Band In A Box 10 for Windows is out. It is not yet a realtime arranger. However, it apparently has some realtime harmony features. It can do for a midi note what a vocalist does for an audio note in real time.

Clif & all,

Band in A Box has indeed progressed and is a great tool for use in practice and rehearsal, but I think it is not "yet" suited for use in professional performance (as auto-accompaniment backup) because its' styles sound too 'quantized', giving them a slightly stiff feel which does'nt breathe enough. Increasing the program's midi timing resolution (note quantization level) would improve this greatly. Of course the styles would also have to be re-done to take advantage of this increased midi note resolution.

I see the "potential" of Band In A Box developing into a fantastic full blown "software driven" realtime arranger (triggering harmonies in real time via keyboard playing on any midi keyboard). But to make Band In A Box a true real time software auto-accompaniment arranger, you would also need to be able to trigger fills, intros/endings. But I do think this is possible for the folks at PG Music (producers of Band In A Box) to accomplish. If the makers of Band In A Box (or some other person or company) could just do this, in addition to increasing the midi timing resolution (note quantization level) of their program to a minimum acceptable professional level of at least 192 parts per quarter note, this could revolutionize realtime arranger keyboard playing. No longer would we be required to play dedicated arranger keyboards. We could do arranger style playing on just about "any" keyboard brand/model we choose. WOW, imagine the possibilites!



Scott
California (SF Bay Area), USA

Hi Scott

Have you examined JammerLive! ?

Clif

I have used BIAB since version 7; currently using 9. With version 9 I bit the bullet and sprung for the MegaPak in hopes that some of the styles wouldn't suck. However, most of them did, or at least the styles I was most interested in. I'm selling my BIAB now at eBay, if anyone wants it.

I too am of the opinion that the BIAB styles are too robotic and stiff to be of any real use. I use it primarily as a songwriting tool to get ideas out of my head and into the machine.

If you can overlook the stiff style playback, the BIAB toolset is nice, and extensive; it would be nice if they could put a real-time spin on it.

--DN