- #BAND IN A BOX 12.5 SOFTWARE#
- #BAND IN A BOX 12.5 PC#
- #BAND IN A BOX 12.5 PROFESSIONAL#
- #BAND IN A BOX 12.5 WINDOWS#
#BAND IN A BOX 12.5 SOFTWARE#
Melodies and solos can be generated and these can be edited note-by-note in MIDI form.Ī guitarist can input any single-note melody line (no chords) and the software can generate, as a learning tool, a Lenny Breau or Joe Pass style chord solo with chords that the user can actually reach that are shown on a screen window of a guitar fretboard. This feature is being improved but is fraught with analysis errors if the original audio is not tuned to standard pitch or is not in sync with the original.Ī songwriter can create a backing track, then go to "notation mode" and enter the notes on a staff to the melody he has conceived, then enter lyrics and play and print the result. Using the ACW feature requires the user to first synchronize the audio to the software one way is manually adding bar lines by tapping a key on the downbeats as the song plays. From there, the user may produce sheet music for that song. The ACW then "listens" to the song and writes out the chords in standard chord notation. The "Audio Chord Wizard"(ACW), released with the 2007 version of BIAB, made it possible for a user to import any audio song file to be analyzed by the software. Gannon said synthetic sounds were decreasing in popularity and real audio tracks were becoming so much easier to record. In November 2006, PG Music released "RealDrums", which was the first step in providing users with tracks recorded by real instruments. The latter allowed users record their vocals and instruments directly into songs. Progression from synthesized sounds to real instruments īand-In-a-Box used only MIDI until 1999, when digital audio was added. Oliver Gannon retired from PG Music in 2008.
#BAND IN A BOX 12.5 PROFESSIONAL#
Their father, Joe Gannon, was a professional pianist in Dublin, Ireland, before moving the family to Winnipeg in 1957. Those solos were likely due to the company's musical director for many years, Vancouver Jazz guitarist Oliver Gannon, the older brother of company founder Peter Gannon. Jazz guitarist Geof Dresser, whose day job is a network software developer said," It's playing hipper lines than I can". Gannon said, "We started out with Band-in-a-Box as a MIDI program, generating MIDI and synth accompaniments." In late 1997, the "soloist" feature was introduced, allowing the software to generate solos choosing from a menu that includes emulations of jazz luminaries, past and present e.g., Miles Davis or Freddie Hubbard in what reviewer Peter Hum calls "credible imitations". It became popular in karaoke venues which touted "Band in a Box Karaoke" in advertisements. Widely known as "BIAB" by its users, the software was initially advertised as "accompaniment software" as a practice aid for musicians but became popular for " one-man bands" to play at weddings or similar venues.
#BAND IN A BOX 12.5 PC#
īand-in-a-Box was first introduced in 1990 for PC computers and the Atari ST. It can create backgrounds, melodies or solos for almost any chord progressions used in Western popular music, and can play them in any of thousands of different music styles ( hear examples below).
The software retrieves and customizes groups of musical phrases that are appropriate for soloing or comping over a particular chord at a chosen key, genre and tempo. The developers have enlisted musicians as supporting instrumentalists to build huge databases of phrases in many styles of music. The software generates a song typically played by four or five studio musicians using those chords the user can specify whether to create solo parts over these chords as well.
The screen resembles a blank page of music onto which the user enters the names of chords (even sophisticated complex ones) using standard chord notation. The user enters four basic keyboard inputs consisting of: chords a key a tempo a musical style. Even though reviewers have described the software interface as awkward or outdated, it nevertheless features the ability of enabling a user to create songs and have them accompanied by professional musicians playing real instruments.
#BAND IN A BOX 12.5 WINDOWS#
Band-in-a-Box is a music creation software package for Windows and macOS produced by PG Music Incorporated, founded in 1988 in Victoria, British Columbia.