PG Music releases Band-in-a-Box 2009 for Macintosh

PG Music has announced the release of Band-in-a-Box 2009 for Macintosh, which, available for Intel-Macs only, includes major new features like RealDrums, RealTracks and the Audio Chord Wizard.

PG Music is celebrating this release with special pricing and Bonus PAKs until June 30th. There is special pricing on First-time and Upgrade Band-in-a-Box packages, plus new Hard Drive editions. Now you can have the Band-in-a-Box "UltraPAK" or "EverythingPAK" pre-installed and ready to play on an included 80GB hard drive – at no extra cost. Plus, when you purchase any Macintosh Band-in-a-Box First-time or Upgrade package before June 30th, you'll automatically receive a 12-PAK Bonus of software and Add-ons absolutely FREE; or add 12 more items by upgrading to the Bonus 24-PAK for $25. Pricing starts at $129 for new customers.

New Features in Band-in-a-Box 2009 for Macintosh

RealTracks. PG Music added additional "Real" instruments, including guitars, piano, bass, saxes, trumpet, trombone, pedal steel, fiddle, banjo, mandolin and many more. These tracks replace the MIDI track for that instrument, and can be controlled just like the MIDI instrument (volume changes, muting, etc.). Best of all, they follow the chord progression that you have entered, so that you hear an authentic audio accompaniment to your song. These are not "samples," but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the other Band-in-a-Box tracks. RealTracks can be built in to the style, replacing the Bass, Guitar, Piano, or Strings part, or they can be generated to the Soloist (or Melody) track using the Soloist feature.

RealDrums. RealDrums replace the MIDI Drum track with real recordings of top studio Jazz/Rock/Country drummers. These are not "samples," but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the other Band-in-a-Box tracks.

For example, choose a brushes style, and you will now hear lush Jazz brushes. The results are dramatically better than MIDI. They sound like a real drummer, because they are recordings of a real drummer.

As well as improved drum sounds, you are hearing the exact rhythms played by the drummer, including features not seen in MIDI (subtle drum rolls, variations in ride cymbal taps, complex fills, etc.). And the tracks intelligently play differently at faster/slower tempos, so you hear appropriate playing for the current tempo (not seen in MIDI drums). Change tempos or volumes during playback, using the same tempo/volume controls as MIDI. PG Music has seamlessly integrated the RealDrums into Band-in-a-Box, so you just use the program as you normally do, and you will hear RealDrums instead of MIDI drums, according to your preferences.

You can fully control which styles you will hear MIDI vs. RealDrums. RealDrums styles can be made by the user or third parties, using standard audio (AIFF, M4A) files. User created styles can control fills/post-fills/pattern lengths/substyles, etc. PG Music includes a library of RealDrums styles to get you started.

MIDI Not Required. You can use the RealTracks just like any other Band-in-a-Box styles. Previous Band-in-a-Box styles were all MIDI instruments. Now the styles can have both MIDI and RealTracks instruments, or they can be RealStyles – which are styles that are all RealTracks, with no MIDI instruments.

RealCharts. Many RealTracks can also display notation showing the notes that are being played. This is a great educational feature, allowing you to see the performance on the on-screen piano, guitar, or notation. Some Guitar RealTracks also show tab, and accurate on-screen fretboard guitar display to show what is being played on guitar. The RealCharts can be saved to MIDI file or Songs (MGU).

Audio Chord Wizard. This is one of the all-time most requested features for Band-in-a-Box. The Audio Chord Wizard is the feature that automatically figures out the chords from MP4A files (or other audio files like AIFF, M4A, and audio CD, etc.). Using the Audio Chord Wizard is a great way to learn and practice popular songs, as you play along and see the chords. You can use the Audio Chord Wizard standalone, or with Band-in-a-Box (since you can import the chords from Audio Chord Wizard into Band-in-a-Box). Just load in any MP4A file and you'll instantly see the chords in Band-in-a-Box. And there's more. In addition to the chords of the song, the PG Audio Chord Wizard also figures out:

• The tempo of the file.
• Bar lines throughout the song.
• Fine tuning detection (e.g. 5 cents sharp from A440).

PLUS, a leadsheet screen shows you the entire form of the song, including starting a new line on new sections of the songs, and an included Audio Piano Roll displays many of the notes found in the file. This serves as a helpful guide to transcription.

"Direct-to-Disk" Audio Rendering. Audio rendering means converting a song to audio format, usually to an AIFF, M4A or other audio file. Now you can render directly to disk. Choose the "Save As AIFF" (Audio Conversion) option, and your Band-in-a-Box file will save to disk in AIFF format in 5-10 seconds. You can choose to save an entire arrangement on a single track, or on a separate file for each track. Or you can save a single track to disk. This all works for MIDI or RealTracks. Choose the type of audio format that you want (AIFF, AIFF, M4A). You can import the files into other programs like GarageBand, Cubase, etc.

The Reharmonist. Generate Chords for a melody, or an improved chord progression for a melody with the new Reharmonist feature. This feature generates a chord progression in the genre that you choose, based only on the melody. Generate an entirely new chord progression for a complete song or a portion of a song. Or use the feature interactively by displaying a menu of possible chord progressions for a portion of the melody, and audition them to choose the best one using the "Bar Reharmonist." This allows you to hear some chord progressions for existing melodies, or brand new progressions for tunes without chords.

StylePicker enhancements:

• Song Demo button added to StylePicker. In the StylePicker, choosing the "Song Demo" button loads a demo for any MIDI style, RealDrums or RealTracks style.
• Third Party styles supported in StylePicker. LS3 file support added. LS3 files have the information for Third Party styles. So if you have third part styles, if there are LS3 files available from the third party, add these files to the Data folder, and press the Rebuild button inside the StylePicker, to see your styles listed.
• StylePicker List Enhanced with separate categories for RealTracks, RealDrums, and various Genres (Jazz, Pop, Country, Bluegrass, Blues). Over 1,000 entries.
• Bigger dialog for StylePicker, providing more space for the category descriptions.
• StylePicker list now shows all styles in one list, not A-G, H-M, N-Z.

GUI/ Ease of Use enhancements:

• Toolbars added (over 40 buttons), with icons, labels, and fly-by hints.
• Hot keys have been added.
• Mac has Prefs dialogs combined into a single dialog, and hotkey Command Comma added.
• Mouse Wheel support.
• Right click menu is available for each part in Band-in-a-Box (bass, drums, piano, guitar, strings), allowing you to quickly assign RealTracks, (or RealDrums) to that part along with other functions like mute, solo, save single track, etc.
• Mac themes are supported.
• Song Limit in SongPicker Increased from 10,000 to 25,000 songs.
• On-screen display of file name includes "*" when file has been changed.
• Right click menu added for Chord Sheet and Notation Window.
• Mac 'silent beep' improved. Song has changed dialog now doesn't issue a 'beep'. Now that people have their sound cards hooked up to big speaker systems, a simple "beep" issued by the Mac when a dialog appears can seem loud enough to "wake the neighbors."
• Clean look for the Band-in-a-Box folder, only 1 file in the folder (Band-in-a-Box.app) and the rest are in subfolders. Band-in-a-Box program is located in Applications folder, instead of installed to the root as Band-in-a-Box.
• Other main screen enhancements, like radio buttons for the parts at the top, with a pull down menu with options for mute, solo, choose RealTracks, Generate RealTracks, Choose RealDrums, Save track as Audio, Set Track Offset, and Erase Track.

Other changes:

• Styles can now use MIDI soloists. For example, make a style with a banjo part that has the same quality as the BB Banjo soloist.
• "Fixed Do" Chord Entry and Display. In Italy and other parts of Europe, chords like C7 are always referred to by the Solfeggio name ("Do 7" for C7) regardless of the key signature. Band-in-a-Box now supports entry and display using "Fixed Do" (in addition to the Normal, Solfeggio, Nashville, and Roman numeral types).
• Fadeout Song. You can now quickly choose a Fadeout ending, just press the Fade button in Song Settings, and Band-in-a-Box will fadeout the last "X" bars of the song (you can specify how many bars). Or customize the fadeout with precise values for each bar.
• Improved Enharmonics on slash chords. For example, a chord like Gm7b5/Db will display correctly using a Db instead of a Gm7b5/C#, since Band-in-a-Box now bases it on a Gm scale.
• MIDI files now read in Section Markers and show them as part markers.
• Chord "Breaks". This feature is great for practicing tempo control. Select the # of bars, and Band-in-a-Box will play for, say 4 bars (selectable), and then will rest all instruments for the next 4 bars. During the silence, you keep playing (comping, drums, melody, etc.), trying to stay in tempo. Drummers can mute the drum part.
• When the band comes back in after the 4 bars, you'll get instant feedback on how well you have maintained the tempo, if the band comes in time with you or not. Once set, this feature works automatically with all songs until you turn it off.
• Automatic Memo-Generation. The Song memo has been enhanced, with a "summary" checkbox. If selected, you'll see an additional window that automatically displays a full summary of the song (title/tempo/patches used in the song), as well as other special features, such as substyle patch changes or harmonies. This saves much of the work previously required to manually type in this information to the memo.
• MIDI Normalize option. If performing live, or at a jam session, it helps to have the volume of all of the songs be similar. Now, with a MIDI Normalize feature, you can level the volumes to a range set in the program options. For example, you can set all volumes to be between 65 and 75, and the program will make each song play within those levels. This is done in the Preferences tab.
• There's an easier way to "Play From Bar __, Chorus ___." Simply right-click (Control Click) on the bar and choose this menu item.
• "Auto Endings" added for Styles without Endings. If you've made a style, and haven't included an ending, a 2-bar ending can now be generated automatically, based on the style.
• Clicking on the piano sets the Volume of the current instrument, and the range is the same range as the piano (0 to 127). Default is volume, but works for any setting.
• Same files as Windows version, for StylePicker list (BBW.LST), also for Soloist list (Default.SOL), and Soloist files (ST2). Most files are now identical between Mac and Windows versions.
• Save Single Track. Right click on a part to save that single track to disk as an AIFF file.
• Changes at any Bar (F5) can now specify a chorus. Previously, any changes at a bar would apply for every chorus. Now you can specify the change to happen for every chorus and/or a specific chorus. This applies to bar settings like: tempo changes, style changes, patch changes, volume changes (louder, quieter, mute, normal, fade), and Harmony changes.
• Built-in Apple DLS synth now supported, or Core Audio MIDI (for connections with external synths).