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(More customer reviews)I have been using BIAB for years now. I first encountered it maybe 20 years ago and it's been through a lot of revisions and changes, but the basic system is still there. I will warn any anyone getting this that it's a LOT of program you get for your money. Relatively speaking, it's a bargain. First, features:
Key in chords from any piece of music, set a musical style and tempo and away it goes. If you're studying music (any instrument) this is a fantastic practicing too. Find a fake book, key in the chords (BIAB recognizes pretty much everything) and then play along. You can teach your "band" an entire song in minutes. If you're learning improv, this is the tool you want. Back in the day, I would have to record some guitar into a tape player to have something to learn with. Trust me: this is a lot better.
Moving beyond just having a rhythm section, BIAB has two recording tracks, the "Melody" and the "Solo" track. There's really not a whole lot of difference between the two. In fact, there are menu options that simply swap the two. The cool thing about the two track is that either can be automatically generated. You can have a melody generated in a big number of musical styles... that bit rather amazes me. You can also generate what are more like instrument solos than actual melodies and done in the style of various artists. On a whim, I once arranged something for cello and I wanted something that didn't sound like my style of writing or soloing. I generated various solos and picked out the ones I liked best and pieced it all together for the final arrangement. And if you're stuck for ideas, it'll generate chord charts for you which you can use for inspiration.
I read one comment about it seeming unfair that you have to have midi input device to make use of BIAB. Yeah, that's right. A bit like you realy need a flight joystick to use the MS Flight Simulator. Sure, you can use the keyboard, but that's awkward and not really the best way. Same with ANY music program for writing or arranging music: you want some MIDI input device. I recently picked up the AKAI Professional LPK25 Laptop Performance Keyboard for $49 (Amazon was sold out at the time I went to get it) and it's a great little input device. Akai also makes Akai EWI USB Wind Instrument Sythesizer Controller for sax players, but I don't own that. I've got a Yamaha WT-11 (grossly out-dated and the MIDI output tends to be a bit glitchy, so I don't recommend it for MIDI recording). I just checked the reviews for the Akai EWI and it seems to be the right tool, so I guess I need to go buy THAT now. :-) I'm digressing slightly, so let me move on.
Once you start doing the recordings with BIAB, you can turn that recording into an ensemble of up to 4 voices. The numbers of ways to harmonize using BIAB are limitless. You can do duets with tight voicing, 4 voices of trumpet, alto sax, tenor sax and trombone and spread the voicing widely. I can that the BIAB creators read Modern Jazz Voicings: Arranging for Small and Medium Ensembles (Berklee Guide) sometime around 2005 because they added voicings in 4ths which seems to be in vogue with arrangers lately. The software comes with over 200 pre-made harmonies and you can add your own. You can also harmonize the soloist track and practically get an orchestra instantly.
Of course, if THAT isn't enough for you, it'll record audio. Go ahead... sing along. Oh, sounds a bit tame just adding your voice to the track? How about if it automatically harmonizes your singing? It's quite amazing. Of course, if recording is your thing (mine isn't, really, but more about that in a moment), RealBand will create solos using live recordings that sound quite real. Some of the rhythm instruments you can add are live recordings, so none of this synthesized nonsense. And all done to your chord selection in your musical style choice.
Hm... what major things haven't I talked about yet? Actually, I think I only described about 5% of the features. Move on to lyrics, printing, notation, and on and on. Let's talk about realy using this software:
I'm a self-taught arranger. I found BIAB to be an indispensible tool for working out arrangements. I'll give an example of approach. I typically have a mixed crew of trumpets or saxes. I'll also wind up with maybe a flute or clarinet or two. Let's say the ensemble is Tpt, Asx, Tsx, Tbn and I've got 2 flutes and less than 30 minutes to get from a lead sheet to a quick arrangement. In 1-2 minutes I have the chords entered and a musical style chosen. I record the melody and shunt that to the soloist track and assign a 3-part harmony with violin and 2 flutes (violin is the lead vocal strictly to stand out). Now my flute parts are basically done. Back to recording again, but with the horns in mind. Maybe I shoot for just doing some fills for the horns, or maybe I just want long tones. Regardless of style, I'm essentially improvising the top voice. I add a 4-part harmony to the melody track. Maybe I tweak a little or re-record a measure or two so I'm statisfied. Time to accomplish? Maybe 10-15 minutes depending on the length of the song and my fussiness. Last step: hit F6 to export to a MIDI file. I pull that into Finale move the parts to a pre-made template and do final tweaking to any notes that I think could use some help and possibly do some sections of voice dropping (see the Berklee book above for details), add the lyrics, title, etc. And for the last details (if you care) I split the score to parts, print to paper and PDF, export the finalized MIDI file, and run a custom program that automatically e-mails the PDF parts and the practice play-along MIDI to my musicians. We all get together knowing our parts.
It's pretty incredible what's packed into a program with over 20 years of constant updating.
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