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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 2
Newbie
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OP
Newbie
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 2 |
Hi,
I currently have BIAB 2008 Windows, am looking at upgrading to 2011, because of the "real" bands. I play jazz piano, and want to create bass and drum backing tracks, for a jazz trio sound. I really won't be using the non-jazz styles at all.
Question: To get a workable selection of jazz "real" band options, what do I need?
- Is the basic Pro version adequate?
- Do I need the MegaPak? Seems like with the MegaPak I'm paying for a lot of styles I don't want/need.
- Pro version plus some particular jazz style sets or RealPaks?
OR, with RealPaks or sets, do I even need to upgrade to 2011?
Thanks for any thoughts.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,157
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,157 |
If you want the best sounding instruments, you will need the Real Tracks. My advice is to buy as much of a Biab package as you can. I upgraded to the Ultra HD pack and it comes with ALL of the Real Tracks, including Smooth Jazz. Check out my demo song I made yesterday. It is one style with 5 Real Tracks, SmJzPop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POyWq8ih95cTrax
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 300
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 300 |
Sounds awesome, could you share the procedure you used, like maybe a mini tutorial 
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,157
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,157 |
Layout your song structure/chord sequence in Biab. Selected the SmJzPop style. Generated the tracks and saved. Opened in Realband, selected bars for Sax solo and generated, then same for the Guitar.
I selected about 4 bars of the guitar part and used the audio harmony in Realband to generate a 1 up harmony.
In Realband, I set the "default track category" (they are DX Plug In effects) for each instrument and adjusted to taste via the mixer. I added the Tremelo Plug In to the E Piano and Rhythm Guitar as well. Then I added a PG Reverb in the Aux 1 slot. That gives all of the instruments the same Reverb setting. Adjust knob 1 on each track for amount to be applied to each track.
It took me about 40 minutes to have a WMA file of the song and 3 hours to make the video, lol.
Trax
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 2
Newbie
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OP
Newbie
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 2 |
Quote:
If you want the best sounding instruments, you will need the Real Tracks. My advice is to buy as much of a Biab package as you can.
Thanks. Nice track.
But ... as mentioned above, I have a particular objective in mind, and my question is what I need for that specific purpose. Buying everything isn't really what I'm looking for.
I'm interested in: bass . . . drums . . . jazz
Thoughts?
Thanks.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333 |
It's cheaper to get more in the end.
I've found that often starting with a style that is not real tracks and adding and trying out different things is the best in the end. That said there are some styles that cross over, and many realtracks that cross over. In a lot of the styles when you choose jazz it suggests a certain country or rock style. With a pencil and paper you make note of the tracks that might be good, say a guitar. You keep your jazz style and do a sort of fusion with the suggested guitar track and often the result is great.
I play piano. I like a certain jazz style a lot, it has electric guitar (jazz) plus bass and drums. I find myself filling in the melody on keys, then improvising over it for the 2nd verse, and back to the melody. When I was playing in homes for older (or people like me who've aged early), I found you had to play the actual melody and if you spent too much time away from it they didn't like it. So take "White Cliffs of Dover" though not a very vintage Jazz tune, a good one, and they like the tune and croon away, same verse 3 times. It's cute until Wanda hit me because I didn't play Fur Elise 3 times, and man that cane hurt.
I hear what you are saying. I'd also talk to the sales department at PG music, and specify what you want, and see what they say. I'm sure they will be of great assistance. BTW, I think Monday is a holiday even out west, we call it Family Day.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,810
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,810 |
Simply do the math. Even if all you need is the Jazz RT's - if you get the striped down Pro versions and then buy your RTs individually the price for the 5 sets of Jazz tracks is $420 alone. So getting the more inclusive packages is more cost effective.
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 22,490
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 22,490 |
These guys speak from experience, many of us have been down that road...
If you truly only want swing jazz (or whatever) you can look at what come in each pack and decide, but most of us ended up hearing something someone else did, and realized we would have liked to have that option.. the larger packs are the better deal as opposed to eventually buying a bunch of realtracks.
The megapak does seem to include a number of additional jazz styles and realtracks compared to pro.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 23
Enthusiast
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Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 23 |
Like you I'm a jazz-only guy. I tried first upgrading to BiaB 2011 and buying a couple of add-on jazz RealTrack packs, but I found that left some useful styles incomplete (the vibes comping, for instance, had no bassist). I could have overcome the problem by loading a different bassist manually, but I figured it wasn't worth the hassle. So I upgraded again to the UltraPlusPak. I reckon it's worth it.
The RealTracks are a vast improvement on the old midi tracks. I was getting depressed about my little GBD trio going down the tubes and not being able to find pro-level players to jam with, especially on my own compositions and arrangements. Now I've been able to create good backings for them, which inspire me to work on them again. I'm particularly pleasantly surprised at how well the vibes comping works on some modern compositions of mine (unusual progressions with slash chords). The B3 comping is great fun too.
Keith Freeman
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
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