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Both
Available for both Mac and Windows. You will receive the version you specify in the check-out process.
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Get the PowerPak! Windows users - for an even better value, consider the Band in a Box PowerPak. A few dollars more gets you PowerTracks Pro Audio, SlowBlast, video tutorials and more!
Want it all? Order the Band in a Box MegaPak and get all of the styles, soloists, melodists and drum styles created by PG Music for Band in a Box!
NOTE: Macintosh® version is now available at version 12 for OS X Version 10.2 or Higher and the features may be different from those described below.
Band-in-a-Box 2008 has arrived, along with 10 RealDrums Sets, 5 Styles Sets and 3 MultiStyles Sets.
Band-in-a-Box 2008 is jam-packed with additional features that you are sure to love! PG Music has added RealTracks, MultiStyles, enhancements to the popular Audio Chord Wizard, RealDrums style changes, and much more.
RealTracks
With the previous release of Band-in-a-Box, RealDrums has been added. Now PG Music has 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
PG Music 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 the latest 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.
1. A Lead Sheet window has been added 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.
2. 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.
3. 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
1. 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.
2. 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 it’s done 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 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
1. 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.
2. There is “artist” support; this allows you to choose among different drummers playing the same style. For example, there are 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.
3. 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.
4. Hot key to turn RealDrums on/off (Control+Shift+F6). This also works while the song is playing.
StylePicker enhancements
1. StylePicker categories/subcategories redesigned, with more categories for Blues, Country (6 types), Jazz (9 types), and many more.
2. Do you have Styles that don’t appear in the StylePicker (because you’ve just made them, or got them from a 3rd party)? Now the StylePicker will automatically find those Styles and add them to your list in an “Other Styles” category. The information regarding Style name, Even/Swing, 8ths/16ths, and time signature are filled in for you.
3. Long Style names appear on the main chord sheet screen beside the short Style name.
4. You can also specify a long Style name (up to 32 characters) when saving a Style from the StyleMaker or Hybrid Style, and the 32 character name will appear in the StylePicker and on screen.
5. RealDrums selection from the StylePicker
6. Support for up to 20,000 entries in the StylePicker.
Find File
So many files, so little time? This feature is a “Swiss Army Knife” that allows you to find a Band-in-a-Box song (or any file that BB can open), including filtering by words found in file name or any text in the file. Example uses, you can:
1. Get a listing of all Band-in-a-Box songs on your PC with the word “Blues” in the title.
2. Get a listing of all Band-in-a-Box songs in the BB folder with the word “Reggae” in them. This produces a list of over 50 songs in the MegaPAK, so you can quickly choose from them and know that, if you’re a reggae lover, you haven’t missed out on any Band-in-a-Box songs or Styles with Reggae.
3. A similar listing for “Blues” reports 454 files. The listing stays between sessions, so you can then take your time to explore all the Blues that Band-in-a-Box offers.
FadeOut Song
You can now quickly choose a Fadeout ending, just press the Fade button in Song Settings, and Band-in-a-Box will fadeout the last “X” bars of the song (you can specify how many bars). Or customize the fadeout with precise values for each bar.
File-Open
1. The File | Open now shows and opens all available file types (MGU, WAV, WMA, MP3, MID, KAR, CDG, and CDA). It remembers your preferences, so you can restrict it to a certain file type.
2. If MySong.MGU is loaded, and a same named audio file (MySong.WMA, MySong.MP3, MySong.WAV etc.), Band-in-a-Box will open the audio file to the audio track. This allows third parties to make audio files with chords in them, by making a MySong.MGU and MySong.MP3 pair of files, which will load into Band-in-a-Box, yet will have the audio compressed to take up little disk space. For example, make a teaching set of trombone files for Band-in-a-Box, with audio trombone track, and a Band-in-a-Box file with chords, all fitting in a small file size.
StyleMaker Enhancements
1. Long Style Name can be stored in the Style (up to 32 characters), and this will appear on screen and in StylePicker.
2. Style Log options. For people making styles, this text files shows exactly which pattern was used in the song generation for every instrument and bar/beat. Useful in fixing errant patterns.
3. Styles can now contain RealTracks.
4. Styles can now use MIDI soloists. For example, make a style with a banjo part that has the same quality as the Band-in-a-Box Banjo Soloist.
5. Feature added to turn embellishment on/off for entire Style.
6. Style Flipping; convert “a” section to “b,” and vice versa.
Style Wizard enhanced
The Style Wizard converts a MIDI file to a style. Now you can also use Chord masks so that specific patterns over chords will get added to your style, and they will play exactly as in your MIDI file (just transposed).
Chord Editing (in-place entry/editing)
Press Ctrl+F2 or right click on a chord, and an Edit control allows you to see and edit the current chords.
“Fixed Do” Chord Entry and Display
In Italy, and parts of Europe, chords like C7 are always referred to by the Solfeggio name (“Do 7” for C7) regardless of the key signature. Band-in-a-Box now supports entry and display using “Fixed Do” (in addition to the Normal, Solfeggio, Nashville, and Roman numeral types.
Changes at any Bar (F5), can now specify a chorus
Previously, any changes at a bar would apply for every chorus. Now you can specify the change to happen for every chorus and/or a specific chorus. This applies to bar settings like: tempo changes, Style changes, RealDrums changes, patch changes, volume changes, and Harmony changes.
Notation Window Enhancements
1. Feature (confirmation dialog) to prevent accidental entry of a duplicate note (same pitch near same time).
2. Feature (confirmation dialog) to prevent accidental entry of a very high or very low note (large # of ledger lines).
3. Bar Number options
- Setting for bar # size on notation, lead sheet, and printout.
- Bar # options to include bar # on lead sheet and printout (every bar, part marker, page).
- Option to include substyle name when printing out “a,” “b,” etc.
- Bar # offset for printout and lead sheet.
Other Features
Tempo is set based on Style when choosing File | New. Instead of always resetting to tempo=140, the tempo is now the best tempo for the current Style.
Improved Enharmonics on slash chords. For example, a chord like Gm7b5/Db will display correctly using a Db instead of a Gm7b5/C#, since Band-in-a-Box now bases it on a Gm scale.
MIDI files now read in Section Markers and show up as part markers.
In the Style change dialog (F5, and others), you can now audition the Style that you are considering.
SongPicker dialog – more options added for
1. Find File.
2. File Open (all types).
3. And Favorite song dialog.
4. “BB” button that changes the current folder to the BB folder.
Audio Batch render
1. Option added to reset the DXi synth after each render. This insures that no audio (stuck notes etc.) from previous file is retained.
2. Cancel button for the Audio Batch added.
On-screen display of file name includes “*” when file has been changed.
Double Lines || drawn on chord sheet at bar before a part marker.
And many more!
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PC
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Mac
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Windows® 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / XP/Vista
Memory (RAM): Minimum 128MB.
Hard Disk space: 120 MB minimum for Pro version
(1 GB including RealDrums).
300 MB minimum for MegaPAK
(3 GB including RealDrums)
PC Sound Card or MIDI module.
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Version 11: Mac OS9, OS8
16 MB of available memory
Version 12: OS X (10.2 or higher recommended)
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