BAND IN A BOX help

busaclub · #1 October 6th, 2006

hi im wondering can you help me, i have band in a box and i cant use it for love nor money
i would just like to set it up as backing drums we will say for No women no cry how do i do this or any other song for that matter its 2005 /163 version

justinthyme · #2 October 6th, 2006

BB is no lightweight program, for sure. When I bought it I fondly imagined there'd be loads of tutorials and other support on the 'net (should have looked first!). I have the tutorial videos supplied with the program, but they just move too fast for my old brain to follow. Bottom line - I have shelved it for now and instead use GuitarPro for making quick BTs. MIDI, I'm afraid, so the sounds (on my machine anyway) are very limited - but better than nothing.

At the time I bought BB it was a toss-up between that and another program called Jammer, which was *far* more intuitive and would have been a better choice for me in retrospect.

There was a thread about BB here Band in a Box 2006

Not terribly helpful, I know - but you might consider GuitarPro to at least have some way of making simple BTs whilst you learn BB. Others may have better advice.

lorispencer · #3 October 7th, 2006

I use both band in the box and guitar pro. Band in the box is really incredible in what it can do but sometimes can be a pain. I do use the drums only sometimes and the easiest way to do that is
1) start a new song with the defauls of 'C' chord for 33 measures - what comes up with each blank song.
2) pick a style in the style picker box that is close to what you want, set the speed that you want.
3) go to the top and right click each radio button for instruments except drums. this will turn these instruments to red (you should have bass, piano, guitar, strings along with some others) this will silence everything except drums.
4) if you know that you want a change of drum pattern such as a roll to a verse in measure 14 or a roll that goes nowwhere in measure 12 those are easy to do. just right click the measure number that you want a change to get what you want. click once for the 'a' pattern and twice for the 'b' pattern. you will see that letter now added after the measure number and you will also see a colored block on that measure number.

i create backing tracks in band in the box to use for some songs when i play solo and also use it to work on arrangements for bands. attached is an example of me playing Misty over a simple track created in band in the box. allows me to put in a bass line whcih i can't do with just a drum track. i save these backing tracks as mp3, download to my mp3 player, and just use it running through my amp or mixer to play them - very simple setup

justinthyme · #4 October 7th, 2006

Hey Lori - very nice BT and playing! Thanks for the mini-tut. Forum rules now require that you post several more BIAB tutorials for those of us who ermmm, struggle with stuff

busaclub · #5 October 7th, 2006

lori must say thats prety cool good job ,
tell me what would you do if you were to go for the backing of no women no cry i cant find anything close even the reggie or the beat

lorispencer · #6 October 7th, 2006

I actually do have a Reggae style in mine but i have purchased lots of additional styles and download all of the new free ones as they come up. There is a specific bob marley style in a package by norton music at http://www.nortonmusic.com/style8.html . You have to slow it down a bunch for it to work with no woman, no cry. other than that i would begin with a basic light rock 4/4 - one with few frills.

lorispencer · #7 October 7th, 2006

Depending on when and where you purchased your band you should have had styles set 1 included. it has a reggie_2 style that is pretty good. you can here it here. If not, you can purchase that set. you can also upload audio files and midi's into your band in the box if this is a style that you use alot. you can then create a template and reuse and just change the chords for each new song. I right clicked on the Midi version of the Reggie song at the link above and save as a Midi file. i then imported the file into band and changed the chords to match no women, no cry to get the sound that i wanted. it was not exactly the recording but it is a good place to start.

jhoita · #8 October 7th, 2006

Hi busaclub
I also have "band in the Box" and Guitar Pro5.

I came across 3 programs that I use all the time now to record, edit, mix my tracks. Very user friendly. Check out a couple of me tunes to get an idea on how they sound. And I am just a beginner at recordng and mixing.

I don't use Band in the Box anymore. Most diffently I use Guitar Pro5.

The one that may be of use to you is Beatcraft. You can go for years and years creating drum beats for all types of music. Very simple and user-friendly.

Have fun
Regards
John

krissovo · #9 October 7th, 2006

I must admit I gave up with Band in a Box and got a drum machine but after reading this I have had another play with the software and I think I might have something that I can use.

Thank you so much Lori, I value your input and I look forward to any other cool tips that you have for this software or anyother guitar related input you have as it is all quaility.

cshude · #10 October 8th, 2006

http://www.pgmusic.com/ubbthreads/po...1&lang=english
Visit pgmusic's forum for BIAB- if you have a question, that's the place to ask it. NOt only do you have tons of users, but the developers watch the forums pretty closely.

I use their audio recording software- PowerTracks Pro Audio and have gotten lots of help with that program from their forum.

justinthyme · #11 October 8th, 2006

Thanks for the link, Chris. I see there are also a number of tutorial videos at:

http://www.pgmusic.com/bbdemovideos.htm

Think I'll have another go at using BIAB ...