Band In A Box...Your Teacher Assistant,Your Band

Sometimes tracks or background rhythm tracks are needed to practice to or for recording.Band In A Box can do the job admirably!It is a music software program,and includes sequencing and audio recording.In addition,it provides lessons on scales,modes,rhythm tracks to play along with and a host of other great tools.Along with being a great music program for practicing,it can be great for creating backing and solo tracks to a song idea you might have.Lets say you these chord changes to an original idea.You have an idea of the music style you want and the arrangement of the chord changes,and maybe even the melody.With Band In The Box,you choose a style,set the tempo,then for each measure,type in the chord or chords until you have completed your arrangement.You can even have each chord pushed by eighth or sixteenth notes!And as far as chord,well,i have not found any it did not already know!Now,sit back,play the piece,and choose the instrumentation,the volume for each,pan,and the effect!Wow....cool,huh!This is a great piece of software for practice and recording!Now all these instruments are being played through MIDI,so depending on your sound card and any plug ins you may have,will determine the quality in the playback you will be hearing.To note,a good sound card is a must,then some additional plug ins,for your sounds and effects, are highly recommended.But... the newest Band In A Box/2008.5 uses real recorded instruments,not MIDI !Now do you need a solo for your arrangement?In addition to your backing tracks,BNB will produce solo and melody tracks.In addition,it will print a music score for your new song,and has a lyrics sheet for you,and as the arrangement is playing,you can view each instrument being played,in real time!So... this could be a great tool for learning too.The choice of backing track styles and solo styles is,well,tremendous!And there are additional ones you may purchase.There are a hundred or more styles that come with the basic BNB program though.I highly recommend BNB to all my guitar students for practice,ear training,writing and producing.And did i mention YOUR AUDIO(vocal,instrument(s)) and MIDI can be recorded along with the other tracks.This is another great lesson tool.BNB can be as simple or as complex as you want,it's up to you!So what are waiting for,check it out at... http://www.pgmusic.com/