|
BAND IN A BOX
Version
8.0 for the Mac, we got the Mega Pack Upgrade from version 7.
OK, to be brutally
honest, BAND IN A BOX has been on my computer for several years
and has gotten little to no use until I upgraded to the most
recent version along with the Mega Pack (containing all the styles
etc.) My opinion has changed from somewhat loopwarm to mildly
enthusiastic.
|
BEAT
MODE RATING SYSTEM
0 to 1 star
- SUCKS - BARELY USABLE - Not RECOMMENDED
2-4
stars -
SOME REDEEMING VALUE, BUT NOT MUCH TO SHOUT ABOUT.
5-6
stars -
DECENT - worthwhile for some applications.
7-8
stars -
VERY GOOD product with many pluses, highly usable.
9-10
stars -
INDISPENSABLE - must have - the cream of the crop!
|
The strength
of BAND IN A BOX is it's ability to quickly generate new songs
complete with melodies and a full backing band. It really is
a BAND IN A BOX! The uses are plenty, however I found it most
useful to use as a practice tool to play guitar along with. Keyboards
too. The sounds produced by it can often be cheesey, but you
CAN take the midi tracks as generated in a STANDARD MIDI FILE
and dump it to another sequencer for tweaking.
I tried that
and it was fun to assign new instruments and tweak the individual
parts to taste. It is also a great tool to use as a starting
point for new songs. I personally prefer to listen and modify
the output, especially melody lines and even more with SOLOS
as the results often sound a bit stiff and cliche. But in all
honesty that is the purpose... Crank out a POP SONG that sounds
like XXX artist and boom - BAND IN A BOX does it for you.
So - how usefull
is it really??? Well, as a toy it be loads o' fun! As a compositional
tool, it IS useful but needs lots of tweaking which is ok, but
time consuming. The biggest asset to BAND IN A BOX is that you
now have a BAND to play along and practice with. In the case
of the MEGA pack, with a TON of styles. In my case it exposed
me to styles of music I would never get near in a million yeards...
Bossa nova, dixie etc. But that is part of the fun... And best
of all you get to jam with the musicians without them burning
holes in your carpet or spilling beer on your couch... Great
value for the money too!
How do they
get the musicians in the box???
Get the
DEMO - and info on all the avaialble Band In A Box versions at the PG MUSIC
site
|
