I noticed in the song forums that Many of you post the names of the Realtracks instruments that you are using but not everyone identifies the styles. Isn't the style on the the first step to developing a song and important information to know? I also noticed that some have used a style called blank or something similar. Is it possible to have a song with no style?
You can use a Blank style, and then just add the specific RealTracks you want to use to each track. All a RealStyle is, is a collection of RealTracks that have been identified to work well together and are bundled in a Style file. But you can easily override any one of them. Some people start with a RealStyle, and then substitute out the instruments from the style (maybe keeping some of them, or not). In the end, you may have a screen that shows a specific style being used; however, every instrument in the style may have been replaced by a different RealTrack. I view the style as a starting point and using the Blank style lets you just create your own "band" sound from all available RealTracks, as opposed to starting with a pre-configured "band".
And that being said, even if you use MIDI styles, you can also replace individual parts using the tracks found in other MIDI styles, or even override a MIDI track with a RealTrack. Your screen may show the initial style you selected, but you could potentially replace every instrument with tracks from different MIDI style files.
To me, that's what's so great about BIAB; you can select something close to what you want to get you started and deviate from there. Or you can start with a blank slate and roll your own. And in the latter case, if you like the result, you can save that collection of RealTracks as a User Style to bring up again later.
Hope that made sense.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA
There are four BLANK styles. Two for 3/4 time and two for 4/4 time with each pair having one even tempo and one swing tempo. None of the four have midi or RealTrack instruments assigned. As jford stated that makes them an ideal starting point for creating your own style that includes RealTracks, MIDI SuperTracks or loops.
If you want to create a style that utilizes one or more MIDI instruments you likely are better off starting with a MIDI style and modifying it to meet your needs. That's because MIDI styles include midi patterns that is used to create the midi data generated for each midi instrument.
Another use for blank styles is to modify an existing style used in a song when the style includes an instrument you do not want to use. Just import a blank instrument to replace an existing instrument.
Regarding Styles and individual instruments in constructing a song in BIAB, a very powerful and useful tool is included in the BIAB Stylepicker. When you open the Stylepicker page, notice there are two separate choices to audition Styles (and also the RealTracks, Midi and SuperMidi tracks).
The lower, larger play button with the play triangle, auditions the Styles with a premade Demo SGU file. Sometimes there are two demo files to audition.
The upper Play button plays the Style over the current Chord Chart populating the BIAB project.
Auditioning a Style using each of these options yields dramatically different sounding demos. A Style playing the demo may not suit what you need for your project while hearing the Style using the Chords, tempo and key of your project may be completely satisfactory. The song groove can be totally different between the two.
I use the Demo play to determine how well the instruments work together and the Play over current Chords to see how each particular Style works with my current project.
Also, using these two options together, dozens of Styles and hundreds of instrument tracks can be auditioned in a just a few minutes playing just as they will sound in your project. Many artists rough out their song in BIAB selecting a Style and possibly exchanging or adding instruments and then move their project to RealBand to add additional tracks to the foundation they created in BIAB. Auditioning Realtracks, Midi and SuperMidi tracks from the BIAB Stylepicker is many times faster than auditioning and finding appropriate tracks for your song than can be accomplished in RealBand. The RealBand Stylepicker does not have the Play over current chord chart button.
I have found it surprising when working on covers how effective using the Stylepicker filters in conjunction with the two play buttons are in getting the best and closest RealTrack to properly sound the right voicing of the cover song. This includes rhythms and soloists.
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."
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!
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.
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.
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