Hello all,
Do any of you have experience with computer based arrangers like band in a box? (www.pgmusic.com) How does it compare to your arrangers? Do the styles compare in quality? I don't have either...but I do have a triton and an xp-80.

Thanks,
jj

BIB is not a "real time" arranger. The quality of the actual styles is pretty good, but they are not the same animal to compare.

Dave is right, with "Band in a Box" you need to program all the chord changes into the computer first much like a sequencer whilst an arranger keyboard is realtime, meaning you can trigger and change the accompaniments and chords in realtime on the keyboard.

S.

half,
BIAB has some great styles and arrangements. By "programming, all that entails is typing in what chords you want to be played. Jammer pro also works like that, but less style selection. The problem I see with both of these is, you don't get to play any instrument. It's basically data entry and falls into a different catagorey musically...."desktop musician." All depends on how you want to make your music.
Terry

I have used Biab for a while, and it is a great sequencing help, builds a song in minutes. Some styles are real good, others not so. Intros and outros are not very good.
However, it is a fantastic practice tool, and you can build some decent midifiles.


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Roy-Andrè

I use BIAB a lot in a solo setup with my tracks burned to a CD-R and running them through a stereo PA. It works great in small social venues where they want easy-listening background music and where you can play about anything you want. Now, dance tunes with special requests is another thing. BIAB has enough styles available to please just about anyone's tastes.

Not mention, PG Music's support is excellent. You can call there and a human being answers the phone. Wow, what a concept!
Terry

BIAB is a quick and dirty (or not so dirty ) way to get something going. You can generate tons of midi files and then call it your own sequencing(?) in a very short time. I have a few chord progression that I always use when sitting at a new instrument and so if you can use the same thing for many of the styles that BIAB has and generate the midi files from them, you're good to do your solos on top of that. I own a couple of the Korg arrangers and none of them can produce the work as fast as BIAB, maybe as fast, but definitely not as accurate.

..rb


PS. Terry, did you get your Tyro yet?

Dito on all the positives for band-in-a-box. A song can be created in a few minutes by typing in the chords and then selecting a style from hundreds to choose from. Each style has two variations plus "fills" can be inserted. I also have the XP-80, which can receive files from biab once they are rendered to midi.

Better yet, for another $29 you can have PowerTracks, which is PG Music's sequencer. I should add, that PT has got to be the best music bargin around... and every time I read a review on one of the "heavy-hitter" sequencers, I see nothing I need or want to do that I can't already do in PT.

Once dumped into PT, you can add audio tracks, edit (with unlimited un-dos), utilize plug-ins, add effects, "humanize" your tracks with groove, and do your final mix. If you add a software librarian/jukebox, you have an efficient utility for playing hundreds of songs live with you laptop.

And yes, make it "live" by playing the lead. You can, of course, map your sequencer to play the voices from your XP-80 or any arranger keyboard.

Glenn

Of course, you should be able to map a BB pattern into a style, provided you know how to edit it.......