PG Music Home Forums PG Music Wishlists Band-in-a-Box Wishlist Jazz lovers! Support this: Biab reads chords, but can only play 7 chords, please educate biab

If anyone wants to know how bad the midi styles work.

Here’s an easy one

Make a new style
Every note has to fit C7, says Pgmusic.

Ok, let.s make bass notes root 5-b7-9 and reverse but starting on the root: so: root-(up)9-(downward from here)-b7-5
Make at least one 8 beats-pattern, one 4 beats, two beats, one beat is too short...
Do the same with B-part

Enter some piano,chords. Let’s say, rootless Bill Evans, old but not stale. Play 3-b7 in your left and 2-5 in your right hand and switch it up a little.you can click them on the staff or record them, keep it simple.
Do the same for the 4 beat, 2 beat patterns, make at least one pattern here and
Do the same for B

Enter a strings arpeggio: mix the notes of “root-3-5-b7-9”. Make it musical, but stick to these notes.

Save your style as r2357 or a name like that.

Make a lead sheet with the following chords:

Cmaj7 (2 bars, 1 bar, 1 bar)
CmMaj7 (same, you can change it if you like to 1 bar, 2 bars, 1 bar)
C13b9 (same)
C7alt


Listen closely to what biab presents to you. You will see that bass AND piano part play a bunch of downright wrong notes. It will make you rather sad, possibly angry.

Now do the same lead sheet with dizzy style or a bebop walking bass style. You’ll see a different pattern. The bass player plays a lot of wrong notes, but the piano player does a great job.
If you check the style maker you won’t see voicings but singlenotes: MACRO NOTES.

I ve learned a lot by trying all of this.

And I remain truly disappointed in biab, a software I have been using and buying and LOVING since the nineties.

Though the realtracks are often sublime (though more than a little old fashioned, as if Kind Of Blue was the last jazz record...), I truly believe that midi is more flexible from the users’ standpoint. No manufacturer can supply you with all possible styles. But you can easily make your own or tweak them. Can’t do that with realtracks... moreover, you could get great styles from specialists like Bob Norton or exchange styles with other users.

And, with all these great plugins in Kontakt, UVI and sampletank, I am convinced that there is going to be a MIDI revival. Especially for acoustic music, jazz, folk, country, blues. If you use Bob Norton’s styles on Microsoft Gm wavetable, you ask yourself: what’s the big deal. Hook them up to Kontakt or Sampletank and be ready to be blown away. Now they sound way better than a lot of stock styles.

My MIDI revival claim sounds off? Make a leadsheet with slow moving chord changes. Use an acoustic guitar and drum plugin, a quality one... Select Oregon-styles. Press play. Be amazed.
Not entertained yet? Lower the velocities of the oregon styles. Try again. Be amazed.