Band-in-a-Box is an automatic accompaniment program for Windows/DOS. You type in the chord symbols to any song, using standard chord symbols like C, Fm7, Cm7b5 etc. choose a style and press PLAY. Band-in-a-Box then generates a pro quality 5 instrument accompaniment of bass, drums, piano, guitar and strings in over 100 styles of music.
No matter what instrument you play, you can accompany yourself with any set of instruments you choose, the style, tempo, the chord changes. Create your own compositions, print out the music. Listen to sound clips below and read on on how incredible and versatile and useful Band in the Box is. It does so much it is difficult to explain all in this little paragraph. So lets check it out............

Included with the purchase of Band in the Box Pro you receive 4 style disks free with over 150 styles. Check out a few sound clips of them:

Jazz Cool Style
Memo: This swing style has less rhythmic agitation and fills etc. than the ZZJAZZ or the J_DIZZY styles. It will work with all jazz, bebop and standard swing tunes. (50-250)

Jobim, Latin Bossa
Memo: This emulates the original, simple Bossa style. Tranquil thru-out, it features Ac. Piano, Ac. Bass, Ac. Guitar, Drums with brushes & Strings. Examples: Any Bossa, Girl From Ipenema, Corcovada

Pop 16ths Ballad
Memo: Rock Pop 16's Ballad style w/ el. Piano muted Guitar, Bass & drs. At 'b' add strings. T=80. This style has 5 instruments. Examples: Lady in Red, Yesterday

Jaco Jazz Style
Memo: This five instrument style is in the Jazz-Fusion idiom and features some hot fretless bass lines. It works well with the newer Jazz, Latin type tunes as well as with almost any Bossa Nova. Examples: Autumn Leaves, Brazil

No Piano, Duo Style
Memo: A Jazz-swing style (t=95-200) with acc.bass and drums only. Ideal for G. Shearing harm. or pno/guit players. Examples: Autumn Leaves, Bye Bye Blackbird.

Bossa Nova (3 instrument)
Memo: Older version of bossa - only 3 instruments Examples: Bossa Novas

Shuffle Rock 2
Memo: Syncopated rock shuffle. Uses Horns in the 'b' section Examples: Phil Collins shuffle tunes

Old Motown Style
Memo: Slow Motown tunes

Level 42 Funk
Memo: Funk Style in the style of Level 42. Sixteenth notes bass. Examples: Lessons In Love

Latin Rock 2
Memo: Latin Rock 2 , bass oriented funky 16th note style

Modern Jazz #2
Memo: 16th note feel "Weather Report" Style Examples: Jazz Fusion Style

Jazz Slow Style
Memo: Bass, Drums and Piano .Useful for slower jazz tunes Examples: Unforgettable, Imagination

Jazz Swing 2G
Memo: A variation on Jazz Swing Examples: Any Jazz Swing tune

Hip Hop 1
Memo: Hip Hop shuffle style

Caribbean Style Memo: Quartet with Guitar and Steel Drums Examples: Jamaican Farewell

This major new upgrade to Band-in-a-Box includes over eighty new features! The most amazing is called "Automatic Songs". Simply select the style of song you'd like to create, and Band-in-a-Box 8.0 will automatically generate a complete song in that style, in the key and tempo you want, complete with intro, chords, melody, arrangement and solo improvisations. It will even help you out by auto-generating an original title for your newly created song! This is HOT! Songs created using BB are of professional quality and best of all, they're different every time! And there's much more in version 8.0... a new full-screen "leadsheet notation" window, on-screen guitar fretboard, animated drum kit display, long filename support, "undo" option and much more! Read on for details!

Create your own drumparts

This sizable window is a cool animated 3D display of a complete drum kit, with all 61 Drum sounds displayed on their instruments. Watch the various drum instruments being played, or playalong/record using any of the drum instruments (by using QWERTY keys or mouse). Very educational and lots of fun!

Automatic Songs - "The Melodist"
Feel like composing a brand new song? Using Band-in-a-Box 8's new "Melodist" section, you can compose a new song in the style of your choice, complete with intro, chords, melody, arrangement and improvisations, all created by the program! All you have to do is pick from one of the "Melodists" and press OK - the program then automatically generates the intro, chords, melody and arrangement in the chosen style. It even auto-generates a title for you, to complete your song! You can go from nothing to a completed song in less than 1 second! Once the song is generated, the chords and melody are part of the regular Band-in-Box tracks, so may be edited, modified, printed, saved-as-MIDI-file, etc. as with any other song! And you can auto-regenerate any part of the song to modify the composition to your taste. The Melodist will also generate a melody over an existing chord progression. A Melodist "JukeBox" mode creates and performs new compositions in succession. Aside from the compositional values of the Melodist, the features can be used as a powerful practicing aid, improving sight-reading (by reading the melodies generated in various keys using the Leadsheet window), and ear training (improving your 'ear' by playing along with the chord progressions in the generated songs).

Melodist Maker.
In addition to the 50 Melodists supplied with the program, this module lets you define or edit your own melodists (see above). You can choose the parameters to control the type of chords, melody and intro to be generated, as well as a number of settings controlling song form, theme continuity, endings type, anticipations, feel, style, harmony, soloist, patch changes and more

The Guitar Chord Solo feature
I always thought it was cool the way some guitarist like Joe Pass and Larry Carlton include chords in their guitar solos. How do they choose the right chords to play? Band-in-a-Box knows and can show them to you when you use the Automatic Guitar Chord Solo Feature.

alt="" width="304" height="237" hspace="8" vspace="3" border="0" align="left">This feature creates guitar chords for any single note melody or solo. Now you can easily make and learn professional guitar chord solos to your favorite songs! Load in any song with a melody (or generate one). Launch the Guitar Chord Solo feature from the Animated Guitar Fretboard window or from Band-in-a-Box's main screen, choose one of the Guitar Chord Solo styles and Band-in-a-Box then generates a guitar chord solo for that single note melody line, using the same guitar chords that the pros use. Chord types can be selected to use standard, advanced, or embellished chords. Watch as the chord solo is displayed perfectly on the Animated Guitar Fretboard or view/print the notation and guitar tab! Slow the music down to learn at your own pace. Transpose it and practice in all key signatures.

The Guitar Chord Solo feature can be edited to define your own Guitar Chord Solo styles and can be applied to either the Melody or Soloist track. Learning guitar has never been easier or more fun.