I decided to share these with you all - the most AMAZING piece of music creating "anything" I've found to date. Listen and judge for yourself.

All of these are style play only (no melody attached apart from what is contained in the basic style) - unique (at least in my opinion) to any arranger available today.

I am honestly of the opinion that no serious recording artist should be without this package as all the rest will have a definite advantage over you. For the rest, using this, you can easily create your own unique backing tracks in the comfort of your living room. And it is much, much easier to do than you might realize. Of everything related to music, nothing blows me away more than BiaB.

Demo 001

Demo 002

Demo 003

Demo 004

Demo 005

Demo 006

Demo 007

Demo 008

Demo 009

Demo 010

Demo 011

Demo 012

Demo 013

Demo 014

Demo 015

Demo 016

Demo 017

Demo 018

Demo 019

Demo 020

Demo 021

Demo 022

Some heavies:

Demo 111

Demo 112

Demo 113

Demo 114

Demo 115

Demo 116

Demo 117

Demo 118

Demo 119

Demo 120

Demo 121

Demo 122

Demo 123

Demo 124

Demo 125

Demo 126

Demo 127

Demo 128

Demo 129

Which instruments are for these styles? Sound good

All live real instruments playing to your chords. Amazing is it not? More or less similar to the Ketron Event.

Hey Henni, Did you trigger these styles from your Yamaha in real time? Also, what about intros and endings?

Just out of interest - I am not at all playing one against the other. Everything here is nothing more & nothing less than just my personal opinion.

Easiest way to make a backtrack.

Find MANY more demos here:

These are collections of Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks demo songs, which have artist performances on the Melody track. They are different from a "RealTracks" track since they aren't generated by Band-in-a-Box®, but rather are recordings of the Artist playing melodies or solos along to the Band-in-a-Box® generated accompaniment tracks.

Artist Performance tracks are great for learning-from-the-Pros, since all the Tracks include audio (stretchable to any tempo), notation, on-screen guitar, and guitar tab. Performances typically have a melody for two choruses, followed by a solo for two choruses (one simple chorus and a second advanced chorus).

Live renderings

Band-in-a-Box® Radio

All Realtracks

Good for amateurs

Good one

More good ones

Wow!!! This guy is a smooth BiaB operator!

More amazing stuff - instrumental

Wow, another smooth operator!

Not bad at all

Piano only Don't think this one uses BiaB, but it is nice so stay it does...


Please remember that most of these could be created by just you alone whilst relaxing in you living room (or music room) - that is what makes all of this so amazing.

I think I am more or less done. Sure hope I've wet your appetite as I get the impression many around here did not know much about this fantastic package.

As soon as I have my own copy of it, I will start to post some my creations over here. If I can only afford one instrument for the duration of my life then it would be BiaB. Should I be more blessed, then next an full Ajamsonic Event and next a Genos - precisely in that order. That should keep me busy for awhile

As a sidenote:

All the demos recorded by me are the default demos that come with the style. I.o.w. if you select any style, it will create a new work page in your main working windows with these specific chords and "variations" as recorded in the demo. This makes for a nice start of your new song. Now you can chop & change at your own leasure till you end up with your very own unique song. BiaB also has the option of ramdomly adding new chords with their unique progressions to any style. This was specifically created so you could play through these unlimited random versions until something inspires you to write a new song from that point onwards.

Henni, BIAB is definitely an interesting and exciting program that has continued to mature with each annual update. It has been discussed here many times. My personal opinion regarding BIAB is although it is a great program, it is a daunting task to dive in and master its capabilities. Along with that…until PG Music figures out a way to make it a real time midi controlled program, will it compete with the powerful hardware arrangers on the market today. Great job sharing all the demos!

Hi Jingleman,

I understand the problem. Arrangers are Realtime only. I.o.w it has no idea what progression of chords follow next. BiaB does. So even before anything plays, it is fully optimized for those specific sequence of chord changes. No ways can it be achieved in realtime.

I thought long & hard about this. One solution for an arranger like i.e. the Ketron Event would be to have a "Learn" button. So when you play live, anytime you enter any repetitive section, you select this button on the fly at the start & precisely at the end of the repetition.

Now the arranger can do EXACTLY the same as BiaB for the next repetition. The result should be spectacular. It would be like a "Variation 1" for the first session and more complex variations for the rest to follow.

But yes, BiaB could tone down their solo sections for Realtime playing and allow you to interface with something that can influence whatever is currently playing. That would really create something AWESOME!!! I will not be surprised if they are already working on such an idea.

In any case, with the newest arranger technology, one can at least create something in an audio format with BiaB that could interface with the arranger (i.e. a multipad) and use this to GREATLY enhance your performance. Pity I do not have an arranger for now as I could demonstrate this with awesomeness. This would be the natural way to go for me.

As far as I understand, the Ketron Event would make this easier than anything else.

Also, think what would happen if Ketron could come to some sort of a financial arrangement with BiaB to use some of their styles and voices. They have such a vast database (I mentioned 11500 before). Yes, many of these utilize the same style, but you can browse in completely different audio sections into ANY track of ANY style which IMMEDIATELY makes for a complete new style.

A chord looper (Or as Roland called it a chord sequencer) has been available on Roland keyboards since the 2000s, Korg also added it, as well as the software arranger vArranger.
If you are using a computer there are 100s & 100s of VSTs on the market to get whatever sounds you want, and if you use vARranger or a Wersi OAX instrument they can load and use any VST you want.
Look at what's in modern arrangers (Or if you really want to go to town Workstations) and you can do pretty much anything you want.
BIAB is a fantastic program that has really evolved, and if you want to use it with a keyboard, just record the output as an audio file, load it into your keyboard (Most instruments can play audio files) and play along to it.
Anyway, thanks for posting, it's always interesting.

Bill

Simply amazing Henni,
Thanks for once again sharing "what ya got"

Thanks for sharing. Something to look into 😎

Because I finally received some response, I've decided to continue with the demos. Only now I will list ALL the styles I like and not ONLY the ones that cannot be re-created on an arranger.

You all know how much I love styles so creating & listening to these fulfil me more than I could say. If you decide that you've had enough, only tell me so & I'll stop. There are MANY more to listen to.

Hi Henni,
It is nice to hear from you again. I miss your posts from the good old days, in your missionary endeavors. So many of us have experienced a decline in gigs, but we still stay involved in our passion regardless. I think it is great that you went through all that work illustrating BIAB. I have the 2021 Ultimate, which I never really learned. Now might be a good time.

Stay well my friend

Hi Bernie my friend,

Yes, those really were the good days. Hard to believe everything that happened since.

Wow!!! You should really put your BiaB to use - it is a FANTASATIC program to put it mildly.

I thoroughly enjoy creating these style demos. I have ALWAYS been a lover of styles and I can never get enough of it - I can literally sit & listen to these over & over for hours on end. They are easily the best styles I've ever came across.

Tx for your response. Keep well my friend,

Henni

Hi Hani where are the links to download thethe styles?

All Realtracks

Unfortunately I no longer have any arranger, so it has been many years since creating (modifying) my last style.

This Topic is only about sharing what could be had with BiaB which is a commercial product. I am not at all affiliated to them, just someone extremely impressed with what they've achieved.

I wanted to at least include some Jazz styles - I am no lover of Jazz. They sound pathetic to me. So unless someone request more, I will no longer demo them. There are a great many of them. They should fire the person who provided the chord changes for the demos of those styles. Sorry if you did not enjoy those.

I know nothing about BIAB. How do you use
It? What version is best to buy? Does it run
On Apple computers? Does it need a midi
Keyboard? At age 83 I’m researching ways
to play my gigs with lighter gear. How does
BIAB compare to my Ketron SD40?

Deane

Hi Deane,

1. No, no keyboard needed. I suggest that you convert all your gig midi files to Real Tracks. It is really easy. Maybe not for the first few, but definitely thereafter. The midi file will lay down the chords, tempo, key etc. which simplifies the process. BiaB will suggest the best styles for almost any song you can think of. If you want you can completely delete the midi tracks afterwards as you now have a full real band backing your vocals.

2. Then you play your backtracks as MP3s on your laptop, same as you did for your midis. Only MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more realistic. You do not need BiaB for this - only to create all your songs.

3. Listen to my converted midi versions - I am sure you can do much better as I only had use of the program for a short while.

4. Version depends on what you are willing to spend. Visit my links to PG Music, listen to the demos and then decide how much you want or need.

5. You can start with the most basic version, mess around with it first & then add what you need.

6. I don't think your Apple Computer will be a problem.

7. I am sure someone over at Sweetwater, PG Music etc. would love to assist you in starting your new journey.

8. Carefully study the next three videos (especially the last two) to see just how easy this realy is.

Henni

Hi all,

I think to follow on from this topic go here should you wish to follow more demos.

I am busy with too many demos simultaneously. I do not wish to be sidetracked. The other thread will demo BiaB in real live playing scenarios. I think it would only be a natural follow on from here. Better to see what exactly you can do with it than listening to hundreds of style demos.

I think it should inspire you to get a copy & do the same. I listed enough material to show you exactly how to do it.

Please note, this topic should really continue, only I will no longer post new demos over here.

Cheers,

Henni

I remember all the comments over the years how you cannot edit audio like you can midi. Well, the folks at BiaB have changed all of that (they are BRILLIANT!!!) Look at this video (especially the last part of it on the drum tracks) - I'm sure you will be blown away with what they've achieved.

What is possible - someone made a backtrack of the song in the video below - in my opinion just as good as the original. No midi used, only styles & Realtracks. Used ONLY BiaB - no DAW involved:

All I want is you

Here’s the rub… create a BIAB recording (or use a commercial backing track) you’re basically functionally back to using SMF’s. Start at the beginning (very few arrangers can jump around within the file like many computer programs can) play to the end. Period.

No opportunity to mess with the song, no chance to change structure (add extra solos etc), no medleys on the fly, no easy transposition to different keys (again, few arrangers have really high quality file transposition, change more than one half step, quality drops off radically).

Decades ago, most arranger players decided to use the arranger rather than a decent workstation for its on the fly flexibility. Even back then, you lost a bit of quality compared to a good WS, and even today you lost a bit of editing flexibility. But nothing else allowed you freedom to improvise better than the arranger.

Using BIAB to make tracks using real audio parts has been around for decades. And the results have long surpassed the arranger. But you can’t play it live. So this seems to be useful by those that use mostly tracks.

Nowadays, compared to when Real Tracks came out, there has been a radical drop in the price of high quality multitrack files. To the point of perhaps working out cheaper than BIAB with a whole slew of Real Tracks packs. Depending on how many you have the time to make, or how fast you think you’d pick up the complexities of the program (and have a fast enough computer to deal with multiple real audio tracks) you may end up spending a ton more than you’d have done shopping around the backing track sites.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always had a soft spot for BIAB from its first days as a MIDI only track generator. But the scenery has changed since the 90’s (it came out in 1990 and ran on PC and my great Atari ST) and it faces a lot more challenges and has ballooned in price massively when you go get those Real Tracks..!

Yes, I remember what I said. But something changed my mind. So now even more beautiful style demos will follow.

I guess we’ll have to disagree with calling them styles. I think on a non-arranger player site, you’d be bang on the money. But anywhere where arranger players gather, unless it’s real-time it’s not really a ‘style’…

Of course it’s mostly semantics, and the results are definitely a step up from most arrangers, but calling them styles on an arranger forum might end up confusing many. I think that calling it a semiautomatic way of creating backing tracks is a bit closer to the truth, in arranger terms.

And sorry for not chiming in sooner, but welcome back Henni..! Great to see you back here, even if not as an arranger player any more. Please feel free to share about how your ministry and life in general have gone. I always admired how you used your talent to help others and spread love… ♥️

Hi Diki,

Thank you for your kind words.

What follows now is my own personal opinion:

To me, those things are still styles. They sound like styles and are used just like styles even though the arrangement is no longer in real-time.

BiaB makes it nearly impossible for any one with an arranger to compete successfully in the commercial music market. Yes, the arranger is well suited for the gigging world, but lack finesse when it comes to producing music (especially new music) for the broadcasting sector. Also, the FULL version of BiaB is much, much, much more affordable than most arrangers & it comes with 11,500 very, very high quality "styles".

Yes, I know this comment will draw a lot of flak, but I'll stick to my opinion. As far as the creation of new music is concerned, I am rather convinced that very little can compete with the newest BiaB.

The next major breakthrough would be to adapt BiaB to also cater for real-time playing albeit a bit toned down. Imagine if Ketron could make use of everything already created by BiaB for their new Event follow up. Also, we are now comparing many thousand of "styles" to the limited four hundred or so on most arrangers.

You'll realize that, as I demo many, many more "styles", they are ALL of exceptional quality & very pleasing & inspiring to listen to. Listen how seamlessly the solo sections follow the odd chord changes to even the finest detail - they seem to have mastered that now in their newest release. No arranger has ever inspired me more although I would still use one as soon as I can afford.

Keep well my friend.

Henni

As one that uses tracks primarily, I’m in your corner on this one Henni, but I usually have to moderate my own opinions on this by remembering this is still an ARRANGER forum (and by extension, an arranger PLAYER’S site) so I have to keep this in mind.

Use BIAB to create your track, it then becomes immaterial what device it’s played on, arranger, workstation, laptop tracks player, even a smartphone!

There’s one other aspect I haven’t touched on. Arrangers are primarily an amateur keyboard. Don’t all get mad, there’s plenty of us pros that love them too! But by the numbers, I’d say the majority of them end up in the hands of hobbyists and beginners. And if there’s ONE thing that the arranger does that no other backing system can, that is to accommodate players that might throw an accidental extra bar in, or miss a cue and start late. Backing track has no idea what you are doing. But an arranger will happily throw in an extra bar, or an extra bar or two, or jump to the ‘one’ instantly if you accidentally came in in the middle of a bar! They are very forgiving to beginner players…

I like the end results of much of what BIAB does. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter one whit what you play the file on! We can debate up and down all day whether it’s an arranger or whether it’s a backing track generator, but the bottom line is, you can’t ‘play’ it. Which makes it moot..!

You are correct - most of the time my enthusiasm gets the better of me. Please forgive me. The one thing in life I am avoiding like the plague is making waves. My life has not been easy in the latter part despite my good intentions. It hurts sore...

Nothing wrong with making a few waves! I’ve been known to generate the odd tsunami! 😂

Remembering who the reader is goes a long way to showing us the way to evangelize a product. BIAB is a great way to quickly generate quite convincing tracks. In some ways, the Event is running along the same lines, but in real-time, an actual ARRANGER.

But BIAB’s content seems massively larger, and the offline nature of its track generator sidesteps (as BIAB has always done) many of the unavoidable consequences of the style engine never knowing the next chord until you play it! Better voice leading and smoothness of transitions has always been a BIAB ‘edge’. I don’t honestly see the Event ever solving that while it’s real-time.

Something that always excited me was the idea of a BIAB type style player that worked on the chord sequencer’s data. There, the arranger actually DOES know the next chord before it’s played. Seems the prefect opportunity to get those better transitions and voice leading tricks that BIAB does so well!

I think it helps un-muddy the water not using ‘styles’ interchangeably on an arranger forum, where we already have a pretty firm definition for the term. And a good clear statement that this is NOT a real-time arranger style.

But for those of us using tracks primarily, it’s an amazing product, especially compared to its earliest incarnation as a Sound Canvas SMF generator with no audio at all..! 🎹👍🏼

One thing that strikes me as a killer use for BIAB using the audio tracks if you have an Event is, this might be the way to add a massive library of well played, solid tempo real guitar loops with FULL choice of chords and voicing in a myriad of styles!

The Event is capable of streaming from a huge selection of chord types, but obviously, it’s damn expensive to create an entire style library with all chords, all keys, so only a subset of the styles allow more complex chords like sus4, aug6th, 11th, 13th etc. BIAB got all of them (mostly!).

So using BIAB to export the guitar loops (or bass, or drums, whatever) might allow for a good way to turn a BIAB ‘style’ (see?! I said it myself!😂) into an actual live style in the Event!

This might be the best thing that ever happened to Ketron, who have always been a bit light on content with full chord type availability. This makes it SO much easier to stitch a live audio style together than hiring guitarists!

I guess the only caveat might be, if you want to create AND SELL styles with BIAB’s Live Loops in them, you might have to be careful whether that is infringement or not… But for private use only (live gigs) I see no reason this is illegal. Just don’t try to sell them!

My thoughts precisely!!! I could not have said this better.

Also, notice how some of the newer BiaB styles now have up to eight distinctive variations - the differences are not subtle at all, but see how they seamlessly flow into one another.

For all BiaB users, here are some good links to make things easier for you:

As easy as this

More free stuff

Good commercial site

More commercial stuff


Tip:

1. Create a directory called "Songs" in your main bb folder.

2. Put these files in there & organize to your liking.

3. Select File "Open" on top in your main window & select anyone of your song files.

4. Viola, play & sing along to your hearts content. All the hard work has been done for you.

5. Make any changes you want as save as a new song file.

There are thousands more style demos. However, what follows now are backtracks made by ordinary users - freely available for public use. This will demonstrate what can be created by yourself at home, in your living room with BiaB alone:

Waiting on a friend

Pode morar aqui

Tears in heaven

Wicked game

Youre my best friend

Foolish heart

Streets of philadelphia

With or without you

Cocaine

Desperado

Oh Darling

Moonlight Shadow

Guantanamera

A New Way To Fly

Amarillo By Morning

American Saturday Night

Dear Prudence

Suzie Q

Hi Henni

All good stuff. Life got in the way, but I will get back to you soon.

Find more great BiaB related stuff here:

More BiaB free resouces

Also, as you use BiaB more, everything becomes easier. The full production of my versions of Tears in Heaven by Henni & Hey Jude by Henni took less than a half day each to create. I suspect that soon I would be able to create a FULL song with all its parts in a few hours only.

Thus it will not take all that long to create a full repertoire with all the songs for your live performances. Remember that if you make a backtrack only you do not even need to bother with fine tuning a midi style which takes up most of the work. Also - a lot of backtracks have already been created for you (see all my links to this). So all you have to do is to taylor it slightly for your specific renderings (should you even want to do this).

Should you bother at all to re-master your creations:

Imagine

1976 Alan Jackson

Speed Of The Sound Of Lonliness

Pride and Joy

you will really end up by leaving a good impression.

BiaB and the TyRUS midi output module makes for a GREAT!!! combination.

Slunky TyRUS fun by Henni

RokChick TyRUS fun by Henni

This is truly AMAZING!!! Only discovered this today:

I've been using BIAB since its early DOS days and bought every version since then. I use it for songwriting. I also collected all the TOTL arrangers with the intention to use them for songwriting, but have never found them as productive as BIAB for songwriting. The Korg PA5x, with its dual players and chord sequence function, is the first arranger that lets me work like I do in BIAB. Play in the chords into a PA5x chord sequence (vs typing them in in BIAB), try different styles to find the right one, mix and match parts of styles using the dual players (as shown in the Qui Robinez video), and then generate the tracks in the PA5X. I can do the same thing on BIAB using its real audio tracks and have the best of BIAB audio and Korg midi to mix and match in my DAW. I'm just getting started with the PA5x, but BIAB and PA5x make a great combination.

Hi Ric4001,

Interesting indeed - I never knew the Korg could do that. I am really happy for your killer combination. You are welcome to post links of snippets/full versions of your creations over here should you wish.

Keep well my friend,

Henni

What are your thoughts on PowerTracks, also by PG Music? I used BIAB long time ago, then PowerTracks, and now, that I'm older and lazier, Song Galaxy Multi-Tracks by PG Music. Excellent job on presenting a great program, BIAB.

Glenn

Hi Glenn,

I have not come across those as yet, so I cannot comment. Tx for making us aware.

Cheers,

Henni

Hi Henni
There is no question but that the BIAB styles are very good. Would it be safe to say most resulting songs are made by simply copying the chords from a lead sheet, or additional data entered to be more creative?

Bernie

"We do this not because it's easy, but because it's hard" --JFK

It's true, BIAB is a remarkable program (totally outclasses any of it's would-be competitors). HOWEVER, what's the goal here? It's like a sophisticated musical game where you can play 'Amazing Grace' as a Jazz Waltz (with virtually no effort on your part). Very few musicians will recognize or acknowledge your talent from a composition you created with BIAB. That's not to say that it has no uses or has no value. It can give you ideas for an arrangement, help you learn a song quickly (if your aim is to actually PLAY it), or even create something that would make the original composer want to kill you .

Music is such a personal thing. For me, I'd rather develop a 'signature' sound rather than create something that anyone with a computer and $99 bucks could easily duplicate. But that's just me. Your attitude towards the program and usage of it is 100% valid for YOU. As a novelty program or even as a learning tool, it certainly has value. To make it the primary basis for one's musical endeavors....I'm not so sure. YMMV. I just feel that there is no substitute for putting in the time and effort to learn to play. Arrangers are a step away from that; BIAB is one step further. Some of the BIAB arrangements are very nice; congratulations to the composers and arrangers that created them.

chas

Agree 100%

Bill

I bet a great many hits being played on the airways were created with BiaB. I know for a fact that some make their career & income from it.

Would love your take on the latest music created with the help of AI - the "artists/musicians" are making a killing with it. No use kicking against the pricks. We are old - some of us even gone. On PSRTutorial they are discussing the trend of arrangers when we old folks are gone and they are 100% correct. The world & it's technology moves on regardless of our personal opinion.

We had it our way & now it's their turn & BiaB definitely caters for moving in that direction.

One thing I'll state: I am having more fun with BiaB than with anything else till now. And I thoroughly enjoyed ALL of my arrangers as well as my many contributions for every one of those arrangers. But then, that's ME! Most of these folks perform regularly as one man bands and notice how they use BiaB for that purpose. This planet is certainly filled with all sorts of musicians and to each his own - as long as we have fun!

I see no reason to critisize others for the specific method they choose to live out their talents.

And then a final thought - I would LOVE to see more post their music that they created with their specific instruments of choice over here to inspire the rest of us. Bar AJ, why do I feel so alone in doing so? There ought to be many more topics like this one highlighting all the other great instruments being used out there.

Would it not be great if one of you would start a topic for i.e. ALL the arrangers where others are encouraged to post their renditions of their models over here. Nice & neat & all in one topic for all to follow. I suggest keeping it in MP3 format with links to i.e. Boxnet like I do in order not to use up all bandwidth over here.

Anyways, just an idea...

Technology is a great servant, but a very bad master, hence if you go back to the various times when technology ruled in music, the music sucked and became the equivalent of Karaoke, fortunately (As usual) musicianship came back, and music moved forward.

Bill

I think that any form of auto accompaniment has an important role for the solo musician…

Not to be included in the final mix, but as an inspiring starting place for you to be able to play without that dreaded ‘blank paper’ moment early in production. Usually, in studio work, the rhythm section is tracked as a whole, and then sweetening is added afterwards. But the solo musician, if he doesn’t use accompaniment tools, has to lay down each part (especially the first couple of rhythm) without the benefit of anything else to play WITH, and it’s that interaction that leads to a more cohesive performance.

So I’ve no problem with their place in the studio or backing track preparation. But…

The magic that is humans playing real music is generally (hopefully!) far superior to machines playing little chunks that are stitched together using one system or another. The subtle variations that humans impart is something that may sometimes be difficult to hear but is obvious in its absence.

Now yes, we’ve had 20 years of dance music that WAS originally created using repetitive loops, and if that’s what you’re trying to do the machine deserves its spot in the final mix. But if you’re trying to make music based on an older aesthetic, it deserves to be through played, from beginning to end, like the original.

Generally, I love auto accompaniment to get the ball rolling, but gradually each part gets replaced by a played part, whether by me or a studio musician. I think it’s worth the time…

1. The ONLY difference between BiaB and an arranger is that one operates in realtime & the other not.

2. So EVERYTHING stated in the last few posts apply equally to the arranger as well.

3. The Ketron Event is the best attempt to date to merge these two technologies.

4. You guys AMAZE me with your "wisdom". And you should really consider pulling your review. Too automated for use by a pure musician...

5. You should also really post more of your creations over here instead like I do. That way others will be inspired by your contributions.