Hi,
I'm forever trying to work out what backing, works best for a new song, or learning the chords & melody at same can be a bit a bit difficult, so my set up can be handy for practicing melody part.
I basically now have 3 to 4 options, Korg PA3X, my old psr1500,
Band in a Box realtrack & midifile styles. ( To me some of the Band in a Box Country realtrack styles sound better than the keyboard styles.)

Anyway, I've managed to set BIAB up to play the chords on my keyboards ie I type chord progression for song into BIAB,
I choose a style on either one of my keyboards or Band in a Box
press play, automatic backing.
Gives me the option of concentrating on the melody part, I can change the variations to hear what sounds best etc etc.

Rikki

I have had BIAB for the past 25 years, and am amazed at the features that have been added, and the realism of the styles, especially, with the new audio drums and guitars. I must admit, however, that I don't seem to want to sit down and map chords out.

Millions of people have said " If only it could follow the left hand chords". I am sure they would have done it by now if they could.

Bernie

Not following LH chords is why I never got it.
I have Live-Styler....it works very well indeed.
Now that I sold my PA2XPRO, and do not have the $$ to get anything new...I may try Live-Styler again for a while.

The new version even has support for Ketron SD-2 AND Mega voices,
Not sure how good it will sound..
I'll let ya know.

Hi Bernie,
somehow doubt they'll ever bother trying to give it realtime arranger functions, probably because it wouldn't be all that easy especially with audio tracks.
Still handy for backing tracks though. Only takes a couple of minutes or so to type in the chord progression. If song requires any additional editing I load it into Real Band.
I'm starting to play around with BIAB more & more.
Never played a country type song in my life, but after listening to some of the country real track styles decided to go thru my collection of song books & found an old nashville song book. BIAB style works really well with a number of the songs. Forgone my prejeduce of playing along to a midifile or mp3 if it actually sounds better than one of my keyboard styles. If my left hand is feeling sort of left out (haahaa) I play a pad. My PA3X ( psr1500 & ketron sd2 plus my softsynths ) are all midied via Band in a Box. PA3x is set to arranger mode, so playing pad with left hand, melody with right, is no problem. I can have different voices for left & right hand, i can even use the korg sts's ( sound setup's) for right hand with Band in a Box backing.

Haven't gotten into the RealTrack Jazz styles yet.

If you've got the real track styles, you really should give it a go. I've ended up muting 1 or 2 of the tracks for the songs i've tried. The pedal steel guitar tends to dominate and makes a style unuseable for certain songs. Leave the bass, drums, strumming guitars & it's amazing how many tunes the single style will work with. i even had a PA3X style playing in sync providing scat voices. ( freaky, complicated, but a bit of fun)

BIAB has a function that sends out it's chord data. Been there forever, initially for use with Roland RA arranger modules ( I beleive ) Used it years ago, but I'd forgotten all about it over the years. Decided to try it the other day to see if I could get it working with the Korg. Now got it setup with Korg & my psr.

anyway it's always fun getting something different up & running

Hi Lee,
like Bernie, I've had BIAB for approx 20 years or so , also.

Never really used it much except for the odd style which I'd convert across to one of my keyboards.

My last laptop struggled with the Real Tracks when they first came out, so I forgot about trying to use them.

Wasn't till last year when I upgraded to a decent laptop I decided to try the Real Tracks again. They're really quite good.

It's basically a trade off , if you want to use realtracks , can't have realtime arranger functions.

You mentioned Live Styler and the mega & Sd2 voices. I think you actually have to buy the harddisk version to run them.

Recently bought Live Styler just to try it, but I didn't buy the mega version copy.

I did buy the SD2 disk, though, ( it was only something like $40) I don't beleive it's useable on it's own within Livestyler, it's only an add on to the Mega hard disk version. It's really quite a good collection of soundfonts.
Unfortunately they're individual instruments not one big soundfont bank. It's well over 1 gigabyte ( that's probably why they're individual fonts) haa haa Biggest soundfont bank I've ever tried to load was about 250megabytes.
I actually found a good use for it. I've converted some of the Live Drum instruments to work in my Korg for my Ketron sd1 style conversions. Now I've got the correct drums playing.

If you do end up buying the Mega version , let me know what you think of it.

At least you've got something to go on with for time being till you get a new keyboard..

The software arrangers are a great fill in option.

Great to hear from you again.

If I want a chord progression for a song so that I can practice the melody with my right hand, or possibly want to practice the vocal I use my Kn7000.

If I have the sheet music I can create the chord progression in 5 to 10 minutes. (No Melody) I use Step Record; hold the chord with my left hand and then press the duration for the chord on the right side of the keys.

Rikki, Can this be easily done with a Pa800? If so how? (You are so much better than the manual – he he)
John C.

Hi John,
there is a step record method for PA800, haven't done it in quite a while ( I've found it quicker doing it in BIAB & midiing my keyboard to it). If I get a chance later today, I'll refresh my memory on how it's done. I can't remember it being all that complex, although it might actually be quicker doing a Quick Record, and editing a possible mistake. I'll let you know.

Hi John,
the actual instructions are on page 179 of Original Manual, ( could be different on newer manuals) Sequencer Operating Mode: Record Mode Step Backing Sequence.
Basically press Sequencer Button: Record Button: & Choose : Step Backing Sequence:

Choose Style : Performance : Tempo.

Scroll thru to find Chord & Type ( pop up menu)& bass note for chord or Play it in using the keys ( it's not realtime)
Choose Style Element : variation, fill whatever,( it it tells no. of bars, handy for intro's in particular)


At bottom "Step" scrolls you thru in small increments, (handy for chord changes in middle of bars.
Meausure scrolls thru as a complete bar.

Top R/H of screen shows which measure you're in.

Basically put in your chord,scroll thru to the measures till your next chord change, put it in etc etc

When you're finished press Done & Save it.