I am 67 y/o, own 2 acoustic guitars, a set of diatonic harmonicas, several amplifiers and a recently purchased Suzuki SCX-64 chromatic harmonica . I have not played most of these instruments for around 27 years. I have finally realised that I am getting old... and that I might want to use some of my "spare" time to relearn the instruments. Last year I purchased the BIAB software and is way more than I will ever use but it is fun to "master". I am not into nor do I understand MIDI and other things that this program does.
Having said all that, I am trying to get a backing track of "The Shadow in your Smile" by John Mandell or Ella Fitzgerald to play with my harmonica. In the process of attempting this feat I did the following:
I clicked on "Style" then I clicked on "Choose Style From Song Title". I typed in "The Shadow of your Smile" and it gave me some information as far as "Artist", "Genre" and "Key". The software gives all this information but does not provide me with a button to DL "the" track.
I guess I am expecting too much from this machine ;-). Nevertheless, is there a website that I can DL the track. I did find sheet music on-line and backing tracks for similar songs but nothing I felt comfortable playing. At some point I guess I will figure out BIAB and will probably be able to compose the song myself.
If I understand your question fully, you may have an expectation that you will find a style that produces exactly what you need. Sometimes that's true, but usually it requires experimentation and tweaking. Don't be discouraged if that's what you concluded, because that's normal.
When you say you are looking for a button to download the track, what you must first do is enter the chords into BIAB from your sheet music. After you type in the chords, then experiment with just about everything: style, tempo, key.
Or, since that's a popular song, Google for a BIAB version of it. I'm almost positive you'll find someone else has made one.
I was wondering what you meant by "nothing I felt comfortable playing". Could you elaborate?
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Typing the song name and getting a result does not actually provide with that particular song. It is merely a way to find styles that work well for, or are "in the style of" that particular song. It will not give you a "karaoke" backing track for the song that has the arrangement there for you.
What you need to do is to first enter the chords of the song into the chord grid (which you should have, since you indicated you have the sheet music). Then, you can select one of the appropriate styles for the song, click play, and you will then have a backing track that you can use to play along with.
If you haven't, you should look at some of the basic videos available. Groove3 has a pretty good BIAB video tutorial, which is several versions behind 2019, but the concepts will mostly be the same. It doesn't take that long to go through that series of videos and you can get a great feel for how the program works.
One thing you can do also is to search for a BIAB SGU file that you can download from the web. Most likely, it will be pretty old and use only MIDI styles, but you can replace the style with any other appropriate style that you have in your BIAB package. But that SGU file will have the chord progression in it.
What you aren't going to get is a note for note backing track that sounds like the recording (in other words, just because you type in "Shadow Of Your Smile" Ella Fitzgerald, you aren't going to get a copy of her version of the program).
Hope that made sense.
Keep asking your questions; lots of folks here are happy to help you over the learning curve.
John
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Thanks Matt Finley. I am presently in the process of the "experimentation and tweaking" part. It is just that this is an overwhelming program to master. Hopefully I will get there sometime in this life.
My other point is that I actually do not have the sheet music but if that is the case than I will have to purchase or DL it from the web in order to enter the chords into BIAB.
When I said " nothing that I felt comfortable playing" I meant that since I have not played for many years I am just getting into reading music, signature, chords, tunes, etc. It is coming back to me, especially when I look back at some of my guitar lesson books which were hand written by my teacher back in ~1965-1969. I still have a good ear...(at least one) that should help me through. Anything I am doing now is all from memory. I did listen to some similar jazz tracks for "The Shadow of your Smile" but I was having a hard time joining in with the harmonica. I think I need to distinguish the place in the tracks where the intro ends.
jford, I think the main word here is "karaoke". That is exactly what I was dreaming of (expecting). I also read Matt Finley's previous response and I think I get the message. I will check into "Groove3" and the BIAB SGU files and hope I find what I am looking for. Thanks for the info.
I have found two items of interest online. I DL a PDF sheet music by Johnny Mandel (1965). I also found something that might work for me as far as getting to learn "The Shadow of Your Smile" on guitar. I signed up for a guitar lesson by Richard Severson on www.guitarcollege.com. It has the sheet music, a m4v instruction video and a mp3 performance track. All this will definitely help me learn the song and I will get to work with BIAB.
I found an MGU of this song, zipped it, and uploaded it here ShadowOfYourSmileZipFile unzip it and you have your MGU
hope it works!
(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
Many times Gaucho10 Youtube can be your friend. Here's just one example and surprise, surprise it was created from Biab. Now, this is just an audio file recorded from Biab but it displays the chord grid showing everything you need. When it comes to old standard stuff like this it's all over YT. All I did was go to YT and type in Shadow of your Smile backing track.
Now, just to give you an example of how bad Biab can sound, here's another track I found that sounds like crap. Whoever did this one has no clue plus he's noodling around on a keyboard badly. It's stuff floating around the internet like this that can make noobies think Biab itself is crap.
XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
The XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs special offers are now available until August 31st at 11:59pm PDT!
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XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-9 includes 900 styles!
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Mac 2025 Special Upgrade Offers Extended Until August 15th!
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Learn more about the Bonus PAKs!
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These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
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We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
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With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
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-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
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Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
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XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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