PG Music Band in a Box - 2005 Windows User Guide

®

Version 2005 for Windows

 Copyright PG Music Inc.1989-2005. All rights reserved.

PG Music Inc. License Agreement

CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE COMPLETING THE INSTALLATION OF THIS
SOFTWARE. USAGE OF THE SOFTWARE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

LICENSE

A. The program may only be used on a single machine.
B. You may transfer the program and license to another party if the other party agrees to accept the terms of this Agreement. If you

transfer the program, you must either transfer all copies, whether in printed or machine readable form, to the same party, or, destroy
all copies not transferred. This includes all modifications and/or portions of the program merged into other progra ms.

C. You may receive the program in more than one media. Regardless of the type or size of media you receive, you may install or use the

media on a single machine.

D. The program (including any images, “applets,” photographs, animations, video, audio, music, and text incorpor ated into the program)

is owned by PG Music Inc. or its suppliers, and is protected by international copyright laws and international treaty provisions.

You may not use, copy, or transfer the program, or any copy, modification or merged portion of the program, in whole or in part, except as
expressly provided for in this license. If you transfer possession of any copy, modification or merged portion of the program to another party,
your license is automatically terminated.

LIMITATION OF REMEDIES

PG Music Inc.'s entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be:

A. The replacement of any media not meeting PG Music Inc.'s “Limited Warranty,” which are returned to PG Music Inc., or an

authorized PG Music Inc. dealer, with a copy of your receipt.

B. If PG Music Inc. or the authorized dealer is unable to deliver replacement media which is free of defects in materials or workmanship,

you may terminate this agreement, and your money will be refunded.

In no event will PG Music Inc. be liable to you for any damages, including but not limited to lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or
consequential damages arising out of the use or the inability to use such program, even if PG Music Inc. or an authorized PG Music Inc. dealer
has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party.

TRADEMARKS

Band-in-a-Box®, PG Music®, and PowerTracks Pro® are the registered trademarks of PG Music Inc. in the United States, Canada, and other
countries.
countries. Apple®, the Apple logo, Macintosh®, Mac®, Power Mac®, QuickTime® and True Type® are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.,
registered in the U.S. and other countries. IBM® is the registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Other brands and
their products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their r e spective holders and should be noted as such.

Band-in-a-Box is protected under US Patent 5990407. The TC-Helicon Harmony feature in Band-in-a-Box is protected under US Patents
5567901, 5641926, 5986198, 34583, 296.80.173.9, PI9603819.5, 0368046, 0750776, 6,046,395, and patents pending.

Microsoft® and Windows® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other

PATENTS

Printed in Canada

2

PG Music Inc. License Agreement

Table of Contents

PG MUSIC INC. LICENSE AGREEMENT.............................................................................................................2

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO BAND-IN-A-BOX!.................................................................................................6

WHAT IS BAND-IN-A-BOX?........................................................................................................................................6

INSTALLING BAND-IN-A-BOX FOR WINDOWS®...........................................................................................................7

CHAPTER 2: QUICKSTART..................................................................................................................................11

STEP 1 – TYPING IN THE CHORDS .............................................................................................................................11

STEP 2 – CHOOSING A STYLE....................................................................................................................................13

STEP 3 – PLAY YOUR SONG!......................................................................................................................................15

CHAPTER 3: BAND-IN-A-BOX VERSION 2005 .................................................................................................17

NEW FEATURES IN BAND-IN-A-BOX 2005................................................................................................................17

QUICKSTART TUTORIAL FOR THE VERSION 2005 UPGRADE.....................................................................................22

CHAPTER 4: THE MAIN SCREEN.......................................................................................................................30

MAIN SCREEN OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................30

STATUS BAR.............................................................................................................................................................32

SYNTH WINDOW / PIANO KEYBOARD.......................................................................................................................33

TITLE WINDOW ........................................................................................................................................................38

CHORDSHEET AREA .................................................................................................................................................39

CHAPTER 5: GUIDED TOUR OF BAND-IN-A-BOX .........................................................................................41

LOADING AND PLAYING SONGS................................................................................................................................41

ADD A MELODY – MIDI AND/OR AUDIO..................................................................................................................45

ADD A SOLO - “THE SOLOIST”..................................................................................................................................47

VIEW AND PRINT NOTATION ....................................................................................................................................48

PIANO ROLL WINDOW..............................................................................................................................................50

LEAD SHEET NOTATION WINDOW............................................................................................................................57

THE GUITAR WINDOW .............................................................................................................................................60

BIG PIANO WINDOW.................................................................................................................................................65

PLAY THE JUKEBOX..................................................................................................................................................65

IMPORT A MIDI FILE................................................................................................................................................67

AUTOMATIC SONGS - “THE MELODIST”...................................................................................................................68

MAKE YOUR OWN SONGS........................................................................................................................................69

SAVING YOUR WORK...............................................................................................................................................77

BURN YOUR OWN AUDIO-CD..................................................................................................................................78

CHAPTER 6: BAND-IN-A-BOX POWERGUIDE ................................................................................................80

OPENING FILES.........................................................................................................................................................80

CHORD ENTRY .........................................................................................................................................................81

REPEATS AND ENDINGS............................................................................................................................................84

PLAYING/PAUSING/STOPPING SONGS .......................................................................................................................84

ADDITIONAL PATCHES .............................................................................................................................................87

CHANGING VOLUME, PANNING, REVERB, CHORUS, BANK.......................................................................................89

EDIT FUNCTIONS ......................................................................................................................................................90

APPLYING STYLES....................................................................................................................................................93

BREAKS - RESTS, SHOTS, AND HELD CHORDS..........................................................................................................99

SONG SETTINGS DIALOG ........................................................................................................................................101

Table of Contents

3

AVING SONGS.......................................................................................................................................................102

S

THE JUKEBOX.........................................................................................................................................................105

CHAPTER 7: NOTATION AND PRINTING ......................................................................................................107

EDITABLE NOTATION MODE ..................................................................................................................................109

NOTE ROLL NOTATION MODE................................................................................................................................112

NOTATION WINDOW OPTIONS................................................................................................................................113

LEAD SHEET WINDOW ...........................................................................................................................................120

LYRICS ...................................................................................................................................................................126

PRINTING................................................................................................................................................................128

CHAPTER 8: AUTOMATIC MUSIC FEATURES.............................................................................................132

AUTOMATIC SONGS – “THE MELODIST” ................................................................................................................132

AUTOMATIC SOLO GENERATION – “THE SOLOIST”................................................................................................135

AUTOMATIC GUITAR SOLOS – “THE GUITARIST”...................................................................................................139

AUTOMATIC EMBELLISHMENTS – “THE EMBELLISHER”.........................................................................................142

CHAPTER 9: MIDI RECORDING.......................................................................................................................147

RECORDING LIVE IN REAL TIME ............................................................................................................................147

ENTERING NOTES MANUALLY ...............................................................................................................................148

RECORDING WITH THE WIZARD FEATURE ..............................................................................................................149

IMPORTING MIDI FILES..........................................................................................................................................149

EDITING THE MELODY TRACK................................................................................................................................151

CHAPTER 10: AUDIO RECORDING AND RENDERING...............................................................................154

AUDIO TRACK ........................................................................................................................................................154

RECORD AUDIO......................................................................................................................................................154

PLAYING THE AUDIO FILE......................................................................................................................................158

EDIT THE AUDIO FILE.............................................................................................................................................158

TC-HELICON AUDIO HARMONIES ..........................................................................................................................159

PITCH STYLES PRESET DETAILS (ONE PER VOICE)..................................................................................................163

APPLYING AUDIO PLUG-INS...................................................................................................................................164

RENDERING AUDIO FILES.......................................................................................................................................165

BURN YOUR OWN AUDIO-CD.................................................................................................................................169

CHAPTER 11: USER PROGRAMMABLE FUNCTIONS.................................................................................173

THE STYLEMAKER

™

.............................................................................................................................................173

THE HARMONY MAKER..........................................................................................................................................187

THE SOLOIST MAKER .............................................................................................................................................190

THE MELODIST MAKER..........................................................................................................................................193

THE GUITARIST MAKER .........................................................................................................................................196

CHAPTER 12: TUTORS AND WIZARDS ..........................................................................................................199

VOCAL WIZARD .....................................................................................................................................................199

CHORD SUBSTITUTION WIZARD .............................................................................................................................201

CHORD BUILDER ....................................................................................................................................................203

EAR TRAINING TUTOR............................................................................................................................................205

RHYTHM GUITAR CHORD TUTOR ...........................................................................................................................209

MIDI FILE CHORD INTERPRETATION WIZARD .......................................................................................................211

MIDI FILE TO STYLE WIZARD................................................................................................................................216

CHAPTER 13: TOOLS AND UTILITIES............................................................................................................221

ROLAND VSC3 VIRTUAL SOUND CANVAS.............................................................................................................221

GUITAR TUNER.......................................................................................................................................................222

DYNAMIC 3D DRUM KIT WINDOW.........................................................................................................................222

4

Table of Contents

MONITOR......................................................................................................................................................225

MIDI

SOUND BLASTER SUPPORT.....................................................................................................................................226

CHAPTER 14: REFERENCE................................................................................................................................227

BAND-IN-A-BOX MENU DESCRIPTIONS..................................................................................................................227

FILE MENU.............................................................................................................................................................227

EDIT MENU ............................................................................................................................................................230

STYLES MENU........................................................................................................................................................235

OPT. MENU.............................................................................................................................................................237

PLAY MENU ...........................................................................................................................................................266

LYRICS MENU ........................................................................................................................................................268

MELODY MENU......................................................................................................................................................270

SOLOIST MENU.......................................................................................................................................................274

AUDIO MENU .........................................................................................................................................................277

GM MENU..............................................................................................................................................................280

HARMONY MENU ...................................................................................................................................................283

NOT’N MENU .........................................................................................................................................................285

WINDOW MENU .....................................................................................................................................................286

HELP MENU............................................................................................................................................................288

KEYSTROKE COMMANDS - HOT KEYS....................................................................................................................290

CHORD LIST ...........................................................................................................................................................293

BAND-IN-A-BOX FILES ...........................................................................................................................................294

PG MUSIC INC.......................................................................................................................................................295

INDEX ......................................................................................................................................................................296

REGISTRATION FORM.......................................................................................................................................305

5

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

Congratulations on your purchase of Band-in-a-Box, the favorite of musicians, students, and
songwriters everywhere. Get ready to have fun!

What is Band-in-a-Box?

Band-in-a-Box is an intelligent automatic accompaniment
program for your multimedia computer. You can hear and
play along to many song ideas and go from “nothing” to
“something” in a very short period of time when you have
Band-in-a-Box as your “on demand” backup band.

Band-in-a-Box is so easy to use!

Just type in the chords to any song (like C or Fm7b5), pick a musical style from the hundreds
available, and click the [Play] button. Band-in-a-Box then automatically generates a full backing
arrangement of piano, bass, drums, guitar, and strings.

And that’s not all...

Band-in-a-Box is a powerful and creative music composition tool for exploring and developing
musical ideas with near-instantaneous feedback. Over the years many features have been added
to Band-in-a-Box - Notation, Piano Roll, Lyrics, Melody Tracks, Harmonization, the
StyleMaker, and StylePicker. The Soloist and the Melodist are popular “intelligent” features; the
Soloist generates professional quality solos over any chord progression, the Melodist can create
songs from scratch with Chords, Melodies, Intros, Solos, and even a Title!

The inclusion of digital audio features makes Band-in-a-Box the perfect tool for creating,
playing, and recording your music with MIDI, vocals, and acoustic instruments. Band-in-a-Box

®

for Windows

can also record an acoustic instrument or voice to add to the composition, with
processing through DirectX audio effects. Its built-in audio harmonies will turn your audio track
into multiple harmony parts or adjust its pitch by tracking the Band-in-a-Box Melody track.
Audio harmonies include vibrato and scooping effects for realistic styles.

You can print out your finished creation with repeats and endings, DC markings and codas, or
save it as a graphic file for web publication or to e-mail to a friend. And when you're ready to let
others hear your composition, you can burn it directly to an audio CD. Or save your composition
as a Windows Media File or in other compressed formats for a file that’s “Internet ready.”

Let’s get started!

This guide will have you making great music with Band-in-a-Box in a matter of minutes. We’ll
begin with the easy installation and setup procedure.

6

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

Installing Band-in-a-Box for Windows®

Minimum System Requirements

- Windows® 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP.

- At least 16MB of available RAM for MIDI features.

- MIDI features require a 486DX processor or faster.

- Digital Audio features require additional RAM (at least 32MB recommended) and a Pentium-class (or faster)

system.

- 35MB to135MB available hard drive space. Add-on products and Digital Audio features require additional

space and memory.

- PC sound card or external MIDI device (synthesizer, sound module, etc.).

Installing the Program

- Use any of the following three methods to install the program files into the Band-in-a-Box directory. By default
this directory is C:\bb; you may choose another location.

Method 1 – Auto Run.

1. Insert the program CD-ROM into the CD drive.

2. In a few seconds, a browser window will open with a list of the CD contents.

3. Double click on SETUP.EXE to run the installation program.

Method 2 – My Computer.

1. Insert the program CD-ROM into the CD drive.

2.

Access your CD-ROM drive from the Windows desktop by double clicking on the My Computer icon.
Then, double-click on the CD-ROM drive icon and double-click again on the SETUP.EXE program found in

3.

the root or main folder of the CD-ROM.

Method 3 – Start Menu.

1. Insert the program CD-ROM into the CD drive.

2. From the Windows [Start] button select Run.

3. Type D:\SETUP in the “Open:” command line box. If your CD-ROM drive uses another drive letter type

the appropriate letter, for example E:\SETUP.

4. If you don’t know the drive letter for your CD-ROM you can use the [Browse…] button to find it.
SETUP.EXE will copy all of the program files to your Band-in-a-Box subdirectory (usually C:\bb) and install
icons to a Band-in-a-Box program group. Click on the Band-in-a-Box icon or launch bbw.exe to open the
program and configure the setup.

Setup Instructions

Band-in-a-Box uses the multimedia drivers for your MIDI interface and/or sound card that are supported by the
Windows operating system. To get sound playback you need to have a MIDI (and audio - for songs with digital
audio) driver installed.

To start using the program you will need to make sure that your MIDI interface, audio driver, and Windows sound
source is installed and configured.

Run the program by double-clicking the program icon. The first dialog you should encounter is a MIDI Output
Driver message similar to this one:

The program sets your initial
MIDI output driver automatically.
Note which driver has been
selected and press [OK] to
continue.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

7

The next dialog you encounter is the MIDI Driver Setup.

If the driver that was selected is not the best choice, simply make an alternate selection from the MIDI Driver
Setup dialog. Select a MIDI Output Driver to use for MIDI sound playback and optionally a MIDI Input Driver if
you are using an external MIDI controller keyboard or guitar. If the setup is panned to mono, the program offers to
change it to stereo.

Perhaps the easiest way to configure Band-in-a-Box is to pre ss the [Run Dr iver

Wizard..] button in the Opt. | MIDI driver setup window.
The MIDI Output Driver Wizard dialog will take you step-by-step through the process of auditioning and
selecting an appropriate driver. This assumes that the appropriate Windows sound drivers are installed and correctly
configured.

8

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

DirectX Instrument Synthesizer (DXi plug-in) Support

Software synthesizers allow Band-in-a-Box to play high quality sounds directly through your computer sound card,
without requiring any external MIDI hardware. Most new software synthesizers are released as “DXi plug-ins,” so
they will work in a standard way with many programs. Connecting Band-in-a-Box to the software synth as a plug-in
provides several advantages over the previous method of connecting as a MIDI driver. The plug-in allows Band-in­a-Box to merge/synch in any existing audio file (vocals etc.) with the synth output. You can also directly render
your performance to a .WAV file using the DXi plug-in. Sampler-based synths allow you to assemble a huge,
customized library of instrument samples to use with Band-in-a-Box. Examples of popular DXi synths include the
RolandED VSC-DXi and Hyper Canvas.

To use DXi with Band-in-a-Box, you should think of the DXi as a type of “MIDI Out Driver.” As such, you visit
either the Opt. | MIDI driver setup or click on [Pref] [MIDI Driver] and select the “Use DXi Synth” checkbox.
When you do this, you can select the type of DXi to use (from a list of installed DXi, if any), and also will see a
panel display of the DXi that allows you to make settings directly for your DXi synth.

The DXi will convert the MIDI information to audio, which Band-in-a-Box will playback through your sound card
to audio speakers.

You can select DirectX DXi Software Synthesizers as the MIDI destination, and also apply DirectX Audio plug-ins
to the Band-in-a-Box audio track.

Check the Use DXi Synth checkbox to enable DXi playback.

Note: To use this option, you must have a polyphonic DXi synthesizer installed on your computer, such as the
Roland/Edirol VSC DXi. It will also be most convenient if your DXi synthesizer can use General MIDI or GM2 patches.

To select the DXi synthesizer, click the [DXi Synth Settings] button, which will open the DirectX Plugins window.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

9

The Synth Track tab edits Synthesizer settings, and the Audio Track tab edits Band-in-a-Box audio track DirectX
plug-ins. Select your desired DXi synth in the top plug-in Insert Slot 1.

To apply DirectX audio plug-ins to the synth, insert DX audio plug-ins to Insert Slots 2, 3, or 4. This can be useful
to add EQ, Reverb, Compression, or Peak Limiting plug-ins, if the “raw sound” of the synthesizer needs sweetening.

You can also choose the patch map (instrument list) that matches your synthesizer keyboard or sound module.
Original equipment sound cards or integrated sound chips are General MIDI (GM) compatible.

We have made preset drum/patch files for many
synthesizers and sound cards. If your synth is not listed
you should use the General MIDI Instrument Misc.
patch kit (default).

You can probably omit this step unless you're using an
old synth that is not General MIDI compatible. If your
non-GM synthesizer or sound card is not listed you can
easily make your own patch map in Opt. | Preferences |
Patch Map.

General MIDI 2 (GM2) Support

General MIDI 2 patches are supported for 128 additional instruments, the type of GM2 support is set in this dialog.
The choices are:

- General MIDI 2 support: If you're using the Roland VSC 3, o r a newer Sound Canvas (i.e. newer than

1999, or newer than the Roland SC88), then choose this GM2 support.

- Roland GS (older Modules): “Older” Sound Can vases (SC55/SC88) support GS, but not GM2. The good

news is that they have the same patches available, just at different locations. So if you choose this option,
Band-in-a-Box will find the patches at the “GS” locations instead of the “GM2” locations. If you have a
newer GS module like the SC8820, it supports both GM2 and GS - you should likely choose GM2.

- No GM2 support: Some sound cards don't have GM2 support yet; they just support the original 128

General MIDI sounds. Band-in-a-Box will use the closest instrument in these cases.

Now you’re ready to have fun with Band-in-a-Box!

10

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

Chapter 2: QuickStart

Creating music with Band-in-a-Box is as easy as 1-2-3! In this chapter, you’ll see just how easy it is to get Band-in­a-Box working for you.

Step 1 – Typing in the Chords

There are numerous ways of entering chords into Band-in-a-Box. We’ll discuss five fast ways of entering chords:

1. Using the computer keyboard.

2. Playing directly on a MIDI controller keyboard.

3. Using the Chord Builder feature.

4. Importing chords from a MIDI file.

5. Loading an Existing Band-in-a-Box format song.
On the main screen of the program, you’ll see an area called the chordsheet.

Band-in-a-Box main screen showing chordsheet.

Each of the numbered cells on the chordsheet represents a bar. In this example, we see that there is an E chord in
the first bar of this song, an A chord in bar 5, and later in the song, an E7 in bar 12. Notice the box in the first half
of bar 1. This is the highlight cell, and it represents the bar you are currently working on. You can move the
highlight cell around using the cursor keys, or select a specific bar using the mouse.

Enter Chords Using the Computer Keyboard

To enter a specific chord, move the highlight cell to where you want to place the chord. For example, to add (or
change) a chord in bar 10, you would highlight bar 10 on the chordsheet. Next, type in your chords. If you want an
E at bar 10, type the [E] key on your keyboard, and press [Enter]. Notice that when you use the enter key, the
highlight cell moves to the second half of the bar. You could then enter another chord at beat 3. Chords names are

Chapter 2: QuickStart

11

normally typed using standard chord symbols (like C or Fm7 or Bb7 or Bb13#9/E), but you can enter them in any of
the supported chord symbol display formats like Roman Numerals, Nashville Notation, and Solfeggio.

Enter Chords Using a MIDI Controller Keyboard

If you have a MIDI controller keyboard, you can use it to enter chords into Band-in-a-Box. Play a chord on your
MIDI keyboard, and then type Ctrl+Enter. The chord will be entered into the chordsheet at the current highlight
cell position. Another method allows you to choose alternate chords. From the Window | MIDI Chord Detection
menu item, you’ll see this window:

When you play chords, Band-in-a-Box shows you the chord name and suggests alternates that you can choose from.
Typing Ctrl+Enter enters the first selection, and advances the highlight cell by ½ bar.

Enter Chords Using the Chord Builder

Press the Chord Builder button. This opens the Chord Builder dialog with a list of chord roots and their
extensions.

To enter a chord at the current bar, select the chord root from the left pane, and then the extension on the right pane.
Pressing [Enter Chord] or using the arrow keys will enter the chord and advance the highlight cell to the next half
bar.

Import Chords from a MIDI File

You can have Band-in-a-Box import chords from an existing MIDI file. Choose Import Chords from MIDI File on
the File menu.

12

Chapter 2: QuickStart

When the dialog opens, press the [Open (Change)…] button to choose a MIDI file that you want Band-in-a-Box to
interpret the chords from. To help Band-in-a-Box interpret the chords better, you should choose a genre (Preset) for
the song. Choose from among such genres as Pop, Rock, or Jazz Standard.

Tip: It helps if you’ve previously listened to the MIDI file, in order that you can choose a genre most appropriate to the
song.

Loading an existing Band-in-a-Box format Song

Press the Open Song button. The first time you use this button, Band-in-a-Box will offer to build a Song
list for you. We’ve included many demonstration songs; they are listed in the song list.

You could also load a pre-existing song by using the File | Open menu item, or by typing [F3], which will launch
the Windows file dialog. Songs usually load a “Style,” which we’ll learn about in the next section.

Step 2 – Choosing a Style

Band-in-a-Box creates backing arrangements based on the chords you type in, applied to a particular Style.

What’s a Style?

A style is a set of rules that determine how Band-in-a-Box creates music using your chords. By adjusting the rules,
we have created hundreds of styles for everything from Country to Bebop, such as Jazz Swing, Blues Shuffle, Hip
Hop, Country 4/4, Pop Ballad, Waltz, and Medium Rock to name just a few. If you don’t find a pre-made style that
suits your tastes, create one from scratch using the StyleMaker. There’s a “how-to” section on custom Styles in this
manual.

Four Fast ways to open a Style

Method 1:

To open a user style from disk, you can just type the [F9] key. You will be presented with a Windows file dialog
from which you can select a specific Style. Alternately you can select from the Styles menu item at the top of the
screen.

Chapter 2: QuickStart

13

Method 2:

You can use the StylePicker window to select your style. Select the button above the chordsheet, or
type Ctrl+F9 on your computer.

This window shows styles listed by Category and by Styles Set number. Select a Set or genre from the left pane,
and choose the specific style on the right pane. There are Memos and examples for each of the Styles.

14

Chapter 2: QuickStart

Method 3: Styles that you’ve used previously show up in the Favorite Styles dialog. Choose this with the [f]
button next to the [Style] button in the song title window, from the Styles menu, or type Shift+F9 on your computer
keyboard.

You can choose to save a Favorites set for use later. You can also load a set of favorite styles in this manner.

Method 4:

In the Styles menu, you can choose from among the 24 “built-in” styles. This list provides a quick way to choose
from among the most popular music genres.

Step 3 – Play your song!

You’ve entered chords on the chordsheet and chosen a style. Now it’s time to play the song! You’ll need to tell
Band-in-a-Box how long your song is, how many times to play it through, in what key, and how fast.

Framing the Song

To tell Band-in-a-Box where to start and end the song, take a look at the middle of the main screen.

Chapter 2: QuickStart

15

Locate the framing buttons. There are three of them, one each for Beginning of Chorus, End of Chorus, and
Number of Choruses. In the example above, the chorus starts at bar 1, ends on bar 32, and is going to play 3 times.

Setting the Key

In the example above the key is set to C. However, you can set this to any key. In our first view of the chordsheet
the Blues song was in the key of E. If you do change the key, Band-in-a-Box will offer to transpose the chordsheet
for you.

Setting the Tempo

If you know the tempo value of your song, you can enter it in the tempo box. The song example above has a tempo
of 120. There is an even faster way to enter a tempo. Locate the minus key [-] and the equals key [=] in the number
row of your computer keyboard, they are usually next to each other. If you tap the minus key 4 times at your tempo,
Band-in-a-Box will set the tempo automatically for you. If you tap the equals key four times, Band-in-a-Box will
set the tempo and begin song playback!

More fun with Band-in-a-Box…

That’s all there is to quickly creating music with Band-in-a-Box. Band-in-a-Box has many more features and user
settings, which are discussed in later chapters. Have fun making music with Band-in-a-Box!

16

Chapter 2: QuickStart

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box Version 2005

New Features in Band-in-a-Box 2005

New Fully-Featured “Piano Roll” Window!

Now you can edit your tracks using the new “Piano Roll” window, similar to the type found in many sequencer
programs. Edit the Melody or Soloist tracks with greater ease and precision. There are 2 panes in the window – one
for notes and the other for controllers, velocity, and other data. All notes and controllers are displayed as bars on a
grid. You can change note duration and pitch by selecting and dragging with your mouse.

Alternate Guitar Tunings added!

The Guitar window now supports alternate tunings, including DADGAD, Drop D, Double Drop D, Open G, and 11
others! You can also select “Nashville High Strung” tunings, which tune certain strings up an octave. The new
tunings are supported in Styles, Chord Diagrams, Guitar Tutor, Notatio n, Tab, and Printout. Learn how to play
these tunings by watching the on-screen Guitar Fretboard or Notation/Tab window. Easily change any style to use
the alternate tuning that you want.

New Harmonies added with voicing in 4ths!

Modern Jazz harmonies often voice chords in 4ths. For example, a C
chord with C melody might be voiced C, G, D, A, E. Now you can select
4ths voicings easily in Band-in-a-Box to harmonize the Melody, Soloist,
or THRU parts using 3, 4, or 5 part voicings in 4ths. We’v e added presets
for these harmonies, so you can easily select them. Use these
sophisticated 4ths harmonies on your existing melodies to create a new
sound.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box Version 2005

17

“Auto Endings” added for Styles without Endings!

If you‘ve made a style, and haven’t included an ending, a 2-bar ending can now be generated automatically, based
on the style. This makes it easier to make complete styles using the Style Wizard, which makes a style by analyzing
a MIDI file.

Patch List Converter

Make Synthesizer Patch file lists (.PAT files) easily by converting PowerTracks or Cakewalk Patch lists!

Band-in-a-Box can now read a patch file list generated
by PowerTracks Pro Audio or Cakewalk, and convert it
to a .PAT file for use in Band-in-a-Box. The patch file
contains the name and numbers for all patches on a
synthesizer, so that you can access your patches easily by
name. If you already have a patch list for your
synthesizer from one of these other programs, you can
now convert it to Band-in-a-Box format easily.

“Jazz Chord Symbol Graphics” (circles, triangles) supported!

Jazz and Pop music often use certain non-alphabetic symbols for chord types. These include a delta (triangle) for
major chords, a circle for diminished, and a circle with a slash for half-diminished. Also, tensions like b9 and b13
are stacked vertically and contained in brackets. You can now select this option, and see these symbols for
display/printout on the Chord Sheet, Notation, and Lead Sheet windows.

TC-Helicon Audio Harmonies enhanced with Pitch Styles (automatic “Vibrato” and
“Scooping”)!

Now, when you generate audio harmonies to your recorded vocal tracks, you can select pitch styles to add vibrato
and scooping effects to the vocal harmonies. Choose from presets, including “Ballad,” “Broadway,” “Pop Diva”
and more!

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StylePicker now Editable!

You can now add your own styles to the StylePicker list by pressing an ADD/EDIT button on the StylePicker. You
can see all the information about the style, including memo, genre, feel, tempo, range, etc.

“Vocal Wizard” finds the best song keys for your vocal range!

This feature helps you choose the best song key for your vocal range from your vocal type (baritone, tenor, etc.), or
a custom range. The wizard analyzes the song and recommends the best keys for that song. There are options to
“include/exclude falsetto range” and “restrict choices to these keys […].”

Non-Destructive Audio Track Editing!

With previous versions of Band-in-a-Box, any changes to the audio track would be permanent, even if you didn’t
save the song. Now the changes are non-destructive and only become permanent if you save the file.

Support for Multiple Sound Cards!

For the audio track, you can now choose which sound card to use, if you have more than one.

Multiple lines of Lyrics Supported on Fake Sheet and Printout!

If your song has 1st and 2nd endings or multiple verses of lyrics, multi-line lyrics can be displayed, so you’ll see all
verses on the same Fake Sheet.

Full Stereo or Mono support for Audio Track!

You can now choose between mono and stereo for the audio track and the audio plug-ins work for mono or stereo.
Tracks can be edited in either format, and converted from stereo to mono or vice versa.

Enhanced Audio Plug-in Effects!

Enhanced audio plug-in effects are included for EQ, Peak-Limit, and Reverb.

Selective Humanize option for the Melody Embellisher!

There is a new option for the Embellisher to only humanize the timing of the music if the timing was “stiff” to begin
with. This allows the Embellisher to leave the timing of human input melodies alone, and humanize only the ones
that were entered in step-time.

Lead Sheet highlighting is more visible!

During playback, the highlighting of bars on the Lead Sheet and Fak e Sheet window is more visible, with red
rectangles to highlight the current bar.

Karaoke Files (.KAR) now can be opened, including lyrics!

The popular Karaoke file format (.KAR) can now be opened directly into Band-in-a-Box, just like MIDI files.
Chord symbols are displayed (Band-in-a-Box intelligently analyzes the chords of the song), as well as the lyrics
from the Karaoke files.

Import .WAV file to Audio Track support!

A mono or stereo .WAV file can now be imported to the audio track, optionally merging or replacing any existing
audio track.

Pitch Bends are now displayed on the Guitar Fretboard!

Pitch bends now show up on the Guitar Fretboard. As the pitch bend occurs, a blue line moves along the string in
real time to show the height of the pitch bend.

Shift-Click support for Selecting Region of Chordsheet, Notation, or Audio Window!

To select a region of Chordsheet, Notation, or Audio Window, you can now Shift-click on the end point to easily
select a large area.

Colors editor for Note Colors in the Notation Window!

Note colors for the Notation window may be edited to create custom color sets, using a new dialog box.

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Entire song name displayed in Taskbar hint when Band-in-a-Box is minimized!

This is useful to find the name of a song playing when Band-in-a-Box is playing in the background.

Multi-colors for Event List!

Different colors are used for different event types in the event list, to visually distinguish notes, patch changes etc.

Song Picker Enhanced – Subfolder Support!

The SongPicker has been enhanced and now can optionally display songs from subfolders. For example, if you get
a song list of c:\bb, it can include songs in subfolders of c:\bb like c:\bb\styles34. You can also lock the SongPicker
to always open in the same folder (EG: C:\bb), so that you can use the same list to keep track of all songs on your
disk. Other enhancements like “change folder,” and “go up one folder” are included.

Notation supports time signature changes!

Time signature changes are now printed on the Notation/Lead Sheet!

“Favorite Folder-Open Song” button!

By opening a song using “Favorite Folder-Open Song,” you first select the folder from a list of recently used folders,
and then you can directly open the song from that folder . This allows you to quickly find a song in another folder.

Lyric breaks hidden in Lead Sheet window!

For lyrics, line break and paragraph marks (‘/’ and ‘\’) are no longer shown on the Lead Sheet window.

Auto MIDI and Karaoke lyrics display!

Lyrics window optionally auto-opens for MIDI files with lyrics and Karaoke files!

Guitar TAB visibility is improved!

For the guitar tablature, the numbers are now more visible, as a portion of the black guitar line is “whited out” when
a tab fret number is drawn.

Notation display improved!

The first note in every bar is drawn farther away from the bar line.

Big Lyrics Window Enhancements!

Chords can now be displayed on a row above the lyrics on the Big Lyrics Window. Separate chord colors are used
for the Chords and Lyrics, allowing these elements to be visually separated.

MIDI file text markers for part markers!

MIDI files are now written with descriptive text markers for part markers! Text markers are also read in from MIDI
files, and displayed as section markers on the notation.

Decibel (dB) scale now present in the Audio Edit window!

New rest insert key!

In Editable Notation mode, you can now insert a rest by holding the back-quote key (tilde key without pressing

Shift) then clicking on the Notation window. This is a way to avoid having to check the “Rest” checkbox first.

Reset to factory settings improved!

Reset to factory settings also offers to nuke the drum kit and MIDI driver choice, making the return to factory
settings complete.

“Transpose” Chordsheet option added!

This is useful for non-concert pitch instruments like tenor saxophone. This option is also available on the Notation
window.

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“Play Selected Area as a Loop” function!

Shift-click on the Play button, or press F10 (Play Selected Area as Loop) and the program will play a selected

region as a loop. For example, you can select bars 10 and 11, and then press F10, and bars 10 and 11 will play
looped.

StyleMaker Enhancements!

If you don’t save the style, the previous style will load in, instead of reverting to “ZZJAZZ.STY.”

Guitar Tutor Enhancements!

The Guitar Chord Tutor now has an “Anticipate” mode that plays the next chord X beats in advance, allowing time
for the user to prepare the chord for playing along. 11 new tutors have been added for the Alternate tunings like
DADGAD, Open G, etc.

No more drum crash cymbals on Bar 1 of the song!

The very first bar of the song is (optionally) no longer considered to be following a fill, so a drum crash cymbal
won’t be played. Most drummers wouldn’t play a crash cymbal on bar 1 of the song.

New hot keys added for Prefs tab dialog!

This allows navigation of the Preferences tabs by single keystrokes.

Auto “Staves per Page” Option!

Notation | Options now has an option to allow “Staves per Page” setting to be automatic or not!

Print to much larger BMP files!

Notation | Print to Graphics command can now print to high resolutio n BMP’s like 2400 x 3000! This feature is
only limited by available memory.

Guitar TAB lines easier to see!

Guitar TAB lines now print in black, instead of grey, so tab is easier to read.

Larger Harmony display boxes!

Harmony display boxes are wider by 64 pixels on the main screen and Melodist/Soloist dialogs!

VU meters added for Audio!

These show the Record and Playback levels for audio, allowing adjustment of microphone and speaker levels.

Mouse wheel support!

Mouse wheel support added to the Chordsheet screen and other windows.

… and many more!

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QuickStart Tutorial for the Version 2005 Upgrade.

The full descriptions of the new features in Version 2005 of Band-in-a-Box ar e provided elsewhere. This tutorial is
a QuickStart tour of the new features in Band-in-a-Box 2005.

Note: It is assumed that you are somewhat familiar with the previous release of Band-in-a-Box.

Explore Band-in-a-Box Version 2005

First, we’ll take a quick tour of the new features in Band-in-a-Box 2005. Then we’ll do an in-depth tutorial for the
new Piano Roll window. The other chapters in the manual are also tutorial style presentations of the new features.

Load in any song with a melody...

Now launch the Piano Roll window, by pressing the piano roll button on the toolbar, or choosing Window | Piano
Roll Window. You’ll then see the Piano Roll window.

Drag the notes to change pitch, duration, or timing.
Insert notes by mouse click (while holding down Ctrl+Shift).
We’ll explore the piano roll in detail later in the tutorial.

Now let’s close the Piano Roll window, and open the Notation window. You can do this by pressing the
notation button.

Let’s hear the fourths harmonies…

Load in c:\bb\Tutorial - BB 2005\ 4 Trumpets in 4ths - Harmony 219 demo. This will play the melody in 4-part
harmony, using 4ths harmonies.

Let’s display “Jazz chord symbol graphics” to this song.

Use the Opt. | Preferences menu option and click on “Notation” to open the Notations Options dialogue box. In
the Notation Options dialog:

Press the [Jazz Fonts] button to select the Jazz music font.

Select the “Jazz Symbols” checkbox.

Exit the Options dialog, and you’ll now see Jazz chord symbols.

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Let’s examine the improvements in the SongPicker.

Open the SongPicker. (The program may rebuild the song list prior to opening the dialog.)

Look at the folder name displayed at the bottom of the dialog.

Select the checkboxes “Always open in this folder” and “Include Subfolders.”

If the folder name isn’t already c:\bb, press the [Change] button near the bottom of the dialog, to change

the folder to c:\bb.

If the program doesn’t rebuild the list automatically, then force a rebuild by pressing the

[Rebuild List] button.

The Song list will then be rebuilt, displaying ALL of the
songs in your c:\bb folders and subfolders. If you have the MegaPAK, this will be over 2,000 songs, riffs, and style
demos!

Use the FILTER to manage this
list. Set the Filter to “any column.” For example, type the word Bluegrass in the filter, and press [Apply Filter].
You’ll now see a list of 29 songs, all with the word Bluegrass somewhere in the title, filename, genre, or other field.

Let’s explore the new “Vocal Wizard.”
The Vocal Wizard determines the best keys for any song in your vocal range.
Load in the song c:\bb\ Tutorial - BB 2005\Old Folks at Home.MGU. This is in the key of F. We’ll assume that

you are a male with a baritone range. If so, F is not a good key for this song, it is too high.

Choose Window | Vocal Wizard or press the Vocal Wizard button on the toolbar.
The Vocal Wizard will open. It displays color coded scores for each possible key, and has determined that they key

of D is the best key for that song in your vocal range, which you can set in the same dialog.

When you call out to your

piano player “We can do this song in D.” he replies, “I don’t play much in D, I’m a Jazz player.”

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So you use the “Allowable Keys” preset in this dialog, and
set it to “Jazz keys,” and then the Vocal Wizard revises its
recommendation to the key of C.

If you select “Auto-transpose to best key when a song is loaded,” every song will automatically be transposed to the
best key for your vocal range when loaded. For now, let’s de-select that option, since we don’t want songs to be
transposed when loaded.

Note that the Vocal Wizard can also be used for instruments, like tenor sax or trombone, to determine the best keys
for playing the melody on those instruments.

Let’s check out the new PLAY LOOP feature.

On the Chordsheet, select the 2 bars from 9 to 10 by dragging the mouse to make the bars black.

Now, press the [Loop] button on the toolbar, or press F10, or choose the Play | Play (loop) Highlighted
Section menu item. The 2 bars from 9 to 10 will play in a loop.

We can use the new Favorite Folders feature to quickly OPEN or SAVE a song from/to a different folder than we
are in now.

Hold the Shift key as you click the [Open] button. This will launch the Favorite Folder dialog, allowing
you to pick the folder to load from, and then the typical dialog will open up. This saves you time.

Similarly, Shift-clicking on the [Save As] button will allow you to choose a favorite folder prior to
seeing the Save As dialog.

The TC-Helicon Harmonies are improved. Let’s load in the Tutorial Demo from 2004, called c:\bb\Tutorial – Audio
Harmonies\Listen.MGU. We’ll now add audio harmonies, and the audio harmonies will now have vibrato!

After loading in Listen, launch the TC-Helicon Harmony dialog. Choose Harmonize to the MIDI
Melody, and harmony #172, and click OK.

Now, in the TC-Helicon Harmony dialog, notice the new combo boxes at the bottom of the screen for Pitch Style
presets (vibrato and scooping).

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Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box Version 2005

Set the 4 harmonies to the first vibrato setting “1 BNatural Vibrato,” and press the [PREVIEW]
button. You’ll now hear these harmonies,

generated from MIDI notes in the Band-in-a-Box harmony, but with various types of vibrato and scooping pitch
effects. On held notes, the vibrato is essential for a natural vocal sound.

Now let’s move on to the Piano Roll Tutorial.

Piano Roll Tutorial

The Piano Roll window enables precise graphic editing of note timing and duration. You can also graphically edit
note velocity, controllers, program changes, channel aftertouch, or pitch bend.

The Piano Roll may be opened as a movable window (which floats above the Band-in-a-Box main window), or it
may be opened embedded, which occupies the same position as the Chordsheet/Notation panel in the Band-in-a-Box
main window.

Let’s load the song “PianoRollDemoSong.MGU.” This is a medium Bossa Nova with some horn noodling to
demonstrate Piano Roll features. The song contains example use of several MIDI data types with which to
experiment.

To open the Piano Roll, in the Band-in-a-Box Window menu, select the item Piano Roll Window.

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Playback Control

In addition to other Band-in-a-Box methods, you can start playback by double-clicking the Chords Ruler above the
Note Time Ruler. When polishing edits, it can be convenient to double-click the Chords Ruler to hear a couple of
bars, and then click the Ruler or tap the <space bar> to stop playback and continue editing. When you click or drag
in the Chords Ruler, it sets the Insertion Point. The Insertion Point determines the location that pasted events would
be added to the track. It also determines the Playback Start bar if you use the Ctrl+G “play from here” keystrokes.

Splitter Bar

A vertical Splitter Bar sits between the Note Editing and Graphic Event panels. To maximize the Note Editing
panel, drag the Splitter down, to maximize the Graphic Event panel for more accurate event editing, drag it up.

Note Selection

You can click on individual notes, and also Shift-click or Ctrl-click to select multiple notes.
You can make a “box selection” by clicking on white space and drawing a rectangle around notes.

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Note Editing
Move the mouse cursor over the left side of a note, then click-drag horizontally to edit the note's start time. To drag

a group of selected notes, hold Shift while dragging the head of one of the notes, and all of the selection will follow!
Move the mouse cursor over the right side of a note, then click-drag horizontally to edit the note's duration . To drag

a group of selected notes, hold Shift while dragging the tail of one of the notes.
Move the mouse cursor over the center of a note, and then click-drag vertically to edit the note's pitch. To transpose

a group of selected notes, hold Shift while dragging the center of one of the Notes.
Insert a Note
Hold Shift+Ctrl, and then click where you want a new note.
Delete a Note
Select one or more notes, and then tap the computer's Delete key. You Can also right-click and choose the “Delete

Selected Events” item in the pop-up menu.
Undo Mistakes
You can use Edit | Undo (or Ctrl+Z) to recover from edits gone horribly wrong. You can also right-click and

choose the “Undo” item in the pop-up menu.
If you make a mistake when inserting an event, it is often easy to fix by re-editing the event. For instance, if you

intended to insert a C note, but accidentally inserted a B note, it is trivial to drag the new B note up to C.
After inserting events, the new events are selected (highlighted red). Therefore, you can also tap the Delete key to

remove accidentally inserted events.

Graphic Event Editing

You can edit the value or time of individual graphic data items. To edit the value, move the mouse cursor over the
top half of an event, and click-drag vertically. To edit the time of the event, move the cursor over the bottom half of
an event, and click-drag horizontally. There are two tools for inserting graphic events, the Line Tool and the Pencil

Tool.

Line Tool

Move the mouse cursor over white space in the Graphic Event panel. The cursor becomes a Line Tool. Click and
then drag a line. When the mouse button is released, events are inserted or modified to fit the line. This illustrates
the effect of the Line Tool for editing the velocity of the first 6 notes.

Pencil Tool

Hold Shift+Ctrl, and move the mouse cursor over white space in the Graphic Event panel. The cursor becomes a
Pencil Tool. Click and then drag a free-form shape. When the mouse button is released, events are inserted or
modified to fit the free-form shape. This illustrates the effect of the Pencil Tool for free form drawing the velocity
of the first 6 notes.

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Program Changes

The Piano Roll demo song contains some embedded program change events as a demo of this new method. Set the
“View/Edit” control to “Program,” and the few program changes are displayed in the Graphic Event panel.

Program changes are zero-based. For example, General MIDI piano is zero rather than one. The demo song intro
has a flute program change. Then the first chorus is trumpet, the second chorus is flute, and the third chorus is
soprano sax.

Expression Controller

Set the View/Edit combo box to “Control” (controller MIDI events). Then select “11 Expression MSB” in the
controller type combo box.

The Expression controller is recognized by most modern synthesizers (including most General MIDI synths).
However, some older synths do not recognize this controller. Expression is an alternative to “7 Main Volume
MSB.” Use the Expression controller for individual tracks, and reserve the main Volume controller for overall track
loudness. That way, you can use the Band-in-a-Box main window Volume controls without affecting individual
notes in the track.

In the example shown, the intro flute ostinato pattern fades in, and then fades back out, via the expression
controllers. These events were entered with the Line Tool. Notice that before the trumpet comes in, there is a single
expression event of value 127, to kick the loudness up to “normal.”

Single controllers are inserted by moving the mouse cursor to the desired position and then clicking the mouse
button.

Play the demo song, and watch how Expression controls have been added for soft attack on some notes, and
loudness reduction at the end of some notes.

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Modulation Controller

Set the View/Edit combo box to “Control” (Controller MIDI Events). Then select “1 Mod Wheel MSB” in the
controller type combo box.

The Modulation controller is not firmly defined, but it is usually a Vibrato or Tremolo effect (especially in General
MIDI synths).

Play the Demo Song, and watch how Modulation has been added to some notes to add Vibrato. It is usually best to
use tasteful amounts of Controllers. With graphic edits, too much is almost always too much!

Pitch Bend

Set the View/Edit combo box to “Pitch Bend.” Play the demo song, and watch how a few pitch bends have been
inserted to “scoop” some note attacks, “sting” the middle of a note, or “fall off” some note releases.

More Details
Please see the Piano Roll Window topic for more information about this feature.
________________________________________________________________
This is the end of the tutorial. Thanks for taking the time to read this section. The next sections examine the new

features in detail.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box Version 2005

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Chapter 4: The Main Screen

Main Screen Overview

The main screen gives direct access to the major features and program settings of Band-in-a-Box for ease and
convenience during a session. There are five different areas on the main screen.

1 →

2 →

3 →

4 →

5 →

The main screen of Band-in-a-Box with a new, blank song.

1. The Status Bar is used to show program running status messages and path names of the currently loaded song.

2. The Synth Window is the area between the Menu Bar and the Piano Keyboard where Instruments patches are

set and levels are adjusted. It also includes buttons for adding harmonies to the Melody, Thru, or Soloist parts.

3. The Tool Bar area under the Piano Keyboard has buttons for direct access to important program features and

menus. Hold the mouse cursor on any button to see a pop-up hint that describes its function.

4. The Title Window shares the Tool Bar area. In addition to the song title, it includes all the other settings for

the song such as its Key Signature, Tempo, and Chorus settings. To the right of the Title Window are two
floating, dockable toolbars that can be configured by the user.

5. The Chordsheet Area occupies the lower part of the screen. Chord changes for the song are typed into the

numbered bars (cells) in the sheet. “a” and “b” part markers are entered here to switch between the “a” and “b”
Band-in-a-Box substyles. Repeats and endings are also shown.

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Chapter 4: The Main Screen