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Band-In-A-Box version 4.04 Help : Help for BBU.exe BBU.exe is the version of Band-in-a-Box for Yamaha C1 and Key-Midiator interfaces. These interfaces are referred to as UARTs hence the name BBU.EXE stands for Band-Box UART mode.( as opposed to BB.exe which runs in intelligent mode of MPU401 ). Band.EXE is the non-Midi AdLib/SoundBlaster version of Band-in-a-Box. IF YOU'RE NOT USING THE SOUNDBLASTER/ADLIB YOU CAN ERASE THE BAND.EXE FILE AND FREE UP 340K OF SPACE ON YOUR PROGRAM DISK. If using a Yamaha C1 Boot up the program by typing BBU After the program starts -Press S to setup Yamaha C1 interface You should choose monochrome (not color) unless you are using an external Color Monitor. This will be then saved in configuration file. The MIDI all comes out of Midi Out #1 . There is no implementation of the separate outs. If Using a Key-Midiator Boot up the program by typing BBU. The program defaults to Key Midiator Comm 1 . If you are using Comm 1 - just hit any key - otherwise press S to change to Comm 2 . Most Laptops will want monochrome - also setup from Start by pressing S. If you've chosen Comm 1 then Comm 2 in same session, the program may not recognize the Midiator until you quit then reboot the program. Differences between BBU.exe and BB.exe There is no implementation of Midi Thru on BBU.exe yet Also you can't record bass/piano patterns for new styles on BBU.exe Otherwise all features are implemented and the programs work the same. ( all song files/style files compatible) This information comes from a file on disk called help.bb It is a standard ASCII file , so you may print it out , by typing copy help.bb prn from the DOS prompt Recent Additions not in the manual : USER STYLE NAMES NOW STORED WITH SONGS .SGU -> SONG WITH USER STYLE So Loading a song like mySong.SGU will also load in the User Style that was saved with the song . F4 KEY (PLAY) WILL PLAY SONG IN BUILT IN STYLE OR USER STYLE The Standard Edition of Band-in-a-Box comes with 24 styles that are built in to the program ( you can't edit them ). The Professional Edition of the program comes with an additional 51+ styles - all 51+ may be edited.The editable styles are called "User Defined Styles" and are named with extension .STY 22 of the styles are User Defined Style versions of the Built in styles - they are identified by naming beginning with Z ie. Z_JAZZSW.STY is User Defined Style version of the built in style Jazz Swing . Note that these Z styles are similar but not identical to the built in ones - just made with the same style in mind . The other 30+ styles on the Professional Edition are brand new styles eg. AFRICAN.STY would be African User Defined Style. Each style comes with a demo chord progression to demonstrate the style . Songs are named with .SG? extension By looking at the song name you can tell what style it was saved with by looking at the last character of the file name. Songs using The 24 Built in styles are named .SG1 .SG2 .SG3 ... SGA ..SGB etc Any song saved with a User Style will be named .SGU eg. mysong.SG1 is a song called mysong which when loaded will use built in style #1 which is jazz swing mysong.SGU is a song called mysong which when loaded will use a user style stored on disk . When you load in the song , the style will be loaded in as well . ( When loading in a song with a user style , the program has to be able to find the User Style. It will look in 2 places : 1. the same directory as the song is in 2. the directory that bb.exe was booted from If it doesn't find the style in either location,it will give you a message " can't find Style " . You can then find the style yourself using the F9 Key , and then resave the song in the same directory as the Style . In precious versions of BB the F4 Key would always play the Built in Style . Now the F4 key will play the song in whatever style is displayed on the main screen eg. My Song CHACHA.STY Tempo 150 Key F This song will be played in User Style CHACHA.STY if you hit the F4 Key . My Song Cha Cha Tempo 150 Key F As the Style name doesn't have .STY after it , we recognize that this is a built in style and will be played with F4 Key. the F8 key will still play the User Style in memory , which will overide the Style Setting on the Screen . You may change to a built in style by using the Pull down menu for Styles , or change to a User Style by choosing a style from the F9 Key . - ENDINGS ARE NOW AVAILABLE for all styles and user styles . From the Top menu accessed by the TAB key ( or PageUp ) there is an overall setting of Yes/No for endings . If set to no the program will function as before . If set to yes (the default) a 2 bar ending will occur after the end of the choruses ( or tag ) eg if Chorus is bars # 5-36 the ending will be played on bar 37,38 Note: The endings are based on the SINGLE Ending Chord that is placed in the bar following the Chorus end (or Tag End ). So if you have an ending with more than 1 chord involved eg C Fm7 C you should use a tag ending with the exact chords followed by the Final Chord (Ending Chord) TECH NOTES : 1. When I play user styles on my Casio synth I don't hear the drums ? Band-Box sends out rapid Note On/NoteOff drum data which is too fast for some synths. Go to the Drum definition screen from the Midi pull down, and set Extra Sustain Required to =1 (yes) Then save the file <F2> as MYSETUP.DK .Putting Extra Sustain suppresses note offs altogether, which fixes the problem. 2. You can't change between User Style as the song is playing You can change between any of the built in styles at any bar. 3. To change Port I/O address to other than hex 330 run program as bb s The program will run prompting you for desired IO address.(for MPU 401 only ) 4. MPU401 only. IRQ/Interrupt settings by the program are almost never required as the program handles this automatically even if you use other than IRQ2. If the program locks up after the startup screen it means that there is a hardware conflict and you must change the IRQ setting on your card to a different interrupt # ( usually other than IRQ2 ). If you like you may override the program's automatic detection or IRQ by specifying IRQ# by running program with i option eg. bb i7 ( remember that this is not needed even if you use other than IRQ2 but is only included to handle unusual cases ) 5. MPU401 only If your program cannot access song files on your disk it means that your disk controller is conflicting with disk controller IRQ and you must change the IRQ setting on your card . 4.If you find songs give message TOO MANY BARS with even short songs it means that very little memory is available to the program and you should re-boot without mem-resident programs or unused drivers. If you get error message 203 - it means you have completely run out of memory . Need 640K memory with at least 520K free as reported by Chkdsk program (DOS). Remember that even if you have 2 meg of memory DOS only uses 640K less mem-resident less drivers less DOS requirements and it is only when you run CHKDSK program that you will find how much memory is available on your system . Typical memory hogs include : SHELL programs / MENU programs / EMS drivers/POP-UP PROGRAMS etc 5. Miscellaneous StyleMaker help - Voice leading for Piano Patterns has been improved : There are 3 types of voice leading available 0=Intelligent 1=Smooth 2=Simple If you want to use only the C7 chord notes C E G Bb you should use Voice Leading 0 . If the Chord in the Song is C13 the program would play your C E G Bb notes as D E A Bb . If you want the pattern to be smoothly voice lead with the 3rd swapped for the 7th etc , choose type 1 . If you are playing a "riff" and plan to use passing notes etc. you should use voice leading 2 , which result in the pattern being played pretty much as is ( it will only adjust the third and 5th ) here is a one page summary to get you going 1a. The program is not copy protected . None of the files are archived or compressed . BB.EXE is the program HELP.BB is the on line help file <F1><F1> to access *.SG? files are the song files (chord files ) 2.Suggest that you copy all files to your hard disk ( suggest C:\bb subdirectory ) 3.Type BB to run the program The program uses standard IBM-PC conventions for key commands . Move around screen with cursor or page up/down keys Escape out of options , Hit enter key to choose options. To get to the pull down menus Hit the <ALT> key and press the first letter of the desired pull down menu . Set your desired MIDI channels by the MIDI window accessed by the pull down MIDI settings. 4.Drums default to Roland drum notes. If your not using a Roland Drum machine move to the DrumKit section from the MIDI pull down menu,choose the define drum kit option and then type in the MIDI drum notes that correspond to your machine. When saving the file (Function key 2), suggest you name it MYSETUP then it will automatically be loaded every time you use the program ( along with the MIDI channels you had selected and the bass/piano octaves). 5. Load in some of the songs that come with the program by hitting FunctionKey 3 <F3> for a menu of all songs or <F7> for menu of only songs in currently selected style. 6.Play the songs by <F4> key. If octave for bass/piano is too high or low -adjust these from the MIDI pull down. 7.Create a Standard MIDI file by <F6> key 8.Blank the worksheet by <ALT> B or pull down menu EDIT Blank 9.Type in your own chords/songs. <F1> help key gives summary of entering chords . <F2> to save songs . 10.<F10> to quit . If you've saved a drum kit with name of MYSETUP ( .DK extension added by program) your configuration of drum kit,channels, and bass/piano octaves will be auto-loaded next time you run the program. HAVE FUN, PG Music Inc. SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRAM Band-In-A-Box (version 4) is a MIDI program for IBM compatible computers with a MIDI interface. The program provides automatic accompaniment of bass,piano chording, and drum parts in a wide variety of popular styles of music (total of 24 including Jazz swing ,Rock ,Country, Ethnic and more ). This program was designed and programmed by a musician.The concept is to provide the fastest means possible to provide a complete piano,bass and drum accompaniment to any song . To play a song all the program requires is : - the chords of the song ( as typed in by the user onto the screen using standard chord symbols-eg:C13b9 ) and - the form of the song (ie. the looping points for the chorus to begin and end , number of choruses to play , tag ending) and - part markers placed throughout the song to indicate new parts and locations for drum fills. and - the desired style (chosen by the user from a menu of 24 available styles ) A typical song may be entered in about 2 minutes . This allows the user to quickly build up a large library of songs in many styles of music . Examples of situations where the program is most useful include: 1. Play along in home MIDI studio . No more need to buy "Play along Jazz/Pop records".Now you can input your own songs very quickly,transposing, changing tempo,styles,trying different chord substitutions, and saving to disk as chord file or performance file (Standard MIDI File). Improve your playing regardless of instrument . Each of the instruments (bass,drums,piano) may be turned off so applicable to all musicians . 2. Useful for non Keyboard players (eg:vocalists) to enter chords directly out of Song books and generate accompaniment. Also educational as bass and piano parts are displayed on piano keyboard drawn on the screen , as well as 'bouncing bar' indicating which bar is playing . 3. Professionals will appreciate the abilities of the program to quickly generate sequences of popular songs . The song can then be saved as a sequence using a Standard Midi File . This file can then be loaded by most other IBM MIDI sequencers (such as Cakewalk v3.0 or Voyetra or Master Tracks) and can be edited or tracks added).The sequences can then be used in live situations . 4.Entering a song as a series of chords has many advantages over creating a sequence : - about 20 times faster entry of song - can switch styles with touch of a key - storage of chords takes less than 1K per song ( 360 songs/floppy , 30,000 songs per hard disk !! ) - can change chords at will - no need for user to be aware of all kinds of drum beats and fills - as future versions of program increase sophistication your 'old' song files will sound better and better whereas a sequence sounds the same. Appendix A : List of valid chords accepted by Band-In-A-Box (major chords) C,CMAJ,C6, CMAJ7, CMAJ9,CMAJ13, Cb5, Caug,C+, CMAJ9#11, CMAJ13#11, (minor chords) Cm,Cm6,Cm7,Cm9,Cm11,Cm13, Cmaug,Cm#5, CmMAJ7, (half diminished) Cm7b5, (diminished) Cdim, ( dominant 7th chords ) C7,7+, C9+, C13+, C13, C7b13, C7#11, C13#11, C7#11b13, C9, C9b13, C9#11, C13#11, C9#11b13, C7b9, C13b9, C7b913, C7b9#11, C13b9#11, C7b9#11b13, C7#9, C13#9, C7#9b13, C9#11, C13#9#11, C7#9#11b13, C7b5, C13b5, C7b5b13, C9b5, C9b5b13, C7b5b9, C13b5b9, C7b5b9b13, C7b5#9, C13b5#9, C7b5#9b13, C7#5, C13#5, C7#5#11, C13#5#11, C9#5, C9#5#11, C7#5b9, C13#5b9, C7#5b9#11, C13#5b9#11, C7#5#9, C13#5#9#11, C7#5#9#11, C13#5#9#11 ( sustained 4 chords ) Csus ,C7sus,C9sus, C13sus, C7susb13, C7sus#11, C13sus#11, C7sus#11b13, C9susb13, C9sus#11, C13sus#11, C9sus#11b13, C7susb9, C13susb9, C7susb913, C7susb9#11, C13susb9#11, C7susb9#11b13, C7sus#9, C13sus#9, C7sus#9b13, C9sus#11, C13sus#9#11, C7sus#9#11b13, C7susb5, C13susb5, C7susb5b13, C9susb5, C9susb5b13, C7susb5b9, C13susb5b9, C7susb5b9b13, C7susb5#9, C13susb5#9, C7susb5#9b13, C7sus#5, C13sus#5, C7sus#5#11, C13sus#5#11, C9sus#5, C9sus#5#11, C7sus#5b9, C13sus#5b9, C7sus#5b9#11, C13sus#5b9#11, C7sus#5#9, C13sus#5#9#11, C7sus#5#9#11, C13sus#5#9#11, Note1: it is not necessary to type upper or lower case. the program will sort this out for you. Note2: Any chord may be entered with an alternate root ("SlashChord") eg: C7/E = C7 with E bass Note3: Separate chords with commas to enter 2 chords in a 2 beat cell eg: Dm7,G7 The suggested retail price of Band-in-A-Box is under $100 PG Music Inc. 111-266 Elmwood Ave BUFFALO NY 14222 1-416-528-4897