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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2010
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Posts: 137 |
If I am correct, there are roughly 3,000 styles in BIAB.
I would like to know if these numbers are enough for all of you, or would you still buy other styles? In this question, I don't talk about creating new styles yourself as I myself don't know how to do it.
My sincere thanks,
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
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ALL of Western Music is about Style of playing.
"Non-Western" World Musics, even moreso.
Chord changes, Note Choices, even Melody, are finite in scope.
Style, on the other hand, which is delineated by Rhythms, Feel, Instrument Choices, Timbres, "Cross-Pollination" between genres - when done with that certain something that we often define as "good taste" - which is Temporal, actually, means that today's Style Files will not be able to duplicate tommorrow's Current Event.
We already see people wanting (*demanding!*) Styles that are able to reproduce popular songs and compositions that are now in vogue, awaiting pgmusic style development to create them and add to the list.
Band in a Box represents many different aspects of the craft to many different users. One may want the program to use in their Songwriting and Composition, another as Auto-Accompaniment in their Recording Endeavors, another just wants the program to serve as their backup band for use in practicing and improving their musical skills, add to that the fact that there are so many differing genres, for example, someone who is a Bluegrass player won't use BB in the same exact fashion as someone who is a Blues player, or a Classical Musician, or a Country Musician, or one of the several different kinds of Jazz musicians to include Vintage Jazz, Dixieland Jazz, Swing, Bebop, Modern Jazz or Free Jazz, well, all of the above and more demand those Style Files as suits the particular situation.
Too many Styles?
I say, "Not Enough!"
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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+1 on that, Mac.
It says I have 3371 styles and yet I still create my own personal Styles by cherry-picking from midi and RTs.
That's the fun and joy of BB.
Ia
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I also have 3371 styles. Styles are like guitars in that you can never have too many of them 
Principal: Your child always causes trouble in school.
Me: My child causes trouble at home, do I ever call you?
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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The funny thing is each of us will say I really only use certain styles but none of us use the same styles. There's a very active group of users for every category of style listed.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Yabut, a small furry animal with voice in the back of one's head that pops up at times like this  With all the styles I still don't know them well enough to find what I want. I get lost while hunting a style and lose the feel for what I'm looking for. Yea more is better but I need a chip implant to remember them all Here's an off the wall idea, how about we record a style tempo like Ba, teda,da da and BIAB searches the best 5 styles that come close. There can be too much but not enough Wyndham
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Interesting topic....
short answer: no
With the, well over 3000 styles in BB, nope.... I still have occasions where I can't find anything close to the style I'm looking for.
Forget about trying to make a style...the process seems so complicated to me.... just watched about 15 minutes of a video explaining just how to do a drum style..... you got to be kidding me.... my brain started to hurt....
I normally just try to find a style close to what I think would be a good groove for a given song.... if it's a cover, (which I rarely record) or to compose something new.... I can make it work with one of those 3000+ styles, generally, to my satisfaction.
Would it be cool to have 6000 styles....? Of course. But I'd probably still not find exactly what I wanted.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 02/28/14 11:59 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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That's like saying, are there too many songs written?
The answer to each is a resounding "No".
Example, I wrote a cha-cha style for BiaB and used it on Perez Prado's "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White". We were playing on the cruise ships at the time and a lot of ballroom dancers used to come to our lounge.
So at their request, I learned "Never On Sunday" as a cha-cha, using the same style, but into the improv section of the song, it was completely uninspiring because it sounded just like "Cherry Pink" which was already explored.
So I wrote a slightly different cha-cha style and it worked for the entire song better.
That's just one example. I've had the same experience with rock, country, blues, salsa, calypso, reggae and other styles of music.
With Western pop music, one size does not fit all.
I agree that with so many styles it takes longer to find the right style for a song. But on the other hand you have a much better chance of finding just the right style for that song instead of one that you will say, "Oh, I guess that'll do."
So IMHO there cannot be too many styles.
Insights and incites by Notes
Last edited by Notes Norton; 02/28/14 02:53 PM.
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I agree, although there are styles I probably never use, with the new feature where one can preview a style on the fly it makes it a lot easier to find something one can use on a particular song. I for instance, like to experiment with different sounds and styles; some work some don't, that's the fun of it.
Mike B.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I'm with Wyndham on this one. It would be great to be able to somehow enter a known song title or a riff or the rhythm you're looking for and get back a list of styles that are similar. Not sure how that would be implemented, but it would go a long way towards making it easier to find a style you could use.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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You could enter the song title in the search feature, but from our experience doing fake books, that doesn't work well.
The reason is that in the early days, a generic sounding style might be suggested for a particular song, years later a style that has different aspects of the same song, editions later another, then a better one comes along, and so on. So the result is a half dozen or more styles that equally don't work for the song in question, and further testing finds a style that is better than all the others but is NOT assigned to that song and doesn't come up in the search dialog.
The larger the menu becomes, the more difficult the choice, but on the other hand, the greater the odds are of finding just the right style.
For me the extra time and work is worth it. Of course YMMV.
Insights and incites by Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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.
I recently got a commission to create a series of sngs in the classical Chinese style. I created a half dozen new styles for that gig. Probably never will use them again...
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2001
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I am mainly interested in jazz styles and therefor I have to say there are not nearly enough jazz styles available. There are too few basic rhythms sections to use. I do not think that adding a soloist to a rhythm section makes it a new style and I don't really have a use for soloists anyway. Although I confess, I sometimes listen to Ian McDougall solos to get some ideas for my own. I think some of the existing styles could be improved - strange bass lines, no hi-hat on the off beat and insufficient fast tempos are the small annoyances I would like corrected. Yes, I know the simpler bass lines were introduced when some of us complained before. Notwithstanding, I probably spend more hours in a day with Band-in-a-Box than I do with my partner or dog. I know, because they both complain constantly. I would also point out that some of the new jazz styles that came out with 2014, such as RT196 Jazz PollWinners, are just excellent without the aforementioned annoyances and I am using them pretty exclusively this year. More like these, please!
Grah Jive Talk
"Don't worry baby, they'll swing their arses off."
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I write aftermarket styles and so I get feedback from my very loyal customers. I hear all of the following: - There aren't enough rock styles
- There aren't enough country styles
- There aren't enough dance styles
- There aren't enough European styles
- There aren't enough Caribbean styles
- and so on
Many of the above complain that there are too many jazz styles. What does this all mean? It's simple, 3,000 styles aren't enough. There might be too many of the styles you don't care to use, but there aren't enough of the styles that would work best for the type of music you want to play. - When you buy a Cable TV subscription, there are plenty of channels you don't watch - you get it for the things you do want to see
- When you buy a music book, you get it for the songs you want to play and there are plenty you will probably never go to
- Do you read every article in the newspaper or a magazine?
- When you google something do you read every hit?
- When you buy road map do you drive on every road on the map?
- When you buy a radio do you listen to every station?
We buy things for what we want, and since many things are more economical to buy in the variety pack, we should consider the things we don't want as free extras, and if the things in the pack are worth the money, the free extras can be discarded. Which leads me to this. If you have styles in your pack that you don't think you ever want to use, why not make a new folder in BiaB, call it "Free extra styles", and drag the styles you don't want in there. Don't discard them, because next year your tastes might change a bit. But if they are in a separate folder, re-building the Style Picker Window should relieve you of the clutter. I haven't tried it, but I think it should work. Insights and incites by Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Many genres constantly evolve and morph so genre labels can't be used as a guide to meet expectations as much as they could in the past. That's true in the music marketplace and true with PG Music styles.
As long as new music comes out, there will be a need for new styles.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I want more styles! I find there are a lot of styles I would never use like jazz. I don't play it. don't listen to it. don't need those styles. so I often filter when searching and just uncheck that box. that helps a lot.
then when it comes to finding what I want I sometimes find many styles are very similar to each other. I often click through quite a few and they seem to be slight variations of the same general style.
and I have a hard time locating anything in modern pop and rock and Americana. if I want Dire Straits or ZZTop or British invasion there are some nice styles but when I don't want that dated sound I find it harder to locate something.
now don't get me wrong...this is NOT criticism! BIAB is amazing and I continue to be blown away at all of the backing I can create with it! but, yeah, MORE styles and more RealTracks would be great!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Think about this:
It must be a constant piece of work for pgm to stay abreast of "new" sounds and style, then create same, which often will mean going out there and not only finding, but attracting excellent players of the "new" style and then procuring their talents and time to put together some RealTracks.
On top of that, it surely must also take a bit of time to weed out what styles are likely to be more popular in the first place - or spend the time and money rolling a style that "only works for one song" type of thing.
This year, though, we have been awarded with the USER TRACKS, which should go a long way towards providing all sorts of "MORE STYLES" in all genres. Time will tell how that shakes out. At this point in time, I think we are still getting the word out about this feature, which I'm hoping will attract more players to BB in the first place. The ability to clone yourself in soloing alone seems worth it to me.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2012
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Think about this:
It must be a constant piece of work for pgm to stay abreast of "new" sounds and style, then create same, which often will mean going out there and not only finding, but attracting excellent players of the "new" style and then procuring their talents and time to put together some RealTracks.
On top of that, it surely must also take a bit of time to weed out what styles are likely to be more popular in the first place - or spend the time and money rolling a style that "only works for one song" type of thing.
This year, though, we have been awarded with the USER TRACKS, which should go a long way towards providing all sorts of "MORE STYLES" in all genres. Time will tell how that shakes out. At this point in time, I think we are still getting the word out about this feature, which I'm hoping will attract more players to BB in the first place. The ability to clone yourself in soloing alone seems worth it to me.
--Mac Great points Mac! I am trying to find some time to sit down and UserTrack my fingerpicking style, my strumming, my power-chording, etc. I think it would be so cool to have a library of ME that I can use. I don't know if I am good enough yet to make something consistent enough to be used in a UserTrack but I am sure gonna try!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Roughly 1/3 of the 3000+ styles are jazz and latin. Of those I use maybe 10-12 and only Real Tracks. I, for one, would like to see more jazz real tracks, similar to the new ones in 2014. Later, Ray
Asus Q500A i7 Win 10 64 bit 8GB ram 750 HD 15.5" touch screen, BIAB 2017, Casio PX 5s, Xw P1, Center Point Stereo SS V3 and EWI 4000s.
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It's a good point you make Ray
3000 styles is enough - if you can use everyone of them for your own purposes.
If the user only finds a few that are suitable, then obviously more would be better.
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 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2026!
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Version 2026 introduces a modernized GUI redesign across the program, with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, and a new Dark Mode option. There’s also a new side toolbar for quicker access to commonly used windows, and the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, making it easier to customize your workspace.
Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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