PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh Band-in-a-Box 2009 for Mac Build 3 available

The current build is build 3, available here.
http://www.pgmusic.com/support_macintoshupdates.htm
======= BUILD 3 ============================================
- Added: Audio Chord Wizard. Now you can send the chords from Audio Chord Wizard to Band-in-a-Box. Items added in the Windows menu to Run ACW (standalone), run ACW (choose file), and Read Chords from ACW.

- Fixed: Audio Chord Wizard Buttons were sometimes not visible in some resolutions.

- Fixed: Very first time running program only, realtracks were sometimes silent, unless you loaded in a drum kit or clicked on the instrument at the top.

======= BUILD 2 ============================================

Summary of changes in Build 2:

Added: Multistyle support. Includes updated MultiStyle demo songs for some Styles Sets.:

Added: RealDrums change of style at any bar, works for multistyles, MIDI styles, and RealStyles.

Added: Key sig change option added to F5 Bar Settings dialog (this feature is useful for some RealTracks, like Metal Guitar, that solo based on the key of the song). Note: This feature doesn't affect notation.

Fixed: Double scroll bars after rebuilding the stylepicker.

Added: Render dialog now has a "Show files in Finder" button to find the rendered files.

Improved: Render dialog stays open until you press Close button.

Added: Save as MIDI/Audio track button launches render dialog.

Fixed: Looping button opens notation window, and activates looping.

Fixed: RealDrums list updates after visiting the RealDrums settings dialog.

Improved: In the StylePicker, the Song Demo button doesn't play the song now, unless 'Play When Chosen' is selected.

Fixed: Copyright symbol button in the print dialog prints without an extra character.

Fixed: Preferences weren't saving in certain cases when switching preferences tabs

Added: Message re: admin permission required if using Applications/Band-in-a-Box folder and trying to use RealTracks without admin permission. (if you don't have admin privileges, you should move the Band-in-a-Box folder to your home folder. This would be /Users/John/ if your account name is John)

Fixed: Audio Chord Wizard button launches Band-in-a-Box/AudioChordWizard/AudioChordWizard.app.

Fixed: Pause Play until midi or key received.

Fixed: Menu item to launching the CoreMIDI help manual.

Added: Big ANSI String dialog for the RealTracks artist bios, memos, and user memos

Fixed: White text for part markers in notation window (easier to read)

Fixed: Style changes at any bar weren't working in some cases, or giving a message about style not found.

Added: 'File - Save with patches' option to force MIDI drums or RealDrums for the song.

Updated: 2009 Upgrade manual has been updated.

I've tried the auto chord feature with a number of mp3 songs and can't really get it to work (just tried it again with Build 3). I purposely selected early Beatles songs with simple chords. After telling the program where the first bar is, the only thing it seems to be able to do is find the key it's in. But most of the chords are wrong. I tried "Long Tall Sally," which is made up of only three chords, and the program came up with about 15 chords, almost all of which were wrong. I can't imagine what would happen with more complex songs. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

>> After telling the program where the first bar is, the only thing it seems to be able to do is find the key it's in.
ACW doesn't figure out the key of the song, it just leaves it at C. So that is strange to begin with.

- First get the bars right. This is done by:
1. Setting bar 1 (ctrl-click on the place that you want to be bar 1).
2. Then as the song plays, any time the bar line is wrong, press F8 (function key 8), or the Enter key. Usually if you tap on a few bar lines, the program starts getting them right. Worst case scenario, is that you do the whole song, and it would take 4 minutes to tap in a 4 minute song, because you tap them in as the song plays. Or you hit the occasional bar line if it is drifting away,

OK, now that the bar lines are correct, the chords are likely going to be correct. If they aren't, try a different song. Don't keep trying "incredibly easy 3 chord songs that you already know the chords for. The best genres are pop/country songs where people are playing the chords. Ironically, "3 chord songs" might not be that easy for ACW, since the musicians are often playing around the chords, so I'd try a few more songs. For example, American Woman has 1 chord, I wouldn't expect ACW to end up with 1 chord.

If you have the bars lined up, and have chosen a pop/country song (not heavy metal, not jazz), it should be pretty good.