Welcome to the forum. I'm glad you want to know more about Band-in-a-Box; however to better answer your question we need more information.
What software programs do you want to compare Band-in-a-Box against? There are very few intelligent automatic accompaniment software programs to compare against.
Both Musescore and Sibelius are excellent programs but I don't believe either are automatic accompaniment software. MuseScore, Sibelius and Finale are programs primarily intended to write, format and print music scores. Several forum users use one or more of these programs to print out professional quality music scores.
Band-in-a-Box includes scoring but the scoring capability is different and less sophisticated than these programs. Band-in-a-Box's strength is it has the capability to automatically create accompaniment tracks once the user selects a style, key, tempo and inputs chords.
Let me give you an extreme example. Note: I'm not saying anyone would ever want to create the example I'm about to give, just that a program user can if they want to.
Let's say a user wants to create a Heavy Rock version of the well known children's song, "ABC" or "Alphabet" song. We can do that and it will take just a few minutes, even if you can't read or write music.
First, use the StylePicker to see what Heavy Rock styles are available. There are 212 Heavy Rock styles to select from. Next decide if the time signature is 3/4 or 4/4. We'll use 4/4. Now select even (notes divided evenly throughout a bar or measure) or swing (notes staggered throughout the bar or measure) feel to the song and if the feel is 1/8th or 1/16 note based. I'm selecting 1/16. Another filter is tempo which will be 110 BPM. Do I want RealTracks and RealDrums audio created by top session musicians, SuperMidi which is a MIDI file created by the same musicians, third party audio loops, MIDI loops or MIDI tracks created on the fly by the program? Do you want to use a software VST or DX soft symth or external MIDI hardware sound module to play MIDI sounds when you use MIDI? I'm choosing RealTracks and RealDrums audio by top session musicians. I ended up with 15 styles that fit my filter criteria. Using the StylePicker I can demo each style and view what instruments will be loaded for each track if the style is selected. Also note that if I filled out the song structure before using the StylePicker I can demo using the song chord sheet.
I'll set the song structure for 1 chorus, leave the key at the default of "C" and start entering chords. Once I've entered all the chords, hit play and I'm finished!
One of the most interesting things is you can change the style, song key signature, chords or tempo and press the generate button and the program adjusts. A lot of programs can adjust when the content is MIDI but I don't know many that can with audio content.
The screen shot below shows the StylePicker screen.
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.
This new panel offers built-in specific support for the Reaper® DAW API allowing direct transfer of Band-in-a-Box® files to/from Reaper® tracks!
When you run the Plugin from Reaper®, there is a panel to set the following options:
-BB Track(s) to send: This allows you to select the Plugin tracks that will be sent Reaper.
-Destination Reaper Track: This lets you select the destination Reaper track to receive media content from the Plugin.
-At Bar: You can select a bar in Reaper where the Plugin tracks should be placed.
-Start Below Selected Track: This allows you to place the Plugin tracks below the destination Reaper track.
-Overwrite Reaper Track: You can overwrite previous content on the destination Reaper track.
-Move to Project Folder: With this option, you can move the Plugin tracks to the Reaper project folder.
-Send Reaper Instructions Enable this option to send the Reaper Instructions instead of rendering audio tracks, which is faster.
-Render Audio & Instructions: Enable this option to generate audio files and the Reaper instructions.
-Send Tracks After Generating: This allows the Plugin to automatically send tracks to Reaper after generating.
-Send Audio for MIDI Track: Enable this option to send rendered audio for MIDI tracks.
-Send RealCharts with Audio: If this option is enabled, Enable this option to send RealCharts with audio.
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