February 28, 2018 RealDrums Picker Enhancements and QuickList Added with Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows!

Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows comes with over 50 exciting new features, including RealDrums Picker enhancements and the RealDrums QuickList!

RealDrums Picker Enhancement:
You can now demo individual variations of the RealDrums at the tempo closest to your current song by double-clicking on them.
The "#" column shows "VideoFound" if the video RealDrums is installed.

RealDrums QuickList:
There is now a simpler dialog for choosing RealDrums, an alternative to the RealDrums Picker. It displays all available RealDrums in a simple list, which can be easily filtered by genre, time signature, feel, and more. The list can be set to show only RealDrums that are compatible with the current style of the song. You can also set the highlighted RealDrums as a prototype RealDrums to find alternates to that RealDrums.

All of the new features list at http://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.new.htm

Posted at 12:38 PM

February 28, 2018 User Showcase Song - My Friend Miguel

There are so many great songwriters on this forum, and probably most of you have or could do a song about the innocence of your childhood. This one is mine, prepared for this week's Song A Week Challenge on the theme of Friends.

https://soundcloud.com/kybordr/my-friend-miguel
https://youtu.be/Wmpnqd7mtco

Bass and drums courtesy of Band In A Box:
****** Song Summary *************
Title: My Friend Miguel
Key=G , Tempo 70, Length (m:s)=4:27
Style is C_90BAL.STY (Country 90's Ballad)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Finger Electric Bass (34), Acoustic Piano (1), Acoustic Guitar (26), Electric Piano 2 (6),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)
*******************

Vocal harmonies are also from BIAB.

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=459233

Posted at 12:35 PM

February 27, 2018 Introducing Band-in-a-Box Endorsing Artist Ian Hammond Brown!

Our newest addition to the Band-in-a-Box Endorsing Artist list is Ian Hammond Brown, a Scottish writer, composer, lyricist, and director.

Ian uses Band-in-a-Box for musical theatre writing, and finds it a very useful tool to quickly develop his ideas!

Learn more about Ian when you visit his endorser page: http://www.pgmusic.com/endorsers.php?e=40

Posted at 01:53 PM

February 27, 2018 #TipTuesday - Writing Interesting Songs

Forum user Belladonna started a great thread for discussion: Writing Interesting Songs. Everyone has their approach - so make sure you read through this thread to see if there's anything that helps you out - and, feel free to join the conversation.

Quote from Belladonna:
I believe a good song does the following:

1. Makes someone feel the emotion of the song happy, sad, angry, etc.
2. Makes someone want to dance or tap their toes.
3. Makes someone say I can relate to that, I understand.
4. Makes someone hear the lyrics and say I love that saying
5. Makes someone say that's my story, my life or that’s what's happening right now.

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=458395

Posted at 12:42 PM

February 27, 2018 User Showcase Song - Perfectly Clear

Here's a new collab with Pat Bishop from Texas. Pat wrote the lyrics with me.

This is country rock along the lines of ...well, you figure it out. See what influences you hear in this.

Perfectly Clear: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=443134&songID=13697741&showPlayer=true

The players.... all Real Tracks:
Dobro 2041, Fiddle 618, Acoustic guitars 405 & 522, Nashville even 8 drums, Bass 519.

This has rolled back low end. There's also some ohhs and ahhhs rather than harmony vox.

Crits welcome - original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=459311

Posted at 12:25 PM

February 26, 2018 Band-in-a-Box® Tutorial Videos - YouTube Channel

Our YouTube Channel is a GREAT resource for helpful videos - whether you're wanting to see new Band-in-a-Box features in action, listen to demos of the different RealTracks, or review the Tips & Tricks - you'll love adding our YouTube channel to your resources!

We're constantly updating Our YouTube channel with new videos, so if you're looking for a tutorial video that you can't find, make sure to contact us directly with your suggestion!

https://www.youtube.com/user/pgmusicinc

Posted at 02:06 PM

February 26, 2018 #MusicMonday - User Showcase Song Resource!

Want to hear what other program users are doing with their Band-in-a-Box? Our User Showcase Forum is packed with amazing songs shared by fellow Band-in-a-Box users!

There's so many songs, it can be hard to find your favorites! So, we created the User Showcase page, where you can filter by song title or artist - click on the song, and you'll jump to the forum post for that song where you can listen and comment. http://www.pgmusic.com/user-showcase/.

Posted at 10:37 AM

February 26, 2018 User Showcase Song - Just Turn Around

Here's my latest song. It probably needs to be remixed at some point, but my poor computer can barely handle the tracks - there are too many to play back in real time - so I'll give it a rest for the night.

As always, comments are welcome.

Just Turn Around: https://soundcloud.com/dcuny/just-turn-around

Technical Details
Piano - ElectricVintage, Rhythm CoolJazzPopHeld Ev 085
Guitar - Acoustic, Fingerpicking Folky16thsBrent Ev16 085
Piano - Acoustic, Rhythm Pop16 Ev16 085
String Quartet - Rhythm PopChamber Ev 085

Drums - EZDrummer, Americana
Strummed Guitars - Session Guitars 1 & 2
Bass - Bass On Demand

Solo Violin, Horns, Oboe - Garritan Personal Orchestra
Vocal Processing - Waves Tune, Nectar Elements
Mastering - Ozone Elements
DAW - Reaper

Original forum post: https://soundcloud.com/dcuny/just-turn-around

Posted at 10:04 AM

February 23, 2018 Band-in-a-Box® Video Testimonials!

Tell everyone how much you love Band-in-a-Box® with your very own Band-in-a-Box® Testimonial video!

Submit your video, and when we use it on our website (and YouTube page) we will send you a FREE Band-in-a-Box® Hard Drive!

Take a look at the video testimonials we've already received at www.pgmusic.com/videotestimonials.php

Learn more about how to submit your video testimonial here.

Posted at 11:36 AM

February 23, 2018 User Showcase Song - Only Begin

Lewis & Clark`s 1804-6 expedition across America.They are friends- one of them is troubled.
With thanks to Graham who plays accordion and offered good suggestions on instrumentation and to Janice for singing fine harmonies again.

https://soundcloud.com/user-564042721/only-begin

Style is _CELTAIR.STY (Solo Acoustic Celtic Air Guitar )

RealTracks in style: 1814:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CelticAir Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 1618 Fiddle,Background Allis
Celtic Harp
Bowed Bass

Original form post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=456680

Posted at 11:14 AM

February 22, 2018 Beginners Help - Muting the Melody Notation

Visit our Beginners Forum, and you'll notice our amazing Forum Community helping out new program users!

Like this recent post regarding Muting the Melody Notation: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=458716 - Forum user Matt Finley did a great job of answering the new program user!

Our Beginners Forum really is a great resource for new program users!

Q: When I have entered chords and notation for a song, is it possible to mute the notation and just have the chords playing? This would be helpful for when I just want the chord backing track but want to read the notation.

Another way, with more control rather than all or nothing, is to press F5 at the measure where you want to mute, and select mute or change the volume to zero. Later, press F5 and select Return to Normal, or change the volume back.

Posted at 01:32 PM

February 22, 2018 User Showcase Song - Il lago e la nebbia (The Lake and The Fog)

I am back again after some time that I am not able to be on the forum frequently. So I want to share one of my last music that came into my mind during a trip to a lake near my city in a perfect foggy day.

IL LAGO E LA NEBBIA (the lake and the fog)

https://soundcloud.com/sergio-guarneri/il-lago-e-la-nebbia

the mitic BiaB band:

Style is _BSPHILD.STY (Slow Bossa w/ Double Time Alto S)

RealTracks in style: ~711:Bass, Acoustic, Bossa Ev 085
RealTracks in style: ~714:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Bossa Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 2143:Sax, Alto, Soloist BossaPhil Ev 140
RealTracks in song: 704:Flute, Soloist Bossa Ev 140
RealDrums in style: BossaTerryClarke^1-a,b:Brushes

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=458440

Posted at 11:45 AM

February 21, 2018 Introducing... RealTracks Artists David Wise & Shelly Justice!

For the first time ever Band-in-a-Box® can generate backing vocals with some amazing "oohs" and "aahs" vocal arrangements with RealTrack Set 278: Shiny Vocals Oohs and Aahs! Add male or female parts by renowned Nashville vocalists David Wise and Shelly Justice, and you'll LOVE the results!

David and Shelly have recorded with many different artists, including CeCe Winans, Dolly Parton, Don Henley, Donnie McClurkin, Jeremy Camp, Lady Antebellum, OneRepublic, Steve Green, and more!

RealTrack Set 278: Shiny Vocals Oohs and Aahs includes a three-part, six-voice arrangement – which you can use all together in your song or individually for more delicate textures! Listen to the demos for RealTracks Set 278 here.

Purchase RealTrack Set 278: Shiny Vocals Oohs and Aahs for just $29 here. It's also included in the Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows PlusPAK, UltraPAK, and Audiophile Edition.

Learn more about Dave & Shelly when you visit their RealTracks Artist Bio page:
David Wise: http://www.pgmusic.com/realtracks.artists.php?a=150
Shelly Justice: http://www.pgmusic.com/realtracks.artists.php?a=151

Posted at 11:37 AM

February 21, 2018 User Showcase Song - CAGE

I wrote this song today as part of a FAWM challenge. I really like how it turned out and wanted to share it with all my fellow BIAB users here. The challenge was to use the chords of your song to spell out the title or theme of your song. Being that there are only 8 chord letters (and maybe a few others if you get creative with your chords) it really is quite an interesting and challenging concept. I decided to use CAGE as my inspiration. Not 4 chords that you hear used all together very often but it actually came out very nice I think.

https://soundcloud.com/user-742389722/cage

I decide that the chord structure for this tune called for more of a rock feel. So I found a kind of indie rock style that worked and ran with it. Hope you enjoy.

Style: _UKBIGRK.STY Rock w/ Crisp & Fuzz Guitars

RealTracks:
683:Bass, Electric, Pop Half Notes Push
405: Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming
1000:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Hard Rock LA Fuzz Held
998: Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Hard Rock LA Crisp Sync
2688: Guitar, Electric Soloist Rock Brent Simple
Real Drums = Nashville Even 8

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=457621

Posted at 10:50 AM

February 20, 2018 Band-in-a-Box® Patch Updates

If you're ever experiencing an issue with your Band-in-a-Box program, make sure you have the most recent patch update for your version - this can be done at http://www.pgmusic.com/support.updates.win.htm.

Patch updates are released frequently, and are created by our development team to fix any reported bugs, tweak existing features within the program, update demos and other files as needed, and more!

To find out which version of the program you have, visit Help | About Band-in-a-Box within the program. You will see the full version number listing as:
Band-in-a-Box® for Windows
Version 2018 (512)

The number in parentheses is the build number. As you can see, my Band-in-a-Box is up to date and will continue to stay that way because I've selected "Automatically check for updates every 7 days" within the Help | Check for Updates.... option (you can set the number of days to a different number). This window will also look to see if you're version is up to date, so you don't technically have to visit http://www.pgmusic.com/support.updates.win.htm if you didn't want to!

Once you've installed your patch update (make sure the program is closed when you're doing this), give it another try - if you are still experiencing the same issue you can report it by contacting us directly, or you can post your result to the Forum thread that also announces the patch update, like our recent Band-in-a-Box 2018 Build 512 Update (Feb 15) post.

Posted at 12:32 PM

February 20, 2018 YouTube Find - How To Play SLOW A7 BLUES Guitar Solo With 4 NOTES

Check out one of EricBlackmonGuitar's latest videos, How To Play SLOW A7 BLUES Guitar Solo With 4 NOTES and you'll hear a great Band-in-a-Box backing track!

http://www.pgmusic.com/?vid=blJPIX-9YbE

...and you'll also learn how to play blues with just a few notes!

Posted at 11:33 AM

February 20, 2018 User Showcase Song - A Marriage of Inconvenience

https://soundcloud.com/lawrence-olivier/a-marriage-of-inconvenience

RealTracks in song: 533:Bass, Electric, 12-8 Crystal Sw 065
RealTracks in song: 1924:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBluesRockSlow12-8Sol Sw 060
RealTracks in style: 2674:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm Blues12-8Brent Sw 065
RealTracks in style: 2734:Organ, Rhythm BluesSlow128Mike Sw 065
RealTracks in song: 565:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Blues Monday Sw 065
RealTracks in song: 2686:Guitar, Electric, Soloist BluesSlow12-8BrentSimple Sw 065
RealDrums in Song: BluesRock128^3-a:SideStick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

(inspired by the episode from the podcast This American Life: A Marriage of Inconvenience, by Christopher Rhoads)

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=458156

Posted at 11:13 AM

February 19, 2018 A Little Bit Of Me Music Video!

A great music video created by forum user Floyd Jane! https://youtu.be/qPrejgnwb4M?t=3600

This song was featured in a detailed "The Birth of a Song" video created by Floyd Jane - watch the complete video here:
http://www.pgmusic.com/?vid=qPrejgnwb4M

Posted at 11:20 AM

February 19, 2018 User Showcase Song - Valley of the Dolls

New composition by Southern Fried, we used BIB for the drums, bass, and some piano backing, we love the ease of use of this product, type in chords, so easy and so good for writing. You would need to listen to the Guy Clark (RIP) song LA Freeway to get a real good understanding of this song. IT is a fictional account of a band going out west to LA to set the west coast on fire. HA, the part about going down from San Bernadino is true, we were pulling a fifth wheel to LA to work back in 2000 and going down the interstate into Anaheim, there were forest fires mingling smoke with fog, heavy and being new to the area we were getting cussed , boned , and screamed at for going to slow. HA, well any how here is the song , hope you enjoy.

https://soundcloud.com/cliftondykes/the-valley-of-the-dolls

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=454638

Posted at 11:18 AM

February 16, 2018 RealBand 2018 Build 5 Update Available!

RealBand 2018 customers can download the latest free patch update here: http://www.pgmusic.com/support.realband.htm#2018_5

Summary of Changes for Build 5
Added: When generating the input file for saving as an MGU/SGU SongMode128= is saved to the input file.
Added: Localization support for 2018.
Added: flyby hints to new dialogs.
Fixed: Save As with a filename greater than 128 chars could cause an error 123 plus access violation.
Fixed: Rebooting RealBand after a filename with 128 chars was saved could cause an access violation.
Fixed: Pressing the Change button in the Event List Window could result in an access violation if an event was not a Note event.
Fixed: When running in Win 10, and using BBW or PT to generate audio harmonies, an error would occur saying that you need BB 2011 or PT 12 to generate audio harmonies.
Fixed: Midi Thru Method was not being saved to the .INI file. It always reverting to Track-Specific when booting up RealBand, even if the user manually changed the setting to Global in the Midi Thru Settings dialog.
Fixed: Delete All Notes on This Peg menu item in notation window right-click menu was missing.
Fixed: Potential crash on exit (having to do with the DLL attempting to free up a dynamic array that was passed to it).

Posted at 11:02 AM

February 16, 2018 User Showcase Song - Just Plain Folks

Well, sometimes you will get on a music forum (not this one) and a person will say something really oddball, and all you can do is write a song.

This has about 42 Real Tracks in it, please don't make me list each one. Also, I am playing some other guitars. Also, I was NOT watching Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story on Netflix for the 40th time in a row when I came up with this idea. Don't even think it.

P.S. Thanks to Floyd for giving some background singing loops and making me/helping me rewrite the bridge so people wouldn't kill me.

https://www.reverbnation.com/davidpsnyder/song/29203880-just-plain-folks

https://soundcloud.com/davidsnyderchannel/just-plain-folks

Just Plain Folks
By David Snyder

** Song Summary **

Started with this and then threw the entire Real Track Catalog in

Style is _FRET12.STY (Fret 12 Ctry Fingerstyle w Solo)

RealTracks in style: ~518:Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 2690:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Slow16thsPopBrentSimple Ev16 075
RealTracks in style: 1600:Guitar, High-Strung Acoustic, Rhythm Pop16ths Ev16 065
RealTracks in style: 1765:Guitar, High-Strung Acoustic, Fingerpicking Pop16ths Ev16 085
Loop in Style: Dubstep\Dubstep - vybez_70_shaker_a_minor ev16.wav
RealDrums in style: PopPromiseEv16^1-a: Snare on 4, HiHat , b: Snare, Open HiHat

Words and Music copyright 2018 by David Snyder/ASCAP

All music composed, arranged, and produced by David Snyder
David Snyder, vocals and guitars

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=456797

Posted at 08:23 AM

February 16, 2018 Band-in-a-Box® 2018 Build 512 Update Available!

Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows customers can download the latest free patch update here: www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm#512

Summary of changes for Build 512 since 510 (Feb 15 2018):
Fixed: "Load SoundTrack Song" and "Load song with RealDrums Audio" buttons in the Sound Track dialog were not working.
Fixed: After returning Band-in-a-Box to factory settings the File Open dialog would default to the bb\Data\Lib directory.
Fixed: Choosing a custom chord sheet font would ignore any color choice made in the font selection dialog.
Fixed: Drum names were sometimes truncated in the RealDrums MultiDrums and Quicklist dialogs.
Fixed: Exporting a MIDI file might cause the error, "MIDIConv.exe no found".
Fixed: Mixer changes were not undoable, and would not cause user to be prompted to save their song when exiting.
Fixed: Static in RT2438 and other various RealTracks fixes.
Fixed: StylePicker database various updates. Some styles were displaying the wrong feel (swing/even) in notation. A few styles incorrectly showed missing Drums.
Fixed: The audio latency setting would increase every time leaving the Windows Audio Devices dialog.
Fixed: The Download Manager folder name defaulted to 2016 instead of 2018.
Updated: Help file.

Posted at 07:31 AM

February 15, 2018 PowerTracks Pro Audio 2018 is Here!

PowerTracks Pro Audio 2018 is here! PowerTracks Pro Audio 2018 includes many new features and enhancements:

Windows Audio (WASAPI) driver support. This allows for low latency audio recording/playback without requiring ASIO. Note that this supports 1 stereo input plus 1 stereo output at a time. For multiple inputs/outputs, you should continue to use either MME or ASIO.

ABC Notation format support. You can save a track of notation in a popular ASCII text format to import into other programs, or you can paste this format into a user forum as a way of sending the track (usually the melody and chord symbols) to other users without having to attach a file.

The built-in Audio Chord Wizard detection in the Chords window automatically detects the chords of the song, based on the audio data from all non-muted audio tracks. This works similar to the standalone Audio Chord Wizard, except that it uses the current bar lines of the existing song.

Notation Enhancements:
-X/8 time signature support. This is a special method of displaying 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8 time signatures in the Notation window.
-The Duplicate previous chord in notation right-click menu lets you quickly duplicate the previous chord (group of notes on same peg) without having to reenter it.
-Delete highlighted notes in notation right-click menu lets you delete all highlighted notes.
-Delete all notes on this peg in notation right-click menu lets you delete all notes on the nearest peg that was clicked on.
-You can now enter Section Numbers. Previously, you could enter letters (A-Z) only, but now you can also enter numbers (1-9).

...a full list of the new features in PowerTracks Pro Audio 2018 is available at http://www.pgmusic.com/powertracks.features.htm

http://www.pgmusic.com/powertracks.htm

Posted at 11:44 AM

February 15, 2018 #TBT - The Beginning of Xtra Styles PAKs for Band-in-a-Box®

We released the much-loved Xtra Styles PAKs in August 2016! This release included 164 RealStyles for Jazz, Country, Rock-Pop, and Singer/Songwriter and worked with any Band-in-a-Box® 2016 or higher UltraPlusPAK, EverythingPAK, or Audiophile Edition!

Xtra Styles PAKs were such a hit... we couldn't stop making them! Since their introduction, we've released 3 more PAKs with a total of over 600 Xtra Styles in all!

Want to hear what other program users are doing with their Xtra Styles? Visit our Xtra STyles Contests forum to hear all the songs submitted during previous song contest we've had: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=102&page=1

Learn more about Xtra Styles PAKs and listen to their demos at http://www.pgmusic.com/xtrastyles.php?os=win.

Posted at 09:09 AM

February 15, 2018 User Showcase Song - No One Knows

Latest from Chris and Dave, a rock song this time:

No One Knows: https://www.reverbnation.com/blueattitudemusic/song/29216798-no-one-knows

We have a video for it, here: https://youtu.be/bN02cQL13QQ and it's also up on soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/blue-attitude/no-one-knows-featuring-chris-spruit.

The band:

Bass: realtrack 366
Acoustic guitar: realtrack 1037

I'm playing the electric guitars (lead and rhythm) and built the drum track using EZDrummer2.
Chris is playing the piano.

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=457295

Posted at 08:47 AM

February 14, 2018 Band-in-a-Box® Customer Feedback - Feel The Love!

Check out some great feedback we've received on our Facebook account from program users:

"I have been using Band-in-a-Box for years. It is the anchor of my music gigs as well as my fun in my studio. I have used other software but Band-in-a-Box is my main go to."
-Jack T.

"Love Band-in-a-Box. As someone who played professionally for 20 years and retired from live performing years ago, I still love music. Band-in-a-Box allows me to create fun arrangements which I can sing over or play over. There are THOUSANDS of different variations plus you can enter any chords you like and create any chart. It's also great for creating background tracks for videos and audio content for websites, training etc. And like everything else in the world . . . it may not be right for everyone. For those who love music and don't have the time to shed five or six instruments it's way cool."
-Vinnie R.

"This program has completely changed my playing for the good. I can experiment with playing chords and leads over various scenarios that I can quickly create and change. Love this program. I use it nearly every day."
-Dave R.

"I bought my first version in 1994 and have progressed to 2018 version. I use it to create backing tracks for live music performance. I currently have over 2,000 songs performance ready. If you can and type, and use mouse it will work for you."
-Roger M.

"The premiere reason for me for buying this program; it has given me the freedom to fully complete the foundation for my songs without the confinement of limited minded musicians. After the song concept is complete, it can then be presented those musicians to play as a cover song. Also writing a song with a band gives them partial ownership of your idea... not cool... especially since they may have fought your idea every step of the way.. Every member of an organized band should own a copy of this program to compose or to even give legitimate composition alternatives to the original songwriter."
-Paul V.

Thanks everyone!

Posted at 11:57 AM

February 14, 2018 User Showcase Song - Love Bitter Blues

A silly little bluesy love song. Had a lot of fun doing this one and I hope someone likes it! Thanks again PG Music for helping me get my ideas into a tangible form!

https://soundcloud.com/torrey-bliss/i-stopped-singing-those-lost-out-on-love-bitter-blues

BIAB:
Bass - 1845 Electric Country Boogie SW 110
Drums - Funk Swing
Piano - 1854 Acoustic Rhythm Country Boogie SW 110
Acoustic Guitar - 1795 Dixieland Medium SW 110
Organ - 425 B3 Background Blues SW 120
Guitar - 953 Electric Rhythm Country Boogie Clean SW 110

Me: Vocals, Electric Guitar Lead and Rhythm, Organ

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=455298

Posted at 08:40 AM

February 13, 2018 Support for ABC Notation Format in Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows!

ABC notation is the simple text-based notation system used by musicians worldwide to store chords, melody, and lyrics of songs. Now with Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows you can open and save songs in ABC notation format!

To save the song in ABC notation format, press the [Save As] toolbar button and choose Save as ABC notation file from the menu. Once opened, select a track that you want to save and choose your other criteria - The [Copy to clipboard] button will copy the file to the clipboard (that you can then paste it into other programs). The [Save as File] button will let you type a name and select the destination in your hard drive.

Posted at 12:42 PM

February 13, 2018 User Showcase Song - These Lonely Streets

My first posted track so I'm hoping I get this right.
I've listened to lots of the ones posted and am super impressed with the talent around here and read some of the threads in this sub-forum.

This tune was developed directly from the Brent Mason Artist Performance Set 4, with some mods to the instruments, slight change of tempo and I've kept the excellent lead guitar performance because it fits so well.

Enjoy listening (I hope) and if anyone wants the detailed info, I'll post later.

Sound Cloud - These Lonely Streets: https://soundcloud.com/user-219675379/these-lonely-streets-with-backing-vocals

I exported the individual tracks to my Tascam DP24SD to add the vocals and backing vocals, but didn't radically alter the BIAB tracks during that process as they sound about as good as they can already.

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=456057

Posted at 08:39 AM

February 09, 2018 Band-in-a-Box® Song Title Browser Requests Forum

Have you stumped the Song Title Browser feature in the Band-in-a-Box® StylePicker?

If you tried to search for a popular song and this feature didn't offer you any listings, we'd love it if you'd let us know in our Wishlist forum here.

Posting your requests to this forum really does work - we used it to increase the database with the Band-in-a-Box® 2018 release!

Posted at 11:43 AM

February 09, 2018 User Showcase Song - Beyond The Ozone - Into The No Parking Zone

How about a little psychedelic Guitar Rock? Silly title but I like it! Something a little different from me. I'm playing nothing - it's all BIAB real tracks, loops and effects. All the guitar effects are from BIAB plug-ins. No outside effects were imported. I started this last summer (2017) and finished it while Di was getting an MRI this past Friday (Feb 2, 2018) - finished it in the Dr's waiting room on my laptop. I put it into Audacity a couple of hours ago and here it is. And Brent Mason really came through for me! I'll have to pay him more next time.

I trimmed the highs on the drums and loops as much as I could without losing their dynamics. The ending could use a little more work.

It's loud - real loud!

https://soundcloud.com/alananddi/beyond-the-ozone-into-the-no-parking-zone

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Beyond the Ozone - Into The No Parking Zone
File:Into The No Parking Zone.seg.SGU
Key=Cm Transpose to C#m, Tempo 140, Length (m:s)=3:03
4 bar intro, 100 bar chorus, from bar 5 to bar 104. Repeat x1 chorus

Style is _TRICAMP.STY (Tricky Spy Funk w Amplitube Bass)

BassCustom Synth is Synth/Plugin Loaded
DrumsCustom Synth is Synth/Plugin Loaded
PianoCustom Synth is Synth/Plugin Loaded
GuitarCustom Synth is Synth/Plugin Loaded
StringsCustom Synth is Synth/Plugin Loaded
MelodyCustom Synth is Psych 1.tgs
SoloistCustom Synth is Synth/Plugin Loaded

RealTracks in song: 1692:Bass, Electric, CountryDrivin8thsTriads Ev 150
RealTracks in style: 1770:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm JazzFunkMovinChords Ev16 130
RealTracks in style: 1771:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm JazzFunkMovinMuted Ev16 130
Loop in Song: House-Techno-Trance\House - bliss_128_percussion_e_minor ev16.wav
RealTracks in song: 1720:Guitar, Electric, Soloist TexasBluesRockStraightBrent Ev 120
Loop in Song: PercussionFX\Titanium web - hard.wav
RealDrums in Song: FunkRock^01-a:Closed Hat, b:Open Hat

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=455688

Posted at 07:59 AM

February 09, 2018 Holiday Hours - Family Day (Mon, Feb 12)

Monday, February 12th is Family Day!

Our hours on this holiday will be:
Customer Service: 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST
Technical Support: Closed.

Regular hours resume Tuesday, February 13th.

http://www.pgmusic.com/contact.htm

Posted at 07:05 AM

February 08, 2018 User Tip - Forcing Tab in Band-in-a-Box®

Forum user DeaconBlues09 shared a great tip to our Tips & Tricks forum for forcing tab in Band-in-a-Box for instruments that AREN'T Guitar - and he included a video explanation too!

Make sure you visit his post (click here...) if you've always wanted to learn the guitar tab for another instrument part in Band-in-a-Box!

Click here to watch the YouTube Video for this User-tip!

Posted at 10:31 AM

February 08, 2018 User Showcase Song - The World Won't See

Sometimes I wonder…
Do I understand anything at all?

I don't know – but, I belive that perspective changes my view – and my heart changes looking at life between the crosses…

I'm no preacher, just a grateful songwriter that once again have to say thanks to PG Music and the whole team that makes BiaB – a truly great software!!! BIG THANKS!

Still believing that the best songs are not yet written! Keep on the good work in this fabulous forum! :-)

https://soundcloud.com/molsenhouse/the-world-wont-see

…and for the records:
Style is _SECRETS.STY

RealTracks in style: 2743:Bass, Synth, AltHipHop8ths Ev16 085
RealTracks in style: 2704:Synth, Rhythm CloudRapLowOrgan Ev16 075
RealTracks in style: 2705:Synth, Rhythm CloudRapPercussive Ev16 075
RealTracks in style: 1837:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm PopModernGrooveHeld Ev16 075
RealDrums: RealDrums in Style: CloudRap^02-a:snare, HiHat, light perc, b:snare, layered perc

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=454170

Posted at 10:11 AM

February 07, 2018 The Power of the Part Marker

Within the Chord Sheet of Band-in-a-Box®, Part Markers are placed to indicate a new part of the song (they typically occur every 8 bars, but you can place them at the beginning of any bar).

But what else to Part Markers do?

Change the substyle: each original Band-in-a-Box® Style includes 2 substyles: "a" and "b" - there are also MultiStyles available, typically with 4 substyles - but there can be up to 24 ("a" through "x")!

Drum Fills: a 1-bar drum fill will occur on the bar preceeding the part marker: if you add a part marker to bar 8, the drum fill will occur within bar 7.

Section Paragraphs: adding a part marker to your Band-in-a-Box® song will move that section to a new line within the lead sheet, making it easlier to see - this is optional, and can be adjusted within the Display Options window.

How many part markers do you typically add to your Band-in-a-Box® songs?

Posted at 10:10 AM

February 07, 2018 User Showcase Song - Magical Voyage

Magical Voyage
https://soundcloud.com/mario_guitar/magical-voyage

As you sit by the babbling brook you become hypnotized by the water's flow and the red and golden fall leaves slowly falling and cascading downstream. Your mind is drifting away on a magical voyage.

BiaB style = Oceans-Very Slow New Age

I deleted the drums and slightly modified the rest of the tracks to better fit the song.

I am playing the leads on my MIDI keyboard controller.

Let me know what you think.

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=455856

Posted at 09:41 AM

February 06, 2018 Welcome to the Team Mikke!

We are excited to be adding Mike to our Customer Service Team here at PG Music!

You'll soon see him popping into the Forum, answering emails, and taking your phone calls.

Welcome to the team Mikke!

Posted at 01:34 PM

February 06, 2018 #TipTuesday - Installing the Band-in-a-Box® Hard Drive Versions

Have you purchased a Band-in-a-Box® UltraPAK, which ships on a portable USB hard drive? Once received, there are a few different options for you: Run Band-in-a-Box® directly from the USB drive only, Install Band-in-a-Box® on your computer hard drive (but leave the RealTracks and RealDrums on the USB hard drive), Install Band-in-a-Box® AND RealTracks on your computer hard drive, or choose a Custom Installation!

To summarize these options:

Option #1 - Run Band-in-a-Box® directly from the USB drive only. This allows you to use the hard drive "as is" and run the programs from it. It requires very little free disk space on your internal hard drive. Setup will install and register the PG Music notation fonts, VSC-DXi synth, VSC-VST synth, and PG Music DirectX audio plugins on your computer, but will not install Band-in-a-Box®, RealBand, RealTracks, or RealDrums on your computer's internal hard drive.

Option #2 - Install Band-in-a-Box® on your computer hard drive, but leave the RealTracks and RealDrums on the USB hard drive. This requires more hard disk space, about 2 to 4 GB. In addition to the plugins and fonts, this will install the Band-in-a-Box® and RealBand programs to your computer's hard drive, and allow you to run the programs from there, as if you had installed them from a DVD.

Option #3 - Install Band-in-a-Box® AND RealTracks on your computer hard drive. In addition to everything installed by Option 2, this will copy the RealTracks and RealDrums (Drums) folders from the USB drive to your computer's hard drive, as if you had installed the entire package from DVD. This will allow you to keep the PG Music hard drive primarily for backup, and use Band-in-a-Box® and RealBand (along with the RealTracks) directly from your computer hard drive. NOTE: This option requires a lot of free hard disk space (over 80 GB) since these folders contain many audio files, and the installation may take about an hour to complete depending on how fast your computer is.

Option #4 - Custom Installation - Choose exactly what you want to install. This option is for advanced users who want to be able to select exactly what is installed. For example, you could install RealDrums but not RealTracks, or skip the DX plugins, or install the Video Tutorials, etc.

For more detailed information, visit http://www.pgmusic.com/techfaq51.htm#163

No matter how you install and use your Band-in-a-Box® hard drive, make sure you're saving your songs (or a copy of them) to your own folder not on the hard drive - that way you'll have a back-up copy if your hard drive isn't available to you!

Posted at 09:13 AM

February 06, 2018 User Showcase Song - That's How The Story Ends

...or something like that.

This is some serious country music. It was intentionally kept a little more country sounding. It still rocks in a country way of course. See what you think.

I listened to Joanne Cooper's song "Diamond Blue Eyes" about a girl who can't seem to break the cycle she was stuck in with guys, and it gave me the inspiration to write this.

It's called: That's How The Story Ends:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=443134&songID=13689431&showPlayer=true

The band is:

Bass 518
Drums Nashville even 8
Guitars 362 & 365 acoustic
Fiddle 1760
Mando 1876
Steel 2540 & 2824
B3 689

All guitar fills and lead is live.
One vocal track with no layers and no harmony. (huh?)

Have a listen. Comment if you wish.

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=455806

Posted at 08:23 AM

February 05, 2018 Notation Window Enhancements in Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows!

New with Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows - Notation supports 12/8, 9/8, and 6/8 time signatures! Press the new button in the Notation window and selecting one of the time signatures from the list!

Other Notation Window Enhancements in Band-in-a-Box 2018 for Windows include:

Duplicate previous group of notes: This lets you quickly duplicate the previous chord (a group of notes on the same location) without having to reenter it. This is a menu option added to the context menu in the Notation window.

Delete highlighted Red Notes: This lets you delete all notes that are currently highlighted in red. This command is also added to the context menu in the Notation window.

The vertical position of a dot of a dotted rest has been adjusted. A dot used to be drawn a staff line, but it is now drawn between staff lines.

Improved algorithms are now used for drawing slurs. A slur will be drawn with a Bezier curve, which is especially helpful for notes being very close together.

When loading a MusicXML file, if more than 20% of notes are triplet notes, then the overall beat resolution is automatically set to 3 in the Notation Window.

The Staff Roll mode now has a context menu.

Posted at 01:01 PM

February 05, 2018 Introducing... RealTracks Artist Dave Milligan

If you've listened to the recently released RealTracks Set 285: Celtic Piano & Harp, you've already heard the amazing paino RealTracks contribution by Dave Milligan, who is one of the most highly regarding pianists in Scotland!

Learn more about Dave and listen to demos of his RealTracks when you visit his RealTracks Artist Bio page: http://www.pgmusic.com/realtracks.artists.php?a=154

You'll also find Dave featured in the MIDI SuperTracks Set 27 - Celtic Piano, available in the 2018 49-PAK!

Posted at 10:29 AM

February 05, 2018 User Showcase Song - Forever's Not As Long As It Used To Be

This is a new version of a song I originally posted in late 2012 when I first came to this forum. Just my second song post at the time. Listening to it recently I was struck with how "BIAB dated" it sounded to me. ...meaning my "old way of using BIAB".
Like many Country writers, when I first started using BIAB, the songs were heavy with fiddles and pedal steel. It was the first time I could ever get that! It's the main reason I bought BIAB in the first place! Fiddles! Pedal Steel!
So I decide to do a new production - more the way I do things now.
Still "Country", but heavy with Rock Guitars and Head-Banging Drums.
When I finished that, it still felt like "I've done a bunch of that lately".
Also, I had been doing the song at 125 bpm - which gave the lyric a tongue-in-cheek quality (intentionally).

I wanted something different. So I slowed it down. To 85 bpm.
And did another whole NEW production. A new set of instruments to reflect a different idea of the lyric.

https://soundcloud.com/floydjane/forevers-not-as-long-as-it-used-to-be

The new BAND:

RealTracks in style: 1825:Bass, Electric, PopModernGrooveHeld Ev16 075
RealTracks in song: 1856:Cello, Background PopCountry Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 1595:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Pop8thsSteady Ev 065
RealTracks in song: ~1638:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm JazzFunkBreezyMuted Ev16 075
RealTracks in song: 2780:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm Songwriter8thsBrent Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 2541:Pedal Steel, Background Mod
RealDrums in Song: BossaBrushesPerc^1-a:Congas, No Kit , b:Congas, Shaker, Triangle, No Kit
Beat created in Studio One Professional.

Forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=453854

Posted at 10:00 AM

February 02, 2018 YouTube Find - How To Understand And Play The DORIAN SCALE In ANY KEY On Guitar

One of the latest How-to videos shared on YouTube by EricBlackmonGuitar includes Band-in-a-Box backing tracks!

Click here to watch: http://www.pgmusic.com/?vid=Qk9h0GfZlHM

Posted at 11:41 AM

February 02, 2018 User Showcase Song - How Are You

We're kicking off this year with one of my favorite RnAM ballads. I wrote it a while ago but it was never posted. Let's say the lyrics are semi-autobiographical...
As always comments are encouraged!

https://youtu.be/dSRh1lfEXLA

Style is _12-8PNO.STY (12/8 Solo Acoustic Piano )
PianoCustom Synth is Synth/Plugin Loaded
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic Piano (Kontakt),
1922:Bass, Electric, TexasBluesRockSlow12-8 Sw 060
895:Piano, Acoustic, Solo-Accompaniment PopSlow12-8 Ev 060
529:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Hank Sw 065
2267:Synth, BellPad, Rhythm 80sPopPads Ev 085
2650:Guitar, Electric, Background DreamyPopBalladFillsBrent Ev 085
RealDrums: Nashville128^01-a:SideStick, b:Ride

Original forum post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=454726

Posted at 11:39 AM

February 01, 2018 My Favorite Things - Band-in-a-Box® Chord Sheets Display in Minor Keys!

Our My Favorite Things forum is a great place to share what you love about Band-in-a-Box.

Like the recent post from DeaconBlues09, I love having the ability to have chord-sheets display in minor keys!

Join the conversation: click here...

Posted at 10:11 AM

February 01, 2018 User Showcase Song - Keep Singing Your Song

https://soundcloud.com/torrey-bliss/keep-singing-your-song

Recently our musical brother David Snyder made a post about "Why this forum matters". David made so many great points in this post and it got me to thinking about how it seems that we forum members are on some sort of journey together. I have been around here a couple of years now and I have been noticing how the quality of material posted here is getting better all the time. I believe it's because we are learning a lot from each other and the constructive critiques offered without negativity! This song I dedicate to you, my fellow forum members! I want this one to be an encouragement to you, the one who may be thinking it's time to give it up, to keep on keepin' on. Somebody is being blessed by your work even if you're not aware of it! Thanks for listening and always being an encouragement to me! I am still working on this and will probably re-record the vocals again later (very sore throat) and do some better mastering on it, but wanted to get this message out there now! Thanks for listening, Torrey

BIAB
Bass - 995 Hard Rock LA EV 120
Drums - RockHard LA
Organ - 686 B3 Pop Background Ev 120
Guitar - 997 Hardrock LA Crisp Ev 120
Acoustic Guitar - 1119 12string Acoustic Strumming
Acoustic Guitar - 405 Acoustic Strumming EV 120
Piano -1262 Acoustic Rhythm Pop Shing Held EV 120

Me: Vocals, Electic Guitars lead and rhythm, Synths

Original Forum Post: http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=452695

Posted at 10:01 AM