Hi, What could you advice me as a good accompaniment softare like Band-in Box or Jammer... My music style is funk, garage, house...
Please tell me what do you use, because the actual softwares seems to be a little bit complex.

Thanks a lot

I've never used that type of software, but I recall reading about Jump, which may also be worth researching. HTH!

They may be simple to use but I think you'll find most of the 'auto-accompany' programs are pretty restrictive unless you want a traditional music style (esp in regards to 'dance' styles in my experience).

Perhaps a mid-ground package like Steinberg Remix would suit? Its cheap very easy to use (basically a cut down version of Abelton Live). There are tons of free loops etc available on the net or from magazine cover discs.

By accompaniment software, I mean Music Composition Software
I give you example :
http://www.soundtrek.com/
http://www.pgmusic.com/bandbox.htm

ps : i loaded demo version of Jump... I will see tonight how it works

I think the most interesting software of this type is Onyx Arranger - looks a bit more sophisticated than Band in a Box.

http://www.ntonyx.com/onyx.htm

For me Jammer Pro 5 ist the best one. When you understand to work with this software, you can professionally compose any kind of music with it.

Thanks aMUSEd, I loaded demo for Onyx Arranger... it looks terrific !

I wish someone would come up with a VST version of this type of software. Preferably one that could read BIAB styles.

Rock wrote:

I wish someone would come up with a VST version of this type of software. Preferably one that could read BIAB styles.

I use BIAB for quick-and-dirty arrangements from lead sheets, or when I have to do something to work with the Yamaha XG keyboard at the church.

If I remember right, BIAB isn't really designed for real-time harmony generation, and it would have taken some significant re-work to make it work real-time. Perhaps some interested party could work with Peter Gannon to put something together.

This may have changed - I haven't bought the newest version yet (why they released it at the reduced price at Christmas time is beyond me, it just didn't fall within budget priorities - so I'm going to wait until next time they offer a discount).

Doug

yes... something for Native Instruments for instance

torhan wrote:

I've never used that type of software, but I recall reading about Jump, which may also be worth researching. HTH!

thanks for the link I will try it

Band in the box is one of the worst and best software packages I have ever seen. The engine is excellent and it actually has a plethora of functions and options, but navigating the twisted, unintuative maze of a user interface is a nightmare.

A VST version that would bypass all that mess and just allow me to sellect the style and chords in my host of choice (Tracktion) would be wonderful.

I've tried them all and Onyx arranger seems the best, especially because it can create styles from standard midi files and has the powerful performance modelling features of the Ntonyx range.
Jammer is easy and nice and BIAB can create some mean solos.
Superjam is available for free dload at:
http://www.musicmachines.net/faqsj.htm

Rock wrote:

Band in the box is one of the worst and best software packages I have ever seen. The engine is excellent and it actually has a plethora of functions and options, but navigating the twisted, unintuative maze of a user interface is a nightmare.

Boy, you said it there... the interface is quirky, unintuitive, and just gets in my way now-and-then.

Sometimes there's bugs or things just don't do what you expect, either - like when I imported a MIDI file for the solo line and had to dink with the import MIDI offset to get it to start where I want.

I'd definitely like a VSTI/real-time version, however. And I'd pay good money for it. Perhaps I should bop over to their boards, I haven't looked for a while.

Doug

This is very interesting! My partner who's an elementary school music teacher uses Band in a Box for creating quick arrangements from melodies and harmonies he inputs. After setting up the program for him, I found it to be one of the most complex applications to use all due to its interface. To say that it is convoluted is an understatement. And the manual is no better. He recetnly tried creating a lead sheet (melody, chord notation and lyrics) for the first time. It was insanely difficult.

I ended up suggesting that he use BIAB only for creating arrangements. It is very simple to enter chords, record a melody and apply an arrangement style. (I then take the resulting MIDI file and pull it into Cubase to assign sampled sounds.)

As for lead sheets, what took him about 6 hours to do I accomplished in about 10 minutes in Sibelius.

The more I played with BIAB, I got the feeling that it started out as a really good basic application and then they just added features over the years with little thought about integration. I think the idea behind it is excellent. And if you stick to basic tasks (entering harmony and applying a style) it works great. After that, it gets very difficult.

I'm also very curious to see what these other packages have to offer in this area.

Quote:

The more I played with BIAB, I got the feeling that it started out as a really good basic application and then they just added features over the years with little thought about integration. I think the idea behind it is excellent. And if you stick to basic tasks (entering harmony and applying a style) it works great. After that, it gets very difficult.

Ditto

I do the same thing myself. I start in band-in-a-box to do the basic layouts of the songs I am writing and go straight to midi export when I am done. I pick up everything in Tracktion at that point. The problem comes when I decide to make a song structure change... I generally have to go back to BIAB and compleatly start over with importing the song in Tracktion which means time wasted. If it was integrated into Tracktion as a VST it would be so much smoother.

I tried demo version of BIAB but I can't load help files or tutorial... Anybody gets the same troubles ?
I work on Windows XP

Maniek wrote:

ps : i loaded demo version of Jump... I will see tonight how it works

What do you think about it?

There's also One Man Band (www.1manband.nl).

It has a relatively clean and simple interface. Loads Yamaha PSR styles (tons of them on the net).

Pretty good software for this sort of stuff.

Sorry Andreas... I have still not tried Jump ( lack of time ) but I will let you know... and I also loaded demo version of Onyx... which looks terrific. See you next week

I am looking now at Jump, its different from the others and the most easy to use, looks interesting, at least for non music educated people like me...

http://www.hardnote.com/

I finally tried Onyx, Band in a box 2004, Jump, Jammer Pro and also Big Boss which is a sequencer.
I definitively recommand Band in a Box and also Jammer Pro with a good tutorial.
Onyx looks very professional but maybe too for me... I took me 3 days to produce something with Onyx and only few hours with Band In a Box.
Jump is quite simple but doesn't give such possibilities as the previous programs mentionned.
See you and thanks again for advice