Original Rolfcopter:

Well, I wouldn't use the generated music it puts out. That's pretty pathetic, to be honest. I saw a comparison with some new program Microsoft has been playing around with (currently in beta) that does a much finer job of creating nice patterns.

For your information the Microsoft program that you refer to is called Songsmith. The backing styles that were used in Songsmith were created by PG music, makers of Band In A Box!

I used BIAB all the time. Like many here I'm not a keyboard player or drummer and I use it to generate a lot of my backing tracks. I've gotten pretty good with manipulating the soloist feature as well. Check out my tune "Discover The Secret" at my Soundclick link below. The synth solo is auto generated with some coaxing of the parameters and then a few notes cleaned up in Sonar. Drums are BIAB midi played thru EZ Drummer.

<<TS>>

Mod Bod, BIAB would be ideal for your purpose, especially if you purchase a good set of Real Tracks. However, because of the time each song with Real Tracks needs to regenerate (maybe 30 seconds or so), I recommend you develop songs with MIDI only, and only convert the instruments to Real Tracks and Real Drums once the song is 'done'.

Roflcopter, even if you do not want to use the Real Tracks or Real Drums (or Real Charts), I recommend you upgrade just to get the bug fixes that have occurred in the three versions beyond yours. The minimal upgrade, without Real Tracks, is quite inexpensive. True, most of the new functionality is in the Real instruments, but there are some new features for MIDI as well.

Disclosure: I have worked for PG Music, makers of BIAB, as a consultant.

tsanders,
Nice track. great idea. I'd love to hear you record a drummer & a bass player playin that...it's nice like it is, but it'd JUMP outta the speakers w/ live players me thinks.
:clap:

WOW! All these BIAB users chiming in... I had no idea people used it so much, and the same way I am, creating basic MIDI tracks and importing into Cakewalk. All that to say, (as the thread starter) I think my latency issue is not there now. I don't know, it must have fixed itself. I imported another midi file and recorded some audio, and it sounded in sync.

To answer the question before, I have a DELL XPS400 and am using an E-MU 1616m.

But please continue your discussion on BIAB. I love to hear your wonderful and exciting insite.

Then there's Jammer Pro which now has a version that works as a VST plugin within SONAR.

For your information the Microsoft program that you refer to is called Songsmith. The backing styles that were used in Songsmith were created by PG music, makers of Band In A Box!

And for your information: it isn't called Songsmith, but Mysong. It's a new program.

See the link in my previous post.

Noel made the same misassumption in his edit, I see. I was working on something that would follow some rules in chords via Hidden Markov Models, but found out it was already being done.

Nope, it's pretty new.

Yes, I'm using it sometime especially when I'm doing a song for my home video.

Anyone as try Songsmith from Microsoft research ?

It is based on the BIAB engine.

ORIGINAL: Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]

You have to be kidding me. To me BIAB has the most sophisticated style generation of any product in its class. Songsmith doesn't even scratch the surface there.
You must be thinking of a earlier versions of the product that did pure MIDI based patterns. The new generation ever since it does real tracks is quite amazing since all the patterns are audio. (Perhaps more so if you have an interest in jazz or some other acoustic styles). The patterns it generates for drums and bass are 100% authentic since they are based on phrases played by real musicians.
With some work you can create pretty authentic stuff that you would be hard pressed to do if you didn't actually have an intimate knowledge of all the instruments.

I can only underline this post. BIAB has become a very powerful tool and is unmatched by any competition.

Cheers,
Mike

Hi all,

I completely agree with the fans of BIAB and will attempt to correct a *possible* misimpression made by Noel's post. BIAB is also quite good for MIDI, and has been for a long time. Not only can you use existing styles, create hybrid styles, etc. but you can create entirely new styles with all your own playing. Therefore what you do with this valuable tool and how much you get out of it is ultimately up to you, the user.

Blaming BIAB for bad music is like blaming a stove for bad cooking or blaming a saw for bad carpentry. Yes, if you simply push the buttons and accept the VSC DXi output to WAV, then you'll not necessarily get a great work any more than just throwing something in an oven for two minutes at 150 F will get you great meal. There are far, far more possibilities than this simplistic approach. Anyone who wants to criticize PG Music for misleading folks about pushing a button to get great music is free to do so, but not much attention will be paid by those of us who feel we understand what PG Music is really trying to accomplish and what real software can actually hope to accomplish along the lines of compositional assistance.

Mike's claim about BIAB being "unmatched" is absolutely correct. There are some pale imitations out there; I am not aware of any that offer anywhere near the sheer number of capabilities and understanding of both music theory and music heuristics that BIAB does.

Regards,
Dave Clark