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Chapter 2: Summary of New Features

We’ve added 64 new features to Band-in-a-Box 2019, including...

Band-in-a-Box 64-bit version for Windows^®

There is a new 64-bit version of Band-in-a-Box.  This has the newest features of Band-in-a-Box 2019 and is a modern 64-bit audio app.  This means it can use the latest audio drivers and plugins that are designed for the 64-bit audio engine on your Windows OS.  We also include a 32-bit version of Band-in-a-Box with similar features.  The 64-bit version is named bbw64.exe and the 32-bit version is named bbw.exe.  You can tell which version you are running by the startup screen or the About Band-in-a-Box dialog (Help | About Band-in-a-Box).

Band-in-a-Box VST DAW Plugin

The Band-in-a-Box VST DAW Plugin is separate from the Band-in-a-Box application and works directly inside your DAW (Cakewalk, Reaper, ProTools, PreSonus, etc.).  The Plugin uses the content (RealTracks, styles, etc.) present in your bb folder to generate audio or MIDI tracks that you can drag/drop from the Plugin into your DAW.  (There is a separate documentation for the plugin, including videos, on our website.  https://www.pgmusic.com/support.biabplugin.htm)

VSTSynthFont64 Included

The 64-bit version of Band-in-a-Box allows you to use the VSTSynthFont64 as the General MIDI (GM) synth. With the VSTSynthFont64, you can specify any GM soundfont or DLS files, including larger ones over 2 GB.

New! USB 3.0... Speed Thrills!

The UltraPAK and UltraPAK+ are now pre-installed and ready to use on super-speed USB 3.0 hard drives! Faster hard drive transfer rates will enhance the program operations (faster time to generate tracks, reduced audio artifacts) and offer faster transfer speeds (typically up to 3x faster). Also available as a ~120 GB download.

SongPicker Redesigned with many Great Features

• The completely redesigned window shows information for up to 50,000 songs.
• The song list build is much faster.  pproximately 150 songs get added per second.
• There is a progress bar.  This will appear if the song list build is taking more than 3 seconds.
• You can see the chord progression for the selected song in the list.  It can be copied and pasted to a text file.
• Many filters are available.  You can filter the list by subfolders, genre, feel, time signature, style, songs with melody, soloist, lyrics, key signature, tempo range, and the year of file dates.
• You can search songs that have similar chord progressions and/or melody fragments.

Advanced Filter to Search for RealTracks, RealDrums, and MIDI SuperTracks

A useful filter [#] button has been added in RealTracks Picker, RealDrums Picker, Best RealTracks, and MIDI SuperTracks Picker dialogs.  It allows you to quickly filter the list by many elements including type (soloist/background/chording), feel (even/swing, 8th/16th), time signature, artists, and more.

StylePicker Enhancements

• If the style list needs rebuild, it tells you that within the StylePicker instead of a message that requires a response.
• The rebuild is faster than before by 75%.  It takes 1/4 of the time now.
• While the style list is being rebuilt, you can see the progress inside the StylePicker.
• The style list can be filtered by a specific RealTracks/RealDrums/MIDI SuperTracks or RealTracks/MIDI SuperTracks in a certain number range.
• You can filter the style list by a specific Xtra Styles set.
• The dialog to select an Xtra Styles set has a button to take you to the PG Music website that shows information about Xtra Styles sets.
• The StylePicker can list all styles (including N/A styles) in the default display.
• The Set number display is improved, including sort by type and Xtra Styles.

Drum Notation Support

• All the MIDI Drums have drum notation.  Play the MIDI Drums and open the Notation window.  Then, select the Drums track and you will see drum notation.
• Drum notation can be entered by a user on the Melody/Soloist track.

RealDrums Transcription (RealChart)

Some RealDrums have drum notation.  Currently, 21 RealDrums can show drum notation, and you can find them with the [#] filter button in the RealDrums Picker.

RealTracks Medley Enhancement

You can now control the loudness of each RealTrack in the medley.

StyleMaker Improvements

• The new MIDI velocity offset allows you to make styles with altered loudness for MIDI tracks.
• Styles can be saved with information like a memo, examples, genres, and more, which will be displayed in the StylePicker.
• You can import information from another style.  This is useful when you are making a similar style.
• A style can have a huge number of RealTracks (up to 70!) because the StyleMaker now supports RealTracks multi/medley feature, which allows a single track to have up to 10 simultaneous playing of RealTracks.

Audio Harmonies Feature Enhancement

The feature now uses BB-Harmony engine when you select the N voices above and M voices below.

Song Titles Browser Enhancements

• We’ve added 300 more song titles including requests from users, so there are now over 10,600 titles.
• The chord density filter is available.  You can also filter the list by chord complexity.
• The memo area displays chord density and complexity for the selected title.

Melodist uses RealStyles

The Melodist uses RealTracks styles instead of MIDI styles to generate songs.

More Extreme Transpositions on some RealTracks

All the “Low Man” and “Re-amped” 12-key metal/thrash electric guitar RealTracks support this feature.

Notation Enhancements

• Pressing the space bar plays the song from the current location.
• Double-clicking on the Standard mode Notation window (or on the time line in Editable or Staff Roll mode) plays the song from the current time location.
• The right-click menu in the Editable or Staff Roll mode Notation window has an option to change the current beat resolution.  Previously, the only way to do this was to right-click on the time line.
• Clicking close to a stave line will put a note on the stave line instead of between stave lines.  Previously, you had to click extremely close to a stave line to insert a note on it.
• In the Notation Windows Options dialog, the clefs split point asterisk indicates that C5* is middle C.
• The clefs split point can be set by the spin controls.
• You can quickly enter forced accidentals from the right-click menu.
• A new track type (Drums) is available for the Melody and Soloist tracks.
• Holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the zoom in/out buttons results in finest possible incremental adjustment in size.
• There’s a keystroke entry mode - the ‘N’ mode, which lets you enter a melody entirely using keystrokes.  The keystrokes are N to enter a note, up/down cursor to change its pitch, and left/right cursor to move the time line.
• A new button in the Print Options dialog lets you quickly print a “chords only” fake sheet. You can also access this from the right-click menu on the Chord Sheet.
• You can now edit any track in the Event List Editor.  When the dialog opens, it will show you the MIDI data in the current notation track.

Hotkeys Added

• Typing a time signature (4/4, 3/4, 2/4, or 1/4) enters it in the current bar.  0/4 clears the time signature from the current bar.
• Style load functions - 11 hotkeys added.  s1<enter> opens the StylePicker. s3<enter> opens the Song Titles Brower, etc.
• Song load functions - 15 hotkeys added.  ss<enter> opens the SongPicker, ss2<enter> open the Recently Played Songs, etc.
• RealTracks - 6 hotkeys added.  rt<enter> opens the RealTracks Picker, rt2<enter> opens the RealTracks Settings, etc.
• RealDrums - 4 hotkeys added.  rd<enter> opens the RealDrums Picker, rd2<enter> opens the RealDrums Settings, and rd3<enter> opens the RealDrums QuickList.
• Loops - rl <enter> opens the Pick a Loop dialog.

Other Features

• The latest version of Plogue Sforzando is included.
• Fewer flash messages appear at a time.
• The élastique engine has been improved and updated to 3.2.9.
• The Audio Harmony engine has been improved to version 1.4.
• Items in the MIDI Input Driver list show properly.
• Maj chords will play more accurate with longer phrases.

And more!