Originally Posted By: PeterGannon
>> Noticing that Biab doesn’t live up to its’ promise to play “all the chords” and really only knows 7 chords (7 7th chords to be precise) was another big let down.

Dzjang,

That's a feature called "Natural Arrangements", not a bug. You can turn the feature off Prefs-Display'Natural Arrangements-Never. That would turn it off for all songs, until you enable it again.

You can turn it off for a single song (via SongSettings button or Edit-Song Settings)

With the feature off, if you type | Gm9 | C9#11 |, the rhythm section will play those exact chords. With the feature on, the rhythm section will think more like | Gm7 | C7 | and play some embellishments based on those chords. This is how real musicians play (try handing Herbie Hancock | Gm9 | C9#11| on a leadsheet and see if he plays those exact chords) , but if you want the exact chords you are specifying, then turn that feature off. (similar to telling Herbie - please play those exact chords)

btw, that feature just affects jazz styles (not pop, or country)


Dear Peter

That’s not nice.
I turned natural arrangement off, in the arrangement preferences, in the track settings for the bass. Cause you won’t find it in display, nor in the song settings. Mostly, the help function will get you to the right place. Thx for that.

And you know if I state Cmmaj7 the bass is going to play Cm7! Save, here and there, for a macro note which is a coincidence.
As for Herbie, he does justice to the music. He won’t force a natural 9 on Caravan’s C13b9, unless as an embellishment. Whereas the bass part in Biab invariably ignores the b9.
For piano parts you have introduced macro notes. Only if you use these, biab plays the right chord. The bass is still lacking.

Please, go see for yourself. Biab knows 7 7th chords and is sadly missing out on “modern” jazz (Strayhorn, Shorter). Take any jazz style, especially with 9ths and sevenths...

Your answer left me somewhat sad. i bought a lot of biab versions since the nineties and still it is not able to play the phrygian chord, melodic minor, 13b9 nicely.

I bought some Norton New Real Book stuff, wonderfully done, with all the Bill Evans reharmonizations. And sadly Biab won’t play it right, with various clashes between bass and melody.

Biab has let the aspiring jazz amateurs down. Once you get into melodic minor or diminished or augmented harmony, you need a Yamaha arranger keyboard to play the changes right. And you know how much we love our Band in a Box. It has guided us through years of practice, but it has been a letdown on many occasions.

I can put up a video or a midi file, whatever. You know I am right.
I hope pgmusic can fix this.

Best regards,

Djang
PS: pgmusic once released modern jazz piano with really stunning performances, especially by Renee Rosnes and Miles Black. Simply the most wonderful playing you can imagine, nicely put together by PGmusic. But, since Biab can’t deal with the intricate chords, bringing,these tunes into Biab, messes it up. That’s sad.

Biab, Kontakt, Sampletank and lots of nice libraries, from Fluffy audio to Abbey Road drums.
Check out these great contemporary Jazz Styles: www.jazzstylezz.com