BIAB Band In A Box

[rivercitymusic]

Yeah yeah I know, I'm not asking you to review a song so why am i here? I'm sorry. This is Peer to Peer and if you don't answer i may walk off the pier i'm on. Would you want to carry that on your shoulders for the rest of your life?I'm actually complimenting all of you by asking you to respond to:Do any, all, some, or one of you have any input with regards to the product Band In A Box.Yeah it's most likely been out before i was ever born, 1951, and i'm an idiot to not know. That's just life.I did become informed that a bunch of you folks do indeed use it or something like it.All i'd like is to know about any learning curve, did it suit your needs, is it sitting on the shelf not being used and if so why?Any idea as to how much it costs? Drawbacks?I'm just really interested in what you guys/gals the pros here have to say. Where else can i get such excellent feedback?Doc

[sgs4u]

If you do a search of this forum for BIAB, and go back 1000 days, and 500 posts, you'll see there are tons of people who use and love that program. I'm sure some of those people will jump in, because it seems most people love to talk about the software they use, and why. The BIAB website is http://www.band-in-a-box.com/. I think my brother Shawn, even got hired by the BIAB play drums for the country drumtracks.I think BIAB is an awesome program to get tunes sketched. There are a lot of different ways to use it to augment high-end pro rigs as well. I've always wanted to have it, just never gotten around to needing it enough to buy it. Yet!

[elser]

I've used BIAB a lot in the past and really like it. Like Steve said, it's a great sketch tool. I wouldn't feel comfortable submitting a demo using BIAB tracks only, but it's a great start. I've also used it a lot for practicing. You can go through the 'Real Book' for instance, select the Jazz Swing style, type in the changes for 'Stella by Starlight' and start jamming. It's well worth the price, I think around 80 bucks right now.Elser

[cameron]

I think Janet Chitty (Chits) uses it too, so if you go back through some of her posts on peer-to-peer you might hear some of her work tapes created with BIAB.Cam

[hummingbird]

I've used BiaB for a very long time. Allows me to set up a "form" and arrange a song, input melody line and harmony lines, print off a lead sheet... even create scratch tracks of songs for feedback.

[rivercitymusic]

Well thanks, no kidding. It seems what i'm listening to here is more radio ready than i ever believed was possible outside a professional studio. But i am old and my ears are worn.There must be other programs that are better than or used more often than this BIAB?Talking to most on this site, they seem to regularly note using some sort of software system. So can you give me a guestimate as to how many use a program vs a studio with musicians vs doing it all themselves?I'm really just a user if music is a drug so i'm not up on how it's made or cut.I'll check with chits.Thanks again,Doc

[hummingbird]

I don't use BiaB to create radio ready or film ready music. I use it to try things out, create an arrangement and print off sheet music. You can import the midi into recording programs, but without a whole lot of work it wouldn't sound authentic (not would be original). I've used BiaB to create reference tracks for collaboration as well, and also karakoe tracks for my students to sing with.Programs I use to create music are Tracktion, and I have EWQLSO orchestras, Stylus, syths, plus live recording.

[elser]

It might be important to clarify that while we all use software, software can serve innumerable functions. BIAB's strength is it's 'auto-accompaniment' function which can give you a quick fleshed out version of your song. But in the end, anything I submit is completely my own invention. Every bass line, keyboard part, horn line, etc. is something that originated in my imagination. If you start using software or loops as the source for your compositions, that's when you'll get into copyright, licensing problems.If you submit a BIAB track to a library, I think you'll get a quick and curt rejection.

[mojobone]

BIAB is great for quickly generating parts or re-casting a song in other styles, but the quality of the samples it comes with won't do for most professional purposes. However, it's not unheard of for a bassline or brass section riff to make it into a submission, once the generated MIDI parts are gussied up with some pro-quality samples or even-gasp!- performed by actual musicians. The software is well-regarded, despite their reputed use of cheap Canadian labor. The learning curve will depend somewhat on your level of understanding of music theory, but it's reasonably easy to use, or it wouldn't be so popular.Like Steve, I haven't gotten 'round to purchasing it yet, I think having some modifications done to a microphone is ahead of it on the list at this particular moment. Depending on how you work, your primary software will probably be a MIDI and audio sequencer, then one or more samplers or virtual instruments that complement whichever real instruments you own and can play-the pros and cons of all manner of helpful softwarez gets discussed pretty frequently in Recording and Technology.

[jchitty]

Hey, River. Yes, as Cameron pointed out, I've used Band In A Box many times. Steve also posted a good website about it. Another person to ask about BIAB is Glenn Galen. He uses it regularly. I agree with the other posters here about its quality. I use BIAB mostly for rough demoes. It's a good tool for getting feedback from the forum. You can also use it to submit songs for TAXI evaluations. Then if you get good feedback, you can send it to a demo studio and have the finished product done. It's no so much a tool for creating finished demoes because it can sound too synthesized, but there are also videos on You Tube where people have created pretty good sounding stuff. I'm not that great at production, and my vocals aren't the best, so I'm sure BIAB might create a better demo in the hands of a better engineer.That being said, the 2008 BIAB edition is greatly improved. They introduced real guitar, pedal steel and saxophone sounds. If you do order BIAB, the manual is hard to use though. That's a drawback. It took me a while to learn how to use it because the manual isn't clear. And it's large too. It's difficult to find information in a prompt manner when you run across a problem.I had to go to You Tube to find a better way to utilize the software....here's a good You Tube about BIAB and how to use it. Hope this helped. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UObEleuP ... re=related