The images in this rock instrumental's video depict the progress of a new relationship in 4 stages. Will it succeed or fail?
This is the first instrumental I've done in BiaB in which I couldn't find a single solo which was consistently good throughout, so the opening and closing guitar solos are hybrids of 2 solos and the middle harmonica solo is a hybrid of 3.
Drums: 3 Guitar Country Rock ~ Brian Fullen Bass Guitar: Country Rock Guitar Solo, Pop Ba ~ Tobin Frank Organ: Country Rock Guitar Solo, Pop Ba ~ Gene Rabbai 1st Rhythm Guitar: Rock Guitar Solo, Pop Ba ~ Mike Durham 1st Guitar Solo: Jovian Divine Alt Rock Soloing ~ Brent Mason 2nd Rhythm Guitar: Centaur Gtr Solo Hard Rock Bal ~ Darin Favorite Harmonica Solo: hybrid of 2 parts Wounded Ev Fiery Harmonica Blues & 1 part Vicksburg Harmonica Even-8 Blues ~ L. D. Miller 3rd & 4th Rhythm Guitars: Jovian Divine Alt Rock Soloing ~ Mike Durham 5th & 6th Rhythm Guitars: Nashville Radio Power Bal Solo ~ Danny Rader 2nd Guitar Solo: Nashville Radio Power Bal Solo ~ Danny Rader
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
Generally, I'm not a fan of instrumentals . . . so take my comments with a grain of salt in that regard. I think the intro is a bit too long . . . and it should get to that lead guitar more quickly. Had I not known It was an instrumental I would have expected a vocal to kick in sooner . .. so in the same spirit so should the solo . . . at least to my ear, which is just one guy's opinion, with less importance than what you think as an artist.
I like a lot of what's going after that solo . . . particularly that thrash like guitar panned far left . . . and those heavier guitars thereafter. The sax is a bit too far out in front and a bit too shriek . . . it's the right instrument, I think--maybe more busy than it needs to be . . . but is just needs to sit a bit better in the mix. As it stands, it's a bit too harsh. Same with the harmonica later on.
Again, personal opinion, but I think shorter instrumentals are better than longer . . . but that is more my bias against them generally I think.
Nicely done, Chay. Yes, solos in BiaB are the always the hardest part for me, too. I spend so much time with the Ctrl+F8 buttons --sometimes longer than the whole rest of the song. You managed to do a good job matching the sound and feel of those blends. In the same way you illustrated the ups and downs of some relationships masterfully with both the music and the video. An very interesting 6-minute story.
Enjoy whatever happens! marty
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@babumusic51 SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/marty-straub Band in a Box, Reaper, Cakewalk, Ozone 12, EZDrummer
I liked this. That harmonica, in particular ... wow. Bravo. However, I got a little tired after the 4 minute mark. If you're going to write a song which is 6 minute long, it needs to vary. The guitar at around 4:20 or so did a good job of changing things around a little, but all that chugging in the background ... hmm. Great harmonica solo, once more, towards the end.
Chay, ha! All that cool music AND a story with a moral...well done! Like the song a lot, especially the key modulation. Know I've heard some of these changes/motifs in your other songs, and that gives it all a sense of familiarity while enjoying the new twists. Sort of like your graphical world: old friends doing new things. Didn't watch the video intently, but enough to see you doing some fresh things with your characters. Oh, and the crushed posture of the guy at the end was really well done. Two thumbs up from me!
DC Ron BiaB Audiophile Presonus Studio One ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM Presonus Faderport 16 Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
I've used the multiriff editor an awful lot as well as heaps of cutting and pasting in my DAW. Cool song - though it seems the intro goes for a fair while before the interesting stuff happens. The harmonica seems to have little in the way of consistent melody to hang onto though. Good, good mix. I found the video very distracting.
Last edited by rayc; 06/04/2406:50 PM.
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
I like what you did melding the different solo parts. You made them interesting, especially the nice build with the harmonica. You could shorten the intro, as aforementioned, but it's your song.
As usual, nicely arranged and mixed. I also hit the 4:00 "isn't it done", but that's more expectations about instrumentals in general than this song in particular.
Just a note about credits on the song. At the top of this forum, it states:
Quote
If Band-in-a-Box or RealBand have been used, please provide information as to which styles or RealTracks were used
Elsewhere (I'm too lazy to look it up the original comment), Peter Gannon wrote:
Quote
As mentioned elsewhere, please don't credit the RealTracks artists by name, as they didn't play directly on your CD.
Deej56, thanks for taking the time to listen and respond. I assume it was a typo or mental flip which made you write "sax" when there's no sax in it, it's a manic harmonica solo, and re that it's meant to be shrieky. Re the intro length, which a couple of others have mentioned, for me it lasts as long as it should based on the chord sequences. 2 things have to be considered, the 1st being the sequence - the 1st 8 bars have one chord structure, the 2nd 8 a different one, but it's on the 3rd different set that things build up, thus if I'd begun the guitar solo 4 bars earlier it wouldn't have had the same dynamic. The 2nd consideration is that when working with samples one can't instruct the musician to begin in any specific way, and re this Jovian Divine sample - which I edited from 2 samples anyway - what the guitarist plays from Bar 9-16 doesn't suit a solo start up. Had I regenerated more samples so I could cut the best start off and paste it 8 bars earlier it may have worked, but I'm satisfied with it as it is.
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
Nicely done, Chay. Yes, solos in BiaB are the always the hardest part for me, too. I spend so much time with the Ctrl+F8 buttons --sometimes longer than the whole rest of the song. You managed to do a good job matching the sound and feel of those blends. In the same way you illustrated the ups and downs of some relationships masterfully with both the music and the video. An very interesting 6-minute story.
Thanks for the great response, Marty, See my rely to DC Ron.
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
Chay, You always manage to creat some of the best instrumental music on the forum. I like the track choices and think you have a good mix. Enjoyed! Bob
Thanks for the positive response, Bob!
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
I liked this. That harmonica, in particular ... wow. Bravo. However, I got a little tired after the 4 minute mark. If you're going to write a song which is 6 minute long, it needs to vary. The guitar at around 4:20 or so did a good job of changing things around a little, but all that chugging in the background ... hmm. Great harmonica solo, once more, towards the end.
Musician17, thanks for the comment. I just calculated that the average time of the 23 instrumentals I've posted on this forum is a decimal tad under 6 minutes, so this track is pretty much average.
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
Chay, ha! All that cool music AND a story with a moral...well done! Like the song a lot, especially the key modulation. Know I've heard some of these changes/motifs in your other songs, and that gives it all a sense of familiarity while enjoying the new twists. Sort of like your graphical world: old friends doing new things. Didn't watch the video intently, but enough to see you doing some fresh things with your characters. Oh, and the crushed posture of the guy at the end was really well done. Two thumbs up from me!
DC Ron, thanks for your so positive comment. For you and Marty, the guy in the video relationship had only just met the lady, but what he didn't know was that she's a mercenary agent, sometimes working for the bad guys, sometimes working for the good, such as Knightly, Daley Knightly, Agent o-oh-Oh-OH=wAo=! Her name's Shersha La Femme and is a master of martial arts, so exactly not the kind of woman you want to cross by eyeing up exotic others!
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
Chay, i liked everything about this song and video. Great job in creating those guitar leads. Super mix.
Thanks for the brilliant response, Mario. Much appreciated.
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
Cool instrumental!! Well constructed, produced and mixed!! Take care. Greg
Thanks for listening and commenting Greg. Very much appreciated.
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
I've used the multiriff editor an awful lot as well as heaps of cutting and pasting in my DAW. Cool song - though it seems the intro goes for a fair while before the interesting stuff happens. The harmonica seems to have little in the way of consistent melody to hang onto though. Good, good mix. I found the video very distracting.
Thanks for the comment, Ray C. As I responded to Deej's comment re the intro:
Re the intro length, which a couple of others have mentioned, for me it lasts as long as it should based on the chord sequences. 2 things have to be considered, the 1st being the sequence - the 1st 8 bars have one chord structure, the 2nd 8 a different one, but it's on the 3rd different set that things build up, thus if I'd begun the guitar solo 4 bars earlier it wouldn't have had the same dynamic. The 2nd consideration is that when working with samples one can't instruct the musician to begin in any specific way, and re this Jovian Divine sample - which I edited from 2 samples anyway - what the guitarist plays from Bar 9-16 doesn't suit a solo start up. Had I regenerated more samples so I could cut the best start off and paste it 8 bars earlier it may have worked, but I'm satisfied with it as it is.
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
zplane recently interviewed Peter Gannon, the founder and creator of Band-in-a-Box, about the software's early days, what sets it apart from AI, how zplane's audio algorithms are used in Band-in-a-Box, and more!
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Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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Another exciting new addition is the amazing new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. View the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to transcribe an entire track or transcribe specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 is packed with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can transcribe an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, and much more!
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Order before 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th and SAVE up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 for Mac Upgrade packages... and that's not all! With your version 2026 for Mac purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks... that's 222 NEW RealTracks available with version Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac!
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
The 2026 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2026 49-PAK!
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