Band-in-a-box
| Band-in-a-box
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 Band-in-a-Box 2009 under Windows 7 |
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| Basic data
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| developer | PG Music Inc. |
| Current version | 2020 |
| operating system |
Windows XP , Mac OS X Tiger or higher |
| programming language | C ++ |
| category | Music software |
| License | proprietary |
| German speaking | Yes |
| www.band-in-a-box.com ( Memento from June 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) | |
Band-in-a-Box is a commercial music-making software from PG Music Inc. for Windows , macOS and iOS . The strength of the program lies in the semi-automatic accompaniment of a soloist. The program is therefore increasingly used by jazz musicians to train improvisation . Likewise, Band-in-a-Box for composing and arranging are used. Note functions are also available.
The current version is 2020 . In Germany, M3C Systemtechnik GmbH in Berlin is responsible for sales .
Functional scope and product features
Band-in-a-Box is able to generate a complete arrangement using the given chorus by means of integrated automatic accompaniment from the specification of chord symbols , the desired musical style and optionally also the time signature . If desired, introductions or even entire instrumental solos are possible. The result can be looped and played via MIDI or output as a lead sheet . There are also other export functions, for example for the formats MIDI and audio (WAVE / MP3).
There are many genres such as jazz , pop , country , blues , classical , Latin , rock to choose from. Different styles and instrument sounds are available for the computer-based solos.
Band-in-a-Box now also includes various virtual instruments ( called RealTracks ) for a better sound when playing backing tracks. The RealTracks modules contain recordings by professional studio musicians. Sequencer functions are integrated into the program under the name RealBand .
The graphic user interface of the software, criticized by many as being out of date and overcrowded, is disproportionate to the variety of functions .
history
PG Music was founded in 1988 by program author Dr. Peter Gannon founded. The first version of Band-in-a-Box was released for Atari ST in 1990 . Since then, the automatisms for harmonization and the possibilities of music editing have been steadily expanded.
In the first few years, its use was limited to MIDI sounds and instruments. Starting in 1999, digital audio recording and editing capabilities were added to the program . In 2006 RealDrums was released , a sampling- based technology that, compared to MIDI, primarily enables a more authentic sound character and a rather human-sounding accompaniment through drums and percussion. In 2007, the so-called RealTracks followed , which extended the fidelity and "humanization" introduced with RealDrums to melodic instruments. Due to the new sound library, the software takes up several gigabytes , which is why Band-in-a-Box is sometimes delivered directly on portable hard drives. The collection of instrument sets and pieces of music is constantly being expanded. The same year as RealTracks was Audio Chord Wizard published. This analyzes imported audio files and tries to determine their chord progression.
A band-in-a-box plug -in implemented in the Finale music notation program has existed since 2010 . In the course of this, Band-in-a-Box was also made compatible with the sounds of the Garritan Personal Orchestra .
Distribution and areas of application
Band-in-a-Box is particularly popular with jazz musicians, and it is also used as teaching material for arranging, composing, recording, producing, automatically generating background music, automatically harmonizing existing melodies, and generating solos.
So far, Band-in-a-Box has been the top dog in its field. For a long time there was no comparable software with such musical intelligence. In 2007, however, the Ludwig program was published, which functionally lags behind Band-in-a-Box , but so far comes closest to it. Tonica Fugata specializes in composing fugues and thus also occupies a market niche in the area of "auto composition". Both newcomers are only available for Windows so far, so Band-in-a-Box is still the only composition program available for the Mac.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Felix Baarß: Band in a Box Test report: The UltraPak in hands-on. Delamar - specialist magazine for musicians & producers, November 24, 2011, pp. 1–3 , accessed on February 14, 2012 : “It looks bad with the design of the user interface. The menu bar, submenus, option dialogs and toolbars are so cluttered that it is intimidating. "
- ^ PG Music: About Us. 2012, accessed February 14, 2012 .
- ^ Hans Georg Britz-Mauch: PG Music Band-in-a-Box 12. (PDF) (No longer available online.) MacLife, January 2005, pp. 48–49 , formerly in the original ; Retrieved on February 14, 2012 : "It is the only composition software available for the Mac."