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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I have many songs in BIAB I tried search using the DOS command *.mgu It finds all my songs with melody but what is the DOS command that does that alphabeticly?? I tried the the other searches and I am not finding a song I know is in BIAB
John
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Journeyman
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Journeyman
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I don't have an answer, I don't use DOS commands.
BUT - There is a great little search program called "Search Everything" (http://www.voidtools.com/) someone here revealed a while back. I just tried it for .mgu and they all popped up. Great thing is the program is very Windows Explorer-like, and the list can be sorted by column headings, like name, path, dates, all that stuff. Might be just what you need. I use it all the time to find stuff I know I have but don't know where.
Good luck
kelso
Dell Desktop XPS 8100 W10 HomePrem/64 / Core i5 760 (quad, 2.8GHz) / 8GB DDR3 / 1 TB SATA / ViewSonic VG2428wm / EMU1616 PCI / Event ASP6 Active Monitors / BIAB 2019 64 bit (609) / Cakewalk
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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That's easy. From a command prompt, type
DIR *.MGU
This command already defaults to a listing by filename in alpha order, ascending. It is short for
DIR *.MGU /ON
And if you want them in alpha order descending, type
DIR *.MGU /O-N
And if you want to learn why,
DIR /?
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; Fender 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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When I put in DOS cmd DIR *.MGU, came up with this answer:
Volume in C is OS Volume Serial No. is...
Directory of C:\Users\(name)
File not found
coolblues
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
When I put in DOS cmd DIR *.MGU, came up with this answer:
Volume in C is OS Volume Serial No. is...
Directory of C:\Users\(name)
File not found
That happened because you were searching the directory C:\Users\(name), which presumably has no song files in it. They are likely in C:\BB -- or wherever you have put them.
Really, though, Kelso's idea is a good one over the long haul. "Everything" database is a little hard to control at first, but if you hang in with it, you learn to specify the directories to search; then you find specific songs fast. Not just a huge list of .MGU but -- for example -- anything with "Baubles" or "200 BPM" in the title.
You can manage files from the program (delete, rename). You can start BiaB by clicking on the title you want to play. It's quite slick, and you needn't relapse into a DOS box.
Larry ______
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Yes, if you aren't in the right folder to start, it won't work. The command you want is:
CD BB
and if the song files are on another drive, you first have to go there, like this:
F: then CD BB etc.
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; Fender 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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I tried "everything" seems like a very usefull tool.
Where you named after the famous race horse? Kelso. He was one of the very best! Coolblues
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I could never memorize those DOS commands. I favored the Atari and the Mac back in the DOS days. My DOS 5 reference book was falling apart at the spine. Win 3.1 was a relief, Win 95 a breath of fresh air. By Win98 I hardly used my Mac anymore (and my Atari was long obsolete). Funny, I can memorize music, but neither DOS commands nor strings of numbers. If all my .mgu files were in the same folder, I'd simply open Windows Explorer in that folder -- click View->Arrange Icons By->Name (to alphabetize them) then click View->Arrange Icons By->Type and they would all be alphabetical folder. Notes Brand new 2012.5 updates from Norton Music:- 2 new style disks for Band-in-a-Box
- 2 new free (with a purchase) fancy intro/ending disks for Real Band and other DAW's
- The Ultimate Gospel Fake Disk
- The Real Rock Fake Disk (plenty of classic rock in this one)
- The Beatles Fake Disk
- And an updated Christmas Fake Disk
Hundreds of Free .sgu and .mp3 demos for the above at: http://www.nortonmusic.com
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
If all my .mgu files were in the same folder, I'd simply open Windows Explorer in that folder
That's straightforward, and it requires no extra installations. But "Everything" is still better. It's flexible enough to search a number of specified directories for specific filenames, which is generally what I need done.
If I type in "Dreamsville", for instance, I will immediately and automatically be shown several Band in a Box arrangements of it (MGU, SG7, every wretched thing), several sheet music files in PDF and graphics formats, a couple of Cakewalk files, songs from Jammer Pro, scans of fakebooks, maybe a few MP3's, MIDI files I once downloaded and forgot, and so on. Just everything with "Dreamsville" in its name. These things can be resorted in Everything, but normally there are few enough that it's comfortable just to skim down the list and select. If you can't remember which is which, you just keep opening them until you find the one you wanted. If you see you have duplicates, some can be deleted right there while you're thinking of it, or moved to the proper folder.
"Everything" is a donation-ware program that I sent a payment for, because it has been so useful for so long. The guy deserved something for it.
Larry ______
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Interestingly, none of us has mentioned the built-in BiaB song librarian for finding songs. It is by no means useless, in spite of its lack of popularity here.
But it's limited to BiaB files only, and it takes forbloodyfreakingever to rebuild when you have many BiaB files. My directories require an hour of rebuilding, and it's well to plan ahead. In its favor, it does offer extra information about the songs, if anybody ever entered any, and if you need it. I never seem to find that aspect useful, but others might.
I have virtually stopped updating that librarian and almost never use it nowadays.
Larry ______
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Copy, over and out! coolblues
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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So, I give up. I am going to re-enter the song "How do you keep the music going" I need it for a wedding!
John
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Apprentice
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Apprentice
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Perhaps redundant, but this may be of use.
Windows explorer can also be used with a wild card, and additionally filtered by. Depending on which version of Windows you have, Windows Explorer will look somewhat different. In principal though, you can do this:
1. Open Windows Explorer 2. Navigate to a suitable base directory (i.e., to limit/broaden the scope of the search). If for example you wanted to search all of the 'C' drive, make sure your are at the c: drive in the navigation tree. In the search field, type *.mgu (or whatever file type you are looking for). If you're songs are saved in Documents, start there. What you will get is a search limited to all *.mgu file types.
Alternatively (in Vista/Windows 7), Click the Windows button, and then in the Search field that opens, type*.mgu. If any such files are found, they will appear in the resultant files pane. Hover over that file with the mouse pointer, and the file path will appear.
There are other methods and advance search options that can be used with Windows Explore (depending on the version of Windows) that let you further filter/sort based on columns in the files pane (you can add/remove columns from the display), so check out the Windows Explorer help. However, Windows Explorer has historically had a distinct limitation (regardless of Windows OS version). That limitation is the inability to print out or save the directory listing or search results to a text file(although Vista/Win 7 can save searches for reuse later).
One of the key advantages of using the Command window option is the ability to save directory listings and filtered (like a search) directory listings as a text file. This is especially useful if you want a saved listing of one or more directories or searches with/without filtering. It's actually quite easy.
At the risk of repetition (and no insult intended to any), here is the Command window version (XP, Vista, Win 7):
1. Open the Command Prompt window (by default, the Command Prompt window opens to user's home directory, such as C:\users\Richard in my case). If you want to begin the search elsewhere, type
cd c:\path, where for example path = bb, or users\richard\documents
2. Here's an example: dir /s *.mgu Volume in drive C is COMPAQ Volume Serial Number is (will be your volume here)
Directory of C:\Users\richard\Documents\BBW\NortonMusic
06/05/2012 10:06 AM 6,413 Sweet_Home_Chicago.MGU 1 File(s) 6,413 bytes
Total Files Listed: 1 File(s) 6,413 bytes 0 Dir(s) 73,114,984,448 bytes free
The /s option used above searches all sub-directories in the specified path.
By default, files will be sorted alphabetically in ascending order. There are several other options as others have mentioned.
If you want to save the results to a text file for later use, modify the command to:
dir /s *.mgu > mylist.txt
You can then open this file with any text editor or word processor. Really, the Command line for this purpose is easy once you do it a few times. And finding a file (rather than having to re-enter the song (as in your case) is worth the few minutes it takes to get comfortable with the dir command.
Either way, you don't need a 3rd party app to do this.
Richard
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Thank you very much
coolblues
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The good ol' BBFinder does have an edge over the otherwise standard BB FilePicker -> BBFinder offers a convenient list over a variety of disk drives. For your purposes the nifty BB onboard feature "File/Find File ..." may just be the ticket.
Martin
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Quote:
For your purposes the nifty BB onboard feature "File/Find File ..." may just be the ticket.
YES!
TRY IT OUT!
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Journeyman
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I have often "wishlisted" for the BIAB Songpicker to be upgraded to the level of BB Finder.
Tony
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
For your purposes the nifty BB onboard feature "File/Find File ..." may just be the ticket.
Terrific! Works wonderfully. It's hard to believe I searched BiaB files for 20 years before even noticing that.
Thanks for mentioning it, Martin.
Larry ______
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Introducing XPro Styles PAK 11 – Now Available for Windows Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
XPro Styles PAK 11 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 (and higher) is here with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 31 RealTracks/RealDrums!
Guess who’s back again? That’s right! It’s our XPro Styles PAK’s triumphant return with the 11th edition in this series! 100 new styles are coming your way spread across the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres. And this edition's wildcard genre explores the immense and far-reaching catalogue of electronic music! The included 31 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1-11 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
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XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2026 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
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No Xtra Styles PAK is complete without the classic rock & pop, jazz, and country volumes you know and love, and we’ve got plenty to share, with 150 styles spread across too many genres to list! Of course, it also wouldn’t be complete with our special wildcard volume to add a little spice and pizzazz to the mix. This year, because we loved it so much the first time, we’ve decided to make the second iteration of our SynthMaster volume, full of new sounds, interesting genres, and 50 engaging styles, all making use of the diverse SynthMaster plugin! Here you can find genres such as airy yacht rock, sultry electrotango, and even some synth soca funk. Don’t wait, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 22 today!
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Video: Xtra Styles PAK 22 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 22 requires the 2026 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Introducing XPro Styles PAK 11 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
XPro Styles PAK 11 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 (and higher) is here with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 31 RealTracks/RealDrums!
Guess who’s back again? That’s right! It’s our XPro Styles PAK’s triumphant return with the 11th edition in this series! 100 new styles are coming your way spread across the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres. And this edition's wildcard genre explores the immense and far-reaching catalogue of electronic music! The included 31 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1-11 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
Video: XPro Styles PAK 11 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2026 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Introducing Xtra Styles PAK 22 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2026 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
It’s time to celebrate! Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Band-in-a-Box® is here, and we've got 200 brand-new styles coming your way!
No Xtra Styles PAK is complete without the classic rock & pop, jazz, and country volumes you know and love, and we’ve got plenty to share, with 150 styles spread across too many genres to list! Of course, it also wouldn’t be complete with our special wildcard volume to add a little spice and pizzazz to the mix. This year, because we loved it so much the first time, we’ve decided to make the second iteration of our SynthMaster volume, full of new sounds, interesting genres, and 50 engaging styles, all making use of the diverse SynthMaster plugin! Here you can find genres such as airy yacht rock, sultry electrotango, and even some synth soca funk. Don’t wait, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 22 today!
In this PAK you can find: dulcet folk ballads, funky gospel country, Brazilian jazz fusion, upbeat 1980s pop, classic Americana, a plethora of breezy bossa novas, indie singer-songwriter, scintillating synthwave, exuberant electronica, and many, many more!
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1-22 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 22 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of the Xtra Styles PAK 22.
Video: Xtra Styles PAK 22 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 22 requires the 2026 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Peter Gannon Talks Band-in-a-Box with zplane
zplane recently interviewed Peter Gannon, the founder and creator of Band-in-a-Box, about the software's early days, what sets it apart from AI, how zplane's audio algorithms are used in Band-in-a-Box, and more!
Special thanks to the team at zplane for their continued support.
Check out the full interview here: https://products.zplane.de/blog/peter-gannon-interview-pg-music
Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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Another exciting new addition is the amazing new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. View the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to transcribe an entire track or transcribe specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Special Offers Extended Until May 31st!
Good news- we've extended our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® special offers until May 31, 2026!
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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Check out the Band-in-a-Box® for Mac packages page to find the best package for you.
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