Auto-accompaniment usually conjures up visions of cabaret organists against a backdrop of glittery curtains. So what could possibly make you want to boot up Band In A Box in your studio? Mike Simmons finds out...

Band In A Box is an automatic musical accompaniment program which will run on IBM PC or compatible, the Apple Mac or the ubiquitous Atari ST. The program doesn't actually generate any sound of its own — it is designed to be used in conjunction with a suitable MIDI synthesizer. To the average musician, the very thought of an automatic accompaniment program is likely to prompt images of the 'Super Mario'-type facility found on most home keyboards. There is perhaps a grain of truth in this — but certainly no more than a grain. This program is a highly sophisticated piece of software capable of generating an accompaniment from any set of chords it is presented with — and then playing back that accompaniment in just about any style, from Milly Pop to Hard Rock. As if this isn't enough, the arrangement can also be saved as a MIDI file and then loaded into a sequencer for further embellishment and refinements.

Because Band In A Box has generally only been advertised in the computer press, I've always imagined it to be software for computer enthusiasts who had a vague interest in music. Having now spent several weeks playing around with the program I realise just how mistaken I was. Anyone who is willing to suspend similar prejudices is in for a very pleasant surprise.

Getting Started

Installing the program is simplicity itself. Band In A Box is not copy protected, so hard drive users can simply drag the files into a suitable folder. Those working with floppies are sensibly advised to back up the originals and work with the copies. On booting up, the main screen displays a matrix of empty bars but, before anything remotely musical can be achieved, the program needs to be configured to the user's setup. If the synth being used is one of the growing number of machines that conform to the General MIDI Standard, configuring the system is made particularly easy, since the program automatically defaults to these settings. One of the problems that has confronted synthesizer users in the past has been that while it has long been possible to call up patch numbers over MIDI, there has been no uniformity between different machines; program change 47 may call up a grand piano on a TX81Z for example, but a flute on a K1. This means that any program which relies on patch change messages is likely to produce something fairly cacophonous until it has been configured to the user's specific system. General MIDI overcomes this problem; whatever the manufacturer, whatever the machine, if it conforms to General MIDI, program 1 will always be a Grand Piano, program 33 will always be an acoustic bass, and so on. But, recognising that most machines currently in circulation do not conform to this standard, Band In A Box allows the user to map his or her equipment to the program. A good range of default settings for popular synths and modules are provided within the software but, for those not so accommodated, it's simply a question of entering into the program those patch numbers on your machine that correspond to General MIDI instrument numbers. This is a slightly tedious business but only has to be done once. Once the setup has been saved, the program will default to the new settings at bootup.

The percussion track will also have to be mapped out, but after the anarchy of synthesizer patches, things here are rather more straightforward. Most drum machines and modules default to one of three different systems, and the program allows the user to select the appropriate layout from the menu bar. For those with less obliging setups, a further mapping page allows the user to match MIDI notes to drum voices. Once MIDI patch and channel numbers have been established, the program is ready to use.

Band On The Run

The main screen is fairly bland and displays 64 empty bars and not much else. Filling these bars is where the fun starts, however, so the next task is to enter the chords of a song into the program. Each bar can contain up to four chords; these are entered by simply typing them into a box at the bottom of the screen and then either using the cursor keys or hitting return. There is a fairly primitive Copy function which allows groups of bars to be repeated further down the screen. In an ideal world, it would have been nice to find the same kind of 'rubberbanding' system that's available on most spreadsheets, but entering the chords is really such a speedy process that it would be churlish to complain too much. The program seems to accept any reasonable chord that's thrown at it, and a good few unreasonable ones as well — I can't remember quite when I last felt a need for a C13#5#9#11 but it's good to know that Band In A Box will let me use one when I next feel such a need coming on!

Once the chords have been entered, the program will play them back in pretty much any style that the user should require. Country Rock, Funk, Reggae or Jazz — there are over a hundred styles to choose from, and since this is an entirely non-destructive process it's simply a matter of picking one from the menu, clicking the 'play' icon and then sitting back and listening. Notes played are displayed on a small keyboard at the bottom of the screen; it's possible to edit a number of aspects of the arrangement during playback. The quality of each style varies somewhat, but by and large they are pretty impressive, have to say that I've never written a Bossa Nova — I've never even thought about writing a Bossa Nova — but in no time at all I was looking for a tuxedo and set of maracas!

The program under review is version 5 of the software and, to some extent, the improvements that have been made render it just a little messy to work with. There are 24 'built-in' styles within the program, but the latest version has a further hundred or so which can be loaded from disk. These include re-writes of the built-in versions and are, for the most part, better sounding than the originals. Given that the makers of Band In A Box admit that this is so, it seems a shame that the new versions haven't been built into the program rather than having to be loaded separately.

The accompaniments utilise a minimum of three and a maximum of five instruments. The earlier versions of the software simply offered bass, drums and piano but now guitar and strings/horns are also available. By and large, I didn't find the strings added very much to the arrangements — they didn't seem subtle enough for my taste — but the guitar is a very welcome addition. Given that different kinds of arrangements generally require different instruments to be playing them, the program will call up the most appropriate sound in each situation. Thus, though each basic arrangement will consist of a bass, piano and drums, the type of bass, piano or drums selected will vary from arrangement to arrangement. These choices may be replaced by any other combination of instruments at the discretion of the user. Voices can be swapped around during playback and the final choice saved along with the song. The program presents the various groups of instruments as 'combos' — collections of sounds that fit well together. Once again, these choices may be edited so that any new arrangements will automatically default to the new settings.

Control over playback extends well beyond a simple choice of voices, however. Individual parts may be muted and the volume of each voice can controlled from the keyboard. Extra goodies are offered to owners of General MIDI Instruments, who are also able to edit the pan position, reverb and chorus settings of each voice. It is perhaps worth pointing out that not every General MIDI synth conforms to every convention in the General MIDI Standard. The fact that Band In A Box sends out a message altering a reverb setting doesn't mean that every synth will listen to it. Roland's Sound Canvas module is particularly well appointed in this respect and lucky owners will be able to make full use of the program's facilities.

In its most basic state, the program will simply play the chords displayed on the screen and then stop. This is clearly of fairly limited usefulness, and consequently Band In A Box allows the user to make some decisions about the arrangement of these chords. Specific bars may be identified as the intro and outro, others as the chorus, and it's also possible to determine just how many times the chorus will be played. To anyone familiar with one of the more sophisticated sequencers on the market, the options available are inevitably going to seem a little restrictive, but in practice the system works well enough.

The program does more than play back a sequence of chords in a number of given styles, however. It's also possible for the musician to write his or her own style, save it, and then call that style back any time it's required. Writing a style is a pretty straightforward process. Patterns for each instrument are entered in bite-sized chunks of no more than two bars duration. Drum patterns are entered in step time, while the other instruments are entered in real time. Each pattern can be quantised and given specific atributes which will determine how often it is selected by the program, and where it is to be played. Each style is also subdivided into two 'sub-styles' — 'a' and 'b' — and the program can be made to switch between the two groups of patterns during playback. Given that each style can contain up to 600 patterns, there's no reason for any arrangement to sound in the least repetitive.

"There are 24 'built-in' styles within the program, but the latest version has a further hundred or so which can be loaded from disk."

Summary

Good though the program is, I didn't always find it that intuitive to work with. Though a number of operations can be accomplished by means of mouse and menu, and most of these can also be executed by keyboard shortcuts, there are a number of operations that can only be performed from the keyboard, and I would have appreciated more on-screen information about these operations. Things are made more complicated by the fact that many of the computer keys have different functions depending on the program's mode. For example, F4 is the function button which starts the playback of a song, but once that playback has begun, it becomes the button which selects the piano part for editing. There's nothing wrong with this kind of arrangement, but the information should be up there on the screen rather than tucked away in the manual.

Moans apart, there's no doubt in my mind that Band In A Box is a lot of fun to play with. A certain puritanical streak suggests that this in itself is not enough — OK, it's fun, but what use is it? The most obvious point to consider is whether or not the arrangements are good enough for a live performance or to use as the basis of compositions. The program creates a pretty impressive rhythm section but its instrumentation is inevitably a little lumpy and 'piano heavy'. I'd have to say that I wouldn't want to go on stage with one of these arrangements in its original form, but also have to admit that I've seen pub performers singing to backing tapes that were a lot worse than anything that this program can turn out. This in itself is no recommendation, of course, but the fact that arrangements can be saved as MIDI files makes all the difference. By loading the MIDI file into a sequencer and then adding a few extra instruments, it's possible to turn a somewhat pedestrian arrangement into something very useable indeed. Having spent the last seven years churning out arrangements of standards for a fringe theatre group, I'm only too aware of just how much time this program could have saved me. Ten minutes with Band In A Box, half an hour or so with Creator and I'd have been finished. The irony is that I finally gave up this work eight weeks ago!

The program's uses don't stop there. Besides providing an arrangement of a piece of music in a variety of styles, it also provides a virtual group of 'musicians' who are prepared to keep on playing that arrangement, in that style, for as long as the user requires. The implications for anyone in a band are considerable. Most musicians do most of their practising on their own. Sometimes they play along with tapes, mostly they practise their own parts in isolation. With this program it's possible to knock up a quick arrangement of a song and then play along with it — at any speed and in any key — for as long as the user requires. If the musician is playing along on a MIDI instrument, the program will also record that line and play it back as part of the arrangement. Nothing improves a musician's ability so much as being able to play with other musicians. This program isn't quite as good as having an entire band and a tape recorder in the front room, but it's still a pretty fair substitute.

The program is also very useful for songwriters. Demoing a new song to your band on a single instrument is seldom the way to show it off at its best and Band In A Box will provide a good enough accompaniment to even the most musically illiterate songwriter. Not only that, but if the computer is connected to an Epson-compatible printer, it will even print out a chord sheet for the rest of the band! There's almost no mention of this facility in the manual, it's just presented as an option on the menu bar, but it could well come in handy at some time or other.

Writing this review has taken me a good deal longer than I first expected it to. This has happened before, generally because the subject of the review has been so inscrutable that it has taken half a lifetime to even begin to understand it. This time I have no such excuse. The manual is well written and the software is easy enough to understand. If the review has taken me three times as long to write as I originally imagined, then it's simply because I had such a good time playing around with this program. Band In A Box has very real practical uses — but it's nice to know that it's also a lot of fun to work with.

Further Information
Band In A Box £79 including VAT.

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