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hi....Mac....what package is that you are talking about. I looked at he BIAB with real tracks but did not see the USB drive. my laptop is not that big so an ext drive is not a bad idea. maybe it is a lager more $$ package you are talking about.



http://www.pgmusic.com/bandbox.htm

To do what it sounds like you want to do, you will need to have as many Styles as you can get. That is going to cost a bit if you are just starting out, but not as much as trying to do it piecemeal and then having to buy the styles one pak at a time. There are recent posts on this forum from a few lamenting that poor decision. Get the largest pak you can afford at the time.

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now as far a capturing some great musicians' performances on midi... that would be another story.

are there that many styles in BIAB that you can find something for most any song?



Yes. If you get the large enough pak. Everything Pak or Ultra Pak, that sort of thing. Sometimes you can't nail exactly a song's style due to the song maybe having exact riffs as part of the bed tracks, not to sweat, you can still generally find a style that will work with the song and you can go ahead and record your own MIDI keyboard to the Melody and Soloist tracks if need be to supply any key riffs.

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it sure would be easier if there were good midi files out there. to do it totally with BIAB you would have to get all those songs in their original recording and listen ad figure them out. I don't know if I am going to live that long. ;-)



You can try websearch for MIDI files. Not all are created equal, some are good.

Be advised that copyright laws do indeed apply to MIDI files as well as they do to printed page, though. Churches get targeted by the music writing attorneys without bias. There are also legal MIDI sellers who put out good product and pay the royalty fees for same. A lot depends upon the target songs you are after, the artists/songwriters, etc.

There ain't no easy street.

But BiaB certainly streamlines the available options. BiaB can even load and play those MIDI files as well as the songs you enter "from scratch". And there's a Wizard for changing MIDI files into BiaB autoaccompaniment styles.

One must spend some time learning BiaB, it is not an instant gratification tool, although there are certainly many things one can do right away with this wonderful program. I often tell people that they shoyld approach BiaB exactly the same way that they should approach acquiring the skill to play a second or third instrument. Study, Practice, Practice some more.


--Mac

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