Hey Patrick.
That would be great idea to add to the Sonar wishlist.

I just bought Band in A Box about a month ago. I don't play piano very well and my music theory is limited.

What I do is create a separate midi file in Sonar that just contains my melody track in midi format. There is a menu in BIAB that allows you to "open midi track". Once it's open, the chord progressions are automatically figured and added to the song sheet as chord symbols or notation. You can audition to the results and make changes you like.

While I am still in BIAB, I assign a simple piano track along with my midi melody track, then select notation view. Wow I am a happy camper, because I have all those chords figured and I can see all the notes as the file is being played back. Personally, I would go crazy writing chord progressions to the melodies Ive been coming up with lately -- will have me pulling my hair out.

I save the midi file, open in Sonar, cut and paste the piano chords to the piano track in my original song file, fire up Dimension Pro and continue editing and making changes to fit my ear.

I dont think I would use BIAB to create a full song, although it's quite possible to do that.

I am not into pre written styles, but honestly, BIAB has a great chord tool, notation tool and the Lead sheets look great when I print them out for copywrite.

hope this helps

gene

VST midi accompaniment

Once the MIDI is set up in Band-in-a-Box or something like it, can that MIDI timing be imported and embellished in Cakewalk?


I purchased a MIDI keyboard, and Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 4 to get MIDI for completing my guitar audio recordings in to completed tracks. I am having a lot of trouble with getting my synth to work, but I've figured out why it does this in Cakewalk. I had expected more inter-operability (if that's a word!)


At this point, my biggest weaknesses are MIDI drums and timing working with my riffs that I now realize are a bit unusual. I was always spoiled by a live drummer, now I need to either figure out how to set up the drum patterns or the MIDI timing of the track itself to complete my riffs. The other choice I have is to start with basic drum patterns and force my playing to match, but that is totally different in terms of creativity and really defeats the purpose of doing vertical production (one person I mean).


The reason I went with Cakewalk is to start with, I already had a UA4FX, and I knew that I could get my MIDI keyboard working with Cakewalk, since it's a Roland family product. Once I started running in to trouble, I investigated further in to Sonar X1 (I have the OEM LE version, which is cool, but doesn't have the tools I need).


I'm at a frustrating crossroads, because I feel let down by Cakewalk in hyping the Guitar Tracks Pro product, when it's really a very limited DAW that does not scale up. I really would have spent the money on X1 Studio or Producer had I known more about the limits of GTP4.


What I think I need to make it work is either learn a lot more about how to program MIDI with months of practice,  or get the tools that I thought were included in GTP4, which in Studio and Producer is called "Audio Snap 2" (I expected the same functions but less sophisticate, but I find no way to do this at all, even though it seems like every other cheap DAW like Sony Acid can do this, but I might be wrong). Anyway, no audio snap.



I think with Audio Snap my problems are solved because my workflow would do like this:


Record riffs
Choose which to use
Pull out MIDI drum instrument, laydown the MIDI drum track, and snap the MIDI to the nodes from the peaks identified by the Audio Snap tool. The tool also works by moving the audio nodes according to MIDI, which I did not expect. I thought that might be one of the reasons why you'd get version 2.

But I'm also wondering if I can change MIDI timing in my tracks by manually identifying the peaks in the displayed wave forms. Can I do that, can I drag or somehow edit the MIDI timing with mouse selection?

I really need to buy a book and some videos, but the MIDI market is so incredibly large and confusing in terms on knowing where to start. I need to get instrument too, but it's enough for me to get drums the way I want, then I can worry about the rest I guess.

I'm using the X1 producer on the 15 day trial and I can't afford it. I can't even afford Studio, but if I can't work out the drums, I am screwed. I just don't know where to go or what to do. I think the right book that I know covers the topic would be ideal to find ASAP.

And should I try B-i-a-B? Is that or some other tool able to somehow get drums or midi timing to match my riffs?


One last thing was I looked at Alesis PercPads (percussion). There is at least one model for under $100, and if I can get a MIDI pedal to tap my timing while I perform guitar, that would also be a node to build my timing on, wouldn't it?

So my choices are 
1) Band in a box or some external tool to record and structure the MIDI timing to import in to Cakewalk DAW
2) Using Audio Snap or some function like it, drag the MIDI timing in to place with the nodes created by the tool
3) Use my own manual process to identify timing, build MIDI timing around those nodes
4) Use a pedal for MIDI drum timing to constrain the timing in Cakewalk as I play/perform

Related questions:
1) Where can I get a very basic, cheap pedal for tap timing the MIDI? I have an Alesis QX49, and I am prepared to spend up to another $200 on software and hardware, so if I end up buying X1 studio, I will not have any budget left for drums. IOW, it has to give me enough tools to do everything

2) Is there a Cakewalk product, or a third party author writing about Cakewalk that covers how to perform in MIDI in Sonar X1? What is the most likely place to start my book or training search?

3) I hate to ask this because it will be a long time before I can afford this, but what is the best way for a budget synth to allow practicing without having to use my computer with the active window in focus? Is there an alternate way to configure the MIDI instruments so that it just plays until you tell it not to? In Cakewalk, and I'm not sure about others like VSTi in Reaper, since I haven't been able to try that yet. I need to hear the instruments so that I have feedback on timing with key velocity, etc. I'd like to get a nice keyboard with aftertouch, but wouldn't we all?

Any other suggestions will be hugely appreciated, and I promise to keep notes that should help other users who follow.


Thanks, desperate in the SFBA

does anyone really understand the OP's question? I sure don't.

 
 
i dont know if i understand either...but it sounds like the OP is looking for a Jam-Along program to come up with chord progressions and arrangements to match what ever key they are riffing in. as fun as that some auto-arrangement thing sounds, from my experience you would still run into a brick wall musically. i dont really see the technology reasoning as far as theory goes, and when and where to do what. anticipations, good voice-leading, rest and passing tones/chords.. there is no way around it. you have to study and know that stuff .. in order for a feature to work how you want it too.

pkrupar chord track for on-the-fly chord progression

Maybe this might help someone:
 
REAPER + Temper VST: Adding a chord track to REAPER
 
forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=30916
 
angryredplanet.com/temper/download.html