With the release of Band-in-a-Box 2016 for Windows, there are 201 NEW RealTracks added to our library! Plus, there are an additional 24 Bonus RealTracks, 2 Artist Video Performances, 8 MIDI SuperTracks, and 15 Instrumental Studies available in the 49-PAK! Learn more about the Bonus 49-PAK purchase option here: www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.49pak.htm.

New Features List: www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.new.htm

Learn more about Band-in-a-Box 2016 for Windows with our "Band in a Box 2016 for Windows - Everything you need to know in under 5 minutes" video: www.pgmusic.com/?vid=Tsn9Ru2cBHE

Information and demos for the 201 new RealTracks released (Sets 228-253): www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.201newrealtracks.htm

Band-in-a-Box 2016 for Windows... New Features:

StylePicker redesigned and enhanced with many new features including:
  • Sizable window by dragging the corner.
  • Selectable font size for texts in the style list.
  • Columns sort. The style list can be easily sorted by clicking a column name.
  • Quick filter. Type a text and/or select a category, time signature, feel, tempo, etc., and you will immediately see the filtered list.
  • Intelligent style suggestion. Just type a familiar song title, and the StylePicker will list styles whose genre, feel and tempo are similar to that song.
  • Automatic intelligent sorting of "best style" for the current song.
  • 4-bar preview of the current song using the currently selected style.
  • StylePicker Options added to set additional display options for the StylePicker.

Chord Sheet enhanced with new look, feel and customization.
  • “Layers" added. Layers are optional rows of information shown above each bar.
    • Bar Lyrics layer is for editable bar-based lyrics (up to 255 characters per bar) that are loaded and saved with the song.
    • Section Text layer is for editable text (up to 255 characters per bar) that is loaded and saved with the song.
    • Both Section Text layer and Bar Lyrics layer will automatically split text (using line breaks) into separate bars.
    • Bar Settings layer shows information about any changes that occur for that bar, as set in the Bar Settings dialog (e.g. tempo changes, key changes, etc.).
    • Additional Chord Display layer shows the chords using an alternative mode of showing root notes. There are 4 modes: Roman Numeral, Nashville Notation, Solfeggio Notation, and Fixed Do (Italy/Europe).
    • All layers can be customized with font and color.
  • Now you see the chord where you are typing it. Previously, chords wouldn’t appear until you hit the Enter key, and sometimes wouldn’t appear at all if you made a typo.
  • Colors for all elements on the Chord Sheet can be customized.
  • Mouse-over indication shows which bar, cell, or part marker you are currently hovering your mouse over.
  • You can now select a region of bars by just using the keyboard.
  • There is now a Superscript option (separate settings for the chords and the Additional Chord Display layer).
  • The number of columns can be customized.
  • The "Extra space between columns (pixels)" option allows you to choose a border thickness between columns.
  • The "New line for every section" option previously required that each section was at least 2 bars long, but now there is a "minimum section" setting.
  • The "Show bar lines" option displays a bar line next to each bar number.
  • The "Show bar numbers" option lets you choose how often bar numbers should display: never, always, only at part markers, or only at new rows.
  • The "Use substyle colors for bar #s, etc." option controls the color of the optional bar lines, bar numbers, and section letters.
  • The "Gray out chords beyond time signature" setting grays out chords that won't play in the song.
  • The "Display ‘2’ as ‘sus2’" and "Display ‘sus’ as ‘sus4’" settings will show suspended chords more explicitly: ‘sus’ implies ‘sus4,’ and ‘2’ implies ‘sus2,’ but you might want to see the full extension name.
  • All of the settings and colors can be saved and loaded as a .csc file.

Audio Edit Window improved.
  • The window now displays stereo WAV files as 2 separate tracks.
  • Horizontal zooming is easier. You can zoom with the mouse wheel, which focuses on the mouse cursor, or with a zoom button, which focuses on the audio cursor.
  • Vertical zooming can be done with the mouse by zooming over the decibel bar, or by holding down the CTRL key and zooming towards the mouse cursor.
  • You can zoom in further than the sample level now, and at these levels you will see interpolation between the sample points.
  • When you perform various editing tasks from the Audio | Edit Audio menu, the Choose Range dialog will automatically use the region that is selected in the Audio Edit Window.

Import Audio feature improved.
  • The dialog now has a "chorus" option so you can be more specific about where you want the audio to go.
  • If the audio file contains Acid Loop or Apple Loop info, there is an option to set the Audio Base Tempo of the current song to the tempo of the audio file.

Now you can convert the audio track from stereo to mono, or vice versa, by going to menu Audio | Edit Audio | Convert Channels (mono/stereo).

Load and save MusicXML files.

Main menu redesigned/re-organized.

Automatic track names now include a number if there are 2 tracks with the same name. For example, "Guitar_1" "Guitar_2" will show instead of "Guitar" "Guitar."
Yellow hints over the one letter track buttons in various windows show detailed information of the track name and other data. Notation, Big Piano, Guitar, Piano Roll and Lead Sheet windows show these.

Guitar Window improved.
  • Now resizing the Guitar Window dynamically resizes the fretboard.
  • Guitar Capo support added. Set a capo value, and capo gets drawn and guitar display reflects the capo setting.
  • Tablature in Notation Window will adjust the fret numbers based on the capo setting in the transpose menu.

Plus...
-Lists in various dialogs can be copied to a spreadsheet. This includes StylePicker, RealTracks Picker and RealDrums Picker dialogs.
-Legato Melody function improved, increasing legato of the notes in Melody or Soloist track by N ticks, avoiding next note by M ticks.
-Staccato Melody function added, reducing the length of notes by N ticks, preserving a minimum of M ticks duration of notes.
-Notation Window displays an improved system of Bar Lyrics, Section Text, Bar Settings, and additional chord mode above the Standard chord.
-Log of flash messages enhanced, recording more message types.
-Style demos redone with even volumes. Previously, the demos varied in volume from MIDI to RealTracks.
-Download Manager to automate download of Band-in-a-Box add-ons in background, accessible from inside the program.
-Setting the "Track Type" to bass now shows a tab and the bass clef.
-Loops are now saved with the Save Current Song as Style feature even if a loop was already embedded in the previous style on that track.
-Changing a dB value in the StyleMaker for a track with loops now works.
-[No Loop] button added to the Loops dialog.
-RealTracks pushes now happen a little later, sounding more musical, and the timing is tempo dependent.
-Options (no transpose, no slash chords) added to RealTracks.
-Woodshed feature improved. When the tempo reaches max, it stays there.
-C7+ is not in holds, C+ is, so it should remap them.
-Option for relative note says b7 instead of 3b, 5b, 7b.

...and more!