Band-in-a-Box

<p>Band-in-a-Box is a music creation <a href="/facts/Software/RP79lVSW">software</a> package for <a href="/facts/Microsoft_Windows/bwhAhuSL">Windows</a> and <a href="/facts/MacOS/Y93vVpTm">macOS</a> produced by PG Music Incorporated, founded in 1988 in <a href="/facts/Victoria,_British_Columbia/5bKrLfN2">Victoria, British Columbia</a>. The software enables a user to create any song and have it played by professional musicians playing real instruments. It does this by accessing a large database of real musicians' recordings that can be manipulated to fit any user's song. The user enters four basic keyboard inputs consisting of: <a href="/facts/Chord_names_and_symbols_(popular_music)/lv9LbnVT">chords</a>; a <a href="/facts/Key_(music)/jo4UMbHp">key</a>; a <a href="/facts/Tempo/P5PfkpTb">tempo</a>; a <a href="/facts/Music_genre/ceqIJRjh">musical style</a>. The screen resembles a blank page of music onto which the user enters the names of chords using standard <a href="/facts/Chord_notation/lv9LbnVT">chord notation</a>. The software generates a song typically played by four or five studio musicians to fit those specified parameters. The developers have enlisted musicians as supporting instrumentalists to build huge databases of phrases in many styles of music. The software retrieves and customizes groups of musical phrases that are appropriate for soloing or <a href="/facts/Comping_(jazz)/5v4Gabkl">comping</a> over a particular chord at a chosen key, genre and tempo. It can create backgrounds, melodies or solos for almost any <a href="/facts/Chord_progression/zrB3N8Fc">chord progressions</a> used in <a href="/facts/Classical_music/oglVXmSb">Western</a> <a href="/facts/Popular_music/Q5yhxIwY">popular music</a>, and can play them in any of thousands of different music styles.  
</p><p>Band-in-a-Box was first introduced in 1990 for <a href="/facts/IBM_Personal_Computer/yhcJGMPL">PC computers</a> and the <a href="/facts/Atari_ST/9GsYSlaM">Atari ST</a>. The creator of the software is a  Canadian, Dr. Peter Gannon, for whom "PG Music" is named. Early versions featured only <a href="/facts/MIDI/tblhmeFV">MIDI</a> data often emulating the phrasing of noted musicians. Subsequent versions have evolved from the  artificial-sounding MIDI sounds to that of real instruments.
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Band-in-a-Box open-in-new

Band-in-a-Box