Band In A Box Alternatives?

[user390096]

 Hi,

Long time Cakewalk user here and owner of BIAB from around 2010? I was wondering if there were similar types of song creation software like BIAB out there? Ideally something similar to my old Yamaha keyboard where you could pick a "style", play one note and it would give you full multi-instrument accompaniment along with beginnings, endings, bridges, etc. and I assume in MIDI format. But you couldn't extract the midi, it was locked into the brain and totally unavailable for tweaking in CW. I like BIAB, but at the time they offered little to no club dance styles, hip hop, or "urban" styles. Their styles seemed focused  way too many bluegrass and country grooves.  Not vey diverse at all. Maybe they added some more urban sounds but I'm hoping there is a MIDI program that can do it all as BIAB seemed focused on actual audio trax. Anybody tried BANDORA which seems like the reinvention of JAMMER  (which I own and totally forgot about)?

Thanx, Frederick

Edited July 9, 2019 by user390096
more info

[ZincT]

Chordpulse is a good and cheap alternative and there's a free 14 day trial.

Nowhere near the number of styles or complexity of BIAB but quick and easy to get decent results and you can export the MIDI for import into your DAW.

http://www.chordpulse.com/ 

A couple of others which I haven't used but may be worth a look...

Impro-Visor -- https://www.cs.hmc.edu/~keller/jazz/improvisor/ 

Musical MIDI Accompaniment - https://www.mellowood.ca/mma/ 

There are also quite a few IOS apps with this kind of functionality if you have access to a suitable device (iPad etc): Chordbot, Chordmaps2, Navichord, Suggester, AAccompanist, Chordbud, Odesi, Session Band and a load more I have probably missed.

Edited July 9, 2019 by ZincT

[user390096]

Thanx ZincT.

Trying out Chordpulse right now and it's just about perfect and CHEAP ($29 US)! I'll look at the others too but this greatly removes writer's cramp as I tend to write/create way too many songs that sound alike.  This gives me almost instant new ideas for grooves.

Thanx Again, Frederick

[scook]

I connect Chordpulse directly to Cakewalk with a virtual MIDI cable. This gives me access to all the plug-ins in Cakewalk while using Chordpulse. Either LoopBe1 or LoopMIDI will do the job.

[user390096]

Scook can you detail the steps as to how you do the connection?

Thanx, Frederick

[scook]

Install one of the virtual cables (in this case I used LoopBe1 but either will work)

Add the cable to the Chordpulse MIDI output options

Add the cable to Cakewalk MIDI input devices in preferences

Setup the instruments in Cakewalk (Drums in channel 10, Bass in channel 11 etc.). Of course, there is no restriction on the actual instruments assigned to channels 10 through 16

Enable echo on the tracks in Cakewalk and press play in Chordpulse.

[msmcleod]

I know this might sound a bit crazy, but have you thought about using one of those old Yamaha keyboards?

I used to have an old Yamaha PSS680, and all the backing was sent out of the MIDI port.

You should be able to pick one up for around £50 - £75

Another option might be the Yamaha QY20 or QY70  (I think they nicknamed them "walkstations" at the time). The QY70 (or its big brother, the QY700) is very deep, albeit a bit awkward to program through its small interface. Again, these send everything out the MIDI port.

[user390096]

I think I tried getting those pre-programmed grooves out of my old Yamaha PS?? (which I still have somewhere collecting dust). Maybe I'll give it a try again and see if I can do better this time since I know way more about MIDI now than I did in the very early days.

[TheMaartian]

ChordPulse is great. Simple and quick. BiaB takes more time, but covers much more ground.

I highly recommend LoopBe1 (no noticeable latency for me) instead of LoopMIDI (noticeable latency when playing live).  I went ahead and bought LoopBe30.