BIAB really comes in a tiny box

As I continue practicing and improving daily with Band In A Box (BIAB,bb), I'm only re-confirming that it's due to having the ability to play to accompaniment tracks. Without it, I could create my own midi tracks for accompaniment but there's nothing like having a real band playing right behind you rather than some hoaky sounding midi files and I would undoubtedly get bored fairly quickly.

I've turned many of my musician colleagues onto bb and they all agree with me that it's an invaluable tool to practice with. They all use it even tho they have been playing for over 4.5 decades. No, I don't have anything to do with PG music and never will. Yes there are things about bb that just gets my goat and frustrates me so much. But, I've learned to overcome my hostilities towards it and take it for what it is.

I just can't understand why anyone learning to play a musical instrument or someone interested in improving themselves don't have this in their arsenal. You don't even have to install the program onto your computer. It comes on a tiny hard drive with way over 100gb of space already to go right out of the box (hd). All you have to do is plug it in to your laptop or computer, install the PG music fonts along with a couple of soft synths like the Coyote or Roland VST/DXi synth or IK Multimedia's Sample tank and go to town on it. Everything else (Real Tracks, Real Drums) comes right out of the little hard drive. A program called Real Band also comes with bb. The program is similar to Cakewalk with less bells and whistles but it allows you to record your own several tracks or include the ones from bb. You can cut and paste to make your own custom arrangements. I don't use it as I have a much more sophisticated one on my desktop for my studio work. For someone just learning home recording the Real Band will get you on the right track.

Here's the setup I use when practicing. As you can see, there's not too much involved.

my practice set up 1

I had a couple of old Roland studio monitors which I plugged in to the headphone outlet of my lap top. Sometimes I'll just use some headphones instead. That mini hard drive just left of my lap top is band in a box. I can take the program anywhere my lap top goes. I purchased the program with the mini drive because if I had downloaded everything that's on the drive, about 80 gb of files, it would have taken me days to download it all. Not only that but my lap top just didn't have all that space left available.

that mini drive just left of my lap top is Band In a Box

Not only do I create backing tracks for scales and exercises, I have about a 100 fake books that have accumulated throughout the years and all I have to do is to punch in the chords into bb, click on any of the hundreds of styles and within seconds, I have a backing track for that song. If I wanted to have a melody along with it to play along with, all I have to do is to copy the notes like in the book and click play. Here's a link to find out more about bb. http://www.pgmusic.com/

Since Band in a Box is such an integral part in my learning to play the horn and since I am quite versed in the program, I will be including it with each new post.

Band In A Box is it worth the money?

Not too long ago I deleted a blog I created called "BIAB Under Glass" and the number one question was, is it really worth all that money to plop down for what seems to be a mediocre program for kids? Well, it all depends on what you want it to do and how well you know the program. I learned the program inside out, learned the positives and the negatives of it. I've used it for years and still do.

If you are looking to do something complex musically with it, it's not for you. If you want to create some backing tracks like I did for my guitar solos, which are on the player above, and want to keep them in a pop format, then yes, go for it. If you are a single act or a duo looking for some backing tracks for your gigs, it can do that. If you want to use it as a learning tool, it's one of the best I've seen. Back in the late 2005 when I decided to learn the guitar, I used biab a.k.a bb to expedite my learning. I created scales and then had bb re-harmonize the notes and create chords for them. Back then they didn't have the Real Tracks and Real Drums like they do these days and I simply practiced to the midi it was known for. The last time I was at PG Music site (creator of BB) the real tracks and real drums files went beyond 80gigs. Real tracks and real drums are exactly that, they have studio musicians create 64 bar recordings in various key signatures and the program slices and dices phrases created to fit into the chord progression you create. There are literally hundreds of different styles and instruments that make up the real tracks.

Lets say you want a rhythm section for your practice session, You can pick out a style that is preset for drums, bass, guitar, keys and or strings. If you want to create your own rhythm section that too is an easy task. The basic track set up for the instruments are bass, piano,rhythm guitar, drums, strings, melody and solo. Any of the 7 tracks will accept any instrument not necessarily for the one it's named for. The drum track however is dedicated for drums altho another instrument can be substituted for drums but then you won't have drums.

BB can play in any tempo and any key. Since most of the tracks show the notes (what they call charts) it's easy to follow along at any speed. I like it when I'm learning new parts because slowing down the tempo or speeding it up without affecting pitch is a piece of cake. The program is so sophisticated that it makes practicing fun. You get hooked on it and before you know it, you just spent 4-5 hours practicing with it like I did earlier in the day. BB also comes on a small external drive with the program pre-installed and can be taken anywhere making it a true band in a box.

When I was a music teacher in a local music store, I insisted that each of my students have some form of Band In a Box because I could simply transfer the lesson from my computer to theirs via thumb drive. This eliminates the use of books and staff paper. The student can practice along to the backing tracks I created for him/her specifically. The student learned much faster using this method rather than the old. BB had an option where you could just buy the basic program using midi cutting down on the initial cost of the program. You could later upgrade to the real tracks and drums for a reduced price.

BB comes in Windows an Mac. If you are a beginner, intermediate, advanced or even a pro (like many of my friends) it's a great tool to work with. What instrument or style you might play, makes no difference. Altho bb is more geared to jazz, country, blues and rock there are many others and new ones come along with each new version.

If you're interested in finding out more about Band In a Box , here's their link.

http://www.pgmusic.com/