If anyone wants to cover a song, there are plenty of MIDI file vendors who sell cover version MIDI files, Tran Tracks, Midi Hits, BandTrax, Peter Solley, Geerdes and more. I found these with a Google search, so I can't tell you whether they are great or not, but I did listen to a couple of demo files, and they sound good. (I used to re-sell some of Tran's work back in the 1990s and he did a great job back then, so I'm sure he still does.)

This seems like it would get you a more accurate cover version of the song than BiaB would do.

I heard a local band do Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" as a Reggae song. It went over great with the audience. If you want to do something like this, Band-in-a-Box is the tool to use.

We do Stevie Wonder's "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" as a jazz swing tune, using zzjazz almost stock out of the box (only a few edits in a sequencer) and people really like that.

We do Jimmy Buffett's "A Pirate Looks At 40" and "Son Of A Son Of A Sailor" like a Caribbean band with a steel drum player, also with big help from BiaB, and people tell me they like them better than the Jimmy Buffett versions.

Band-in-a-Box is an extremely powerful tool if you want to re-imagine songs, if you want to do a note for note cover, there are better ways to do that. This is in no way a criticism of BiaB - I absolutely love BiaB and it is one of the most important tools in my musical tool box. But there are other tools as well. Different tools for different jobs.

When I do cover songs myself, I do them by adding a track at a time into a DAW or Sequencer. I do this for a few reasons (1) I can (2) by doing this I know the song inside and out (3) I can leave an instrument or two out to play live on stage (4) I can make subtle or drastic changes that I think would enhance the experience. But if I didn't have the skills to do them myself, I'd probably buy the MIDI sequence if I wanted a close cover.

Insights and incites by Notes

Last edited by Notes Norton; 11/02/16 02:05 AM.
Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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