I've not be very active on the forum so far this year as I've been working on sung songs and due to lack of inspiration struggling with instrumentals, having only posted one last month. Re sung songs I'm currently working on one with Lucy, but that was delayed as she was off on holiday. Assuming that works out it'll be a duet. Then re this new instrumental, I struggled with it from time to time this year, continuously changing the chord structure, and even when I had all the stem samples sorted it didn't work for me until I upped the tempo from 110 to 115 bpm. See the long paragraph note below re a very bizarre anomaly which occurred after upping the tempo as logically it shouldn't have been possible. "Iola Tao" is a character from my trilogy-length epic science fiction gnostic quest novel and the video features the 3D model I created of her around a decade ago.
Drums: Country Rock Guitar Solo, Pop Ba ~ Brian Fullen Bass: Country Rock Guitar Solo, Pop Ba ~ Tobin Frank Fingerstyle Rhythm Guitar: Acoustic Guitar: Seek Smooth Panpipe ~ Quinn Bachand 1st Organ: Country Rock Guitar Solo, Pop Ba ~ Gene Rabbai 1st & 2nd electric Rhythm Guitars: Jovian Divine Alt Rock Soloing ~ Mike Durham 2nd Organ: Giddy Up Country Ballad w Organ ~ Blair Masters 1st Guitar Solo: Blaring Heavy Funk Rock Solo ~ Brent Mason Tenor Sax Solo: Verdite Light Soul Pop Sax Solo ~ Mark Douthit 2nd Guitar Solo: Floor Punch Hard Funk Rock Solo ~ Danny Rader 3rd Guitar Solo: Praise & Worship w/ Power Pop So ~ Dave Cleveland
G / 115bpm / 144 bars / 5:11
NOTES: The Verdite Light Soul Pop Sax Solo is a hybrid of 2 samples. The Floor Punch Hard Funk Rock Solo is ditto. The Praise & Worship w/ Power Pop So(lo) is a hybrid of 4 solos.
The original BiaB instrument samples were all rendered at 110 bpm, then arranged in Audacity at the same tempo, but as the instrumental lacked zest I had to increase the tempo to 115 bpm in Audacity. In doing this an anomaly occurred with the Praise & Worship w/ Power Pop So(lo): despite that the waveform clearly showed the channel bias was to right, at exactly halfway through it switched channels - though sometimes it would play correctly but even then it always rendered with the channel switch - and only on rendering the whole instrumental did the waveform show the shift to left. The eventual solution was to load the original 110 bpm hybrid stem file into Audacity, up the tempo to 115 and make 2 copies of it, cut the 2nd ½ out of the 1st stem, load the 2nd stem, swap channels and cut the 1st ½ out and render the 2 as a single stem. I can only assume that the anomaly occurred due to upping the tempo, but it's a baffler!
Last edited by WaoBand; 02/28/2612:26 PM.
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.
Everything here works so well. The arrangement and those driving guitars are so effective. I also love the big crisp mix. It sounds great through my monitors.
Author and composer, you're a real Renaissance man, Chay! Liked the guitars in this a lot - held my interest. Can't wait to hear what you and Lucy will collaborate on, I'm sure it'll be epic.
Windows 11, Intel Core I5 10400, 16 gig ram, Scarlett 2i2, Sony Acid Music Studio 10, BIAB 2020 UltraPlus Pak
Hi, Chay. You're instrumentals always sound so effortless despite the sometimes torturous journey you describe. Nice build and pacing throughout. The tradeoffs between soloists are really nicely done. Super mix, too.
The trick of bumping tempo up a bit to add energy is one I use a lot. Sorry about the tech issues. Still a good trick.
DC Ron BiaB Audiophile Presonus Studio One ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM Presonus Faderport 16 Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
Chay, Everything here works so well. The arrangement and those driving guitars are so effective. I also love the big crisp mix. It sounds great through my monitors. Excellent work! Bob
Many thanks from me and Io, Bob, though she won't be born for another 100 years!
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.
Author and composer, you're a real Renaissance man, Chay! Liked the guitars in this a lot - held my interest. Can't wait to hear what you and Lucy will collaborate on, I'm sure it'll be epic.
Author & composer! How dare you, Rob! You forgot graphic artist. Lucy's now late getting her vocals to me, so I think she's struggling as she's very soft-voiced and the project needs extoverted rock vocals.
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 like the way this builds, Chay. Good instrumental, you held my interest throughout. Looking forward to hearing your collaboration with Lucy!
Much appreciated, Dave. Re Lucy, see my reply to Rob-Tunemonger above. I think she might be experimenting with different octaves.
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.
Hi, Chay. You're instrumentals always sound so effortless despite the sometimes torturous journey you describe. Nice build and pacing throughout. The tradeoffs between soloists are really nicely done. Super mix, too. The trick of bumping tempo up a bit to add energy is one I use a lot. Sorry about the tech issues. Still a good trick.
Thanks Ron! I think that 'impossible' channel switching glitch occurred in part as it was a hybrid solo and the switch occurred where one sample ended and another began, but it was very odd that the waveform showed right channel emphasis, yet it rendered left.
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 are a master at manipulating RTs into the perfect song. Super build up and choice of RTs Mixed perfectly as usual I like it a lot
Thanks, Mario! Always 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.
Very nice work in the use of the different tracks for a beautiful result. Laurent
Much appreciated, Laurent.
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, Excellent use of BIAB. Bass and guitars sound great. A cool track. A lot of meat. And potatoes. Good mix. fj
Thanks, Floyd! I'll go for the meat and potatoes, plus some gravy. US or UK style will do!
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.
Well done, Chay. I've listened a couple times already. Good build, and after the build you keep the interest with the instrumentation. Good mix as always, and an engaging composition.
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
Nicely developing theme from the acoustic guitar through the sax to the wild electric guitar, great work with that solo which sounds very natural and lively to me. The organ and the electric rhythm guitar provide pleasant backing mood, like a romantic evening on a warm beach.
Hi Chay! As others have said, this builds nicely, and those lead guitar solos didn't grow tired. They reminded me a little of some of Mike Oldfield's guitar work around the time of 'Five miles out'. You've got a good chord base for the song, and that gives it a ton of musical variation. Loved it - and looking forward to your sung pieces with Lucy. Andrew
You've created an impressive melody with beautiful solos! Even though it's quite a long song, it never gets boring. It keeps you captivated!
But probably I missed something; about those very nice characters I don't understand their function for, or in this song. Do they act in a movie? And is the song just there as background music, or...?
Well done, Chay. I've listened a couple times already. Good build, and after the build you keep the interest with the instrumentation. Good mix as always, and an engaging composition.
Thanks, Marty!
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.
Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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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):
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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):
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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.
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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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20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
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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