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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 36
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 36 |
Can someone explain what "shots, holds, and pushes" are ? Obviously I'm not much of a musician....yet.
Thank you
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 12,853
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Joined: Dec 2000
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BIAB lets you affect how a chord is played in a number of different ways - using rests, shots, holds, and pushes.
If you type a chord and put a single dot (period) after it, no instruments will play until you enter a chord without a dot after it.
But the cool thing is that you can tell it to "rest all instruments except" and then just put the letter of the instrument you want to play. So, if you just want the bass and drums to play (but no piano, strings, or guitar), then you can enter: A.bd (that means play the A chord, but rest all instrument except the bass and drums).
You also can do a shot, which is like a hit, but typing two dots after the chord name. So if you type A.. then then chord will play a quick hit with all instruments (about an eighth note), and then rest until another chord appears. Just like rests, you can designate excepted instruments. So: A..bd would play a hit with all instruments, then the strings, piano, and guitar would rest while the bass and drums play on.
A hold is just that. Instead of the instruments playing a syncopated pattern, it just holds the note until you type another chord. You add holds by typing three dots after the chord. Again, you can designate excepted instruments. So, A...bd would hold the notes for all instruments except the bass and drums, which would just play on normally.
This lets you achieve some nice effects in the music.
The instrument letters for the excepted instruments are:
D - Drums
P - Piano
G - Guitar
B - Bass
S - Strings
Now, pushes let you play a chord a little earlier than on the beat. There are two kinds of pushes - eighth note and sixteenth note. The eighth note push is achieved by entering a caret (^) in front of the chord and a sixteenth note push by entering a double caret (^^) in front of the chord.
Let's say you want to have a chord come in on the "and" of the fourth beat in a measure. All you need to do is enter the chord (for example, ^A) on the first beat of the next measure. The push backs it up an eighth note so as to play on beat 4-1/2 of the previous measure.
One thing about pushes is that you CANNOT play another chord in the original slot. In other words, if you push the first beat of a measure back to beat four and a half of the previous measure, you can't then play a different chord on beat one, since you've already used that slot to do the push.
I hope that made sense.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,259
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,259 |
Makes sense to me,John. Thanks for taking time for the clear explanation. I think you should get a job writing manuals.
stan
Cornet Curmudgeon
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 36
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 36 |
Nice job. Thank you for a very understandable explanation!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,610
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,610 |
Awesome explanation, John. Goes into my resources file.
Cheers,
Mike
Cheers, Mike My Music * Asus ROG Strix G15CF 32 GB DDR4 4TB HDD + 1 TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB Win 11 AKAI EIE PRO Sound Interface. BIAB/RB 2024 UltraPak Build - Latest
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,683
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This question shows up regularly. Another great job by John, of course.
You can also look in the Help menu for info on "Pushes".
"Hold" is not in the Help menu, though, and "Shots" takes you to the entry for "Rests", which may be confusing, but the info on Rests will be useful for holds. "Held Chords" also takes you to the entry for "Rests".
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.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,163
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Chappy,
You are on the right path Grasshopper. Biab will unleash its power with the answer of your ? Using those "Chord Settings" is what will make your style and song have some life. Continue down the chosen pathway son . . . .
Trax
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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XPro Styles PAK 11 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 (and higher) is here with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 31 RealTracks/RealDrums!
Guess who’s back again? That’s right! It’s our XPro Styles PAK’s triumphant return with the 11th edition in this series! 100 new styles are coming your way spread across the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres. And this edition's wildcard genre explores the immense and far-reaching catalogue of electronic music! The included 31 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1-11 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!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
Video: XPro Styles PAK 11 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2026 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Introducing Xtra Styles PAK 22 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
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It’s time to celebrate! Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Band-in-a-Box® is here, and we've got 200 brand-new styles coming your way!
No Xtra Styles PAK is complete without the classic rock & pop, jazz, and country volumes you know and love, and we’ve got plenty to share, with 150 styles spread across too many genres to list! Of course, it also wouldn’t be complete with our special wildcard volume to add a little spice and pizzazz to the mix. This year, because we loved it so much the first time, we’ve decided to make the second iteration of our SynthMaster volume, full of new sounds, interesting genres, and 50 engaging styles, all making use of the diverse SynthMaster plugin! Here you can find genres such as airy yacht rock, sultry electrotango, and even some synth soca funk. Don’t wait, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 22 today!
In this PAK you can find: dulcet folk ballads, funky gospel country, Brazilian jazz fusion, upbeat 1980s pop, classic Americana, a plethora of breezy bossa novas, indie singer-songwriter, scintillating synthwave, exuberant electronica, and many, many more!
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1-22 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 22 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
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Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 22 requires the 2026 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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