A beginner can 1) install the program, 2) select a style, 3) fill 32 bars with chords (hopefully creating a recognizable chord progression but if not then that's okay), 4) press play and 4) hear music. That is easy. Most people will be delighted with the results ... at first. Once a beginner grows tired of auditioning styles and RealTracks they think about creating songs. That's when they discover the next step is hard.

You have to go beyond the obvious and dig deeper into Band-in-a-Box's bag of tricks. The trouble is, the bag is deep and it is filled with many tricks. The tricks are not well organized and in some cases not documented.

There are so many tools in the tool chest it is difficult to determine what tool is needed to accomplish specific tasks. One way around this stumbling block is to simplify the screen.

One solution is to create tabbed windows. The tab names describe basic tasks such as: Playlist, Practice, Record, Notation, Hybrid, MIDI, RealTracks and so on. I think there are likely no more than 10 to 15 specific, but different, tasks users commonly perform.

Each tab limits what icons and workspace are displayed to whatever is needed to support the task. Ideally, song and global preferences could be set for each task.

Think about a beginner wanting to use the chord sheet screen to create their first song project. What tools do they need? How about rest, hold and push icons perhaps? What other icons? I don't think they need the Conductor or Jukebox icons on this tabbed window.

Tabs free up a lot of a screen's real estate by spreading what is available over multiple screens. Band-in-a-Box already has multiple windows, the control panel just needs to be organized for each window.

Jim Fogle - 2024 BiaB (1111) RB (5) Ultra+ PAK
DAWs: Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8
Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD
Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD
Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home