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Post your own Tips and Tricks here
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,992
Expert
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OP
Expert
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,992 |
tip009. drums sub dir's. here i have 2 dirs. drums and drums-demos. within drums dir note lots of drums dir's. according to style. DONT CHANGE ANYTHING !! you can hear each by clicking on the win > play icon and win will play them. any you like you could copy i guess to your daw multitrack project eg as a ruff clik trak. if you didnt wanna open up biab at a particular time. (and style files i wont go into right now. later on. ) but i'm gonna now go thru the drums demos dir. youll notice the drums demos dir has lotsa songs. lotsa styles etc etc. different tempos. (note..youll notice if you hold your mouse over a song icon you can see the song bpm displayed before clicking on it. ) just clik on a biab icon and chord sheet appears. (note..the seq files are for opening in RB for example.) some people listening to some demos will prolly hear lots of older music styles. in many cases some might say lounge or 60's. a lot of styles are jazzier with different chord extensions. but lets not be quick to judge some of these styles. lots can be learned from them . keep an open mind...mebe new chord progressions jazzed down for say a rocky song or whatever. once again EXPERIMENT !! dont just think "well my granny or grandad would listen to that" !! CHANGE IT WITHOUT CHANGEING THE UNDRLYING FILE IN THE DIR. useing save as to a different dir. heres another tip..lets say you hear a style close to a song idea of yours. in order to avoid any possibility of changeing by accident anything in the drum demos dir.. just right clik over the biab icon..and select copy.. and copy n paste the song file to a seperate "test" dir elswhere on your hard drive. i just tried this..works great. just simple copy n paste. remember all is changeable. for example in one country drum demo i changed a patch to violin. in another i changed to clarinet. for those like me that are more "rocker orientated" ..lol.. youll notice also in the drums demo dir grungier demos etc. see what you can do with these via experimentation. once again changeing midi patches n real instruments etc etc like before. changeing chords etc etc n saveing to a test dir youve set up for testing different ideas. for example i brought up a hiphop demo style but soloed the drums... n went hmm...thats cool !! n it gave me a song idea on its own just listening to the beat. n i found a nice mini drum break/solo. within the demos youll see lots of jazz demos. there are some cool chords/progressions in these examples. once again experiment with them. (as an aside my dad may he rip would have loved many of the jazz drum demoes cos he was a jazz drummer decades ago.) heres an idea... midway thru this extensive set of demos.. i took a rest n laid on thev bed. what was interesting was all the demos were swirling around in my head and giving me new song snippet ideas. as we all know the human subconcious is a curious thing, and you never know where a new song idea might come from. another idea is..as you go thru these demos you might hear once again interesting drum breaks or mini solos. what i'm contemplating is building up a library of drum solos //mini breaks//longer drum solos in a seperate dir on my pc that i can then import into daw multitrak software. after my likkle rest i was grooving on some of the LA pop examples. changeing em around n makeing em heavier. adding a real trak geetar heavy sorta idea n solos etc etc. one of many i started to groove on was a upbeat nashville even 8 demo. so i copied n pasted the biab song file to my seperate "favs" dir within my own biabsongs dir. man that rock thrash half time ev16 is a big drum sound. gonna think where i can use it. on one of the rhumba examples i generated a soft romantic intro i liked, once again experimenting. saved one of the salsa ones to my favs dir for further experimenting. v nice salsa examples for use in other songs. one point to note...you can also use the wizard to play along on your puter kbd !! (another option.).
well i came away from all the drum demoes with a load of new ideas i gotta think about. hope you do too. you MUST spend detailed time going thru experimenting with each one. more tips n ideas to come as i get time.
ps..if folks could comment whether they find these tips usefull or not.. cos i am time compressed n doin my best. if usefull i'll carry on.
retired puter engr....powertracks on amd......NICE ! "what is the black art of audio engineering ?" my silly songs...motagator.com/bmanning see my tips in the tips section.
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Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 is packed with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can transcribe an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. 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, and much more!
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!
And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
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- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
- Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
- Playable RealTracks Set 5
- RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
- SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
- iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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- FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
- MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
- RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
- SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
Learn more about the Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
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