PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Beginners Forum There is nothing easy about Band in a Box

'Band in a Box is so easy to use' no it isn't - there is nothing easy about Band in a Box, I have spent goodness knows how much money and time on it over the years, and still have problems using it. I always give up eventually, and I am not a stupid person and I don't give up easily..
Drum Fills for example?
Audio Chord Wizard - its quicker to put the chords in manually

Drum fills...

These are created by the part markers. The part markers are blue and green boxes around the bar numbers. Drum fills play in the bar immediately before the part marker.

If you have a look at the video of the chordsheet of my below song...

https://vimeo.com/143978481

...you'll see that bars 1, 5, 14 (and others) are enclosed in blue boxes. Bars 23, 49, 58, etc. have green boxes. These are the part markers and they tell BIAB two things:

1. put a drum break immediately before the part marker;

2. the style variation to play.

The green part marker introduces a style with more movement. I tend to use for the chorus. The blue part marker has less movement and suits verses.

BIAB keeps on playing in a style's variation until it meets another part marker.

Hope this helps.

Also,

There are a number of video clips at the below link. (I'm guessing that you probably have Windows BIAB.)

http://www.pgmusic.com/videos.bbwin.htm

The beginner videos are a good starting place.

Regards,
Noel

P.S. Please don't hesitate to ask any question whatsoever. There are lots of people on here who will help you out.

Audio chord wizard...

Yes, it's definitely quicker to enter the chords manually rather than use ACW.

I use ACW primarily for those songs that I cannot find chords for. It's a work tool for me. Sometimes it does a great job, sometimes (if the chords are highly complex) it requires human intervention to get the best output.

I agree, BIAB is not easy or intuitive to use and I have been using it for 18 years. The main reason is that PG are too quick to respond to requests from users to implement changes and minor enhancements that may satisfy a few pet peeves but ignore the effect on new users who are overwhelmed by the myriad of ways of doing essentially the same thing.

I have learned over many years that whenever a relative newcomer criticizes software you will always get the power users pointing out that it is really very easy and makes perfect sense. These users spend a huge proportion of their time working with the software but they don't represent the future for the product. It's a bit like blaming the victim. I have commented many many times that PG should recognise the needs of beginners and strive to simplify not complicate and start ignoring requests for inconsequential minor complicating tweeks.

Tony

Interesting point, Tony. I’ve requested many changes that have been implemented, but I would like to think most are ones that make the program act as you would expect from experience with other Windows programs. This makes it easier, not harder or more complex. But I do understand your point.

IMO and others, of course, BiaB is an extraordinarily complex program in that it will meets the needs of many, many disparate users. And for that it needs to be complex. I think the key is to decide what your objectives are and focus on how to achieve them. I'm almost an exclusive user of RTs, RDs and Midi Super Tracks. Via that focus I've learned the "ins and outs" of using them for our productions. I know I'm using a very small percentage of BiaB's capabilities but it works for us and has enabled us to produce music in multiple genres that six years ago we would never have dreamed was possible.

I do understand where you are coming from. BiaB is a very complex program and IMHO the menus and manuals are of little help. But I feel the same way about the high end DAWs that I have used. They are also very complex, have more than one way to so some things, have difficult to understand menus and have very poor manuals, some much worst than BiaB's manual. The only solution is to use the software, research the manual (once you understand the techno-talk) and watch the videos. My personal approach is to watch the videos, use the software and when stumped check the manual. YMMV

Sure, the vids are great and very useful but don't forget : all people around the world are not able to understand the English language.

A beginner can 1) install the program, 2) select a style, 3) fill 32 bars with chords (hopefully creating a recognizable chord progression but if not then that's okay), 4) press play and 4) hear music. That is easy. Most people will be delighted with the results ... at first. Once a beginner grows tired of auditioning styles and RealTracks they think about creating songs. That's when they discover the next step is hard.

You have to go beyond the obvious and dig deeper into Band-in-a-Box's bag of tricks. The trouble is, the bag is deep and it is filled with many tricks. The tricks are not well organized and in some cases not documented.

There are so many tools in the tool chest it is difficult to determine what tool is needed to accomplish specific tasks. One way around this stumbling block is to simplify the screen.

One solution is to create tabbed windows. The tab names describe basic tasks such as: Playlist, Practice, Record, Notation, Hybrid, MIDI, RealTracks and so on. I think there are likely no more than 10 to 15 specific, but different, tasks users commonly perform.

Each tab limits what icons and workspace are displayed to whatever is needed to support the task. Ideally, song and global preferences could be set for each task.

Think about a beginner wanting to use the chord sheet screen to create their first song project. What tools do they need? How about rest, hold and push icons perhaps? What other icons? I don't think they need the Conductor or Jukebox icons on this tabbed window.

Tabs free up a lot of a screen's real estate by spreading what is available over multiple screens. Band-in-a-Box already has multiple windows, the control panel just needs to be organized for each window.

Well I guess you may be right. Band In A Box is a very complex program.

Here's how I simplified it.

I figured out what I wanted it to do for me......and only use those things.

Which is......Implement the chords and structure of the song I'm writing.

Then I disregard all the other features in it. I don't need 90% of the things in it so I don't even bother learning how to use them. I know what I need and how to use it and that's all that matters.

Part markers give you the drum fills. If that doesn't work for you like you want, you can always do a completely new drum part. In fact, several guys here are using drum loops & synths now for better sound quality and control on the drums.

ACW: I messed with this early on. Very complicated but in the song I used it on it actually worked well. So a writer sent me a song that needed a part. I spent a good 2+ hrs trying to get the ACW to figure out the parts. In the end, I deleted that work, opened a new template and entered the chords manually and was done in 10 minutes. So I don't use that feature in my work.

Once I have the structure and chords, I save it and close it. I open it in Real band..... render the tracks to audio, add the tracks I want and expert to my DAW. Sonar. In there, I replace tracks with better tracks.... guitars, drums, bass, etc.... I keep what works and finish the song in Sonar.

Learn what you need and disregard the rest.

Am I to assume that the videos are in English only? If so then that, IMHO, is a huge mistake.

Kind of, but really the basics are pretty simple.

One thing that helped me was to examine at least one demo file every day. Over 3 years that is more than 1000 demo files studied. You will see almost all the tricks inside those demo files--plus cool chord progressions.

Then the following screenshots show the basic tools that I think are the coolest. The first one is just wicked. What's not to love. It forces you to think about what chords you have already used and where you might want to go. Once you figure it out, you just hit the button.

(Right click to open these images in a new tab if they are hard to see.)

One the second, you have to "master these dots" to solo instruments or add holds, etc. Very useful. You just have to mess around with it. Experiment with the dots.

One thing missing in many examples is that you have to use a comma in a chord entry box to push it to the next beat. That is also useful. In other words if you want a chord on 1 and 4 in 4/4, enter a chord in box 1, then comma followed by chord in box 2.

In 3/4, typing in the second box puts that chord on beat 3, a chord comma chord entry in bar one puts the second chord on beat 2.

I do wish that the site would make a really easy to access a chord entry manual for beginners in a place that is super easy to find and sticky. It is the MOST important tool. I found the text somewhere and made my own, but you really need it, and I wish a pdf could be made for all users and put in a really easy to find place.

For example, a diminished7 is a mb5 in PG notation. There would be no way to know that without the translator.

Here it is though. I suggest a cut and paste into a word doc.

http://www.pgmusic.com/tutorial_chordlist.htm

Other than that, I find the program pretty easy, but I just use it for the basics, and then play a lot of stuff myself.

For recording, I find it indispensable. I use Real Band a lot for recording. You just open up the BIAB file, create a .seq file, arm a track and you can see the chord chart rolling past your face as you are laying down audio.

I don't know of another place where you can do that, and it is my bread and butter.

It makes my life 1000 easier, not 1000 times harder.

I equate BIAB/RB to learning to master any instrument. I have been using the program for nearly twenty years and still only use and understand about 10%, but I've been able to create some award-winning music with it.

How much time did we devote to learning an instrument? When we have devoted equal time to BIAB we will reap its rewards.

Band-In-A-Box is available in many popular languages and language patches are a free download to owners of the program. Just contact Support for the details.

Hi Some good comments,
Especially the ones saying that if you know what you want it for you can only learn those features and disregard the rest.
Ive been using it 2 1/2 years and am not from a musical background but just wanted to put my poems to music without having to go to a professional producer for obvious reasons.So not easy to use yeah but what an education.
Ok the going was hard at first because I was learning all sorts of things as well as BIAB at the same time but wow is it worth it.I have yet to hear anyone think that my stuff is anything but a band playing my songs.I wish sometimes things were a bit easier or I was a bit smarter but the outcome is super.Ive been listening to more of the songs on the forum lately and they are great.
It is so unique and authentic and covers a whole lot of things that I dont use but others find important and useful.
So what I like to do is very basic produce the melody in a midi file,pop it in Biab generate a backing track and keep messing around with it till I get the right instruments and style that I like or is right for the song and then save it and open it up in realband or export it to reaper and work from there.So if you are only doing that then it is a bit easier.
Its been time consuming but very productive and hats off to all,H

I love your idea of tabbed windows, Jim. Other applications often have "rooms" or "screensets" or "workspaces" that do exactly as you described and make it much easier to accomplish what you're trying to do in a more efficient manner.

To draw an analogy, as an artist, if I'm working in pastels I don't want to have my oil painting brushes cluttering up my workspace. I want my pastels, papers, boards, and blending tools right at hand. Then, all those get put away when I start to paint in oils on canvas. Or maybe I dig out my watercolor paints and papers after putting everything else away. It's all there in my studio, but not everything is out at the same time.

Unfortunately, for some reason the part makers that I use are not adding the fill in the previous bar. The style instead changes on the actual bar where the marker is set. A or B makes no difference and I have tried several different styles. Is the problem with Realdrums?
This is the sort of problem that I face, and therefore get very frustrated as there is very little help provided by PG Music.
I would have thought that there would be a much easier way to add a drum fill, and everytime I spend money on the latest version of Band in The Box I hope that its going to be simplified for the user rather than made more complicated for the few people that are experts

See if these thoughts help....

(1) If the drums are frozen, part markers will not have any effect. It's necessary to unfreeze the drum track and then regenerated.

(2) Once part markers have been added or changed, the track will need generating for the changes to implemented. With BIAB, no changes occur until after regeneration.

Lastly, if neither of the above help, post the name of the drums you have loaded and I'll test them out.

Regards,
Noel

• one of my songs: So Beautiful

Sorry you are feeling discouraged. I'm no expert on BiAB but I don't find it any more complicated than my DAW which I'm no expert on either. I still make mistakes and run into things I don't know how to do in both.

In the ten years i've been using BIAB, I've found the friendly folks on the forum to be a huge help if something isn't working right when i'm stumped and can't figure something out. So I hope when you're feeling frustrated, you won't hesitate to take advantage of the help available here.

I have had to call the live tech support line just a few times to sort out a few things. I have always found them to be extremely helpful and willing to spend the time needed to be sure my issue was resolved.

One point regarding ACW. If you already know the chords of the song, then yes it is much faster to input the chords and that's what you should do. If you don't know the chords of the song, it will help you figure out what they might be. And it's not perfect, but surely gets you closer than not having anything. I would never use ACW if I already know the chord progression, however. Success also depends upon the complexity of the underlying music source. and if the recording was detuned somewhere along the way, it has a more difficult time accurately figuring out the chords. But I've used it on a number of songs and gotten pretty close.

I hope I'm not drifting too far off topic of the difficulty of Biab, but I'll share a few ACW tips that have helped me with that particular tool.

First, a great resource to practice learning how to use the ACW is the Forum's User Showcase songs. Most times, you will have access to the key signature, tempo, style and if necessary you can PM the artist and ask if they really used a certain chord or progression. The ACW is normally quite accurate reading a Biab generated file. It's a great resource to learn about the ACW.

After working with the ACW for a while, you'll learn that the ACW repeats certain errors in reading chords consistently. I've found that D is often interpreted as Asus and Am7 the same for C. I've also found that in certain instances, it is better to use the interpreted chord rather than the actual chord and it's good to experiment with this for the best I can tell, Biab engine will read and select a different audio phrase than from reading the chord as a D. This can be quite pleasing in a musical sense.

Importing midi files of commercial songs is also a great resource to quickly populate the chord chart.

It would be nice if there were commercially printed manuals for all of the software (BB, RB, PTP) we could buy. Book-size, and not like the older, small types. Sell them separately if necessary, but the individual cost of printing manuals from PDF's is quite expensive. More than a published bound version would cost. I don't think there's been a printed manual since maybe 2013.5? Until then, it's switching back and forth on the screen or going through print cartridges, paper jams etc. Just saying, a readable book-sized book would be nice. Or maybe I'm old fashioned. There's still a lot of us around you know. LOL

I’m really lucky. I am inquisitive. I experiment. I tend to read manuals (not the BIAB manual) I look at various WEB sites and videos. This helps me learn things. However, I have found reading what people say on the forums the most helpful.

When it comes to BIAB knowing about the various areas in preferences is a critical thing to learn. There is often settings set in there that present issues when attempting to do something. Another place is the Song settings as well as chord settings and bar settings. Then learning how styles work. Yep, when I think about it BIAB is very complex but to me that is all a part of the fun. Each time I do another song I find it gets better and more enjoyable.

It wasn’t until I started to write this that I even considered BIAB to be complicated. Complex yes, but something as powerful as BIAB needs to be.

Start simple then add more each time as you learn more. I have redone almost every song I did a few years ago as my knowledge of the product increased.

My thoughts

Tony

Well stated, Tony

I have dyslexia so reading is very difficult for me so I learn by doing. Its not a bad way to learn, especially on complex subjects like Band-In-A-Box.

I certainly have asked a lot of questions on these forums and have made a pest of myself with the patient Support Staff. Your questions will never be flamed or ridiculed in these forums ( unlike so many other sites that seem to ambush new users ).

The tutorials are excellent and walk users through the learning curve. Not only the PG Music tutorials but also the many user tutorials found on YouTube.

Some oldtimers monitor the forums and are quick to throw out a lifeline 24/7.

The only stupid question is the one never asked.

Over the years we have had a few trolls but they don't stay very long. The moderators do an excellent job in keeping us safe and protected almost transparently.

Mike,

Its possible to keep the manual open in a separate window so it will always be handy and you will never lose your place.

I do. It's the back and forth and being at the mercy of searching content. Guess I'm old school. I still keep double spacing after periods, and all of my graduate school work was done on a manual typewriter. Eeek. Perhaps setting up dual monitors may help.

So many of the pro software publishers have gone to online manuals, understandably. It's just kinda easier to carry a book around during the day to read when a guy gets a break, or to read and study before sleep.

I also have an iPad and I put a copy of the PDF manual into iBooks on that. This will give me plenty to read as I’ll be pretty much incapacitated for the month or so. Confined to a high chair and wheelie walker.

I started with biab a few months ago and found it easy to lay down a basic setup. That is just the bare bones of a chord progression and a simple arrangement.

Then the going got boggy as it became obvious that much study and experience would be required to get into the next stages.

It really means quite a commitment to use the software and join in the social aspects related to it eg the forums.

I agree 100%. It's easy to do the basics of adding Chords to the chordsheet and simple style selection. After that it needs a lot more effort.

I think that PG should emphasise this basic much more WITH REFERENCE TO COVER SONGS. It is much easier to appreciate the potential of BIAB if you use cover songs as an example. Not everyone is a budding songwriter.

Tony

I totally agree working with covers first is the best way to learn BUT, PG CAN'T DO IT. It's because of copyrights. There are many, many demo songs that are based on very famous standard tunes but they're not named. PG has to use an unrelated name.

It's the same as the instrument names used by various VST softsynth sound libraries. Various Fender and Gibson guitar names cannot be used because of trademarks so they use something like F hardbody or something. Hammond is a trademark so they use the term "tonewheel organ". A Rhodes is called a tine piano, a Wurlitzer is called a reed piano, stuff like that.

I agree with all the comments here. Biab is both "So easy to use!" and very complex. When the OP says it's not, he thinks it's misleading, that's also not fair at all and I take exception to it. I'm quite a bit tougher than most here. I'm an Air Force vet. It's called suck it up buttercup and get with the program, ya know? If it was that easy, it wouldn't be worth a damn to anybody.

You paid good money for this but that does not include somebody literally holding your hand because you can't figure out the most basic stuff that's right in the manual and in the gazillions of vids out there. This includes the ones created by PG themselves and hundreds of others all over YouTube. I'll ask the OP, you've heard of YouTube haven't you? Just go there and type in band in a box. It's all there man.

Yes, I've been stumped too. Nobody's perfect haha. I hate posting questions here because I consider myself smarter than average and I want to figure it out myself if I can. If I'm stuck then sure I'll post a question but I've done some research about it first.

Bob

Well put, Bob!

I printed the manuals, and I realize it's not for everybody, and I hope I'm not in trouble, but I went to CreateSpace, which I already use, and uploaded the pdf, in two parts because it's so long, and created a simple book, 8.5 x11, and printed a proof copy and then let it go at that. It's not for sale, no one else can see it,it's not available on CreateSpace nor on Amazon or anywhere else. It cost me six bucks for a one-time proof, well, twelve altogether.

Marty,

Very creative solution. Kudos!

The core program hasn't really changed much over the years so, after learning to navigate its main features, it is only necessary to learn the newest features each year. That approach will simplify user's lives a lot.

There have been many great suggestions in this thread. Try them before complaining. Devote as much time to this fabulous TOOL as you did to learning your instrument, the rewards are well worth the effort.

That point about the time involved in learning an instrument is very true. It's been talked about here for years. Biab and DAW's are literally instruments unto themselves. It took years to learn to play well, it will take years to get proficient with Biab and other digital audio tools too. Seriously, there are four year degrees in this stuff. The courses are called music production or digital audio production or some such and you need that if you want to work in a studio on the production side.

There's a thread on the Keyboard Corner forum right now titled "A DAW is kicking my [*****]" and it's about Studio One. You can tell the guy is a total noobie to this stuff and the advice there is the same as the advice here. Study, practice, study, more practice. There's a ton of S1 vids on YouTube too.

Bob

Earlier in the year or very late last year Callie mentioned the BIAB manuals were going to print. I cannot recall hearing any more about them.

Tony

More excellent points, Bob.

A thorough and proper understanding of compression or EQ is a study unto themselves that is often omitted from the learning process by newbies, yet they are vital to creating a good production. The same could be said about BIAB. You got back everything that you put into it and more.

Yes, below is that quote. I believe you have to contact PGMusic sales to get a copy. I have the 2018 version so I know that it is out.

I suspect you hit it on the first shot Noel. I would bet a penny that he went into his chord chart, added the part markers, and then hit play without generating. And I guess that because I did that too at first.

Herb made a good point by saying he uses what he needs and doesn't really drive offroad. I do the same thing.

BIAB has a lot of features that I have no use for. ACW, all the pitch training stuff... I have no need for that, and I would guess that a very large percentage of users here don't either. Using me as the example since it is my reply, the notation thing, and that's what I call it because I have never even looked at it, is of no use to me. How do I need to write notation out for? I do 95% of this stuff myself and if I need supporting instruments the people I go to don't need charts. I have perfect pitch so I have no use for pitch training. I find things every day that make me say "Oh. I didn't know it could do that."

Also, your base core of music knowledge matters too. When I sit down to code in the chord chart, it has already been played on my practice keyboard and the chart is written on paper. Knowing the structure of scales and the basic "rules" of chord progression helps a lot. For someone brand new to music at a level where they spend a lot of energy looking to transpose to the key of L it will be more of a challenge than to someone who knows even a little bit of theory. It can be done, but it will be more difficult as that user gains knowledge and experience. The newest of newbies would benefit greatly from having a "circle of 5th" printed out to see the relationship between chords.

But even that same new newbie can create a song in an hour with a little knowledge of chords and how to enter them into the chord chart.

Remember, you are doing something quite similar to learning a new language. And you won't be conversational in a new language for about a year. Or longer, depending in your ability to retain knowledge. You can write A song the day your get BIAB. Whether it is what you are after or not is your call. But every journey starts with that first step.

Only if they understand what they are looking at Eddie. I'm not sure I clearly understand the circle of fifths or circle of fourths very well. I never heard of them until I was exposed to them in this forum! There have been many times my knowledge of music theory have prevented me from clearly formulating a question or understanding a response.

Eddie made an astute observation which frequently is overlooked in this forum; not every user reads music, understands scales and chord progressions. I believe we (forum members) vastly underestimate the number of new users that want to use Band-in-a-Box as their first, musical instrument; in other words to learn about music.

A niece received an acoustic guitar as a Christmas gift. The first thing she did was go online and watch videos of people playing a guitar. She's learned to place the fingers like so and strum to make a pleasing sound. She has no idea that pleasing sound has a name or what the name is. That's how a lot of the next generation of aspiring musicians are starting out. Many schools do not have music classes. Many families have one parent or both parents work so money and transportation for music lessons are not available. In many ways the nurturing environment many of us enjoyed no longer exists.

I have been using BIAB for less than a year but find it to be one of the simpler music programs to use. Maybe I have an advantage on some people because of my background in music, but honestly its as easy as typing in the chords you want, add part markers for your chorus and verses, pick a style and it spits out an instrumental for your song. Granted you can get more creative and complicated if you want to, but that all comes with time and learning the program. As others have said, you get what you put into it. Also depending on what you are trying to do remember that BIAB is not necessarily the end all be all for your music productions. You can take what you want from it and add other real and vst instruments to really make a song your own.

Well said Samuel Davis.

I agree.

PG used to include printed manuals..... in fact, I have a few laying around here somewhere. But in today's world, 99% of the companies are putting the manuals on line as PDF.

That does actually make it easier to find what you need quickly.

I can't imagine printing the manual. 98% of the stuff in there you probably will never need to use or look up.

For me, in my business, I no longer carry huge installation manuals. I just look them up on line and save them in my phone. Huge space, weight, and time savings.

F1 gets me there in my DAW..... I don't remember the hot key shortcut for PG.

I've got a folder with all my music related manuals in PDF format. For those that didn't have PDF files, I used software (Softany CHM to PDF Converter) to convert the .CHM help file to a PDF manual.

CTRL-F in the file makes finding things pretty easy, along with the table contents and/or index.

Herb,

My v2018 for Windows came with a nice spiral-bound printed manual but I think OP objected to the small size ( 5.5 x 8.5" ) format and wanted 8.5 x 11. I would be happy to send the OP my own personal copy if he doesn't have one. OP, Just PM me with your mailing address.

Knowing how to do isn't always obvious or intuitive. But once you know how to do something, it's generally pretty easy.

For example, I've used a number of different tools, and I find BiaB's chord entry method the easiest. For the most part, simple things are easy to do... if you know how.

If you don't know how... BiaB can be maddeningly frustrating. I've been stuck for hours on various features - typically late at night - knowing that there was probably some way to fix the problem, but clueless where that option might be hidden in the byzantine interface.


Nor should you. PGMusic staff and forum users generally provide excellent support. If all else fails, ask for help.

For me it was very refreshing to read your post because since I bought BIAB three months ago I have really been struggling with it and Like yourself, I am not a stupid person. I have the Megapak and recently bought the Ultrapak as it was on a special offer, however I have now returned it as I could easily spend more time working with BIAB rather than playing my chromatic harmonica and all I wish to do is create some backing tracks to accompany myself.
I wonder if it would be very difficult for PG Music to offer two versions of BIAB - the present, very complex one and a much simpler version for the many people who simply wish to have an accompaniment for their instrument.

Narayano

Narayano, whatever version of BIAB you buy - Pro, Megapak, UltraPak, Audiophile - the base program is exactly the same! The only difference is the RealTracks and styles you get with it.

There have been similar comments to yours that show up from time to time in the Wishlist Forum, and feel free to make a post there. I worry a bit about offering a stripped-down version, but I do understand it can be complex to learn. Your other post about repeats is a good example of how to solve your problems: the answer turns out to be much easier than you thought, once you know how to do it. One of us is likely to know an answer, and if we users don't, PG Music has excellent free support.

What I need is an organized course, starting with fundamentals and step wise building on that. The tutorials would be fine if organized in a way to lead from a simple start to more complex tasks. Doesn't BiaB or someone offer that?

Joanne Cooper (she's on this site under users) put together a 9 or 10 video series starting at step 1 basics and progressing to putting the song on an album. She charges a small fee, totally worth it. That's how I got started, although BIAB has so much more I don't even know about. But I can compose a song, pick a style, get the chords in, export it to a DAW, do the vocals or add myself playing or a lot of other things, save it as a wave file, export it to Audacity, so some further tweating and finally save it as an MP3. Send Joannne a private message on this site to see if she still has her online class available. If will definitely help you get started.

Bob B, First welcome to the forum and to Band-in-a-Box.

As previously noted user Joanne Cooper offers a +++ How To Make A Song With Band-in-a-Box +++ video series for minimal cost.

Groove3 offers two video courses. There is the +++ Band-in-a-Box for Mac +++ series and the +++ Band-in-a-Box for Windows +++ .

Both Joanne Cooper's video series and the Groove3 video series have received excellent reviews. I have the Groove 3 series and feel my money was well spent. I downloaded the individual videos and have them on my computer for reference.

I appreciate that Matt and I am very grateful for the incredible help offered by yourself and others on the forum. It really comes down to a matter of time - I am learning to play the chromatic harmonica and although I appreciate that all problems are resolvable with forum help, I could easily find myself in a position where I am spending more time on BIAB than on learning the harmonica. And all I want is some fairly simple backing tracks to accompany myself with.
Again, my thanks for all the help that people so generously give.
Warm regards
Narayano

<<< (1) " I could easily find myself in a position where I am spending more time on BIAB than on learning the harmonica." >>>

<<< (2) "all I want is some fairly simple backing tracks to accompany myself with." >>>

1. While that is certainly true, it's not the complete answer. First, it is only true for the short haul. Assuming all you want to accomplish is to create simple backing tracks, regardless of your current skill level, musical knowledge or any other hindrance other than a physical disability, you should understand the concepts and mechanics of creating a backing track in about 5 minutes and be completely proficient within a day by spending that first day concentrating on Biab input and export skills. Second, you will likely find yourself also spending more time with any addition to your performing repertoire as you progress and expand with music. Learning your way around any professional DAW, learning to program and integrate a vocal harmonizer, or even adding a mixer will require you to temporarily stop harmonica practice and learn how to navigate, program and integrate into the new gear regardless if it's to perform publically or to practice at home.

2. I can't think of anything about the programming of a song in Biab that you should not understand the mechanics of in 5-10 minutes. If you don't know the chords to input into your project, don't know what a I-IV-V progression is or in what's the proper Key your project should be, your issue is not with the mechanics of Biab programming.

Of course there are more advanced features in Biab but they are beyond the scope of the stated goal you've set to program some fairly simple backing tracks to accompany yourself.

Hi Charlie

Please don't get me wrong - I'm really not knocking BIAB and I can see that it is an incredible piece of music software and I am delighted to have it. I did understand the concepts and mechanics of creating a backing track in about 5 minutes although I'm certainly not completely proficient after a day on BIAB. Perhaps I'm one of those people who can say "When god gave out brains,I thought he said trains, so I asked for a small slow one."
I also think that at your level of proficiency it seems (and is) very easy to produce a basic backing track. I know that things that seemed impossible at first now seem easy and when I think of the problem I had at the time I think "Derr".
I've just finished a backing track for a piece of music by O'Carolan and thoroughly enjoyed it. No doubt I shall be asking for help again soon.
Narayano

Charlie,

You summed it up very adequately.

+1

Many parameters of BIAB are merely placeholders that are easily tweaked later. I generally start with the default settings in the key of C and the BPM that is dictated by the style chosen then tweak later.

I was hoping not to get you wrong to how your comments related to the thread heading that "There is nothing easy about Biab". I certainly had no intention to speak of your mentality or knowledge base. I'm encouraged from your response and your understanding to be able to accomplish something in 5 minutes. At the end of the day, proficiency means you can replicate the process with different songs at that same level, not that you know all the in's and out's of Biab.

If you are inputting O'Carolan and enjoying yourself thoroughly, you are well on you way with Biab. Hopefully I haven't said anything to discourage you bringing any questions to the forum - not my intention at all.

I think you've made a wise investment in purchasing Biab and I'm sure you'll get a lot of benefit from the program.

I have found this forum to be extremely helpful. I would have given up without the help I have received here.

Thank you for that Charlie. I think your comments are absolutely fine and I do think that BIAB is no doubt easier than many of the programmes around. I'm really quite surprised that I can already make backing tracks and that feels very rewarding and fulfilling and I am delighted that I decided to purchase it. PG Music obviously are an excellent company who are willing to help with any problems and the fact that they offer a 30 day money back guarantee speaks volumes. You can try it and if you don't like it you get your money back. And, like Lesly55, I have found the forum to be extremely helpful and without it I would have given up were it not for the help that I've received here. Once again, a big thank you to yourself and all the other forum members who so generously give of their time and expertise to help beginners like myself. And thanks to Belladonna and Jim Fogle for mentioning the online course of Joanne Cooper which I have just ordered and I shall also check out Groove Music. Just checked it out and bought it. Roll on my backing tracks

In order to achieve the full experience, product and recognition, one is obligated to take on a variety of skills. All of which are specialist in their own right and even today requires a team of expertise to accomplish.

Biab puts you right there as composer, recording engineer, producer, etc. It's a lot to take on.