or other USB plug) doesn't have a symbol to indicate which way is up, look for the side with a seam on the metal connector (it only has a line across one side) - that's the side that either faces down or to the left, depending on your port placement.
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
With this update, there's more control when saving images from the Print Preview window, we've added defaults to the MultiPicker for sorting and font size, updated printing options, updated RealTracks and other content, and addressed user-reported issues with the StylePicker, MIDI Soloists, key signature changes, and more!
A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."
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