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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 16
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 16 |
I have used Biab for many years. At first just for practice, then for helping my students and then when gigging when the usual rythm section problems arose.
Fine, however we aquired a Roland BK7m about a year ago. When playing as a duo, we noticed that the Roland was replacing Biab more and more. Examining why this is, we decided it is because the Roland allows more flexibility when actually playing to an audience. One of the important features of playing live. The Roland follows the midi input of what is going down. Believe me that is a big help if things go off the rails a little. It occurs to me that Biab has just about everything already there for it to be able to once again become our section of choice except the obvious extra bit of software. It would be a bonus for us as it would allow us to lose one peice of kit. The way things are going at the moment, it is the laptop that is most likely to be releagated to the attic. I can't quite believe this feature, possibly as an add on with a simple at the front control panel (start/stop intro/ending ) with a large buttons, and maybe a programmed, if I hit this keyboard key, this happens option, isn't in the pipeline. Am I guessing wrongly or are PGM beavering away to bring biab to the forefront again?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 392
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 392 |
Quote:
I have used Biab for many years. At first just for practice, then for helping my students and then when gigging when the usual rythm section problems arose.
Fine, however we aquired a Roland BK7m about a year ago. When playing as a duo, we noticed that the Roland was replacing Biab more and more. Examining why this is, we decided it is because the Roland allows more flexibility when actually playing to an audience. One of the important features of playing live. The Roland follows the midi input of what is going down. Believe me that is a big help if things go off the rails a little. It occurs to me that Biab has just about everything already there for it to be able to once again become our section of choice except the obvious extra bit of software. It would be a bonus for us as it would allow us to lose one peice of kit. The way things are going at the moment, it is the laptop that is most likely to be releagated to the attic. I can't quite believe this feature, possibly as an add on with a simple at the front control panel (start/stop intro/ending ) with a large buttons, and maybe a programmed, if I hit this keyboard key, this happens option, isn't in the pipeline. Am I guessing wrongly or are PGM beavering away to bring biab to the forefront again?
I'm not sure exactly what live gigging issues you are trying to describe so I'll let those who gig with BIAB respond to those issues.
What I'm interested in is what "beavering away" means. It's not a phrase I'm familiar with. You seemed to use it as sort of an insult but in fact, beavers are highly intelligent and industrious mammals, so I don't get the epithet.
(-:
Jim
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,029
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,029 |
Actually 'beavering away' can be roughly translated 'working hard'. I can't see BIAB becoming a 'live arranger' type program. I may be wrong but I don't think the core of the program has been designed this way. Simply put - use your BK7M when you need more instant live control and BIAB when you require a complete backing track. You do have some measure of control with the conductor feature. Maybe you need to check that out. Kevin 
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
It is easy to assume that Band in a Box does what the Arranger Keyboard does.
However, just because both can provide auto-accompaniment, Band in a Box does so in a completely different manner.
Band in a Box needs to have the chords entered on the chord grid because the program intelligently looks ahead (and behind) at the chord progression, and governs its selection of patterns, etc. based on that information. May not sound like much, but in actuality is a HUGE difference. Now that we have the RealTracks and MID Supertracks as well, this is one of the key ingredients that make BB able to sound like real live players rather than canned pretty performances.
That said, if you find that use of an auto-accompaniment keyboard or other device such as those that allow for you to input chords in realtime, punch buttons for canned Intros, Fills, Endings, etc. then by all means you should base your act around the device and not Band in a Box IMO.
A word about the WISHLIST FORUM is in order: Over the years, I've seen quite a few features that started out as Wishlist items become incorporated into the Band in a Box program. You should put your request onto the Wishlist forum so that the development folks can at least be sure to see it, who knows what magic they may come up with in the future? (And -- if PGMusic ever did implement realtime chord entry ala the auto-accompaniment keyboards, history shows us that their implementation is very likely to be very different from the ways that are already out there and may just prove to be yet another ingenious take on the whole thing!)
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 392
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 392 |
"Actually 'beavering away' can be roughly translated 'working hard'."
AHA! Hadn't heard that before. I thought it might have meant floating lazily on their back and nibbling at a walnut!
Just my feeble attempt at humor.
(-:
Jim
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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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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
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We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 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 process 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, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® today! Check out the Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all the purchase options available.
Happy New Year!
Thank you for being part of the Band-in-a-Box® community.
Wishing you and yours a very happy 2026—Happy New Year from all of us at PG Music!
Season's Greetings!
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy holiday season—thanks for being part of our community!
The office will be closed for Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) at 6:00am PST.
Team PG
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
Watch the video.
You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
Watch the video.
You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
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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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- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
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Learn more about the Bonus PAKs for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
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