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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 14
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 14 |
Hi, I am still a newbie and have yet to buy. One thing that concerns me is that on Amazon reviews, where some people are saying that even when you specify a particular chord, it still comes up with a different one: amazon.co.uk...review and comments Does this mean it is inconvenient to have to manually change each chord to the right one? Or do they mean that it is IMPOSSIBLE to change them to the right ones? Because this would be a deal breaker, if it was absolutely impossible to change them to the right chord. (yeah sorry, I asked on there as well, but it can take months to get a reply on Amazon) Thanks
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 20,492
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Hi Vortex,
To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what they're meaning in the reviews.
The default behaviour of BIAB is that it will 'dress up' chords here and there throughout an arrangement. This is in keeping with the concept that during live performances, musicians will dress up chords. For example, the sheet music may have C7 written but the musician may play C9 (or C11, C13 or many other possibilities) as a perfectly legitimate extension of C7.
The above being said, though, it's possible to turn this feature off so that the chords are played as written. (This is what I usually do although I periodically like to have BIAB's creativity help me out, too.)
If you go to the link in my signature, you'll be able to hear some of the songs I've created with BIAB. The sheet music is there for most of them so you'll be able to see what's written and hear how it's played.
Regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,507
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Vortex, like many reviews, these show that the reviewers sometimes do not understand the program very well.
I'm not sure about the context of that business of coming up with a different chord. They may be referring to a utility that comes free with BIAB called Audio Chord Wizard. This utility will take a .WAV or .MP3 file and try to guess the chords in it, and create a chord chart for use in BIAB. No one ever claimed a computer can do this perfectly.
I do transcriptions for pay, but I still use the Audio Chord Wizard to get started. If you are doing harmonically complex chords like jazz, it will have a hard time. If it's folk music with, for example, two chords to the measure, it will nail it pretty well. When you purchase the program, you will want to practice using this and other parts of the program, because you can gain skills that will make it work better for you.
If you are NOT talking about the Audio Chord Wizard, but just entering chords into the BIAB program, it accepts a pretty solid range of chord types including many exotic jazz chords. I am a pro jazz player, and I rarely encounter a chord I can't enter. If I do, there is often an alternate spelling.
Does that help?
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Woops ... I see I went off on a tangent. I didn't see link to the review!
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,507
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Noel, are you now reading it similarly to what I think is being asked here?
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2008
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Matt,
Yes. I think you're comments are more relevant. I noticed that the review talks about the dim/dim7 chord issue. This hasn't existed for a few versions.
Regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
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I missed that. Yes, that one is solved. Again, the comments I read showed they aren't as knowledgeable about BIAB as it is now.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
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Its the Internet.
If I searched, I likely could find 60 bad reviews about my Grandma's homemade homegrown Peach Ice Cream.
And none of 'em would have ever even met her, much less tasted the late dear lady's awesome Ice Cream recipe.
PGMusic has always offered a 30-day No Questions Asked return policy.
That means you'll have a full featured demo that Saves work for almost a month.
Plenty of time to find out everything needed to know for yourself.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I find that the overall availability of chords and the, iterations of same e.g. minor, major, major and minor 7th's, 9th's, diminished, augmented, flattened fifths etc, to be absolutely versatile for just about every required purpose.
There are very few chord embellishments I have ever required that have not been available, and I have always been able to find a variant that works equally well.
Like Matt, Mac and other posters have said, don't take too much notice of reviews by persons where you cannot legitimately verify their credentials and intimate knowledge of the product they are commenting on. I think this is the case in some of those reviews. A little bit of knowledge can be dangerous.
I think you'll find the product definitely can do just about anything you want it to, and certainly everything that PG Music says it can. I'll be very surprised if that's not the case.
Regards
Trevor
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 14
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Thanks everyone,
Your comments are very encouraging.
Noel96, even though you thought you were off topic, I read your post and clicked the link to your songs before I read the other comments, and I thought what you said was very relevant, and very helpful thanks.
Your songs sound great, and if I can get my songs to sound that good I will be very happy, so thanks!
Matt, I am not sure if they meant the Audio Chord Wizard or not, but I definitely like the idea of that as well.
So no, I won't take much notice of the review and comments, thanks.
Last edited by Vortex; 12/01/13 06:31 AM.
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