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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 31
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 31 |
Hi all,
A couple of years ago I tried a BIAB demo and it wasn't quite what I was looking for at the time. But BIAB has changed a bit since then, and so have my needs. But there's no downloadable demo now (plus it's too big for me to get now anyway). Your suggestions and experiences would be most welcome.
Back then, I recall entering the chords from "Stand By Me" and then trying to tweak it until it sounded vaguely like SBM, rather than a completely new arrangement or else one of the great many other songs that use the same progression. I was unable to get remotely close, but that could have been very largely due to my not spending long enough learning all the options?
However, I'm now wondering whether it would be useful as a song-writing tool. I'm pretty OK with lyrics but mediocre on my main instrument and positively lousy on the others. Currently I usually get lyrics fairly well advanced and then fail to get a decent music track together. I'm thinking that I might be better off getting as close as I can with something like BIAB and then finally shaping the lyrics to suit, rather than getting polished lyrics that are let down by crummy self played music.
But the big question is "How close is close?" Can you get pretty nearly what was in your head? And if so does it require a Master Degree in Advanced Geek-Speak and months of study, or can you get something reasonably individual and non-generic after, say, a few hours or days of study?
Thanks for reading.
Chris
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 20,640
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 20,640 |
Hey Chris, I write songs and I find BIAB absolutely brilliant. I use the PC version. Not having to worry about playing an accompaniment frees me up incredibly. If you're curious to hear some of what BIAB can do, go to ... http://www.americansongspace.com/Noel96/... and have a listen. Every song at that site is one of my original songs and the backing is entirely BIAB. The only "live" musician is me singing (except in "Who Knows Where We're Going" and "Everything Under The Sun" where my co-writer plays guitar bridges and fill-ins). Everything else is PG Music. All the best, Noel
Last edited by Noel96; 05/16/11 12:12 AM.
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 31
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 31 |
Hi Noel, Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. I enjoyed listening to your songs, but couldn't help thinking that a couple of them sounded pretty familiar. Quite easy to sing along to in fact... I wasn't sure why - until I noticed that you had another link in your sig here as well. So I clicked on that and... waddya you know.... I had actually stumbled on that site yesterday and listened to a couple of your songs there. No wonder they sounded familiar! Quite a coincidence. What are the chances of that, I wonder?  I noticed yesterday that you're in Bundoora but for some reason thought that was in Queensland, so the Melbourne tag threw me. In the early 70s I used to live in inner Melbourne (Windsor) and was a partner in a design business that did publicity photos and album covers for Mushroom records. Gee, that's a million years ago now... albums were big vinyl things then! I'm just outside Perth now. Anyway, thanks very much for the chance to hear it in action. Does it give you much freedom to 'compose' in detail, or is it mostly 'in the style of' sort of feel? I guess either would do but I'd like to be able to get pretty specific if I can. Although I do have some DAWs that can tinker with things a lot too. I can feel a long bout of manual studying coming on..... Cheers, Chris
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 20,640
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Veteran
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 20,640 |
Hi Chris, I've never thought about it before but I guess my compositions tend to be "in the style of", at least in their early stages. I load a BIAB style, and begin composing. Often I will load a demo song for a particular style and use the chord progression for that demo as a starting point for developing my own progression. Once my song is essentially composed, I hunt through the Realtracks to see if there might be one that sounds better than what I already have. Then I usually play around with adding shots, pushes and holds to customize my arrangements. Using these features would move me out of the "in the style of" mode and into the "tailor the arrangement" mode. When I have the song sounding like I want it, I load the BIAB file into Realband and use additional Realtracks to create fills and solos. I cut and paste a great deal to get the solos and fills exactly as I want them. Once I have all this in place, I save the Realband tracks as individual wav files and load them into Reaper for mixing and mastering. (An important thing to appreciate about Realtracks is that they are musical phrases and thus it is not possible to create individual note sequences and have the RTs play these notes. This is possible with MIDI. That being said, however, it is possible to cut and paste and create RT phrases and even individual notes if you are patient enough.) Hope this gives you some ideas! I couldn't be without BIAB. I often find the most productive way to compose a song is to type in a chord progression (or load one from a demo, as mentioned above), start the backing playing, and simply sit at the computer saying phrases that pop into my head and that fit with the backing. When I stumble on something I like, that becomes the starting point of my song. Keep in mind that PG Music offer a money-back guarantee if you do not like the product. They stand by this. It might be worth contacting them and asking about it. It's always good to meet a fellow Aussie! There are a few of us in these forums  All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 31
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 31 |
Thanks for that extra information Noel. It all sounds good.
I've also now had time to watch some of the demo videos, including one which showed how you can drop the results into GarageBand, ProTools or Logic (all of which I have) so that's handy. Apparently you can also split the BiaB arrangement into the individual instrument tracks and drop those into the DAW, which is ideal. One way or another I should have ample opportunity to tweak things around.
It should also be handy for making backing tracks for general practice. I can try and copy the BiaB arrangements with my own instruments and then make my own alterations when successful. Must be worth having! So I've taken the plunge, and it's downloading as I type this. The boxed copy will probably show up in a week or two I expect, but I might keep slowly downloading some of the files in the meantime.
Thanks again for your help,
Cheers,
Chris
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 20,640
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 20,640 |
Welcome to the club, Chris. You won't regret it Happy songwriting, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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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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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)!
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- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
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- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
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- RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
- SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
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