Band In a Box
What is Band in a Box?
Band-in-a-Box is a music arranger software package for Windows and MAC OS.
The software allows a solo musician to play along to a computer-generated accompaniment with adjustable tempo, adjustable key, and a choice of musical styles. Original accompaniment with custom chord progressions and melody lines can also be created. Band-in-a-Box basically provides a ‘back-up band’ for a musician to play along with. It can also be used to simulate an entire band with or without soloists.
Band-in-a-Box (BIAB) can create a background for almost any chord progression used in Western popular music. It can then play that song back using the user’s choice of one of thousands of different background styles. In addition to playing back the users’ songs with built-in, additional, or aftermarket styles, users can edit these or create their own styles from scratch or from existing MIDI files. In BIAB, styles refer to musical styles encapsulated in style files (*.STY). There are thousands of styles included with most BIAB installations. Styles can be MIDI only, a combination of MIDI and RealTracks/RealDrums or RealTrack/RealDrums only (called RealStyles). Users can create their own styles in Band-in-a-Box. The simplest method is to create a hybrid style. Another method is to import a style from a MIDI file, Finally, a user can create a style using the StyleMaker. Band-in-a-Box MultiStyles are styles that can have up to 24 substyles; original Band-in-a-Box styles had two substyles, “a” and “b.” These might be used for (a) chorus, and (b) bridge, for example. BIAB also works with programs like Finale, Sibelius and other similar packages.
Users can play the songs back and vary the key and/or the song’s speed independently or change the number of times any section of the song repeats. The program has a Melodist and Soloist feature, allowing users to choose instruments and specify other details regarding the Melodist or Soloist; Band-in-a-Box will then create these tracks based on the users selections. The Melodist and Soloist tracks can be edited note by note in the Notation window. Leadsheets can be printed for each track for a live band to play, or for learning the parts individually for practice.
Songs can be exported as either a MIDI or audio fileto a sequencer such as Mixcraft 8 for further editing or combining with other MIDI or audio tracks that have been created by the user
Songs created in Band-in-a-Box can be burned to a CD or put on to an MP3 player to share with others when saved as audio files.
New in 2022
Version 2022 includes many major new features. First off, “All Tracks are Equal.” All 24 tracks have the same capabilities, including styles and generation. There are Playable RealTracks – Customize the RealTracks performances by adding your own notes, using sounds from the RealTracks recording. There’s a brand new MultiRiff feature to interactively arrange sections of RealTracks, as you build up the track by choosing from multiple versions. You can now enter MicroChords with up to 4 chords per beat (previous limit was 1). With the new Motifs, you can enter rhythmic patterns for the style instruments to follow. We’ve added node-based Volume Automation, allowing fine volume control of any track, for fades, mutes, and other volume changes. Audio Drum Stems separate tracks from the different mics in the RealDrums recording are now available for 40 of the RealDrums, with more to come. There’s a Track Settings and Actions Window, a one stop-shop to access and edit track functions from a single window (previously needed multiple visits to menus to do this). You can Remix Full Vocal Songs with over 50 full original songs (Pop, R&B, Modern Country), with high quality, great sounding vocals, harmonies and You can Remix Full Vocal Songs with over 50 full original songs (Pop, R&B, Modern Country), with high quality, great sounding vocals, harmonies and Band-in-a-Box® arrangements! Use these to remix your own new arrangements. arrangements! Use these to remix your own new arrangements. With the new One-Click to Download and Install you can download and install the entire package of your order with the new One-Click Install Manager. These 2022 features give you new, powerful tools to create better arrangements and performances, and much more!
The Band-in-a-Box® 2022 DAW Plugin offers over 40 great new features including a Chord Settings dialog (with Chord Builder, Chord Theory, and MicroChords tabs), the MicroChords (allows for multiple chords per beat), four pages for a total of 32 tracks (8 style tracks, 16 utility tracks, and 8 multi-riff tracks) plus a Style Mix track, the ability to drag MIDI chords and markers to DAW, volume sliders for each track, the ability to save/load chord progression, and more!
What are the options?
Band in a Box is available in several options: Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+ and Audiophile Edition. The software in each option is the same; the difference is the number of MIDI styles, Real Tracks, RealDrums and other features. If you are unsure whch option is most suitable for you, please call us on 0161 456 7597 and we will point you in the right direction.
If you are unsure which version will be best for you, please call or email for advice as the software cannot be returned once a license code has been issued.
Please note that you must choose either Windows PC or MAC OS
Band-in-a-Box® 2021 for Mac is compatible with the Intel and Silicon M1 chip and works on all Mac OS from Snow Leopard (OS 10.6.8) to Big Sur (OS 11) inclusive. (Note: Band-in-a-Box Plugin requires OS 10.7 or higher.)
Note regarding pricing on the PG Music site. PG Music prices are shown excluding VAT which will be added when you check out.