Band in a box - worth it or alternatives?

[rainbownorth]

[quote=shwashwa;13725416]yeah, but pacman's stuff isnt a swing groove. i think computers can generate straight 8ths or 16th based music a little better than swing stuff.[quote]

True enough.

as far as the comment "its only practice who cares?", well, i do!

Well yeah, so do I. But thats not exactly what I said anyway, I said IF it does ok for practice, who cares? (The flipside of that being if it doesnt do ok for practice, obviously use something else.)

Thats ok though, I do get your point. In all fairness I do agree with you regarding the relationship between practice and non-practice playing; you play hip in the woodshed, you can play hip on stage. So ideally you want something that can help you achieve this rather than work against it.

[shwashwa]

Originally Posted by rainbownorth

you play hip in the woodshed, you can play hip on stage. So ideally you want something that can help you achieve this rather than work against it.

amen!

[Troph]

iRealB is an incredible value and a killer app, especially for learning standards. I know people who have purchased an iPad just to get the iRealB app. At the music school where I take some lessons, it's literally ubiquitous. It's used to drive lessons, share ideas, practice, etc.

They added an Android version about a year ago, and by now it's almost as good as the ios version, although there are a few glitches now and then. I've used both.

One of the reasons I like it so much is the convenient form factor of the tablet. You can take it with you anywhere... to rehearsals, to work, etc. Plus, the screen format makes the charts look very similar to the Real Book series (without the melodies, of course).

If you have an iPad or Android device, you really should check it out.

[Pacman]

Steve, if I get a chance tomorrow, I'll have BiaB do a clip for you. Any tune preference?

[rainbownorth]

I'd be interested to hear more too, feel free to post a link here if you're so inclined pacman.

[shwashwa]

wow that would be great. any old standard would be fine. if you could do one around 120 bpm and one around 170bpm, with just drums and piano (no bass) that would be great. that way i could hear what the computer really feels like. thanks

[seamonkey]

Many demo's of BIAB realtracks
http://www.pgmusic.com/realtracks.all.php?os=win

It swings. It rocks. It Gypsys :-)
You can mix tracks from different genre for some different ideas
Get a pedal steel into a rock song if you want.

One thing BIAB will do is that when you have styles that switch from Swing to Latin (i.e. Green Dolphin Street) any fill into the new style, will be in the target style. For example, when it goes from Swing to Latin, the fills into latin are latin. And going into swing, the fill into it is swing. This is just like real life, and an often overlooked by composing software.

iRealB and BIAB have their strengths. Having iRealB always in your pocket is very handy at the lunch table to pass back and forth. In the long run iRealB is a new code base and will probably pass BIAB by in several years.

There's a few others popping up like the Toontrack's stuff. Fun time to be a musician.

[Pacman]

Originally Posted by shwashwa

wow that would be great. any old standard would be fine. if you could do one around 120 bpm and one around 170bpm, with just drums and piano (no bass) that would be great. that way i could hear what the computer really feels like. thanks

Here you go:

https://soundcloud.com/quartuslive/howhigh120

https://soundcloud.com/quartuslive/howhigh170

[shwashwa]

thanks, thats certainly 100 times more swinging than the irealb. do you have any control over the rhythmic density of the comping? the voicings? can you have the prerecorded real musicians play on a set of changes that you make up?

[shwashwa]

geeze looking at biab website im afraid i find it alittle confusing... so many options and packs to buy. i wouldnt know where to start, and im not sure i understand the differences between all the things they offer. midi packs, jazz packs. soloist packs, midi super tracks??

[Pacman]

Yeah, it is very confusing. I've kind of upgraded through the years, and have basically what they call the "everything pack." Rhythmic density is handled by each style, and the "sub-styles" within. The tracks you hear are not prerecorded (and please don't ask me HOW they do it - I have no idea). You could change one chord in the arrangement I did for you, and it would sound like someone played it in the studio. Any changes, any stylistic variations, stops, anticipations, etc, etc,....it's a *very* powerful program.

The user interface is cheesy, but hey, it works.

[wneff]

If you are looking just for something to practice to and are not too worried that some of the styles don't sound professional the free mma package might work for you.
It takes a little practice to program your songs but with the online tutorial its reasonably easy. For Linux there is a GUI available (that i have yet to check out)
http://www.mellowood.ca/mma/

[seamonkey]

You can call them. It can be as simple as buying the version that ships on the hard drive, you plug that into your USB port and it runs from there. If you call, they just finished a big sale, and they will usually cut you a deal.

Midi Super tracks are like realtracks in that a professional musician plays them, except they use midi. Midi is far from dead, and there are thousand of great synths and samplers you can drive with the Midi.

[shwashwa]

Originally Posted by seamonkey

You can call them. It can be as simple as buying the version that ships on the hard drive, you plug that into your USB port and it runs from there. If you call, they just finished a big sale, and they will usually cut you a deal.

Midi Super tracks are like realtracks in that a professional musician plays them, except they use midi. Midi is far from dead, and there are thousand of great synths and samplers you can drive with the Midi.

so im guessing the midi super track is essentially an unquantized midi "recording" of a real musician? so that way you get the human feel, but can alter the chords and voicings as you would any midi track?

[longfinger]

The BIAB MIDI Supertracks seem to be playing of live musicians via MIDI instruments. We can then do the drag and drop of the BIAB track into a DAW like Garageband and alter the instruments playing the MIDI information. ie. BIAB piano replaced by a better sounding grand piano in Garageband.

The Real tracks are excellent sounding and they even are notated in score view, so if I hear something good and want to check up on it, I can switch to notation view and see the notes, and rhythms in standard notation.

Their "live chat" actually works and feel free to use it to get more info about their products.

[PaulNYC]

This thread inspired me to pull out my old copy of BIAB 2006 Pro. It still seems pretty good.

[rainbownorth]

Yeah this thread is def making BIAB sound pretty good right now. Those soundclouds from pacman are pretty convincing, and sound a lot more rhythmic than irealb. I think I'll spring for it when I next have a stash of cash.

[shwashwa]

pacman, can i bother you to make a backing track to how insensitive at around 110bpm for me to play with and see how it feels?

[Pacman]

Sure - what key? Bossa? You want guitar with that? Bass? Want some solo space?

[shwashwa]

Originally Posted by Pacman

Sure - what key? Bossa? You want guitar with that? Bass? Want some solo space?

key of D minor, and yes bossa. i guess maybe piano and drums and maybe guitar and drums, if its not too much work. (maybe even drums with brushes if possible.) thanks. im trying to decide between getting biab or just continuing to practice with my click and comping on my 6 string bass.