I am new to BIAB. I am used to thinking in terms of Intros, Verses, Choruses, Bridges and Outros. How come this only seems to want to support intro, outro and chorus? No versus, no bridges, I must be missing something.
I tend to use 'A' for verses and 'B' for choruses.
You can also have instruments muted and come in at later bars to add contrast.
If you are looking for more variations, you could look at MultiStyles PAK 1
"MultiStyles for Band-in-a-Box® Have you ever wished that you could create more elaborate arrangements in Band-in-a-Box® with more than two distinct-sounding substyles? MultiStyles can fulfill that desire with the ability to incorporate up to 24 substyles in one style! And, now we have special add-on PAKs that give you a huge collection of these advanced styles. Each MultiStyle in these PAKs comes with a demo song that shows off the sound of all of the substyles. But that's not all, you can also access the component styles of these MultiStyles in order to view the full instrument lists from the StylePicker and access more great demo songs! Each MultiStyles PAK offers Country, Rock-Pop, and Jazz styles, and some of the styles transcend these genres completely! Don't limit yourself to two substyles per style, light your creative fire with MultiStyles PAKs!"
Besides the MultiStyles add-on packages, some multistyles are included in the various versions of BIAB and can be selected from the StylePicker and are marked by the + sign at the end of the name. In the search bar, enter + for a list of included MultiStyles. Most of the styles are from 4-6 part markers.
It's also quite easy to construct your own custom MultiStyles just like PG Music has done with the MultiStyles PAK 1.
I am new to BIAB. I am used to thinking in terms of Intros, Verses, Choruses, Bridges and Outros. How come this only seems to want to support intro, outro and chorus? No versus, no bridges, I must be missing something.
First off, welcome to the family.
To your question. BB uses slightly different terminology from what you are used too. BB refers exclusively to choruses..... or if you unfold the song form.... to one chorus.
Ignore that totally for all intents and purposes. BB will provide you with a typical intro and outtro. It also has styles that generally have 2 different grooves. Some have 4, but most have 2. The blue part markers are generally identifiable as verses and tend to be more laid back, and the Green ones are more like choruses in the way they feel. The green tend to be more aggressive and it's certainly noticeable in the drums as well as the guitars.
Many of us, write our own intros, verses, choruses, bridges and endings using the long form of ONE CHORUS in the vernacular of PG Music. We differentiate the verses and the choruses by using different part maker colors.
Hopefully this helps
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add 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.
thanks for the welcome and the tips to date folks. I am still working to wrap my head around how this works. Seems to be a lot of tribal knowledge, but I would say the ramping curve is steep. Maybe once I have consumed more, I can help with some newbie materials to help lower the bar for adoption.
As mentioned, ignore the term chorus and think of it as the body of the song. I had the same brain freeze as you.
After playing and looking at a few templates and demos of songs I learnt about the markers, the changes to style etc. and began to employ them.
It does take time to get used to the user interface and there are squillions of things within the program that reveal themselves as you progress. I've been using Reaper for more than a decade and think I know about 15% of that program at best.
We simply set the key/tempo, enter our chords on the chord sheet to correspond to our arrangement, enter our RT/RD/MST selections (or per a style) and generate. We then enter blue/green part markers as appropriate.
Afterwards we move all the tracks to our DAW (Logic Pro X) as we are Mac folks and do not have access to Window’s RealBand. We will frequently regenerate select RT’s until they play what we like and if that doesn’t happen we bring multiple regens of that RT into the DAW and cut/paste them into what we hope sounds good.
This may not be applicable to your planned work flow as there are so many ways to use this great program. Welcome to the community!
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos are here on our website.
On a related note, I'd like to mention to the OP that there are numerous, outstanding YouTube videos on how to use BIAB. IMO, it's a great kickstarter towards getting up & running. It's an incredibly deep program, and I haven't scratched the surface of everything it can do, but I have been able to identify & master the features that are most applicable and useful in my personal workflow.
You might want to quiet some RT instruments during your verse and then let it all come to life during the part you normally refer to as a chorus.
Another way to bend BIAB into your workflow is to make multiple versions of the same song, and import everything into your DAW (same as Janice & Bud...and same methods). The you might end up with a lot of tracks playing the same chord progressions - then it's all up to you to decide what goes in the verse...ect
But please do reach out - everyone of us is still climbing up this brilliant BIAB mountain.
MacMini M1 - BIAB2021 - Logic Pro X - iZotope Music Production Suite - Scaler 2 - far too many Waves plugins and Line 6 Guitars and boards + a fantastic Yamaha THR10ll mini Amp - Avid MBOX Studio
Peters' Garage is available on all major streaming services
Hinted at above, BIAB originated as a way to play jazz fakebook tunes. In jazz, we call a chorus once through the whole tune. A typical form for a song might be AABA, where B is the bridge, and that’s one chorus. If we say, ‘take a chorus’ it means to solo over the whole tune once.
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.
duselton re Why No Verses or Bridges etc. ive been tilting at this particular windmill for a long time, even though i'm an avid biab user and song creator. you might be interested in the following threads of my wishes.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
As a long time US based gigging player I'm also used to intro, verse, bridge, solos, outro but Matt is also correct, in jazz the whole song is commonly called the chorus. To help with this Biab has the song structure function where you can at least use A, B, C, D etc to identify the various sections.
The song structure function does the job very well - maybe a few improvements regarding max amount of parts + max amount of bars (especially when you write songs in +140 BPM).
....after 7 years of being daily BIAB user, you somehow learn your way to make things work...but out of the box BIAB is not the easiest tool to work with
MacMini M1 - BIAB2021 - Logic Pro X - iZotope Music Production Suite - Scaler 2 - far too many Waves plugins and Line 6 Guitars and boards + a fantastic Yamaha THR10ll mini Amp - Avid MBOX Studio
Peters' Garage is available on all major streaming services
We simply set the key/tempo, enter our chords on the chord sheet to correspond to our arrangement, enter our RT/RD/MST selections (or per a style) and generate. We then enter blue/green part markers as appropriate.
Afterwards we move all the tracks to our DAW...
That's basically my process too. Are you guys downloading prearranged songs?
We simply set the key/tempo, enter our chords on the chord sheet to correspond to our arrangement, enter our RT/RD/MST selections (or per a style) and generate. We then enter blue/green part markers as appropriate.
Afterwards we move all the tracks to our DAW...
That's basically my process too. Are you guys downloading prearranged songs?
No. We enter our chord progressions based on our arrangement and select our choice of RTs and RDs. We rarely ever use a style as we prefer to roll our own
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos are here on our website.
A core feature of BIAB allows you to create a chorus feel, and the tracks are produced with this in mind (so your choruses can sound different than verses in intensity). You can also change the feel of the drums in verse and chorus inside the real track picker dialog if you have it open, using selections from the menu. (I.e., you can change aspects of the drums in each section, see screenshot below.)
The use of "Green" or "b" sections on the chart, whether entered manually (or using the song form dialog (which I love) renders a "busier" and more "up" chorus feature. The drums get more emphatic, and the instruments a little more charged, as you want in a chorus.
Just click on a box until it changes colors. In multi-styles, colors beside green and blue give different feels. You have to experiment.
So, basically, I use "blue" for intros, verses and bridges, and "Green" for choruses. I think everyone does this.
But experiment--and click on the drum tracks you are using to see the range of options for the sections.
Here is a screenshot of a recent song I posted and a link to it.
Tell me if this makes sense. This may have been said here in different ways already, but it is pretty straightforward.
My approach is similar to David’s just above. In my jazz songs, I generally use a green part marker for the intro and the tag, and the bridge. BIAB defaults to using green for the middle choruses (soloing) but you can turn that off.
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.
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!
Ready to take your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 experience to the next level? Now’s the perfect time! Expand your style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs—packed with a wide variety of genres to inspire your next musical creation.
What are XPro Styles and Xtra Styles PAKs?
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!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). With over 3,500 styles (and 35 MIDI styles) included in Xtra Styles PAKs 1-20, the possibilities are endless!
Get the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: 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.
Get Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 19 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 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.
Don’t miss this chance to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box setup—at a great price!
Mac 2025 Special Upgrade Offers Extended Until August 15th!
It's not too late to upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® and save! We've extended our special until August 15, 2025!
We've added many major new features to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, including advanced AI tools like the amazing BB Stem Splitter and AI Lyrics Generator, as well as VST3 plugin support, and Equalize Temp. Plus, there’s a new one-stop MIDI Patches Picker with over 1,100 MIDI patches to choose from, all neatly categorized by GM numbers. The MultiPicker Library is enhanced with tabs for the SongPicker, MIDI Patch Picker, Chord Builder, AI Lyrics Generator, and Song Titles Browser, and the tabs are organized into logical groups. The Audiophile Edition is enhanced with FLAC files , which are 60% smaller than AIFF files while maintaining identical audio quality, and now ships on a fast 1TB SSD, and much more!
Check out all the new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® here:
Purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac during our special to save up to 50% off your upgrade purchase and receive a FREE BONUS PAK of amazing new Add-ons. These include the 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK, 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, and more!
Upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and add 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and 20 RealStyles, FLAC Files for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks, Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster, MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster, Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8, and RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe.
Learn more about the Bonus PAKs!
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
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!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
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
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
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!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-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!
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.
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!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
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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and if that doesn’t happen we bring multiple regens of that RT into the DAW and cut/paste them into what we hope sounds good. 
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