Kristen -

If you open the StylePicker, then click on the Help button, you will find a lot of information about StylePicker.

For example, here's one excerpt:

Quote:
RealStyles, Classic RealStyles and Styles with RealTracks

RealTracks, made from live audio recordings by top studio players and recording artists, can be used for any instrument part in Band-in-a-Box, including the Melody and Soloist tracks. They can be controlled just like MIDI instruments (volume changes, muting, etc.), and, best of all, they follow the chord progression that you have entered, generating an authentic audio accompaniment to your song. RealTracks are not "samples," but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the other Band-in-a-Box tracks.

RealTracks can be built in to styles, so you can have styles that are all MIDI, a mix of MIDI tracks and RealTracks, or all RealTracks. Styles that use RealTracks only are called RealStyles.

There is a separate category in the StylePicker for RealStyles. There is also a Classic RealStyles category in the StylePicker. It contains styles that are intended to be commonly used RealTracks.

The style names for RealStyles are prefaced by an underscore, _.

The various categories in the StylePicker include lists of just the RealStyles in that category to make your selection easier.

The StylePicker lists also show styles with RealTracks, a blend of MIDI tracks and RealTracks. Style names for Styles with RealTracks are prefaced by an equals sign, =.

Styles with RealDrums

The StylePicker has a special category called "Styles with RealDrums." This lists many RealDrums styles (.STY) that we’ve made. We always name the RealDrums style beginning with a minus sign, so that "-ZZJAZZ.STY" would be the ZZJAZZ.STY, but using RealDrums instead.


And also this:

Quote:
For each style, you see the following information:

(The example will describe the ZZJAZZ.STY)

Fav - "F" indicates that this style is a Favorite.

* - An asterisk (*) or (^) caret means the style is a "perfect" or "good" match to the prototype style.

File - ZZJAZZ is the name of the .STY style file.

W - The letter "W" indicates a waltz style in 3/4 time.

Feel - The letters "sw" indicate that the style is in a Swing feel vs. "EV" for Even feel.

8 - The "8" indicates that the style is an 8th note feel (vs. 16th note feel).

Tempo - 140, for example, is the tempo for this style.

Name - Jazz Swing Style is the full name of the style.

# - Number of instruments present in the style.

NA - NA would indicate that you don’t have all of the RealTracks or RealDrums for the style.

Sub - If this column shows "sub," it means that a RealStyle substitution is available for the style.

Styles that are similar to the prototype are indicated with an asterisk (*). These are styles that have the same feel (triplets/ eighths/ sixteenths) and a similar tempo range. Styles with similar feel but a different tempo range are marked by a caret (^) symbol. So you can quickly see styles that are similar to Jazz Swing. The styles J_BASIE and J_DIXIE could be substituted with a perfect match so are marked with an asterisk (*). Styles like J_DJANGO are marked with a caret (^) because they sound best in a much faster tempo than the prototype Jazz Swing style.


Additionally, style files must be located either in your main BIAB folder (by default, this would be C:\BB, but it really depends upon where you installed it on your computer), or in the C:\BB\Styles folder. All styles from PGMusic go directly into the C:\BB folder, but can be moved to the C:\BB\Styles folder if you wish.

I generally keep the PGMusic styles in the main BIAB folder and then install 3rd party styles into the Styles folder, since they don't necessarily follow the naming convention PGMusic uses and it also helps keep them separate. (Norton Styles prefix the file name with a "#" sign; I prefix my own user styles with an "!" sign).

I hope that helps somewhat.

John

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