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 enlarge | From: PG Music Inc.
Category: Software
List Price: $99.00
Buy Used: $80.00
You Save: $19.00 (19%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 3476
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows Xp, Windows Nt
Media: CD-ROM
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Operating System: Windows NT
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 7.6 x 1.7
MPN: BB00479
Model: BB
UPC: 747110004794
EAN: 0747110004794
ASIN: B0002VCUZK
Release Date: December 14, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 11-15 of 15 | | « PREV | | |
 It's become my favorite piece of software November 6, 2006
29 out of 30 found this review helpful
As an intermediate-level musician and songwriter with computer skills to match, I've found BIAB both easy to delve into and deep enough to grow into. My background is as a singer/songwriter uni-instrumentalist...I play, rather simply, the acoustic guitar. I also have a good understanding of computer recording. That said, here's my review:
You don't have to have a programmer's understanding of computer technology to install and operate the program. The user interface is quite intuitive and the manual written very clearly. I had the basic functions of the program figured out in one session, enough to satisfy. It IS a rather deep program, however, and I am sure I will continue to be able to explore and enjoy it's features for some time to come.
Musically, you don't have to be a composer to use it. If you have a basic understanding of chord progressions and know where to place them, you are ready for this. I've not found a chord or chord variant known to music that BIAB cannot handle. It will even suggest alternatives in a number of ways to turn your three chord basic structure into something fresher.
I've used it now to create completely new songs, as well as to provide accompaniment to songs I'd already written on acoustic guitar. For the price, I don't think this would be a bad piece of software at all for a beginner just learning music. Indeed, the musical lessons and games bundled with the basic software are great tools in and of themselves for entry and intermediate-level musicians. The real meat of the program, however, seems more geared to those with a little experience at least.
Essentially, BIAB makes a 'band' of usually five pieces...drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, and strings...with options for creating more solo lines in it's soloist, melodist, and harmony functions. It does this from a 'style' you select from the many that come bundled with the operating software or others you can create or purchase as add-ons, and from the chords you input.
Since it's midi, key and tempo changes are easy and natural sounding. And since it can save songs as both BIAB project files and stereo midi files, using it in conjunction with computer-based softsynths or outboard midi-capable devices such as keyboards and synth modules, will give you royalty free arrangements with sounds much beyond your soundcard's GM or GM2 sounds.
The ability to score parts and print or save to graphic is a just one of the many features that will help communicate with others or learn parts you can play yourself. Midi files also travel easily over the internet to musical partners around the world. I've done it.
BIAB also accepts midi and audio input/recording into your project, so you are able to play along with the basic band...even sing along. You do need a basic understanding of computer recording to accomplish this, but the interface and help files/manual are more than adequate for a beginner.
I found no real glitches in a pretty thorough workout, although there are natually areas where I think it could be improved. Be aware that the main window for BIAB is quite large and not everything fits even on a 17" monitor, but floating and docking windows, programmable by the user, make almost every function no more than two or three clicks away.
I could rave on...but let me end by just saying I love this program. It's breathed fresh life into songwriting and has become a partner in creativity with me, much as my guitar has been for years. There is no level of user from a beginner to advanced musician who couldn't get something valuable from using it. My advice to those purchasing the program for or as a beginner is go with the basics...they are plenty and more than enough. For those with more experience, get one of the bundles advertised on thier website and you'll appreciate the much larger variety in styles BIAB is capable of emulating. I didn't, and wish I had.
Happy music making.
 The EMACS of music software October 25, 2006
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
Amazon does not have an entry for the current Mac version of this program, so I am submitting my review here. PG Music offers for sale separate tutorials that feature the current Windows version - it looks to be somewhat less cluttered, and therefore improved. Some specifics below regarding interface may have been addressed for Windows users.
When I describe BiaB as the EMACS of music software, I mean it to be both complimentary and critical. EMACS is a powerful text-based editor, etc., in UNIX, but it is also cumbersome and difficult to learn, especially for point'n'click types like me. Similarly, BiaB is an amazing music generation environment. With it, you can type a few chords (or even have the program do it for you!), and it will generate a whole band worth of accompaniment in a wide variety of user-selectable styles that generally sound quite realistic, and even a sometimes decent melody if desired. Users have control over a large range of options for the output. This is an expert system that captures a vast amount of musical knowledge and experience, and has features too numerous to list.
OTOH, the overall interface feel is abysmal. I will list just a few examples that illustrate the design philosophy: lard up on features at the expense of ease of use and consistency with modern interface conventions. 1) There are two different menu items for setting preferences, each having about three dozen options - one has a button which opens yet another preference window. This is an obvious application for a single tabbed dialog box organized on functional themes. 2) If you are working on a song and double-click a BiaB document in the Finder, BiaB will replace your song with the new document without asking about saving your current song. Poof, just gone. Unbelievable. 3) The chord entry interface is a little like a spreadsheet. It sometimes works like one too (tabs, arrow keys, select, cut, paste), but if you want to erase the contents, selecting then backspace/delete does not work. You have to select, hit the space key, then return. 4) Windows can be resized but the cells do not follow, so the cells on the right are clipped. 5) To play music, hit the intuitive cmd-A combination and to pause, the equally intuitive backspace key. Key shortcuts cannot be remapped (as far as I can tell).
I have been an irregular BiaB user since its very early days. It has always been an interesting, amusing program with a frustrating interface. There have been a few meaningful improvements recently, like the style picker, but it is still not an easy program to use as a whole. In 2006, my expectations for a solid user experience are higher. Programs can be difficult, complex, and hard to learn, and still be pretty well designed - BiaB isn't one of them.
Other improvements are possible but I would strongly recommend a complete redesign of the interface. Unfortunately, one gets the sense that the GUI and the music generating code are not well factored - the style editor interface looks like a direct port from a 512x320 Atari program (and it doesn't refresh properly on a laptop). I'm complaining mainly about the ease of use, not the visual appeal.
The other negative consideration is that the styles (I have all of them) have a distinct bias towards "jazzy" sounds. There is an option to tone down manually existing jazz influences (like 13b9 chords), but the unchangeable default is to incorporate them. That means that the music has a consistently "lounge lizard" quality, even for supposedly rock/pop styles. Sometimes that's desirable, but other times you might want a more sparse and/or driving sound with only basic chords. If you can struggle through the paleolithic style editor interface, you can make your own.
On balance, I consider this to be a powerful, maybe even invaluable, tool for composing and improving playing skills, but it's not for the faint-hearted.
This is good stuff! July 14, 2006
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
One of my buddy musicians told me about this program the other day. I saw him playing with it and immediately wanted it. I have now purchased it and have had it for a few weeks.
First of all, it is a great program with nearly endless potential. I use it primarily for improvisation practice and singing. The rhythm section is of course always right on time.
There was a minor learning curve to the program and many options I may not never use but it is nice that they are there just in case. You never know what the future may hold.
I've gotta say that this program is great and with no bugs. If you want to take the time to learn it you can get more than the small investment you put into it.
Thanks to PG Music for making a great and useful product for musicians.
Simply Incredible, fantastic sofware for beginner and pro October 23, 2005
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
Especially for the beginner, now you can have a rhythm section to back you up. You can change the key, follow the notes on screen, change tempo. And your accompaniment never tires, always is on the beat, and always in tune. This is extremely valuable for anyone learning jazz. This is probably the best single investment that a jazz student could make.
Great software for musicians June 19, 2005
61 out of 61 found this review helpful
This is a great piece of software if you play any kind of a musical instrument or are a vocalist and want to practice playing songs with a virtual band. You just type in the chords, select a style and tempo and the software comes up with an arrangement in that style. Depending on which style you pick there will be different instruments in the arrangement. There are around 200 built in styles in various genres such as jazz, latin, country, pop etc. The arrangements are surprisingly good, especially if you can send the midi to an external keyboard. The software was very easy to install on Windows XP.
I'm using it to work on practicing jazz standards on the piano but playing them the way I would in a band situation which is very different from the way I would play them solo. I have been able to quickly enter the chords of the song by typing in their names (eg Em7b5), pick a style and have band in a box come up with an arrangement. I then mute out the piano part and play along with the program to try out different ideas for comping. If I want to practice soloing I just mute out more instruments. I would expect that it would be equally useful for many other instruments. I also use it to print out fake book type lead sheets and have found the transpose feature to be very useful as it transposes the chord symbols along with the music.
Band in a Box allows you to record an audio or MIDI track on top of an arrangement so you can play back and see how you sound but it isn't a multitrack recorder, for that you would want to buy some different software. What it does best is to allow you to practice playing in a band without requiring the rest of the band to be there.
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