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#443755 - 01/02/18 07:18 AM Re: Who is using Band in a Box or vArranger & Why? [Re: rikkisbears]
ekurburski Offline
Member

Registered: 03/22/17
Posts: 449
Loc: Mountain Home, AR
Most interesting topic! I have been a uiser of BIAB for 20 years. And using arrangers just as long. I believe in using every tool available to make my music as good as possible. I laugh everytime I see someone advertise they use no karaoke. They use the auto-play features of their keyboards! This argument started years ago when we started using rhythm units with our organs. Pushing wood to eliminate the bass player.

BIAB has the ability with their real tracks to produce real sounding insturmantal backups. Yamaha i touting their real drums that BIAB has had for 10 years or longer. The difference in quality of real tracks versus midi tracks is huge! The learning curve to get trully professional results is high but combination of BIAB and a good arranger keyboard really can't be beat.

I've never tried vArranger so can't speak to it. I would sy that at this very moment there are over 300 users on the pgmusic's website forum. People from the company write to the forum. It is not unusual to read a answer to a customers post from Peter Gannon the main writer of the program as well as several of the other programers at pgmusic. They have always offered a money back guarantee so you can't go wrong if you buy it and don't like it send it back no questions asked.
_________________________
PSR 740,PSR 3000, Mirage, tx7, mp32, Pro Tools 10,11 SONAR, Reaper, BIAB 2020 and a pile of Computer Music mags w/disks
College student was working on Doctoral, Education Now just doing courses to do courses

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#443793 - 01/02/18 01:21 PM Re: Who is using Band in a Box or vArranger & Why? [Re: ekurburski]
Torch Offline
Member

Registered: 12/17/12
Posts: 770
Originally Posted By ekurburski
Most interesting topic! I have been a uiser of BIAB for 20 years. And using arrangers just as long. I believe in using every tool available to make my music as good as possible. I laugh everytime I see someone advertise they use no karaoke. They use the auto-play features of their keyboards! This argument started years ago when we started using rhythm units with our organs. Pushing wood to eliminate the bass player.

BIAB has the ability with their real tracks to produce real sounding insturmantal backups. Yamaha i touting their real drums that BIAB has had for 10 years or longer. The difference in quality of real tracks versus midi tracks is huge! The learning curve to get trully professional results is high but combination of BIAB and a good arranger keyboard really can't be beat.

I've never tried vArranger so can't speak to it. I would sy that at this very moment there are over 300 users on the pgmusic's website forum. People from the company write to the forum. It is not unusual to read a answer to a customers post from Peter Gannon the main writer of the program as well as several of the other programers at pgmusic. They have always offered a money back guarantee so you can't go wrong if you buy it and don't like it send it back no questions asked.
It took me 10 years to explain things to a friend of mine who had once said, "Oh, no I won't use any karaoke" and yet he always wanted and tried to sound just like the original track with his arranger.

I have BIAB 2017 Everything. No more upgrades for the next 3 to 5 years as I only use the basic functions of it. I've used it for over 25 years, I think, since its beginning. I also use vArranger, not so much as an arranger, but as a patch manager; calling different sounds on multiple midi channels and play them either from a digital piano or a MIDI accordion.
_________________________
"You Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." John 8:32

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#443800 - 01/02/18 01:49 PM Re: Who is using Band in a Box or vArranger & Why? [Re: rikkisbears]
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
Originally Posted By rikkisbears
Hi Donny,
I have both, and as others have said , you can’t really compare the 2 programs.
Biab is for creating backing tracks or songs by typing in chord progressions, or even getting it to create it’s own progressions ( I think) , haven’t used it in quite a while, though I did upgrade yesterday.
I used to have it midied to my pa800, ie type in chords biab, the pa800 would then follow the chord progression, I found it a good way of auditioning styles for a song. Used to get some interesting results mixing biab and korg tracks together ie replace a korg guitar track with a biab guitar real track. I like experimenting.

V arranger is a real-time software arranger .
It also has a mode where you can type in chord progressions and create a backing track.
I didn’t actually buy it for its real-time functions , I wanted access to the
ketron and Roland styles it can play and be able to create the midifiles I needed for my style conversions hobby ,for my Korg.


Rikki first of all Happy New Year and thank you for the explanation I understand more then I did before now ...good luck with your music.

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#443890 - 01/03/18 12:19 PM Re: Who is using Band in a Box or vArranger & Why? [Re: Dnj]
rikkisbears Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/22/02
Posts: 6020
Loc: NSW,Australia
Originally Posted By Dnj
Originally Posted By rikkisbears
Hi Donny,



Rikki first of all Happy New Year and thank you for the explanation I understand more then I did before now ...good luck with your music.


HiDonny,
Happy new year to you too. Sorry bit late getting back, just sent off last of my Xmas guests, had 6 staying over Xmas, worn out haha.

Quite frankly if you do use audio backing tracks , biab could be worth looking at more so than VArranger, mainly because you already have an arranger keyboard anyway.

Arranger styles were better suited to the type of songs I liked, big band , Latin , show tunes.
Biab has great country, rock , pop , jazz etc, did notice it has big band now too.

I’ve had biab since day one, never really used it to it’s full extent, I enjoyed playing around with my keyboards too much. Actually if all I wanted to do was create backing tracks to sing along to, or as backing for playing another instrument, I’d be more inclined to buy biab over an arranger keyboard, provided the styles suited.
_________________________
best wishes
Rikki 🧸

Korg PA5X 88 note
SX900
Band in a Box 2022

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#443893 - 01/03/18 01:53 PM Re: Who is using Band in a Box or vArranger & Why? [Re: Dnj]
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
Hi Rikki,.....so are people just buying song charts, etc, pic a BIAB Style and copying the chords from them to BIAB to create the backing track?

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#443935 - 01/04/18 01:57 AM Re: Who is using Band in a Box or vArranger & Why? [Re: Dnj]
DAN.2000 Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 08/09/01
Posts: 1134
Loc: FRANCE
I have sent an email in the pgmusic contact page, but I did not receive any answer.

Does anyone has the private email of the BIAB creator?

Some users ask me to add the possibility to import the song chords from BIAB files, and I asked it to pgmusic.....
_________________________
Regards,

Dan
https://www.varranger.com

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#443936 - 01/04/18 03:57 AM Re: Who is using Band in a Box or vArranger & Why? [Re: Dnj]
Fran Carango Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 05/26/99
Posts: 9673
Loc: Levittown, Pa, USA
Originally Posted By Dnj
Hi Rikki,.....so are people just buying song charts, etc, pic a BIAB Style and copying the chords from them to BIAB to create the backing track?





Here is an example how I have used BIAB..

You can take an audio file into BIAB, it can scan and show the chords within the song...
Now you can select a style you want for your arrangement.... You can use real instrument samples..
If you want Jimmy Smith to take a ride on the third verse ..no problem select it... and He can comp on the other verses.. and maybe Wes Montgomery can take a ride on the bridge....

Now you can save this in a format of your choice..

You can also print this as a lead sheet...

You can do a lot with BIAB.... most folks think it is to complicated and never try it...


My example above takes no musical skill and PC skill..
_________________________
www.francarango.com



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#444016 - 01/04/18 10:41 PM Re: Who is using Band in a Box or vArranger & Why? [Re: Dnj]
rikkisbears Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/22/02
Posts: 6020
Loc: NSW,Australia
Originally Posted By Dnj
Hi Rikki,.....so are people just buying song charts, etc, pic a BIAB Style and copying the chords from them to BIAB to create the backing track?


Hi Donny, can be as simple as that, and basically what I have done in the past. I have a fake sheet, type in the chord progression, it has copy and paste function, so usually doesn’t take all that long, pick a style and generate the song. (You put the little markers in for verse and chorus). Don’t like the style, pick a different, generate, see if that sounds better.
The audio styles sound really good.

You really need to have a peek thru the videos just to see what it is capable of, quite mind boggling. From the 3 instrument midi styles back in the early 90’s now to very elaborate audio styles. The forum members are really helpful.

There’s another program included called Real Band. Sequencer basically, it also uses the biab styles. You have more control over the individual style tracks. Ie you can again type in a chord progression , choose style, generate, then record additional tracks over the top to create a complete song.

It loads midi files and reads the chords if the file has them , if not it will come up with it’s own. Something I tried, was replacing a midile track with one of biab’s audio tracks ie replace the midi drum track with an audio drum track from biab. Even tried it with just say an audio strumming guitar track.
Program that doesn’t seem to be mentioned much , but, it’s a good one and part of the package. Still haven’t had a chance to try my new 2018 version.
_________________________
best wishes
Rikki 🧸

Korg PA5X 88 note
SX900
Band in a Box 2022

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