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Joined: Dec 2018
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OP
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Thanks in advance for your replies.
Most honestly, I think it's a drum software question. Where shall I focus my learning time to accomplish my 'drum' goals? Also, I guess my question would be, which software to use for what.
This are the riches in my man cave (some were free with the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2):
Band in a Box
Real Band
Bias Amp2
Bias FX2
Amplitube 4
Ableton Live Lite
Focusrite Drum Pack
MT Power Drum Kit
Novation Bass Station
Pro Tools First
Reaper
Syntronik Free
T-RackS 5
various audio plugins
a couple 'intro to music theory' books
access to YouTube & the innerwebs
My goals:
1. learn to play electric guitar (tone, scales, chords)
2. practice playing lead to backing tracks
3. input songs of my own to create backing tracks to practice lead to
4. make a recording of a full song, played by a virtual full band, as I hear it in my head (long term goal)
what I feel most comfortable about:
recording
mixing
effects
chords
what I feel most apprehensive about:
drum tracks creating with software
(Fender) Squier Vintage Modified '70s Stratocaster
Roland AC-60
Intel i7-7800x @ 3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 580, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with Pro Tools First, BIAS Amp2, Bias FX Pro and BIAB2019 on dedicated 500GB SSD
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Most honestly, I think it's a drum software question. Where shall I focus my learning time to accomplish my 'drum' goals? Also, I guess my question would be, which software to use for what.
You already have BIAB, why not use that to create your drum tracks? BIAB does a great job of building drum tracks with very little effort or knowledge of drums required. Unless I'm not understanding you?
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Beginners Forum
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Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 27
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OP
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Hi Dave,
Thanks for your reply. Your answer is pretty much exactly what I was looking for: it looks like I can focus my learning on BIAB to accomplish any drum needs I may have.
The damn program can do so much, it's a bit overwhelming. Also a voyage of discovery, learning the program.
Happy tunes!
(Fender) Squier Vintage Modified '70s Stratocaster
Roland AC-60
Intel i7-7800x @ 3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 580, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with Pro Tools First, BIAS Amp2, Bias FX Pro and BIAB2019 on dedicated 500GB SSD
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Joined: Jul 2000
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BiaB drums are already done for you. As a guy who plays drums, sax, bass, guitar, keys, flute, wind synth and vocals, many of the drum tracks are quite good and for an auto-accompaniment program, I haven't found any better. I have a web page on how I make backing tracks and use them on stage http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html feel free to take what you want and leave the rest. Insights and incites by Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Joined: Apr 2009
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Absolutely....
The way I was introduced to Band in a Box was through a friend in another forum who used it to make his drum tracks. It's super easy to do.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd 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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Oh, man! Thanks, Guitarhacker. The fewer complicated programs I have to learn the better.
NN - I will head right over and sponge all I can. Thank you for the work you put into that.
I did also find a couple YT vidz showing the whole process from writing to uploading a song. Am currently reading the manual some more.
Today I worked on my music reading skills (at this point scarcely any) by trying to enter a melody (chords were easy).
Excited to learn all this!
(Fender) Squier Vintage Modified '70s Stratocaster
Roland AC-60
Intel i7-7800x @ 3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 580, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with Pro Tools First, BIAS Amp2, Bias FX Pro and BIAB2019 on dedicated 500GB SSD
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Last Wednesday I got a call to recreate the drums that a certain drummer had recorded on a song.
He decided for personal reasons he didn't want to do the drums on this song on the final recording.
After auditioning a few BiaB rock drum styles we found one that fit, and by chance it had pretty much the needed signature drum lead in included in the RD preview!
So we rendered a few different versions in RB, cut and pasted together one final track to get everything just how we wanted using the A section from this track, the B section from that track, fill from another track, etc, and within a couple hours had assembled a pretty much final drum track for a CD that needed to 'resemble' the original.
Granted we got lucky in that one of the fills was almost a perfect match for a section we felt was important.
But if you don't have to 'exact match' a drum part, RDs can get you a long way very quickly.
It only took 2 hours because we really wanted certain fills and we found enough of them that were close and would work to assemble 'what we had in our head' (which was actually what we already had recorded with an actual drummer).
Like I said, it took a little work and a little luck, but the rest of the band was astounded when they heard it.
They were worried they would have to ditch the song, but we fixed the issue with RDs.
Creating a new song is much easier if you can give a little on what you are hearing .. and sometimes what gets generated is actually better than what you were hearing.
Often enough I generate something and think "wow that was nice .. why didn't I think of that?"
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Wow. That's encouraging. Thanks for that story.
I did experiment with putting in chords and letting biab generate a melody, which wasn't at all what I had in mind but definitely had some passages with good ideas for soloing. I look forward to knowing enough to build a drum part for a whole song.
(Fender) Squier Vintage Modified '70s Stratocaster
Roland AC-60
Intel i7-7800x @ 3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 580, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with Pro Tools First, BIAS Amp2, Bias FX Pro and BIAB2019 on dedicated 500GB SSD
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Wow. That's encouraging. Thanks for that story.
I did experiment with putting in chords and letting biab generate a melody, which wasn't at all what I had in mind but definitely had some passages with good ideas for soloing. I look forward to knowing enough to build a drum part for a whole song. Remember that you can change the style and the song will sound totally different. There's over 3000 styles to choose from. I used to use the "generate a melody" function for some of my early musings with BB. Mostly jazz based stuff. But now days I have a melody and just use it for the backing tracks to a song I am writing. This is a jazz tune with some live guitar https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v4/player.cfm?songID=9012413A mellow acoustic based song that was submitted to one of those 16 and pregnant shows https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v4/player.cfm?songID=10085025
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 03/05/19 06:28 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd 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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Beginners Forum
|
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 27
Enthusiast
|
|
OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 27 |
(Fender) Squier Vintage Modified '70s Stratocaster
Roland AC-60
Intel i7-7800x @ 3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 580, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with Pro Tools First, BIAS Amp2, Bias FX Pro and BIAB2019 on dedicated 500GB SSD
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|
|
Beginners Forum
|
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 27
Enthusiast
|
|
OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 27 |
(Fender) Squier Vintage Modified '70s Stratocaster
Roland AC-60
Intel i7-7800x @ 3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 580, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with Pro Tools First, BIAS Amp2, Bias FX Pro and BIAB2019 on dedicated 500GB SSD
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PDT today!
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Another exciting new addition is the amazing new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. View the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to transcribe an entire track or transcribe specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
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Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
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Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
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Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!
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- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
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- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
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