Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread
Print Thread
Go To
#457880 02/16/18 04:11 PM
Band-in-a-Box for Windows
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 824
Expert
OP Offline
Expert
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 824
I have previously posted some of the matters raised here in the previous topic www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=457611#Post457611 but I think they deserve a topic of their own, particularly because of that previous topic heading, which was a bit unspecific.

Each year I have to learn new things about using Band-in-a-Box, but I think the present problems I am experiencing may be a bit of a bug, or possibly wrong assumptions in setting the objectives for programming. It could also be that my learning curve has not caught up and there are some solutions of which I am unaware. If so, I would be very pleased to hear these.

First, I should explain that I use Band-in-a-Box for accompaniment when practicing, which as I understand was the main original use for the program. But of equal importance these days is the task of producing leadsheets for the musicians in my small jazz bands, and for producing the parts for small band arrangements. Traditionally Band-in-a-Box has been an excellent tool for these purposes and most of the users that I know use it for the same thing. In fact, you cannot be in our bands if you do not have a copy of Band-in-a-Box for swapping files and rehearsing parts with the great backing bands. Marketing please note, because these days most small jazz and dance bands use some kind of software for their band members to use for practicing their parts. I also know several arrangers who use Band-in-a-Box to work up the initial pro-formers for big band arrangements – me included.

Aside from what Matt recently described as 'clunky', when referring to Band-in-a-Box notation, my observation is that some of the problems with notation seem to have been caused by the programming for Bar-Based Lyrics, starting with the 2017 version and now continuing with 2018. I appreciate that Bar-Based Lyrics are important for some users. I do notice that 2018 has cleared up a bit of a problem with the old Line-Based lyrics. I have hundreds of tune files with this type of lyric formatting, and previously there was no way of completely deleting them. But once they have been Automatically converted to Bar-Based Lyrics, the “Erase Bar-Bar Lyrics” will now do this. It would not last year, despite my complaints, so thank you for this! However, I have to say that it is a shame that Line-Based Lyrics were abandoned. There were definitely some advantages over Note-Based Lyrics that have been lost in the change that was made back in 2017. I wish they were still in existence because they may help to eliminate the problem that Trygve "Leo" Larsen is presently experiencing.
For me there have been many faults in the all Band-in-a-Box versions, particularly for Note-Based lyrics, ever since bar-based lyrics were introduced. These days I have to get the white-out and ink pen working before I can produce a clean leadsheet to distribute to band members. Thus, I need heaps of extra filing space on my computer for the PDFs of the corrected versions I have scanned.

The problem of the last words of a stave being carried down to the bar starting the next stave below for me is extreme. I am not entirely sure my problem is exactly the same as Leo’s. In my occurrence it does of course depend on how many words of the lyric are in the last bar that was carried down. It also depends on the type and size of the font you use for your lyrics. I normally want more than a 100% for the lyrics font. I find I have to use mostly PG Text at 120% to make it readable on the music stand. It was much better when we had line-based lyrics because you could space the lyrics along the line to suit.

I was very encouraged when Oliver Gannon started to clean up the whole of the notation area the year before bar-based lyrics were introduced. Unfortunately the process did not continue.

I believe some considerable programming effort needs to be put into the whole area of notation and creating proper readable lead sheets that have chords and lyrics shown. The ideal situation, which is used by most fake books, is four bars per line, and nine lines on a page. Of course the chords have to be accommodated as well as the lyrics, along with any Section Text, Section Letters and Notation Symbols also. And please have a thought for us trombone types who need their lead sheets in Bass Clef, where we commonly need at least four ledger lines for the trombone upper range. There are more problems with the notation in Bass Clef than in Treble Clef and I think this is due to this unawareness of the range.

And please make the basics in the lead sheets produced using the 'Print' button the same as those using the Green button for 'LeadSheet Window'. There are several annoying differences at present that are not related to the purpose of each method.

Please also give some thought to properly showing triplets for Even time, without having to tick the 'Triplet Resolution (Swing)' box.

The ability to produce really good Leadsheets with Band-in-a-Box used to be one of its best features. And it was getting better every year, until you know what.

As I previously mentioned, this is ultra-important for those using Band-in-a-Box leadsheets for band practice purposes. And I am also told bY some teachers I know, the idiosyncrasies are even more of a problem for those in the education world, particularly for the kids!


Grah Jive Talk
"Don't worry baby, they'll swing their arses off."
Band-in-a-Box for Windows
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,801
Veteran
Online Content
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,801
Very thorough report, Graham.

I said clunky? While I don’t dispute I said that, I have been working the other side of this: exporting BIAB files by MIDI or now Music XML to dedicated notation programs. I don’t use BIAB for notation, so don’t take anything I may have said about it seriously.

You have told us for many years how useful BIAB is for you to produce parts for your band, and I defer to your experience pursuing worthwhile improvements.


BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors
Band-in-a-Box for Windows
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,687
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,687
Notation, notation, notation. I've been commenting on the need for what seems to be fairly small enhancements for at least 10 years. I finally gave up a few years ago.

To me, Biab/RB notation is sooo close to being good for live band charting but not quite. I too make good use of whiteout or hand markings. Most of the time my issue is with repeats and 1st/2nd endings. I gave up making them readable within Biab, what I do now is simply lay out a tune based on how the chart should look but without any of those things. That means it will not play correctly. Then I print it and hand draw them in. To help visualize this just take any typical fake book chart and remove everything but the bars and chords. No repeat signs, no section letters, no 2nd ending, no tag or coda sign, nothing. That's what I load into Biab, just the chords in the order they show on the chart.

And yes, maybe Matt didn't say it but clunky is the word.

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
Band-in-a-Box for Windows
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,801
Veteran
Online Content
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,801
Bob, you will enjoy the irony here: Dorico, the new notation software that is among the most expensive, has deficiencies in endings and codas. I waited to try it because the first release didn’t even have chord symbols.

Still, at their pace, fairly soon it may be the best choice out there.


BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Go To

Link Copied to Clipboard
ChatPG

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.

PG Music News
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 Review: 4.75 out of 5 Stars!

If you're looking for a in-depth review of the newest Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows version, you'll definitely find it with Sound-Guy's latest review, Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows Review: Incredible new capabilities to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs.

A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."

"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."

"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."

Happy Easter! Holiday Hours...

2024 is well underway - it's already Easter Weekend!

Our Customer Service hours this weekend are:

Friday, March 29: 8-4
Saturday, March 30: 8-4
Sunday, March 31: closed

Regular hours resume Monday, April 1st - no joke!

Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!

The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!

There are other places you can listen to these songs too! Visit our User Showcase page to sort by genre, artist (forum name), song title, and date - each listing will direct you to the forum post for that song.

If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.

We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!

Congratulations to the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!

We've just announced the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!

There are 45 winners, each receiving a Band-in-a-Box 2024 UltraPAK! Read the official announcement to see if you've won.

Our User Showcase Forum receives more than 50 posts per day, with people sharing their Band-in-a-Box songs and providing feedback for other songs posted.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

Video: Volume Automation in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

We've created a video to help you learn more about the Volume Automation options in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows.

Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Volume Automation

www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024full/chapter11.htm#volume-automation

Video: Audio Input Monitoring with Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

We've created this short video to explain Audio Input Monitoring within Band-in-a-Box® 2024, and included some tips & troubleshooting details too!

Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Audio Input Monitoring

3:17: Tips
5:10: Troubleshooting

www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024full/chapter11.htm#audio-input-monitoring

Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!

We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!

Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.

You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.

See the Melodist in action with our video, Band-in-a-Box® 2024: The Melodist Window.

Learn even more about the enhancements to the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024upgrade/chapter3.htm#enhanced-melodist

Forum Statistics
Forums66
Topics81,401
Posts732,562
Members38,444
Most Online2,537
Jan 19th, 2020
Newest Members
Descoward, danielsk, Mark Morgan, zagrajbarke, Ernest J
38,443 Registered Users
Top Posters(30 Days)
MarioD 200
Al-David 132
DC Ron 115
rsdean 84
dcuny 83
Today's Birthdays
(charlie), WobblyGstring
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5