hellogoodbye
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Alternative for Band in a box?
I am getting more and more requests to make backing tracks for new songs. I'd like to be able to automate the process a bit more. I looked at Band in a box but I see they sort of stopped developing the MIDI part and focus on RealTracks. As good as they may sound (?) I have no use for those: I want to be able to quickly create a base for a new song and then alter and edit and add things to make it my own. You can't do that with Realtracks afaik. I need MIDI for that. So I was wondering... are there any other programs that will help me to quickly create backing tracks and that leave room for editing?
Sonar 8.5 PE, Edirol FA-66, Behringer C-1. All instruments in my songs are VSTi's.
Check out Soundclick
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bapu
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/14 14:07:44
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Jammmer 6 is also a decent package. I used it a couple of times to flesh out ideas. The neat thing about it is they also have a VST version.
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leapinlizard
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/14 14:20:38
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+1 for Jammer. I used it back in its infancy and it was a good program back then, so I would imagine it probably rocks now.
"Surf music will never die." -- LeapinLizard, 1963 "We may never hear surf music again." -- Jimi Hendrix, 1967.
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Eddie TX
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/14 16:33:23
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Jammer is great if you want to stay purely MIDI, but I wouldn't say BIAB has stopped work on their MIDI functions. In fact, one of their new features is "SuperTracks," which are MIDI files played by musicians. I guess they were listening to customers who wanted both the realism of the audio RealTracks and the control and tweakability of MIDI files.
BIAB has always been able to generate MIDI versions of tracks, but these were generally limited to the basic backing parts, i.e. you won't find a Brent Mason-played MIDI solo (yet), but this is changing now. John Jarvis plays on the piano SuperTracks, for example.
The drawback with RealTracks, as good as they are (and they ARE good -- I doubt you'd be able to duplicate those Paul Franklin pedal steel parts in MIDI) has been that the same exact licks you might use in your song could also be used in songs by any other BIAB user. With MIDI SuperTracks, you can customize to your heart's content.
For someone deciding between BIAB and Jammer, the key factor (other than cost) is how good your sampler capability is. BIAB will supply pro-sounding audio tracks, no sampler needed. If you're a MIDI maven with Kontakt and a bunch of high-quality libraries, Jammer is probably your best bet. I hope this helps!
Cheers,
Eddie
Sonar X3 Producer / Win 10 The future exists in all directions.
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tomixornot
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/15 02:18:44
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I wrote to Jammer about a year back, but they never respond.
BIAB is helpful with my queries, and I bought it instead.
Just wondering, if it's possible to use Melodyne to process BIAB individual real tracks into MIDI ?
Albert i7 2600K @ 3.40GHz / MB Intel DP67BG / 16GB Ram- ADATA 250GB SSD (Boot)- Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB HDD (Samples)Audio interface : Motu 828 MK ii i7 6700K @ 4.00GHz / MB Asrock Z170 / 16GB Ram- Samsung EVO 850 120GB / 500 GB SSD
Audio interface : Roland Quad Capture Win 10 Pro / Sonar Platinum
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Glyn Barnes
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/15 02:31:53
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bapu
Jammmer 6 is also a decent package. I used it a couple of times to flesh out ideas.
The neat thing about it is they also have a VST version.
The VST only version is very inexpensive at $24.95. Is anyone running it in 64 bit Sonar?? The info on the website looks well out of date - Mentions Sonar 4. I am gonna give the Demo a try.
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Jonbouy
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/15 05:48:32
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hellogoodbye
I am getting more and more requests to make backing tracks for new songs. I'd like to be able to automate the process a bit more. I looked at Band in a box but I see they sort of stopped developing the MIDI part and focus on RealTracks. As good as they may sound (?) I have no use for those: I want to be able to quickly create a base for a new song and then alter and edit and add things to make it my own. You can't do that with Realtracks afaik. I need MIDI for that. So I was wondering... are there any other programs that will help me to quickly create backing tracks and that leave room for editing?
You don't need to use any of the Realtracks in Biab btw, and Realband that comes with BIAB will generate midi based on BIAB's styles but using your own arrangement. There's much to explore. There's nothing to replace the diversity of stuff that BIAB is capable of. Jammer I never got on with it seemed to take more time to get it to behave how I wanted than it would to learn to play the track on the piano in the first place. Theres' a really good alternative if all you want is quick midi progressions and inspiration for song ideas without the whole process becoming so cumbersome that it kills any ideas, that is Chordpulse. http://www.chordpulse.com/ The styles are a tad less cheesy and jazz standard oriented than most of the BIAB stuff and for prototyping new songs it really is the bomb. A great tool to have alongside BIAB. Quick and simple and there's even a free version which just handles 4 chord passages which is quite useful in itself if you are looking for a bridge or a chorus to go with a verse.
post edited by Jonbouy - 2012/09/15 05:54:27
"We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves" - Banksy
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tomixornot
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/15 07:45:12
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Jonbouy
Theres' a really good alternative if all you want is quick midi progressions and inspiration for song ideas without the whole process becoming so cumbersome that it kills any ideas, that is Chordpulse.
http://www.chordpulse.com/
Thanks for the link. I like the interface, very modern. I like the way you can drag the chord to be full, half, etc.. within a bar.
Albert i7 2600K @ 3.40GHz / MB Intel DP67BG / 16GB Ram- ADATA 250GB SSD (Boot)- Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB HDD (Samples)Audio interface : Motu 828 MK ii i7 6700K @ 4.00GHz / MB Asrock Z170 / 16GB Ram- Samsung EVO 850 120GB / 500 GB SSD
Audio interface : Roland Quad Capture Win 10 Pro / Sonar Platinum
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Zenwit
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/15 12:46:23
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Jonbouy
Theres' a really good alternative if all you want is quick midi progressions and inspiration for song ideas without the whole process becoming so cumbersome that it kills any ideas, that is Chordpulse.
http://www.chordpulse.com/
The styles are a tad less cheesy and jazz standard oriented than most of the BIAB stuff and for prototyping new songs it really is the bomb. A great tool to have alongside BIAB.
Quick and simple and there's even a free version which just handles 4 chord passages which is quite useful in itself if you are looking for a bridge or a chorus to go with a verse.
+1 Just saw this thread and tried the demo of Chordpulse. Nice tool for sketching ideas. For $25 it is a heck of a deal. I'm going to buy this.
Sonar Platinum x64 Windows 10 x64 Couple of guitars, a bass, bunch of plugins, not enough time....
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kurrykid
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/15 17:55:01
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Chordpulse does look pretty cool! I may get it as well.
Dave Sonar 8.5E Intel i7-2600K 8GB RAM Win7 Ultimate x64
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Eddie TX
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/15 19:45:38
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Glyn Barnes
bapu
Jammmer 6 is also a decent package. I used it a couple of times to flesh out ideas.
The neat thing about it is they also have a VST version.
The VST only version is very inexpensive at $24.95. Is anyone running it in 64 bit Sonar?? The info on the website looks well out of date - Mentions Sonar 4. I am gonna give the Demo a try.
Um, please be advised that the Jammer VST plugin is only an extra tool to run Jammer tracks directly inside your DAW w/o having to export the MIDI. You still need the regular version of Jammer to use it. But it's not a bad deal -- the "upgrade" prices are available to users of CW/Sonar or BIAB, according to the site. Cheers, Eddie
Sonar X3 Producer / Win 10 The future exists in all directions.
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Glyn Barnes
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/15 23:58:19
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Eddie TX
Um, please be advised that the Jammer VST plugin is only an extra tool to run Jammer tracks directly inside your DAW w/o having to export the MIDI. You still need the regular version of Jammer to use it. But it's not a bad deal -- the "upgrade" prices are available to users of CW/Sonar or BIAB, according to the site.
Thanks for the clarification.
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Eddie TX
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Re:Alternative for Band in a box?
2012/09/16 18:09:13
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Hey, ChordPulse is a neat little tool! I wish BIAB had something like this built into it. For $25, a no-brainer. Thanks to Jon for the tip!
CP also reminds me of how badly BIAB's GUI needs updating -- its interface is still stuck in the 1980s. Still an amazing package, though.
Cheers,
Eddie
Sonar X3 Producer / Win 10 The future exists in all directions.
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