Band-in-a-Box^® 2022 Video: DAW Plugin New Features

VST DAW Plugin
2022

New Features in Version 4.0 (included with Band-in-a-Box^® 2022)

There are over 40 enhancements to the Band-in-a-Box® DAW Plugin, including a new Chord Settings dialog (with Chord Builder, Chord Theory, and MicroChords tabs), the MicroChords feature (the ability to enter multiple chords per beat, four pages for a total of 32 tracks (8 style tracks, 16 utility tracks, and 8 multi-riff tracks) plus a Style Mix track, the ability to drag MIDI chords and markers to DAW, volume sliders for each track, the ability to save/load chord progression, and much more!

Chord Settings dialog with Chord Builder, Chord Theory, and MicroChords
There is a Chord Settings dialog which includes Chord Builder, Chord Theory, and MicroChords.

MicroChords (multiple chords per beat)
You can now enter up to 4 chords per beat, and the MicroChords in a SGU/MGU file will be written to the chord sheet.

Four pages on the track table
The track table now has 4 pages for a total of 32 tracks (8 style tracks, 16 utility tracks, and 8 multi-riff tracks) plus a Style Mix track.

Drag MIDI chords and markers from the plugin to DAW
- You can drag the [C7] button (above the chord sheet) to the DAW to export chords and markers in a MIDI file.
- "Save Chords to MIDI File" has been added to the File menu and the [C7] button right-click menu.
- "Load Chords from MIDI File" has been added to the File menu and the [C7] button right-click menu.

Volume sliders for each track
The new volume slides on each track allow you to control volume individually.

Save and Load chord progression
You can now save and load a chord progression using the new File menu commands ("Save chord progression" and "Load chord progression")

Drum Stems
Drum stems are separate tracks from the different mics in the RealDrums recording. They can be loaded to separate tracks.

[VI] button above chord sheet for chord display options
The [VI] button has been added to above the chord sheet and clicking on it shows a menu with options for types of chord symbols to display.

[MicroChords] tab in Chord Settings dialog
Clicking on the new [MicroChords] button in the Chord Settings dialog allows you to enter MicroChords, rests, and motifs.

Hotkey to open MicroChords dialog
Typing M <Enter> on the chord sheet opens the MicroChords dialog.

Generate all pages
The [Generate] button now generates tracks in all pages, not just the pages displayed on the screen.

Output RealChart for RealTracks along with audio
Preferences-DAW Settings has a new "Send MIDI Data to DAW" setting with 3 options (Never, Only for MIDI Tracks, Always) and this allows to output RealCharts for RealTracks along with audio

Option to always disable audio when generating MIDI-only styles
The new option in Preference-Rendering allows you to always disable audio when generating MIDI-only styles.

Track label should reflect what region is generated if any
Previously, the track labels did not reflect what region is generated if any.

Undo/Redo buttons
We've added convenient Undo and Redo buttons above the chord sheet.

Reset track volume slider to 0
You can shift-click on the volume slider to set the volume to 0 dB.

Load an audio file on any track
You can now load an audio file on any track.

Load a MIDI file on any track
You can now load a MIDI file on any track.

Changed "Extra" tracks to "Utility" tracks
Previously called "Extra" tracks are now called "Utility" tracks.

Exclude "Style Mix" from scrolling
When you scroll the track table, the "Style Mix" always shows at the top so it can be accessed from any page.

Style Mix [ALL] button now drags all style and utility tracks
Previously, when you dragged the Style Mix [ALL] button, only style tracks were dragged.

Black background for render options in Preferences dialog
The Preferences-Rendering dialog now has a black background.

Updated some preference settings to use a drop-down menu
Some settings in the Preferences dialog now have a drop-down menu instead of a checkbox.

Five menu options added for StylePicker
We've added following menu options to the StylePicker:
- Choose styles similar to current
- Band Styles (best RealStyles)
- Choose Style from Song Title Browser
- Recently Used Styles
- Favorite Styles

Sample rate/bit depth options in Preferences menu
Preferences-Rendering now have sample rate and bit depth options.

Have MIDI-only option for each track
The MIDI-only option for each track gives you the ability to specify if you want audio rendered from MIDI tracks. Previously, this was not possible for a single track and could only be applied to all tracks during a generation.

Pad/no pad partial renders
The new Preferences option allows you to add/remove bars of silence before a partial render. For instance, if you just render bar 4-5 of an 8-bar song and this option is checked, it will add 3 bars of silence before the 4th bar comes in.

StylePicker Picker Enhanced
- Additional row has been added to the mixer area for Utility tracks.
- The Other filter button has more menu items.
- The Set # column shows HalfDouble for Half-time/Double-time variation styles.
- We've added more user categories (e.g., Xtra13 All Styles, XPro Styles, Style Demos with Vocals, etc.)

Other features including features added since 2021 release
- Previously, the plugin would crash if you tried to run multiple instances because multiple apps are trying to call bbw4. Now, the plugin will check if there are multiple instances running and if so, it will close bbw4 after each call to prevent crashes. So, ultimately the plugin can now "somewhat support" multiple instances although it still isn't recommended.
- Now any "Recent" menu like Recent RealTracks, Recent MIDI SuperTracks, Recent Files, etc. (found in File, Select, and Generate menus) have an option at the bottom to "Clear" which will clear the list.
- The standalone version of the plugin now has the File->Quit menu command.
- You can now quickly preview N bars.
- There is now a right-click menu on the chord sheet that allows you to preview N bars.
- A message will show notifying you that the saved window size has completed.
- Bars will be highlighted during MIDI preview.
- The "Preview N Bars" option has been added to the Generate menu.
- A new button in Preferences-General makes the current plugin window size the default for all new instances.
- A new option in Preferences-Rendering automatically clears the render folder at startup.
- A new option in Preferences-Rendering always separates audio output channels for each track after generating.
- A notification will appear if the plugin cannot generate tracks because of missing media.
- The "Generation is complete!" message that shows after generating tracks has a [Play] button so you can start playback right after generating.
- "Play Current Chord" has been added to the right-click menu on the chord sheet. The hotkey for this function is Shift-Enter.
- The Preferences dialog is updated with tab menus.
- A new option in Preferences-General allows you to select a default chord type to display.
- You can use a dedicated MIDI synth for immediate MIDI playback of chord(s) and rendered MIDI files.
- The MIDI and audio channel buttons on the track table are now clickable and you can change a channel.
- You can set a folder path for saved tracks for that instance.
- You can preview chord progression as MIDI (Play/Stop button is above chord sheet).
- The top menu can be hidden to save space.
- A new button in Preferences-Rendering will display a plugin log of green/yellow messages.
- There is a new option in Preferences-General to let you select a chord font.
- A line is drawn between the Generate and Custom buttons to separate the two visually.
- The option to enable/disable style mix track is set by default.
- The Preferences-Rendering option to enable/disable style mix track is set by default.
- A new option in Preference-Rendering enables rendering with high-quality tempo stretching.
- Clicking a status message area brings any open Band-in-a-Box window to front.
- The Chord Settings dialog now has a keyboard to show notes in chords.
- Render settings and track context menus have been updated.
- There is now a preferences option to the save output channel mapping layout as default.
- You can select tracks to be excluded from playing the MicroChord.
- There is now a visual indicator for count-ins.
- MIDI Soloist can now be selected for style page tracks.
- A new preferences option allows the spacebar to start/stop playback in the standalone plugin.
- There is now a preferences option to keep the standalone plugin window on top of all other windows.
- The plugin will write to a log file each “action” that the plugin takes when an operation is in progress. (Note that in order for this to work, there must exist a file called "Users/Shared/Ticket/BBPluginDebug.txt.")
- Style Mix volume button now shows volumes for all tracks (Master volume button).
- Arrows to move to next beat/bar in Chord Settings dialog have been updated so that left-click will move 1 beat and right-click will move 2 beats.
- A new preferences option allows you to select a type of generate action to perform when pressing the Generate button.
- There is now an option to send MIDI data to an embedded synth for playing MIDI tracks.
- Newly saved progression replaces older one with identical name.

And more!