Hi,
decided to upgrade my BIAB software the other day to the 2006 megapak. Amazing how it's progressed since the early years.
I used to upgrade it every 2 or 3 years, but only used as a resource for new styles for my keyboards, never really bothered using it for the purpose it was designed for.

Decided to put it on Jukebox and have a listen to the Soundtrack Midi Fake Book included in the megapak.(It might have already been available in the previous version , but it's the first time I've come across it).
Some of the demo's were really great, especially blues, country & new age. Some were pretty bad too.

Overall though the program seems pretty good value.
For non keyboard players, great way to create backing tracks.
For me, I'm actually going to to & create some backing tracks that I can use to accompany me on the piano Try & brush up on my piano skills and let BIAB do the backing.
Always fancied being a New Age pianist, now I've even found backing haa haa.

best wishes
rikki

For live backing, the "Conductor"- Live Looping /Playback control feature is really cool... something the big gun sequencers don't have.
http://www.pgmusic.com/bandbox.htm

Glenn

Thanks Glenn,
something for me to check out. I think I've got a big learning curve ahead of me.
Actually can't beleive how good it sounds with the ketron sd1+ I've been listening to soundtrack fake book included in the mega pak, some of those songs sound great.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by GlennT:
[B]

I agree Rikki. I tried BIAB several versions ago and walked away somewhat unimpressed. Back then I liked Soundtrek's Jammer Pro ( versions 3 and 4 ) better, because it worked very well as a tool for quickly stringing together drum patterns and bass lines.

Soundtrek changed the entire interface starting with version 5 and I've never liked it as much. It takews me several more steps now to accomplish what I could in earlier versions. I would guess the upgrades made it a much better tool for folks who might want to construct an entire song in it, but it also got away a bit from what had made it so useful to me.

OTOH, BIAB has developed nicely and I can grab some very good parts from it now. I always thought of BIAB as a pretty nice tool to jam with, particularly in the jazz genres, but I it has also evolved to the point where it can be useful to me for a sketch pad for writing as well.

AJ

I, too, had drifted away from BIAB, but have been overwhelmed with the 2006 improvements. The rich variety of styles is great for the solo performer. I'm using it succesfully as my backup with guitar and vocals. For me, it's much faster to create a backing track than playing the tune on an arranger keyboard.

Hi AJ,
I've had Jammer Pro since version 1. I haven't bothered updating past vers 5.
Not enough variety of styles for me.
Thought I may look into creating some, but found the system a bit confusing .

Actually if it hadn't been for the Soundtrack Fake Book, I would would have just kept using BIAB as a source for the odd keyboard style, and not realized what the program can actually do nowadays.

Do you use any particular softsynth with BIAB?

I was quite surprised the ketron sounds great with the styles I've tried to date, & my Clavinova (xg) sounds pretty ordinary even though I set BIAB to xg. The drums just don't sound quite right.

I'll end up using it with a softsynth when I get the new laptop. Just haven't quite decided what I'll get.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]

For me the solo feature is what I enjoy. Put in a complicated song and choose the solo feature. I've learned many licks from it. I also enjoy the fours feature. It's quite a challenge trying to out play the BIAB sax solo especially on up-tempo jazz standards.

Folks who want to learn to improvise are missing out if they don't have BIAB. If the solo is to fast, slow it down, print out the solo if you can read music. It's an excellent tool for improving your solos; I don't care what caliber musician you are.
Any tune, any tempo, any chord changes, it doesn't matter to BIAB it creates excellent note choices and scales for the solo to fit the chord. I didn't care for the solo feature on Jammer Pro.

Hi,
I've been fooling around with the Melodist function and some of the soundtrack styles.

I started off learning piano classical method, doesn't really encourage you to think for yourself, just play what is written. With keyboard playing, I at least ended up learning to play chords from a fakesheet.

With the melodist function, even if I can't come up with a chord progression & melody myself, press a button and it's interesting to hear the tunes BIAB actually comes up with. A lot of it garbage, but every now & then it pops up with a tune that probably would sound ok with a bit of editing.

Pretty amazing really.

I'll have to check out the soloist feature too.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by brickboo:
[B]

I like the melodist and soloist features myself. I think Boo is spot on about the usefullness of BIAB's soloist function, and I also agree that Jammer's soloist ( the melody player in Jammer speak ) isn't nearly as good.

I like messing with both the soloist and melodist, and as Rikki mentioned, allowing the melodist to come up with chord progressions that I may not have been thinking of, along with the soloist performing leads that I also may not have thought of myself.

What I liked about Jammer 4 was the ability to quickly mix and match individual drum instrument patterns and the ability to go against the grain if I wanted. For example, for several bars I might try using an offbeat jazz bass drum pattern with a half time snare, add a small percentage of ghost snare hits, along with tight 8 note alternating closed and pedal hi hats. Or I might try syncopated bass hits with medium offbeat open and closed hats, and a straight 2 and 4 snare with some added ghost notes. It made experimentation quick and easy. Sometimes the results might sound like hodgepodge, while other times Jammer would come up with some cool fusion type beats. The ease of doing this pretty much disappeared in version 5.

AJ

These are some great styles for BIAB, and most of them kick the ones that come with the program.
http://members.aol.com/NortonMIDI/index.htm

Thanks for the review Rikkie, my latest version was version 8, so decided to view whats new and maybe to update too, which I just did as there's beside the other improvements also the possibility now to separate the tracks into 16 tracks, which makes it a lot more usable. (at least that is what they claim on their website.)
Thks,
Fred

Hi Fred,
I'm fairly certain they have a demo to try before you buy.

You aught to notice a big difference between vers 8 & 2006.

I did upgrade to the mega pak with all the styles, soloists & melodists etc.
When you look at how much all of these add ons sell for seperately, the mega pak seemed very good value.

Just depends whether you want all the styles, (which I certainly did.)

Thank you Smurf for the Norton link.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by freddynl:
[B]

Your very welcome rikkisbears.

Actually they have a money back guarantee, and I did order the megapack as it looks like I get some more time later this year to start composing again.
I didn't use BIB since years, as mostly I do play mostly all the real instruments myselve, but the new BIB could be a good time saver for quick try outs.