PLEASE HELP ...TALKING TO BIAB PEOPLE HAS BEEN USELESS ...
MY QUESTION IS ... CAN ANYONE POINT ME TO A FEW SIMPLE JAZZ BALLAD STYLES WITH SIMPLE 1/4 NOTE BASS LINES, AND SPARSE PIANO COMPING ... I HAVE GIVEN UP SEARCHING AFTER DOZENS AND DOZENS OF WASTED HOURS ... AND YES I HAVE TRIED ALL THE FILTERS, SIMPLE ARRANGEMENT, NO EMBELLISHMENT, AND, AND, AND OTHER TECHNIQUES.
I have been using BIAB on and off for over 25 years, and i am back at it, but EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED. They add thousands of similar styles for every upgrade which add nothing but more difficulty finding anything.
When I try to find a slow jazz ballad style (Midi, SuperMidi, or Real Tracks), the piano is always way too busy (plays like a chord based solo), and the bass is way too busy for any ballad (plays like a soloist with all kinds of frills). All of this drowns me out.
I feel like I have to play accompaniment and let them do all the soloing.
I'm especially sick and tired of editing bass accompaniments. If I am playing a slow, sad ballad, the bass is all over the place (despite the 1/4 note setting) ... playing approach notes, scalar, arpeggiated fills, 1/8ths, 1/8 triplets, and anything but a simple chord outline on 1/4 notes. I might as well write my own bass lines in Finale (easier than editing in BIAB)
If I sound frustrated, and a little hostile, my sincere apologies ... but wasting so much time is maddening.
This is an interesting post and view, and I am glad that I am not the only person who shares it.
As I mentioned, my use of BIAB is fairly limited, mainly jazz/blues/rock backing tracks to play along to, to learn songs, licks, arpeggios etc. Despite having 1000s of styles available, finding something "basic" to play along to is always a struggle, and I tend to use the same 2 Blues, 2 Jazz and 3 Rock Styles... Occasionally I choose different drums.
They are indeed busy (in my opinion). From time to time I venture out to look at the guitar lead sheet with the hope to perhaps play along to it, or learn from it, but pretty much all the ones I have looked at are impossible to play (well, at my level anyway). I have often thought if anybody would actually play this.... but then I am sure that they do, the RT did get recorded.
About the bass - I am often turning it down because I find it distracting, too much going on :-)
I am happy with what I have, but I often now use iRealPro on my iPad to play along to, basic but serves its purpose....
This is all just my personal view, I love BIAB and wouldn't want to make music without it. Best software I've ever bought :-)
Nirvana is a place of perfect peace and happiness, the highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, whereby a person's individual desires and suffering go away. Achieving nirvana is to make earthly feelings like suffering and desire disappear.
Unfortunately, the more you search for it, the less likely you will find it. Which brings me to this threads topic.
I have also spent years looking for that perfect musical sound from an accompaniment/backing track - BIAB (RTs, midi, SMTs, RDs), ToonTrack (EZkeys, EZDrummer), Scaler, as well as countless VSTi instruments and loop libraries. I can tell you from experience what we are searching for is not in any of those sources. There is only one place where that elusive sound can be found. When you discover that place, the weaknesses and limitation of all these products will no longer matter. Time for my meditation and yoga exercises.
Nirvana is a place of perfect peace and happiness, the highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, whereby a person's individual desires and suffering go away. Achieving nirvana is to make earthly feelings like suffering and desire disappear.
Unfortunately, the more you search for it, the less likely you will find it. Which brings me to this threads topic.
I have also spent years looking for that perfect musical sound from an accompaniment/backing track - BIAB (RTs, midi, SMTs, RDs), ToonTrack (EZkeys, EZDrummer), Scaler, as well as countless VSTi instruments and loop libraries. I can tell you from experience what we are searching for is not in any of those sources. There is only one place where that elusive sound can be found. When you discover that place, the weaknesses and limitation of all these products will no longer matter. Time for my meditation and yoga exercises.
looks like that place might be "Within Thyself" after 10k hours practice on your chosen instrument.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2024, Cubase 13, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Chances are that most of the styles in the same category share the exact same bass and drum patterns. Or at least a limited number of different patterns for a whole bunch of so-called different styles.
My first solution was to drop the velocity of bass and drums in the midi styles (piano too, if you like) by 30. All patterns were in the 85+ range (velocity from 1-127) and that sounds awful, even with the best VST. Don’t forget to save them under a new name, cause with every new version, your tweaks will be deleted and replaced.
But after being fed up with too much repetition, I decided to make my own styles. That’s a difficult, but ultimately rewarding path to take.
Some people would make a midi file for each song they play. This is were Biab shines: you can use this midi you made to make a new style and apply it to other songs as well.
I almost made it sound easy, though I know making styles is a really hard and long process. (Even after this much practice, making one style with just drums and bass, takes me more than 20 hours on average. Even a simple bunch of patterns takes hours and hours to get it just right) but, as I said, it is much more to your own liking.
With Realtracks it’s not always possible.
Biab, Kontakt, Sampletank and lots of nice libraries, from Fluffy audio to Abbey Road drums. Check out these great contemporary Jazz Styles: www.jazzstylezz.com
Add updated printing options, enhanced tracks settings, smoother use of MGU and SGU (BB files) within PowerTracks, and more with the latest PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 update!
Download and install this to your RealBand 2024 for updated print options, streamlined loading and saving of .SGU & MGU (BB) files, and to add a number of program adjustments that address user-reported bugs and concerns.
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Handy flash drive tip: Always try plugging in a USB device the wrong way first? If your flash drive (or other USB plug) doesn't have a symbol to indicate which way is up, look for the side with a seam on the metal connector (it only has a line across one side) - that's the side that either faces down or to the left, depending on your port placement.
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
With this update, there's more control when saving images from the Print Preview window, we've added defaults to the MultiPicker for sorting and font size, updated printing options, updated RealTracks and other content, and addressed user-reported issues with the StylePicker, MIDI Soloists, key signature changes, and more!
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.
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Time for my meditation and yoga exercises. 
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