Band-in-a-Box 2008 for Windows

　　[2008-01-07]
New Features in Band-in-a-Box 2008 for Windows are...

RealTracks. With the previous release of Band-in-a-Box, we added RealDrums. Now we’ve added three additional “Real” instruments, including Real Pedal Steel, Real Acoustic Guitar, and Tenor Sax soloing (RealSax). These tracks replace the MIDI track for that instrument, and can be controlled just like the MIDI instrument (volume changes, muting etc.). Best of all, they follow the chord progression that you have entered, so that you hear an authentic audio accompaniment to your song. These are not “samples,” but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the other Band-in-a-Box tracks. RealTracks can be built in to the style, and would replace either the bass, guitar, piano, or strings part, or they can be generated to the Soloist (or Melody) track using the Soloist feature.

MultiStyles. We’ve added MultiStyles to Band-in-a-Box. These are Styles that can have anywhere from 4 to 24 substyles! Previous Band-in-a-Box Styles were limited to 2 substyles (“a” and “b”). Now, for example, a MultiStyle with 4 substyles (First Verse, Verse, Chorus, Break) can be used, and you select the various sections using “a”/“b”/“c”/“d” part markers. Some of our newest Styles Sets are MultiStyles, typically with 4 substyles, but some Techno Styles have 24 substyles. You can easily make your own MultiStyles, either from scratch, or combining parts from existing Styles to make a MultiStyle. For example, if you have 10 favorite Country Styles, you can quickly make a single MultiStyle that has 20 substyles available within the same song.

Audio Chord Wizard Enhancements. The Audio Chord Wizard is the amazing feature that automatically figures out the chords from MP3 files (or other audio files like WAV, WMA, and audio CD etc.). Using the Audio Chord Wizard is a great way to learn and practice popular songs, as you play along and see the chords.

We’ve added a Lead Sheet window that shows the chords for the whole song on a single screen. This allows you to click on a bar on the lead sheet to jump to that area of the song.

You can mark sections of the song using part markers, and the sections begin on a new line with a line space between, so are clearly seen. So you can then also learn the form of the song, as you can see the various intro/verse/chorus/break sections at a glance, or quickly jump to the break simply by double clicking on that part of the lead sheet.

Chord editing

Change of Key Signature at any Bar. Now you can have multiple keys in a song! The new key signature is shown on notation.

The GUI has been enhanced.

Support for Windows® ‘Themes’ – Band-in-a-Box will use the current theme that you have selected in Windows Control Panel to use for Windows and dialogs.

Copying of sections or selections can be done using drag-and-drop, simply drag regions around the chord sheet to quickly rearrange your song. Hold down the ctrl key for finer control about insert/overwrite/ etc.

Section Paragraphs. When you’re reading a book, a new section begins on a new line, with space between; now we’ve done that for chords too! Whenever a new section occurs (a part marker), Band-in-a-Box starts the new section on a new line, and draws a grey line above to clearly mark the new section. For example, if you have a song with a 7 bar section, followed by 8 bar sections, the previous version of Band-in-a-Box wouldn’t start the other sections on a new line. The result there was that it was hard to delineate the sections, as if an entire story was told within one paragraph. With the Section Paragraphs feature you’ll see all of them on a new line so that the form of the lead sheet is easier to see. This feature is configurable and optional.

Medley Maker. Would you like to make a Medley using Band-in-a-Box, of various BB songs (MGU)? This is easily done with the new MedleyMaker. Inside the MedleyMaker, simply select the songs that you want, and Band-in-a-Box will make the medley for you. A medley is not simply joining songs together –a good medley uses a “transition” area between songs, to introduce the new style, key, and tempo. The MedleyMaker automatically creates a nice transition area for you, writing in chords that would smoothly transition to the next song/style/key and tempo!

Import Song. Easily import part or all of an existing Band-in-a-Box song to your current song, with options to specify source and destination range, type of information to import (chords, melody, lyrics, etc.) and more.

Karaoke MP3/CDG Files. Audio Karaoke files are popular using several formats. The most common is CDG format, which includes the lyrics in graphical format on Audio CD’s. Since the computer user doesn’t typically use audio CD’s, there is now a format that combines MP3 (containing the music) and CDG (the graphical lyrics). Now you can open up MP3/CDG files inside Band-in-a-Box and see the scrolling lyrics from your Karaoke files. Best of all, you can use the Audio Chord Wizard to figure out the chords as well, making Band-in-a-Box a great choice to play your Karaoke files!

RealDrums Enhancements.

The RealDrums feature replaces MIDI drums with audio drums. You can now have style changes - multiple RealDrums styles within a song, either using the RealDrums from a Band-in-a-Box Style, or specifying a specific RealDrums style to use at a bar.

We have “artist” support; this allows you to choose among different drummers playing the same style. For example, we have multiple artists playing the “Jazz Brushes” style you can set Band-in-a-Box to choose a different artist with each play, or always choose a specific artist.

You can now select RealDrums styles within the StylePicker. Highlight a MIDI style that you like, and press the RealDrums “Best” button, to see a list of the most compatible RealDrums styles for that Style, or the “RD” button to select from all available RealDrums.

Hot key to turn RealDrums on/off (Control+Shift+F6). This also works while the song is playing.