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I am new to Band In A Box and have been using VSTs for sound. However, when I change styles, it does not maintain the sounds of the VSTs; consequently, I have to reload the VSTs and the patches again. I am considering buying a Yamaha TX81Z, and I am hoping someone (especially if there is someone that is already or in the past has used a TX81Z with Band In The Box) can give me answers to the following questions:
1. I do not want to buy a TX81Z if I am going to have the same problem with having to reload patches when I change to another style. Does using a hardware synth help in this regard?
2. I noticed in the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup under Synthesizer/Sound Card that there are quite a few Yamaha synths listed. I know that the TX81Z does have a GM soundbank. Which Yamaha synths (if any) would work with the TX81Z?
Thanks.
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I am new to Band In A Box and have been using VSTs for sound. However, when I change styles, it does not maintain the sounds of the VSTs; consequently, I have to reload the VSTs and the patches again. I am considering buying a Yamaha TX81Z, and I am hoping someone (especially if there is someone that is already or in the past has used a TX81Z with Band In The Box) can give me answers to the following questions:
1. I do not want to buy a TX81Z if I am going to have the same problem with having to reload patches when I change to another style. Does using a hardware synth help in this regard?
2. I noticed in the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup under Synthesizer/Sound Card that there are quite a few Yamaha synths listed. I know that the TX81Z does have a GM soundbank. Which Yamaha synths (if any) would work with the TX81Z?
I do very little in BiaB as most all of my work I do in my DAW.
My boss calls me "the computer".
Nothing to do with intelligence. I go to sleep if left unattended for 15 minutes.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Thanks for your response.
You're right - there isn't a bank for it. I probably read somewhere that there are GM sounds in the TX81Z, and I assumed an entire bank was devoted to GM.
Could you check though if, when you assign certain presets to the parts (bass, solo, etc.), that the presets stay the same, even when you change styles? I really would appreciate it!
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Thanks for your response.
You're right - there isn't a bank for it. I probably read somewhere that there are GM sounds in the TX81Z, and I assumed an entire bank was devoted to GM.
Could you check though if, when you assign certain presets to the parts (bass, solo, etc.), that the presets stay the same, even when you change styles? I really would appreciate it! Like I said I do very little work in BiaB and one of the things that I never have done is to use an external synth with it. I tried to get BiaB to see the TX81Z but I did not have any luck in doing so. I believe others are using external synths with BiaB so maybe they can chime in and help me. I have to go now and I may not be around tomorrow but if no one can help me I will google and/or spend a lot more time trying to get things working.
My boss calls me "the computer".
Nothing to do with intelligence. I go to sleep if left unattended for 15 minutes.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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terriandralph,
Welcome to the forum and to Band-in-a-Box!
Styles defines what instruments, tempo, key signature, feel and (optional) midi patterns are loaded into a song project. The only way to keep styles from not loading instruments is to use one of the four BLANK utility styles however BLANK styles do not have midi patterns.
In other words, every time you load a style the style is telling Band-in-a-Box to load a new instrument set.
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I guess what I'm getting at is: if I get the TX81Z, how will it react with Band In A Box? Will it:
1. Even work at all (MarioD's unsuccessful attempt at making it work has me worried)
2. The TX81Z does not have a GM bank, but since it does have quite a few GM sounds, will I be able to create a midi map that will work with all of the styles as the ones listed in the Synthesizer/Sound Cards list?
I would like to be able to go through different styles in Band In A Box and hear what the styles sound like through the TX81Z the way it would happen with the synths already listed in Band In A Box, but I'm concerned that all I will get will be random presets for the different instruments (bass, guitar, etc.)
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The basic answer to your TX81 question is yes it will work with BIAB and RB. I use several "hard" synths with my PG products: I use a Yamaha Motif XS, a Yamaha DX7II, a Yamaha TX802, a Roland Fantom XR, and an Oberheim Matrix 1000. In fact, using a midi patch bay, I can use several of these at the same time in the same song. So yes, the 81Z will work.
A couple of things to note:
1. The 81Z is not GM compliant but that's not a problem as you'll be plugging in the patches you want initially anyhow.
2. Here's a biggie: You will need a patch map for the 81Z with all of the sounds detailed. You can get these either here on the PG site, on the official Yamaha site, on the Cakewalk site or many other places.
3. Next biggie and addresses your "save" question: In BIAB, click on the FILE header in the upper right hand corner, scroll down to SAVE SPECIAL. Go to SAVE SONG WITH PATCHES AND HARMONIES, click on SAVE ALL SETTINGS WITH SONGS. Then click save at the bottom to exit.
4. Then after you've put your song together and selected patches in BIAB, save the song clicking on the SAVE AS icon not the SAVE icon. This will save the assigned patches. After saving this way, you can click on the regular SAVE icon for all future changes to that song. Just remember to use SAVE AS for the first time a song is saved.
Keep in mind, the external synths or VSTi's for that matter are for midi data. As long as the track has midi data in it you should be go to go. However, if the track has audio data you won't be able to use the 81Z unless you delete the audio and plug in or play in some midi data.
Start out simple, you can use the 81Z on any track that is colored yellow or grayed, the green tracks are audio RealTracks.
Jeff
Win11, Intel i7 7700K 4.2Ghz, 32Gb RAM, 2x1Tb HD, 500Gb NVMe, BIAB/RB 2026, MOTU 828MK3 audio, MOTU Midi Express, Yamaha Montage 7, DX7II, TX802, Motif XS Rack, Roland Fantom XR Rack, Oberheim Matrix 1000, VoiceLive3 Extreme, Kontakt 6, SampleTank 4.3
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I would look for a used Ketron SD2
It has an excellent GM Sound bank. Used ones come up on ebay and reverb about as often as a used TX81z does.
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Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
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Without actually being able to test it, as long as you have a patch map created for the Yamaha which represents all 128 GM (and possibly an additional 128 GM2) sounds mapped to sounds on the Yamaha, you should not have to change anything between songs. If BIAB doesn't already have a patch map, you might be able to find a Cakewalk Sonar patch map that's easily converted to BIAB format.
That being said, I would make sure your Yamaha is returnable before buying it, in case it doesn't meet your needs.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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.......................
1. Even work at all (MarioD's unsuccessful attempt at making it work has me worried)
.............................
Like I said I am new to this part of BiaB, that is no experience at all, so not getting it to work is do to my lack of knowledge. As I said others are using hard synths with BiaB so that is possible, I just don't know how to do that.
My boss calls me "the computer".
Nothing to do with intelligence. I go to sleep if left unattended for 15 minutes.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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The X81Z will work with BIAB just like any other MIDI compatible hardware. It does not have usb connectivity and requires a MIDI to USB interface.
However, it would not be a very good choice for BIAB for several reasons. It does not have a GM mode and it has only 8 note polyphony. In performance mode, it becomes multitimbral, but the 8 note polyphony is shared. Theoretically, 8 sounds can be programmed, but each would be monophonic. Drums would also be a difficult task. The best BIAB useage would be as a MIDI sound source for only one BIAB channel such as bass, piano, etc.
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No worries MarioD - even though you weren't able to get your TX81Z to work with BIAB, I really appreciate you taking the time to give it a try.
Last edited by terriandralph; 06/19/19 04:21 AM.
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Thanks for the suggestion Notes Norton, but there is an underlying reason I'm looking at the TX81Z - it is microtunable. I would go for practically any hardware synth with a GM bank, as long as it's microtunable.
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Thanks for all the information MountainSide - it's encouraging news.
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My apologies Notes Norton - I don't know about the SD2 in particular, but I just found out that quite a few Solton synths are capable of microtuning. Thanks for the suggestion!
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...
3. Next biggie and addresses your "save" question: In BIAB, click on the FILE header in the upper right hand corner, scroll down to SAVE SPECIAL.
...
Just to avoid confusion for the O/P (and me  ), should that be 'in the upper left-hand corner', or is that control on a different form?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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To the OP, I just looked up that Yamaha synth. It's the hardware version of the old DX11 which was the newer version of the classic old DX7. This is not suitable with Biab at all, it does not have a full instrument bank. It has DX7 patches which were good back in the 80's for classic electronic keyboard sounds and some synth basses. It's an 8 voice, 4 oscillator synth. 8 voices means 8 notes at any one instant in time so one guitar or piano chord can easily use up 5 or 6 voices by itself. That leaves basically nothing for drums, bass, strings, a melody lead, whatever.
Any modern cheap synth has a minimum of 64 voices and most are 256.
To answer your literal question, yes it will work in Biab but what are you expecting out of it, what do you want this for?
Now if you know this already and want to use this for an authentic classic sound for leads or whatever then understand Biab only has one midi port. That means you can only load up one synth at a time. If you want to use multiple synths where one handles all the other instruments and you want this Yamaha for other things then you need to look into Real Band. RB is a normal DAW with multiple input ports so you can use a whole bunch of synths at once plus it also has most Biab functions.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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My situation is kind of strange, in that I don't intend to use the sounds of the TX81Z as my final product, but more as my "scratch pad". The main instruments I need to hear are bass, melody, and piano (the latter probably only requires only three voices or so). For the drums I can use a VST if necessary.
My main problem is that I want to hear the microtuned instruments with a variety of different styles, and if I use VSTs, I have to reload the VST and the preset every time I change styles. My plan is that when I find a style I like with the TX81Z I can then change the sounds to VSTs in my final draft.
I have the opportunity to buy a used TX81Z for $100, but I don't even want to spend $100 if it won't work well with BIAB. If it can be setup to play various styles with generic sounding patches but I don't have to change the presets every time I change the style, I think I could live with that.
Last edited by terriandralph; 06/19/19 10:48 AM.
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MountainSide,
When I’m looking to get a patch map for the TX81Z, am I basically looking for presets in the TX81Z that will substitute for GM patches (for example, a TX81Z bass patch substituting for a similar sounding GM patch, a TX81Z piano patch substituting for a similar sounding GM patch, etc.), so that when I change styles, I will always have an ensemble that sounds somewhat similar to what I would hear if it was done with GM patches?
Last edited by terriandralph; 06/19/19 11:30 AM.
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If you want a general purpose, scratchpad, midi sound module then take a look at the $60 Midiplus MiniEngine sound module +++ Amazon +++ It is general midi compatible so it will work with Band-in-a-Box pretty much right out of the box. The S-Engine USB sound module costs $97 but has more connections +++ 2nd Amazon +++ Both use the E-MU 8030 based sound engine with 64 voice polyphony.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
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