jpfeifer
April 11th, 2008, 07:38 AM
Hi Everyone,
I've been using Band-in-a-Box for quite a while as a practice tool. In case you've never heard of this software, it's a PC application that creates background music tracks based on a set of canned song styles. It allows you to specify the song key, tempo, song style, and the basic chord changes. Then it goes off and creates a basic accompaniment with bass, drums, keyboard, and other parts if you like.
The initial version relied on midi instruments to get it's sounds, which were fine for using as a basic practice tool, but nothing that you would want to use for recording.
However, I just upgraded to Band-in-a-Box 2008 and I'm blown away. This new version has a feature called RealDrums where it replaces the General Midi drums with digitally-sampled drum parts in various styles. It's really good for blues, jazz, and basic rock stuff. It's good enough now where I would use these tracks for real recordings.
But, as a practice tool this program is still worth the $. It's one of the best ways to practice soloing since you can set the style and tempo to anything you want along with your own chord progressions.
If you don't already have this software, I'd highly reccomend it if you're looking for a good practicing tool.
You can find it here:
http://www.band-in-a-box.com/
-- Jim
I've been using Band-in-a-Box for quite a while as a practice tool. In case you've never heard of this software, it's a PC application that creates background music tracks based on a set of canned song styles. It allows you to specify the song key, tempo, song style, and the basic chord changes. Then it goes off and creates a basic accompaniment with bass, drums, keyboard, and other parts if you like.
The initial version relied on midi instruments to get it's sounds, which were fine for using as a basic practice tool, but nothing that you would want to use for recording.
However, I just upgraded to Band-in-a-Box 2008 and I'm blown away. This new version has a feature called RealDrums where it replaces the General Midi drums with digitally-sampled drum parts in various styles. It's really good for blues, jazz, and basic rock stuff. It's good enough now where I would use these tracks for real recordings.
But, as a practice tool this program is still worth the $. It's one of the best ways to practice soloing since you can set the style and tempo to anything you want along with your own chord progressions.
If you don't already have this software, I'd highly reccomend it if you're looking for a good practicing tool.
You can find it here:
http://www.band-in-a-box.com/
-- Jim