PG Music Home Forums PG Music Wishlists Band-in-a-Box Wishlist Simplify, simplify, simplify - please?

Hello,

I don't know if anyone at PG Music actually reads these threads, or more to the point, even takes heed of them. Further, since I am probably so far removed from what, reading the previous comments on this forum, is the typical user, that maybe my comments don't even count. Anyway, here goes...

I bought the 2006 version of BIAB, and have used it on and off for my jazz play-along practice, and in this regard, it excels. Then for various reasons I stopped using it. I have recently started using it again after about a two-year break, and I have realised what for me as a relative newcomer are its greatest problems - how is it used, the user interface, and the learning curve/tutorials. In the meantime, I had upgraded to the 2008 version.

How is it used: The main problem is a failure to identify how will the product likely be used by various users. The product tries to cover its back by trying to be all things to all men, and ends up satisfying nobody, unless you are willing to invest the time the read all the tutorials, user guides, etc. I simply want to use the product as a play-along aid. I don't want the overhead of the huge options and features presented to the user. Better would be to prompt the user during installation what their typical usage patterns will be, and reduce the feature/option clutter accordingly.

User Interface: With all respect, the user interface seems to have been design by a software engineer for other software engineers. It is certainly not intuitive. The screen is completely clogged with feaures and options that probably no single user will probably ever use. All standard Windows applications have a toolbar option called "View", which is missing. Maybe the "Notation" toolbar option is meant to serve the same function. I can't see a great deal of change between the 2006 and 2008 versions, yet I have the impression that the latest UI has become more complex. In this respect, it suffer somewhat from the Microsoft disease - how to justify charging for user upgrades. In my case, in an attempt to simply the re-learning curve, I have downgraded back to the older version. The UI also makes use of colour codes for the Instrument Line (Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, Strings, Melody, Soloist). I am colour-blind and cannot easily distinguish between green and red.

Tutorials: To get back to speed, I have tried following the tutorials. Again, they give the impression of having been written by an engineer, who believes that we should progress in the straight-line sequence A-Z as the best way to learn. In lesson 2, we are prompted to load the song called " L_BOSMED.MGU", without knowing where the song is actually located. We learn that there is a Visible Metronome feature, without an explanation of how to invoke it. Further in the same tutorial, there is an explanation about the General Midi Patch List. Why should the user reading lesson 2 need to know about this level of detail? The tutorial explains that to pressing the spacebar pauses a song, and that pressing the spacebar releases it. Instead, pressing the spacebar twice restarts the song from the beginning. Also strange, the word "improvise" doesn't appear in the help index. Is it possible to display/print the notations for the improvisation versions rendered by BIAB?

Please don't get me wrong, I am also an engineer, and appreciate the technical achievements reflected in the feature list. I'm a firm believer in the concept that the project is finished, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there nothing more to be taken away.

Regards,
Paul

PG Music certainly does read these Wishlist posts, and responds with features, a few of which are suggestions from me. There may not be any such thing as a typical user, so whose requested features would you take away?

I do have sympathy for your comment about the red/green colorblind issue. I have a child with the same problem. Options, Preferences, Colors can change many of the colors but to my knowledge, not the instrument indicators. In the latest versions, even more colors are used. During beta testing, there was discussion of several alternatives, and PG Music requested our opinions. I suggest you post a specific request to be able to alter just these colors.

Thanks for the reply Matt.

I would like to see a wizard that would set up the UI based on a user's usage profile. In other words, prompt the user for how they expect to use the product, and then reduce the set of buttons, windows and menus presented to the user, based on that profile.

In my case, I want to use it as a play-along aid. So I would like to be able to
- display chord play-notation for playing along
- display print-notation for easy printing
- print the improvisation rendered by BIAB
- easily transpose
- display/play the metronome
- play some exercises
- use some other useful novice-oriented things I haven't thought of ;<)

I hope that no one here, either other users or the people at PM Music, takes my post personally. I just wanted to give my impressions from a novice, first-time user perspective.

Paul

PS: Is it possible to search these forums for posts older than one year? Looking at my profile, I noticed that I posted some other messages some years ago, but I cannot find them using the forum's search feature.

That's an interesting request, Paul - the wizard. There has been much discussion about the GUI in the past, but to my knowledge, not exactly that approach.

This forum software loses older posts. A tremendous amount of knowledge is regularly lost.

You can customize the toolbars. In the two rows to the right of the song title, I only have 6 buttons showing. Just the ones I use. Everytime I open BIAB, those are the only ones that show. Very convenient for me. Later, Ray

+1

I covered several of your points in an earlier thread that I started.

Thanks BIAguy.

Can you post the URL?

Paul

Another source of confusion and complication for me:
What is the difference between the pull-down item Window -> Notation Window (ctrl-W) and Notation -> Notation Roll Mode (ctrl-alt-N)?

Anyway, I'll stop complaining now, and try to read the tutorials again.

The Roll mode gives us a "semi" staff view that has a vertical line and a horizontal line on each note.

Vertical line represents MIDI Velocity

Horizontal is MIDI Duration value.


Far faster than opening the manual Edit for each note one at a time, you can grab either line of any note visible with the mouse and reduce or extend those two critical values quickly.



--Mac

BIAB 2009 opens up in less than 4 seconds for me. If your's takes alot longer, then you may have a defect in the program. Try "Return to Factory Settings". Later, Ray

I recalled the last P.P.P.S. above by Ryszard :

Quote:

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P.P.P.S.: From the back of the box, BIAB Version 11: ". . . Dr. Peter Gannon began creating Band-in-a-Box after being frustrated by difficult to use music software programs." Jeez, Doc, what were you using then? -Ryś

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BIAB has "put on weight" over twenty plus years, most of it since Y2K. BIAB has build-in quite a collection of mini "applets". It is good that some newly added power features are placed separately in RealBand to keep things in focus. In the same vein, it is suggested that new stand-alone program be created that focus on core functionalities.
Hence, we can have a fresh new generation maestro GUI that will just accept chords and lyrics inputs for songleading or karaoke playback with modern pickers for styles, sets, instruments, etc.

I'm sure PG and PGmusic are very well aware and concerned about today's consumers demands, and at the same time sustaining business. Our demand for variety has fuelled the growing lists of sets and styles.