[bluage]

Hello, folks...

Does anyone use Band-in-a-Box to write songs with?

Thank you,

bluage

[Retrosaurus Rex]

bluage, on 01 February 2010 - 12:08 PM, said:

Hello, folks...

Does anyone use Band-in-a-Box to write songs with?

Thank you,

bluage

Not Band-in-a-Box particularly, but I do use an auto arranger (ONYX Orchestrator, by name) to generate parts & ideas.

[bluage]

Retrosaurus Rex, on 01 February 2010 - 01:58 PM, said:

Not Band-in-a-Box particularly, but I do use an auto arranger (ONYX Orchestrator, by name) to generate parts & ideas.

Hey, there, Mr. Rex...

Thanks for responding! I've visited Ntonyxx's website in the past. How would you describe your experience writing songs with ONYX Orchestrator?

Does the word "Retro-" in "Retrosaurus Rex" indicate an affinity for 'retro' music, as in the music of yesteryear?

My best to you,

bluage

[Retrosaurus Rex]

bluage, on 03 February 2010 - 08:03 PM, said:

Hey, there, Mr. Rex...

Thanks for responding! I've visited Ntonyxx's website in the past. How would you describe your experience writing songs with ONYX Orchestrator?

In a word, haphazard... I like the program, I even bought the full version, which I thought was worth the money for the StyleMaker alone. I can't really say how it compares to BiaB. There is a learning curve with Onyx, part of that for me was my limited knowledge of MIDI. Even the free version of Onyx comes with a number of well-implemented styles, many based on well-known songs. I find most of the styles sound too busy, however, so if you're looking to generate accompaniment for a demo it will come out pretty cheesy unless you do a little (or a lot of) tweaking to get the parts to fit. It does have a lot of capabilities for tweaking the data it generates, and I've barely scratched the surface in that area. One thing that's pretty quick to do... say you want a funky bass line in the style of James Brown, pick the appropriate style, solo the bass track and it will generate a part based on the chords you select. You can then adjust the parameters it uses to choose notes, making the line simpler or more abstract. In that way you can build an arrangement track-by-track... I also like that it generates cc data that goes a long way to bringing life to horn parts, for example, which is essential for me, since I basically have no practical knowledge arranging horns, but I can still get something that sounds passably authentic if I need to. The preceding is if you want to use it properly, I think the fun is mostly in abusing it, however, which is a whole other post if you're interested...

bluage, on 03 February 2010 - 08:03 PM, said:

Does the word "Retro-" in "Retrosaurus Rex" indicate an affinity for 'retro' music, as in the music of yesteryear?

My best to you,

bluage

Oui, monsieur, merci!

[bluage]

Retrosaurus Rex, on 04 February 2010 - 01:56 PM, said:

In a word, haphazard... I like the program, I even bought the full version, which I thought was worth the money for the StyleMaker alone. I can't really say how it compares to BiaB. There is a learning curve with Onyx, part of that for me was my limited knowledge of MIDI. Even the free version of Onyx comes with a number of well-implemented styles, many based on well-known songs. I find most of the styles sound too busy, however, so if you're looking to generate accompaniment for a demo it will come out pretty cheesy unless you do a little (or a lot of) tweaking to get the parts to fit. It does have a lot of capabilities for tweaking the data it generates, and I've barely scratched the surface in that area. One thing that's pretty quick to do... say you want a funky bass line in the style of James Brown, pick the appropriate style, solo the bass track and it will generate a part based on the chords you select. You can then adjust the parameters it uses to choose notes, making the line simpler or more abstract. In that way you can build an arrangement track-by-track... I also like that it generates cc data that goes a long way to bringing life to horn parts, for example, which is essential for me, since I basically have no practical knowledge arranging horns, but I can still get something that sounds passably authentic if I need to. The preceding is if you want to use it properly, I think the fun is mostly in abusing it, however, which is a whole other post if you're interested...



Oui, monsieur, merci!

Dear "Retro"...

Thanks for your in-depth response! Since learning how to utilize music software is such a technically challenging experience for me, I tend to stick with what I'm using. However, Ntonyx's Style Enhancer sounds promising. Anything that can "humanize" MIDI performances is worth exploring.

The learning curve for Band-in-a-Box gets less steep the more I work with it. I've used it since 2004. As far as "humanizing" MIDI data, I'm slowly but surely teaching myself how to manipulate CC data via the pitch and modulation wheels as well as the sustain pedal on one my keyboards. With a some practice I have been getting better at creating guitar bends and other performance effects for reeds and brass instruments that add a teeny bit of realism to my tracks. But most of all, it's fun!!!

However, one of the most exciting and musically inspiring discoveries I made concerning the use of music software was when I purchased Melodyne audio editor from Celemony, a German outfit. It enables you to tweak the audio tracks you make after converting MIDI to audio. It has lots and lots of features for manipulating audio. You can adjust pitch, stretch the time almost infinitely, and play with something called the "formant", which can change the timbre of any instrument to make it sound like something else, like changing a trumpet sound into a trombone, or adding effects like flutter-tonguing to a flute track. It's got a simple and elegant interface and if you read the manual and apply what it teaches you, the results can be tremendously thrilling to hear...

So, where do your "retro" tastes in music lead you to most often?

Talk to ya' later,

bluage