I often like using styles that I wouldn't choose by myself, e.g. in order to enhance my own musical spectrum or in order to get unconventional results which might be surprisingly good. But when I go to the Style Picker window to pick a Style, I then often take just one of the top listed Styles or a Style that sounds interesting by its name. Therefore I'd find it nice, if the Dropdown-Menu of the Main Window's Style Picker Button would include an option "Random from all available Styles".
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10 Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
... Therefore I'd find it nice, if the Dropdown-Menu of the Main Window's Style Picker Button would include an option "Random from all available Styles".
You can do that already. Set a list of available styles, scroll up/down through the list and randomly stop at any particular one. I tried it, it works.
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.
haha - manually scrolling and manually stopping is not the same than letting the software pick randomly :-) That's what makes me as described ending up mainly at the same styles (might be a mental thing), and takes more clicks.
Well, it's just a sugggestion for Playalong purposes.
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10 Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
haha - manually scrolling and manually stopping is not the same than letting the software pick randomly :-) That's what makes me as described ending up mainly at the same styles (might be a mental thing), and takes more clicks.
Well, it's just a suggestion for Play along purposes.
BIAB does pick for you. Just not Randomly. BIAB has multiple search features. If you want random and you're selecting by 'interesting names' simply don't select any search parameters and choose to audition styles from the entire list that have 'interesting names'.
I've missed your point and any of its potential benefits. Search parameters are meant to narrow a list to similar styles and parameters. If you find an 'interesting named' style and want similar styles to that interesting named style, BIAB can specifically do that.
My mistake - sorry, I didn't explain good enough. So I try again :-)
Sometimes I do want to playalong with a style that is completely random. But since there is no option yet to let the software pick a style randomly, I have to open the style picker, scroll down manually and stop somewhere for picking a style. But what a person finally picks this way is not really random. It's influenced by selective perception, scrolling habits, unconscious laziness and so on. Therefore I'd find it nice if the option would exist that BiaB can pick a style ramdomly.
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10 Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
If I could add to this suggestion it would be to add and up and down arrows next to the style playing in your song. That way you could change to the next or previous style while still in the chord window. The selection of styles would be determined in the styles window, i.e. rock, 4/4, swing, etc.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
My mistake - sorry, I didn't explain good enough. So I try again :-)
Sometimes I do want to playalong with a style that is completely random. But since there is no option yet to let the software pick a style randomly, I have to open the style picker, scroll down manually and stop somewhere for picking a style. But what a person finally picks this way is not really random. It's influenced by selective perception, scrolling habits, unconscious laziness and so on. Therefore I'd find it nice if the option would exist that BiaB can pick a style ramdomly.
Oh OK, I get it. BIAB can do this.
Yes, there is an option to let the software pick a style randomly without opening The StylePicker Page. BIAB can easily do this and it's totally random because the StylePicker defaults to using the last used Search Parameter, whatever it may be. Thus, based on whatever was previously chosen when the StylePicker was last closed, that will be the random search unless the StylePicker is on the All setting and displaying all of the Styles contained in your StylePicker ...
This random search without ever opening The StylePicker is done by selecting StylePicker Styles for auditions entirely from the Main Page Chord Chart by using the Main Page Styles Icon sub menu.
The Main Page Song Settings; Start, end, choruses, feel, time signature, key and tempo can be whatever you set or use the Style defaults. You never see what the StylePicker Page displays so it's completely random.
01. Open a new or existing project 02. input chords or load a song or demo as desired 03. Set Song Settings if necessary 04. Rt. Click on the Styles Icon 05. Select Load Next Style or Load Previous Style as desired or randomly... 06. Click Play to audition the Style 07. Repeat 4-6 to continue randomly auditioning Styles from the StylePicker list.
If I could add to this suggestion it would be to add and up and down arrows next to the style playing in your song. That way you could change to the next or previous style while still in the chord window. The selection of styles would be determined in the styles window, i.e. rock, 4/4, swing, etc.
This is done using the option to select Next or Previous from the Styles Icon submenu.... You never leave the Main Page Chord Sheet Page and all of the Style parameters are editable.
This is done using the option to select Next or Previous from the Styles Icon submenu.... You never leave the Main Page Chord Sheet Page and all of the Style parameters are editable.
Charlie, thanx for opening my eyes! I never clicked on that down arrow; I thought it brought up the same style menu. The old dog learned a new trick.
Thanx again.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
Charlie, that's still not random. Many styles of the same kind begin with the same name "Jazz ABC" - "Jazz BDE" and so on.
Well, this request is just a minor wish, nothing that's very important to me. But it's quickly scripted, I guess, so I thought I should just bring it up.
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10 Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
I can't imagine why you want this, since you could easily go from Elvis to samba to Mozart to polka. I think having some structure to within some search parameter makes sense, and that's what we have now.
But this is the Wishlist, and you're entitled to ask for what makes you want to make music, so +1.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Matt, to force myself to play various styles when I do playalongs. Since you can learn from each style and since that also widens your evoked set. If you choose yourself all the time, you have the tendency to skip what's not matching your mood and to mostly play your favourite styles.
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10 Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
With hundreds of options already available from the current BiaB menus and sub-menus, I personally would not prefer to see another menu item added if this was avoidable.
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.
I’m not against it; I just think it’s so open ended as to not be useful. But this is a Wishlist, so I’m ok.
I do see some value. As a young musician growing up in a remote area, I played along to the radio. It definitely sharpens listening skills. But at least I knew some range of what genres I might expect from each station. That’s why I think we already have what we need. BIAB already has a lot of menu choices.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Hm, is the current menu entry "Load Previous Style (alphabetically)" needed at all - in addition to "Load Next Style (alphabetically)"? Maybe just replacing "Load Previeous Style (alphabetically)" by "Load Random Style", so it wouldn't cause a higher number of menu entries than there already exist. But, well, as I said, this is just a minor suggestion, nothing that I'm deeply affected by.
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10 Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10 Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
I’m not against it; I just think it’s so open ended as to not be useful.
The father of composer Charles Ives used to have the family sing hymns together in different, unrelated keys, while he played along on the piano in yet another key, for ear training.
Whether or not that technique was useful might depend on what you think of what it did to Ives' ears.
The father of composer Charles Ives used to have the family sing hymns together in different, unrelated keys, while he played along on the piano in yet another key, for ear training.
BiaB UltraPak+ 2026; Windows 10 Bass: Intermediate; Piano: Beginner I came to this forum in order to suggest feature improvements for non-professional musicians like myself that use BiaB mainly as a playalong tool and as a learning tool
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
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MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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