HSS Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I am planning to purchase a drum machine just to practice with at home and I stumbled on an excellent deal from a guy I know for "Band in a Box" 2013 UltraPlusPak, which is packaged in it's own portable external hard drive. The asking price, $140, is about the same as a moderate priced drum / groove machine I was checking out (e.g Zoom RT-223). Here is a link to the version of Band in a Box that I may take the plunge on: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/pg-music-band-in-a-box-2013-ultrapluspak-win-portable-hard-drive Do any of you out there have opinions about or experience with this or similar software? Is it fairly intuitive and easy to use? For what its worth, I've never been interested in sequencing, DAW's, etc. (even though I've spent a 30 year career in my day job as a geoscientist working with cutting edge technology in exploration research in the oil industry). I'm therefore worried a little bit that there will be too much menu diving in "Band in a Box" and I'll lose the rush of just plugging in and playing. Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha CK88, MX88, & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 It's too bad you're not still here. I could demonstrate it for you (2012 version, anyway). It's a pretty cool tool to practice with at home. Some cats use it on a gig, but that's not my thing. I can't say how good it is as a drum machine, since you probably can't program individual beats (maybe you can, now that I think of it, but not as easily as a real drum machine). But there are lots of drum tracks both "real" and MIDI that would probably be enough for you to play with. Add to that all the instruments, and it can be like playing with a band, though one that doesn't listen to you. Ha ha. Seriously though, it's cool to play along with. Getting it going is pretty straightforward. It's not like using a DAW. You can get started pretty easily just choosing the style and instruments, entering the chord progression, and pressing play. Digging into it can get tricky, because the program is quite old and the interface really needs an major overhaul, IMO. That said, lots of musicians who aren't computer-savvy seem to get along with it fine. Also, if you're wanting to play specific songs, there are LOTS of files available online for free that you can use. This may be more Real Book stuff than anything else, so it depends on what you're going to play. "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSS Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Mucho gracias Joe. It's too bad I'm not in Houston anymore so I could check out your "Band in a Box" software. Also, as I've whined ad nauseam to you in the past, I miss the Gulf Coast music vibe. Based on your sage words, I'll probably take the plunge and get the software. WRG to the "Band in a Box" not listening to me, I'm used to that, having played too many pick-up gigs with louder-than-God wanking Stevie Ray Vaughan wannabe guitarists ignoring me. Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha CK88, MX88, & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doerfler Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 It's a pretty cool tool to practice with at home. . +1 I use it triggering a Keytron SD2 that I bought from David Jacques several years ago. It's (Band-In-A-Box) set up for General MIDI, but you can assign the software anyway you like if you are inclined to do as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSS Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 It's a pretty cool tool to practice with at home. . +1 I use it triggering a Keytron SD2 that I bought from David Jacques several years ago. It's (Band-In-A-Box) set up for General MIDI, but you can assign the software anyway you like if you are inclined to do as such. Thanks for the reassurance. I just bought it, so I'll find out soon enough anyway, but are the onboard software sounds (samples, so-called "RealTracks", etc.) decent enough to practice with at home or should I plan to use it to trigger one of my modules or keyboards for the accompaniment sounds? Simpler is better for me at my age.... Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha CK88, MX88, & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoLights Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I've just started using BIAB -- and am creating backing tracks for some low budget jazz duos coming up. The Real Tracks are very good --the bass and drum sounds and performances are fairly convincing. It's pretty easy to use. The interface is a little old-fashioned and a tad clunky, and it's not easy (sometimes impossible) to do minor tweaks -- but it's easy to export midi and audio. It should be great for home practice ... and with some tweaking, can be used in gigs. Good luck! _______________________________________________ Kurzweil PC4; Yamaha P515; EV ZXA1s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmp Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I played with it for a little while and enjoyed it. It comes with a lot of tunes. Some very good and some very bad. I did not recognize St. Thomas. --wmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I have a Mac. I think for MIDI tracks it triggered the GM sounds in QuickTime, which were weak. I found out how to route those tracks to MainStage instead. Those instruments sounded much better. "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSS Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Many thanks for all of the info guys. I'm looking forward to getting it. I'll have to next score a reasonably priced (at least USB 2.0) decent audio interface because my old Alesis Multimix 8 USB blows chunks as an audio interface. Although it's a decent little cheap mixer with passable effects, its built in USB 1.1 interface is slow, and the mixer makes an obnoxious whining sound when hooked up to external speakers while it's USB'd to the computer. This is / was a well-known complaint in user reviews about the mixer's audio interface. That's why I got it so cheap in 2009. Oh well, live and learn, which I never seem to do when it comes to being a cheap SOB. Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha CK88, MX88, & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torhu Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 iReal b for iOS, Android or Mac has a much simpler interface, and costs almost nothing. Editing or creating your own charts is probably quicker in BiaB, though. And iReal b uses its own internal sounds, I think it can export MIDI but not send it live. It comes with a large library of jazz standards (that you download from their forum). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSS Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 iReal b for iOS, Android or Mac has a much simpler interface, and costs almost nothing. Editing or creating your own charts is probably quicker in BiaB, though. And iReal b uses its own internal sounds, I think it can export MIDI but not send it live. It comes with a large library of jazz standards (that you download from their forum). Many thanks for that nugget of info about "iReal B". I have a new Ipad and "iReal B" does cost next to nothing, so I'll probably pick it up as well and try it. But it is hard to reconcile iReal B against the ~100 GB file size of BIAB 2013 ultrapluspak without some compomises in sound quality, interfacing, editing capability, and number and complexity of accompaniment styles. But who knows... Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha CK88, MX88, & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSS Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 I've just started using BIAB -- and am creating backing tracks for some low budget jazz duos coming up. The Real Tracks are very good --the bass and drum sounds and performances are fairly convincing. It's pretty easy to use. The interface is a little old-fashioned and a tad clunky, and it's not easy (sometimes impossible) to do minor tweaks -- but it's easy to export midi and audio. It should be great for home practice ... and with some tweaking, can be used in gigs. Good luck! I've spent a few hours practicing with BIAB 2013 UltraplusPAK over the last couple of days and I agree with your opinion about "Real Tracks" being really good, especially relative to Midi sequences, which I always found to be sterile and a bit too perfect and machine-like (duh). Although Real Tracks were pretty limited in number and styles when they started a few years ago, PG Music has now managed to build up a fairly large library of Real Tracks that cover about every style in Western contemporary music and they are continuously adding to it. Real Tracks are not as editable as Midi sequences, but transposition is easy and within some obvious limitations, tempo and style changes can work surprisingly well. IMO BIAB's "Soloist" function, for creating solos, is pretty lame, but since I like to feed my fragile ego by laying down my own solos, I'm not bothered by this short-coming. For those that still want to hang their hat on Midi, BIAB is as fully functional using Midi as a lot of other composition software out there. One last item... Even though BIAB's interface is cluttered, I found it to be pretty easy and intuitive, especially relative to sequencing hardware and software I've used. I was up and running on BIAB within a couple of minutes. Of course it helped that I bought a stand-alone version of BIAB on an external hard drive, so typical installation BS was not an issue. Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha CK88, MX88, & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSS Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 iReal b for iOS, Android or Mac has a much simpler interface, and costs almost nothing. Editing or creating your own charts is probably quicker in BiaB, though. And iReal b uses its own internal sounds, I think it can export MIDI but not send it live. It comes with a large library of jazz standards (that you download from their forum). I played around with iReal b on my Ipad yesterday afternoon. It is indeed pretty cool and useful, but IMO it's not nearly as robust as BIAB which I've also had now for a couple days. But then it doesn't cost as much either. All-in-all, I'm happy having both iReal B and BIAB in my tool box. Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha CK88, MX88, & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B3bluesman59 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 $140 for the BIAB is a steal. I started us BIAB about four months ago to make backing tracks for my solo piano gigs...previously I was using just a drum machine and keys. I cut tracks for all my songs using BIAB drum tracks and bass parts. The tracks really make the songs sound bigger and it's nice not to have to grind all night with my left hand. And there a hundreds of choices for drums, tempos, etc. There is a learning curve when you first get BIAB but you will pick it up quickly. And if you need to call their tech help line (which I did twice)you will get an English speaking person right away who really knows what they are talking about. Amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Well, technically, I think their tech support speaks Canadian, eh? not English. "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmammal Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 I've been using Biab for years and yes, you stole the UltraPak. Don't overlook Real Band, it's a separate DAW that is included in the package. It's a decent 48 track audio/midi sequencer that also opens and generates Biab parts including the Real Tracks/Drums. A lot of people overlook it but don't, it's very useful. You should start haunting the PG forum, lots of good info there. Bob Hammond SK1, Mojo 61, Kurzweil PC3, Korg Pa3x, Roland FA06, Band in a Box, Real Band, Studio One, too much stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSS Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 I've been using Biab for years and yes, you stole the UltraPak. Don't overlook Real Band, it's a separate DAW that is included in the package. It's a decent 48 track audio/midi sequencer that also opens and generates Biab parts including the Real Tracks/Drums. A lot of people overlook it but don't, it's very useful. You should start haunting the PG forum, lots of good info there. Bob Thanks for the info about Real Band. I'll try it in the next couple of days. Up to this point, I've been having a blast charting my own songs in and experimenting and practicing mainly with Real Tracks. I've also downloaded a bunch free versions of standards and traditional jazz. The amount of BIAB free material available for download is amazing. Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha CK88, MX88, & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.