PG Music Band In A Box 2008 Superpack Arranger Software (Windows)

PG Music Band In A Box 2008 Superpack Arranger Software (Windows)
Band-in-a-Box 2008 is easy to use and jam-packed with features that you are sure to love! It adds RealTracks, MultiStyles, enhancements to the popular Audio Chord Wizard, RealDrums style changes, and much more.

With the previous release of Band-in-a-Box, you got RealDrums. Now it adds RealTracks with three additional “Real” instruments, including Real Pedal Steel, Real Acoustic Guitar, and Tenor Sax soloing (RealSax). Best of all, they follow the chord progression that you have entered, so that you hear an authentic audio accompaniment to your song.

MultiStyles - Now you get 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 newest Styles Sets are MultiStyles, typically with 4 substyles, but some Techno Styles have 24 substyles.

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.). The Audio Chord Wizard is a great way to learn and practice popular songs, as you play along and see the chords. It's got a Lead Sheet window that shows the chords for the whole song on a single screen, the ability to mark sections of the song using part markers, and many other improvements.

What is Band In A Box?
Band-in-a-Box is an intelligent automatic accompaniment program, which means that you can go from nothing to complete song arrangements in as little as a few seconds. Simply enter chords to a song, choose a style of music, and Band-in-a-Box does the rest, generating a full band arrangement complete with Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, Strings, and more. You can arrange, listen to, or play along with songs in hundreds of musical styles. The MIDI and audio tracks that Band-in-a-Box creates are automatically played out through your computer's built-in sound card or synthesizer, and the music notation is displayed in a lead sheet window.

Band-in-a-Box is a unique and flexible program with a broad range of uses. It is a powerful and creative music composition tool for exploring and developing musical ideas with near-instantaneous feedback. Amaze friends and family by coming up with your own original songs in as little as a few minutes! Band-in-a-Box is also an excellent educational tool, used both by professional musicians to sharpen their skills, and as a learning aid by people with little or no musical background. It's also an essential program for practicing your instrument in a full band setting - you play your instrument while Band-in-a-Box takes the place of the other members in your band. And of course, people use Band-in-a-Box just to have fun!

While the basic concept behind Band-in-a-Box has remained the same since it was first conceived over 20 years ago, hundreds of innovative features have been added. The list of things that you can do with Band-in-a-Box is endless! The Soloist, Melodist, and Audio Chord Wizard are examples of amazing "intelligent" features; the Soloist generates professional quality solos over any chord progression, the Melodist can create entire songs from scratch with Chords, Melodies, Intros, and Solos (even a Title!), the Medley Maker can combine songs to create interesting medleys, and the Audio Chord Wizard can figure out the chords in any audio file (wave files, MP3, WMA, etc.).

In addition to these and many more amazing features, over the years Band-in-a-Box has expanded from originally being a Jazz oriented program, to encompass a diverse range of musical genres including Pop, Rock, Latin, Country, Classical, World, Blues, Bluegrass, New Age, Techno, and much more. There is something for everyone! Over 1500 styles are currently available from PG Music and more are always being developed, many based directly on customer requests. Moreover, since each style is a large database of musical patterns and ideas, the song arrangements will always be fresh, never sounding exactly the same each time.

It's easy to get started using Band-in-a-Box. Here are the basic steps you might use to put together a song from start to finish...

• Input chords for your song. Choose a key/tempo and set the number of bars/choruses/loops,etc. You can type in the chord symbols using the computer (qwerty) keyboard, however it's also possible to enter chords in other ways: You can play the chords from a connected MIDI keyboard and use MIDI Chord Detection, you can use the built-in Chord Builder, and you can even have Band-in-a-Box figure out the chords in any MIDI or audio file. The chords that you input can include common chord symbols such as C7, Cm, and Cmaj7, or more complex chords such as Csus#5#9 and C7#5b9#11. Over 100 chords are supported, plus you can enter an alternate root for any chord (slash chord).
• Choose a style of music using the StylePicker Window. You can quickly and easily preview your song in many different styles, or you can listen to original demo songs for any of the PG Music styles available. Styles will use up to five tracks for the accompaniment, depending on what is suitable for that specific style. For example, a Classical style might only use the Piano track, while a Rock style may use Bass, Drums, and Guitar.
• Arrange your song using automatic intros, 2-bar endings, substyle variations, drum fills, intelligent chord substitutions, pushes, shots, rests, and more!
• Press Play to have Band-in-a-Box instantly develop an original arrangement for your song, which is played back through the sound card or MIDI synthesizer of your choice. For playback, you can use a software synth (stand-alone/DXi/VSTi) such as the VSC-DXi included with Band-in-a-Box, or a hardware synth (sound card synth/MIDI keyboard/sound module). In addition to MIDI tracks, Band-in-a-Box also generates original audio tracks called RealDrums and RealTracks.
• Input your own instrumental melody/solo track using an external MIDI keyboard, or by using your computer mouse and keyboard in the Editable Notation window. Or, have Band-in-a-Box create the solo and melody for you using the Melodist and Soloist!
• Record an audio track. You could use a microphone to record yourself singing, then harmonize your vocal track using the built-in audio harmonizer.
• Make an audio CD of your music! Render your song to a wave file and burn a CD, then play the CD in any standard CD player.

You can use Band-in-a-Box on virtually any computer, and you don't need any special equipment! PG works hard to make sure Band-in-a-Box remains compatible with older computers, while also working flawlessly with the newest systems available.

You can get the most out of Band-in-a-Box by having a fairly up-to-date computer, a good quality sound card, and even a MIDI keyboard, but these are not requirements. Here are some more details that you may want to consider, depending on how you will be using Band-in-a-Box.

• General system requirements (Band-in-a-Box for Windows). Band-in-a-Box runs on Windows 98 (98SE preferred), NT, ME, 2000, XP, and Vista, and requires a minimum of 128MB available RAM (256MB or greater preferred). You should have a minimum of about 150MB (for the Pro version) or 300 MB (for the MegaPAK) of free hard disk space. This doesn't include the RealDrums, which require more hard disk space - about 600-900 MB per RealDrums set when decompressed. It is possible to decompress only some of the RealDrums styles on each set if you are low on hard disk space. If you are planning on recording digital audio tracks with your songs (e.g. vocals), this will also require a little more hard disk space, about 10 MB per minute of recording.
• Sound card and MIDI sound source. Band-in-a-Box is largely a MIDI program, and therefore requires a MIDI sound source (MIDI synthesizer). As mentioned, you don't need any special equipment; your computer most likely has a sound card and MIDI sound source built-in. In addition, we include a high quality software MIDI synthesizer with Band-in-a-Box that anyone can use - the Roland VSC.
• There are different types of MIDI synthesizers, and as you might expect, they vary greatly in price and quality. A MIDI synth might be built into your sound card, it might be a software MIDI synth such as the VSC or widely available GS Wavetable, or it might be an external hardware unit that you connect to your computer. External MIDI synthesizers include compact sound modules such as the SD-20, or full MIDI synthesizer keyboards. These may be connected to your computer with MIDI cables and/or a MIDI interface that connects to the USB port on your computer.
• External MIDI controllers. As mentioned above, you can use an external MIDI synthesizer as your sound generator. You can also use a MIDI keyboard, MIDI guitar, or MIDI wind controller to record or play live along with Band-in-a-Box. This is certainly not a requirement to use Band-in-a-Box, but it can augment your experience and aid in practicing and composition. For example, you could enter chords using MIDI Chord Detection, or record melodies and edit them in the Notation Window. The most inexpensive and convenient MIDI keyboards are simply MIDI controllers which don't generate sound by themselves. Most are simple to use - simply connect them to a USB port on your computer and select the MIDI Input Driver in Band-in-a-Box. Other synths you connect with MIDI cables and/or a MIDI interface.
• Audio playback and recording. For audio playback and recording, advanced users can benefit from having a dedicated sound card or audio interface - in other words, a sound card that is separate from the one that might have come as part of your computer's motherboard. If you will be doing audio recording, you can plug in your equipment directly to the sound card (often stereo 1/8" jacks), or for better results with "built-in" soundscards, use a pre-amp or mixer and plug that into your sound card's line-in jack. You may wish to have headphones for monitoring.
• Speakers. This may sound obvious, but it is often overlooked... A good set of amplified speakers or headphones can make a world of difference, especially if you are using a laptop computer.
• Other software programs. You certainly don't need any other programs to use Band-in-a-Box, however many people use a sequencer like PowerTracks Pro Audio in conjunction with Band-in-a-Box. This is because you can save your Band-in-a-Box songs as standard MIDI or wave files which can be imported into other programs for further editing. You can import these files into a multi-track sequencer/digital audio editor (like PowerTracks), then fine-tune your performances, record extra audio tracks, add digital audio effects, and so on.