Hello and welcome to this (mini) review on the Band In a box  software.

Introduction:

Band in a Box is one of those pieces of software that seems to be around since forever. I don't know since when it exists, but it has to be a very long time (it appears PG music was founded back in 1988!) .

First of all, what is it and what does it do?

Band In a Box is an accompagniement creation software. Simply put: you tell the software the chords it has to play, in plain  chord symbols (like C, C7, Am7 etc...) and it plays  back the score or leadsheet in a given style. You don't have to know anything about chord construction (what notes are in the chord), what key the song is in, note reading etc...You can be a complete noob in music and use the software to create the accompagniements.

I intended for a long time to buy it, but hesitated for so long (years) for a lot of reasons. I will explain later on why (in the what's bad about it )...

Addendum: I had to change my opinion on BIAB in quite fast (in a favorable sence) since the discovery of the BIAB user groups that greatly expands the usability of BIAB for those wiling to invest a little time, but read on....

What is good about it:

Well, the best thing about it is that you don't have to have any music or keyboard knowledge to use it (as stated above). Just type the right chord names in the right bars and off you go.

Also a good thing: it is not a sequencer and you don't need any knowledge about computers, midi, hard disk recording and DAW configuration either. It uses per default the midi synthesizer that's onboard any Windows PC (windows GS wavetable software, so no additional investment in midi hardware required). I don't know how its done on a mac, but I imagine it's about the same.

It' a very lightweight program. If i'm correct the software exists since about 1988 and is very un-demanding concernig computer configuration. Here is a quote on the system requirements from the PG (Band In a Box) website:

"Band-in-a-Box runs on Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP, and requires a Pentium class (or better) processor, a minimum of 32MB of available RAM (64MB or greater preferred), and at least 100-300 MB free space on the hard drive."

I strongly believe few other audio or music apps have such low system requirements .

From version 2006 (the latest at this date), Band In A Box can host VST instruments and effects (this allows for use of other than the windows build- in sounds).

Export of midi: you can export a midi file of an arrangment. This is (very) useful if you want to use the arrangment as a basis to work on in a sequencer like cubase(SX/SE), cakewalk Sonar or Home Studio for example.

You can make your own styles based on midi files. I will try this soon myself as I am not very happy with the included styles. Eventually I will make some styles available for download.

Band In  A Box can do a lot more like display and print the score / melody, autogenerate solo parts, record your playing (audio) and a lot more (that I did not explore yet), for a complete feature list you should visit the autor's website.

What's "bad" about it:

The interface:

Although easy to use after some a very short time, the interface has a very "old" and DOS or old windows (3.11?) look and feel. Some fonts, buttons and icons are VERY large and really not adapted to the high screen resolutions that are common on todays displays. On the other side this can be a benefit for people with bad sight.

SOUND!

Since most people that this software is intended for don't have or will not have dedicated  midi hardware  and since Band In A Box will then automatically use the onboard (windows) software synthesizer, the sound they (you) will have during playback will be BAD. Cheesy drums, weak basses, unrealistic (plonky) piano etc...The way things are now, midi got and gets a bad name with the general public that doesn't know midi is not sound. Most people don't know midi is only commands that tell a synthesizer, sampler or other device what notes to play (I know midi is a lot more then that, but I simplify here for the same "general public/ most people") and that playback quality depends on the sound quality of your synthesizer / module / sampler / software synthesizer...

There are cheap and even free solutions to this: hosting a (free) software sample (soundfont) player VSTI and loading up a good (free) quality GM  soundfont will do the trick for example. The drawback of this is that this defeats the simpleness of use of the software. Taking these steps to upgrade the sound quality of the playback goes beyond the computer awareness of a lot of users this soft is intended for. Thankfully some great tutorials can be found on the web and I just finished writing a tutorial on this myself.

Styles:

This is a "mixed" thing. Quite some styles are included with BIAB (Band In A Box). They cover most accompagniement styles you will need, but!

To my taste some styles are way too busy and accentuate the poor quality of the windows software synthesizer. My main gripe with the included styles is the lack of a very straight, very simple "no frills", NO "TWO BEAT in the theme" be-bop accompagniement style. I understand PG music (the creator and seller of BAIB) wants to offer styles in a broad range "out of the box", but I think most users want an accompagniement that is as "uncluttered" and neutral as possible. You can modify styles and create your own styles, but that defeats again the "noob oriented" purpose of BIAB.

You can also buy additional styles like the "Norton style disks". I (surprisingly ?) found a straight be- bop style that does exactly what I want at the Norton site, but for me (and I recon for a lot of people) 33.95$ is quite steep for a complete style disk if you only need that 1 be-bop style. Here is an example of a (not in standard BIAB included) style, browse down to : Bop (BeBop) #4 (#bop4_hd.sty) and listen to the MP3 example.

It are these reasons, along with the fact that I use Cubase (SX3) and sequence using multi- gigabyte soundsets that made me hesitate to buy the program. I finally took the plunge, mainly to help my students out. I have to use program myself to be able to recommend it and to help people using it.

Conclusion:

Band in a box is a well conceived program that is very useful especially for music students that don't want to deal with the hassle of making midi files or that are not sequencer- savy. It allows for the creation of accompagniements without the need of a dedicated soundcard, midi device, keyboard etc. anyone knowing the alphabet can use it.

The price is right (88.00$ download version). I would however have liked the inclusion of a more capable sound generator. Rolad virtual sound canvas 3.2 is included, but refuses to open on my computer. I tried to remedy this (according to instructions on the BIAB help forum) but to no avail until now. Including more "basic" be-bop styles would be nice.

If you are a user of BIAB or plan to buy it you should also know that there are quite some sites that are dedicated to the use of BIAB.  Ready made songs and styles can be downloaded there. There is also an active newsgroop on yahoo groups where you can download styles, songs and training sequences:

Band In a Box Yahoo Group

I have discovered some more VERY interesting groups for BIAB. Good styles, sequences, exercises and lessons:

BIABFSG (at Yahoo groups), recommended!

Their secondary BIAB filesharing group:

biabfsg2 (also at Yahoo, I guess to have more space for files :-).

I must admit that the existence of these group with the wealth of styles and such available adds a great value to the use of BIAB. They defeat my arguments  "against" the program. Download the styles available on these groups. Install them, use a VSTI with a good GM soundfont and your use of BIAB wil become a very pleasant experience.

I hope this review was of some use to you. I will elaborate further later after a longer time using the program.

Hugo

Related:

Band in a box better (free) sounds tutorial.

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