Pardon me for not reading all the previous posts. I might be repeating another. But I have an early lunchtime gig today, and time is short.

Here is my take:

1) When there were very few styles, both PG Music and myself made judgement calls. A particular style might be the best style at the time for a particular song, but not really that close. But when there were only a hundred or so styles, it was "close enough" and at that time the best way to do the song. I've removed and replaced a lot of those assignments in my styles, but there are plenty of others lurking that I haven't noticed yet.

2) BiaB styles are generic by design and not song specific. Years ago I had a few requests to do a style for Elvis Presley's song, "Don't Be Cruel."

"Don't Be Cruel" uses a song specific guitar lick and without that lick, you don't have the song. I soon realized that that particular style was good for one song and one song only. Put it in any other song and as soon as you hear that signature guitar lick, you think "Don't Be Cruel".

So I realized what is the use of making a song-specific style that only works for one song? It's actually a lot easier to do the song in a DAW or Sequencer than to write a style and jump through the hurdles to overcome the limitations of Band-in-a-Box.

With zillions of styles, it sometimes makes it difficult to find the best style for that song. I know, we create fake 'disks' for BiaB. It takes longer to find the best style for each song than any other part of the process. And even then, when new styles come out, what we chose for a fake 'disk' last year might be replaced by an even better one next.

Band-in-a-Box is a tool and a toy. We play music and so try to think about it as playing, enjoy the process, and think about it as the journey as much as the result.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks