I have a piece of music in A harmonic minor, and would like BIAB to only use the notes from within that scale (A B C D E F G#) for any embellishments.
For example: When the chord is Am, that BIAB not play the G note (b7) but play the G# (maj7) instead. Or when the chord is Dm7, that BIAB also not play a G note (11), but play G# (#11) instead.
Is there a way to direct embellishments to use certain notes?
I could obviously write the Am chord as AmMaj7, but that would imply to emphasize the G# note in the chord. Whereas if I mostly want the Am chord sound with just a little bit of G# thrown in as an embellishment, similar to how a pianist would gently colour a chord with the notes of a scale, how could I do that?
For the Dm7#11 chord, I wouldn't how to express that as a slash chord. AmMaj/D would leave out the F note, which is important for the minor feel of the Dm chord.
Alternatively, is there a way to stop embellishments from accidentally playing notes that are not in a chosen scale?
Thanks, I currently use Band-in-a-Box® for Windows Version 2018 (520)
I am not sure whether Natural Arrangements would really cater for that. Disabling it would mean that complex chords would not get re-interpreted I guess. But in my case, I have simple chords, that I want interpreting in a certain way.
Maybe I should test it and look at the midi data to see how it worked. But with Realtracks, the midi data is not always shown it seems.
The results are a bit hit and miss: For example, an Am#5 is sometimes played as a normal Am chord with a perfect 5th. If I rename the chord as F/A, BIAB thinks it's ok to embellish with a Bb note.
I don't believe what you are requesting is a feature in BIAB. Just as BIAB will not permit specific chord voicing, it also does not allow the user to restrict the band to a specific scale. Best you can do is what you suggested - select the chords which feature the model note and hope for the best.
If you are using RealTracks then your results will be hit or miss. That is IF the chord you want was recorded then you will get it, BUT if it wasn't then no you will not get it.
The only sure way to get exactly what you want is with MIDI. Put your chords in, find a style that you want, then head to either the piano roll view or the notation view and change what needs to be changed to get exactly what you want. My work flow is to generate a MIDI song in BiaB but then do all of the above work in my DAW.
This is probably what you didn't want to hear. RealTracks are great IF you like what they give you.
PS - an after thought. There is a way to get RTs to work for you but it is a tedious expensive workaround. You must purchase Melodyne Editor, the one that does polyphony, then move the RT wav track into it. (Note that I do this in Studio One Pro after I drag and drop the entire BiaB song into it.) Then you must change the notes that are not correct and save the wav. (In my DAW I just bounce the track, thus saving the corrected wav.) As I said this works but it can take a lot of time depending on how many chords you must find and change.
I hope this helps and good luck.
Why is it that the people who tell me to calm down are the ones who tick me off in the first place!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
It's puzzling that BIAB doesn't support setting scales for certain bars, as musicians think in scales all the time.
Maybe by creating a muted melody track to define a scale for some bars could work?
BIAB does use the melody to influence harmony.
As for not supporting a scales-based approach, I am guessing it's more that BIAB was developed around the end of the 1980s for jamming on jazz fakebook tunes. As I recall (having played as a pro from the early 1960s) the use of scale-based improv such as Abersold wasn't yet as popular at that point.
This would be a good topic for a post you could make in the Wishlist Forum. I agree, there are now two full generations of jazz players who have grown up thinking primarily in terms of scales. Not that we didn't, but it was a different emphasis.
BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors
If you do a drag n drop into Reaper it will snap it to scale or chord. It will also create a scale or chord snap guide that you can easily see what notes are out. You can then drag out of Reaper and import back to Biab.
Thanks, the Reaper trick could be quite useful when analysing the midi data.
Regarding the jazz thinking of the 60s etc.
Theoretically, it shouldn't make much of a difference thinking of chords as a series of odd numbers (chord based) or odd and even numbers (scale based):
Whether one thinks of a chord as 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 or as 1 9 3 11 5 13 7, the outcome would be the same, or not? Perhaps by 'bringing the extensions down' into the scale, they would be more clearly defined, whereas when you played in the 60s they were less defined and more dependent on the soloist.
Which brings me back to BIAB, if I as a soloist want to play x notes, then it would be nice if BIAB could adapt to that (by me choosing it somehow). Yes, I'll look into adding it to the wishlist. And I'll experiment a bit more with muted melodies.
Save up-to 40% when you purchase XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs before July 15, 2024!
The most recent XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs for Band-in-a-Box® 2023 or higher include additional Styles for Band-in-a-Box® that work seamlessly with your project. We offer XPro Styles PAKs that work with ANY Band-in-a-Box® package, and Xtra Styles PAKs for UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile users!
The 100 new styles added with XPro Styles PAK 6 include 25 Rock & Pop, 25 Jazz, 25 Country, and 25 Progressive Rock! These add styles like funky soul jazz, uplifting pop-rock, 12-8 country ballads, hard and heavy progressive rock, '70s funk, dubby reggae jams, driving country rock, synth-heavy prog rock, and many more! Video: XPro Styles PAK 6 Demos
Xtra Styles PAK 17 adds 200 new styles to any Band-in-a-Box 2023 UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile installation! You'll find 50 each for Rock & Pop, Jazz, and Country. What about the remaining 50? We've added them with a new category: World 1! In Xtra Styles PAK 17, you'll find styles like: laid-back pop country, mellow smooth jazz, '80s new wave, Caribbean reggae, '90s alternative pop, modern jazz fusion, funky Texas blues, Afro-Cuban grooves, and even mariachi-infused Motown... and more! Video: Xtra Styles PAK 14 Demos
NEW - The Band-in-a-Box® 2024 VST DAW Plugin 6.0 for Mac®!
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 includes the new VST DAW Plugin 6.0!
This new Band-in-a-Box® VST DAW Plugin has over 20 new features including near instant playback direct from disk, to audition various styles without creating WAV files. You can now load chords from MIDI files. There's support for Shots/Rest/Holds on Utility tracks, and more! For Reaper® DAW users, the Plugin has added built-in specific support for the Reaper® DAW API allowing direct transfer of Band-in-a-Box files to/from Reaper tracks, including tiny lossless files of instructions which play audio instantly from disk.
Every purchase of Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Mac® includes the VST DAW Plugin, and all Mac® upgrades are on sale until July 15th!
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Mac is here with over 50 new features and an amazing collection of new content, including 222 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 3, Playable RealDrums Set 2, two new sets of “RealDrums Stems,” and more!
We're having a SALE on Band-in-a-Box® 2024 Upgrade purchases until July 15, 2024 - save up to 50% when you purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Mac Upgrade!
We've packed our Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK with some incredible Add-ons! The Free Bonus PAK is automatically included with most Band-in-a-Box® for Mac 2024 packages, but for more even more Add-ons (including 50 Unreleased RealTracks!) upgrade it to the 2024 49-PAK for only $49. You can see the full lists of items in each package, and listen to demos here.
User Video: Band-in-a-Box® + ChatGPT = Impressed the BOSS!
Since AI is now readily available online as a resource for many things, we recently put together and shared a video where we demonstrated how to create a song using Band-in-a-Box®, ChatGPT, and Synth V; we've also shared a Bob Doyle Media video, Convert MIDI Chords into AI Vocal Harmonies with ACE Studio and Band in A Box, showing how they utilize AI for their song projects. Now it's time to share Henry's video, Band-in-a-Box + ChatGPT = Impressed the BOSS!, where he demonstrates how to use ChatGPT and Band-in-a-Box to whip a song project together in only 3-4 hours.
Visit Henry Clarke's YouTube Channel, Henry Clarke - Senior Musicians Unite, to find a large collection of tutorials showing the viewer how to achieve amazing results using Band-in-a-Box®!
If you've reviewed our Support page, you've probably noticed the Videos page, which separates our Band-in-a-Box® tutorial videos by category: Overview, VST DAW Plugin, Setup, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and there's even an Archive category to go down memory lane... (You'll also find these videos on our YouTube Channel.)
Ci siamo dati da fare e abbiamo aggiunto oltre 50 nuove funzionalità e una straordinaria raccolta di nuovi contenuti, tra cui 222 RealTracks, nuovi RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, "Songs with Vocals" Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 3, Playable RealDrums Set 2, due nuovi set di "RealDrums Stems", XPro Styles PAK 6, Xtra Styles PAK 17 e altro ancora!
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 apporte plus de 50 fonctions nouvelles ainsi qu'une importante de contenus nouveaux à savoir : 222 RealTracks, des RealStyles nouveaux, des SuperTracks MIDI, des Etudes d'Instruments, des Prestations d'Artistes, des "Morceaux avec Choeurs", un Set 3 de Tracks Jouables, un Set 2 de RealDrums Jouables, deux nouveaux Sets de "RealDrums Stems", des Styles XPro PAK 6, des Xtra Styles PAK 17 et bien plus encore!
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.