That actually is a really good question to ask. I was too arrogant to ask and it literally took me months to figure it out on my own.
There is two types of western music, music where every note is played exactly on the beat and music where some notes are played on the beat but other notes are played slightly before or after the beat. On the beat is even time. Slightly before or after the beat is swing time which is also called a shuffle beat.
I've found the easiest way to determine if a song uses even or swing time is to listen to how the drummer plays sixteenth or eighth notes on high hat or ride cymbals.
Create two short songs of the same chord progression and at the same tempo. Use a swing style with one and even style for the other. I bet you'll hear the difference.
8 or 16 represents eighth notes or sixteenth notes as the underlying rhythmic feel, so if a style has the same tempo, EV16 will be 'busier' than EV8.
I edited that slightly. EV vs SW as it holds true for both. Ev8 is a more "solid" kind of feel and works well for lots of things. However, the Ev16 is practically interchangeable with Ev8 in most cases. It all depends on what you want. You will notice a slight difference in the feel of the music between the 8 vs 16.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
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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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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.
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.
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