Open Next Song and Open Previous Songwill open the next/previous song in alphabetical order. For example, if the song loaded has a file name of “Paul,” then choosing Open Next Song will find the next file in alphabetical order after Paul; maybe it would be “Peter.”  The hot keys for this are shift+F8 and control+shift+F.

Open Filtered by Stylelists only the songs in a folder with current style.

Open Song with Melody lists only the songs in a folder with melodies (*.mg?).

Open Favorite Songs opens the dialog listing the last 150 songs played.

Open from Favorite Folders… opens a list of recently used folders for quick access.

Open Entire Karaoke (kar) File to Melody track allows you to open a Karaoke file to extract the data to the Melody track.

Open Song by Title opens the SongPicker, which shows information for up to 60,000 songs. It has many filter features for finding songs. You can also search songs that have similar chord progressions or melody fragments.

Open SongPicker in Current Folder opens the SongPicker in the current folder of the last loaded song.

Open SongPicker in Home Folder opens the SongPicker in the home folder, which is Applications/Band-in-a-Box/Songs or as set in the SongPicker.

Open SongPicker in Favorite Folder launches the Favorite Folder dialog which allows you to choose any previously used folder where a song was loaded from, and then open the SongPicker in that folder.

Open Enter MIDI File to Melody Track allows you to open a MIDI file to extract the data to the Melody track.

Open MusicXML File allows you to import a MusicXML File from your notation programs such as Finale, Sibelius, and Guitar Pro to Band-in-a-Box.

Open ABC Notation Music File allows you to import an ABC notation file.

Open Audio Filea allows you to open an audio file to the Audio track.

Load Style Demo for Current Style loads the demo song for the currently loaded style. This feature is also available with a click on the name of the style, which opens the StylePicker. The [Song Demo] button loads the demo song for the current style.

Save Song as MIDI File allows you to save the song as a standarMIDI file. You can save in Type 1 (multi-tracks) or Type 0 (single track) files. Karaoke MIDI files are also supported. See the settings in the Preferences dialog box to control how the Melody, Solo, and Harmony are written to a MIDI file.

Saving Song as MusicXML: Band-in-a-Box supports MusicXML so you can easily export your Band-in-a-Box songs into notation programs such as Finale, Sibelius, and Guitar Pro, while still retaining the chords from the Band-in-a-Box song.

Save Song as ABC Notation File allows you to save the song as an ABC notation file. ABC notation is the simple text-based notation system used by musicians worldwide to store chords, melody, and lyrics of songs. You can find out more information about the songs and ABC notation at abcnotation.com.

Save Song to Favorite Folder allows you to save the current song in one of your favorite folders.

Save Song(s) to Text on clipboard or file(s): You can copy the current song, including the chords and other information (title, key, tempo, form, style, etc.), as a text file or save it as a text file. You can also use a batch mode to apply the feature to all songs in a folder.

Save Song as M4A Audio [Choose Name] or Save Song as AIFF Audio [Choose Name] renders the current song to the chosen audio format, ready for export to other programs or Internet distribution. You can select the name and folder destination for the song.

Save Song as M4A Audio [in Current Folder] (for iPhone/iPad/Android BIAB app] automatically renders the song with its current name and saves it in the current folder. The .m4a format is used by the Band-in-a-Box app for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

Save Song as AIFF Audio [in Current Folder] automatically renders the song and saves it in the current folder with its current name.

Batch Save All Songs in Current Folder to M4A (for iPhone/iPad/Android BIAB app) or AIFF renders all songs in a folder to the desired format.

Email song file(s) as attachment(s) allows you to email a song, style, or audio file as attachments.

Save as Video (upload to YouTube etc.) lets you make a video of the Chord Sheet that you can upload to YouTube or work with video programs.

Import Chords, Tracks, and Lyrics from MIDI File uses the MIDI File Chord Wizard to interpret chords from any MIDI file and read tracks to the Melody and Soloist tracks.

Import Melody from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Melody track.

Import Melody from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted on the clipboard (e.g., from a sequencer) into the Melody track.

Import Soloist from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Soloist track.

Import Soloist from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted on the clipboard (e.g., from a sequencer) into the Soloist track.

Import MusicXML File allows you to import a MusicXML file (*.musicxml, *.XML, *.MXL), to the current song. In the dialog that opens after choosing a MusicXML file, select a track that you want to import. If you want to change the destination track, right-click on a track and select Destination Track. Then, in the area below the track selection, select items that you want to import from the MusicXML file. If you do not want all the tracks to be merged into the Melody track, disable the “Load all XML tracks to Melody” option. The “# Bars in XML file to Skip” setting allows you to load the MusicXML file from a certain bar. For example, a setting of 4 will load the MusicXML file from bar 5. When you are ready, press [OK], and the MusicXML file will be imported to the current song.

Import Audio (WAV,AIFF,MP4,M4A,WMA) allows you to import audio data from an audio file (WAV, AIF, MP4, MP3, M4A, etc.) to the Audio track.

Current Style shows the file name of the current style in use.

Style Information shows a summary of information about the current style.

Open a User Style from disk: Styles can be selected and loaded from the Styles folder or from alternate folders you may have created for them.

Select Favorite Styles opens the Favorites Styles/Recently Played Styles dialog, which contains a list of the most recent styles used.

Load Previous Style / Load Next Style: This function, (analogous to the Load Next Song function) loads in the previous (or next) style in alphabetical order of the file name. To load the next style, in alphabetical order, choose the menu item File | Load Style Special | Load Next Style, or use the hot key command+shift+F8 (control+command+shift+F8 for the previous style).

Find a RealTracks Replacement for current MIDI style will find the best RealTracks replacement for your current MIDI style and ask if you want to use it.

Load Style demo for current style loads the demo song for the currently loaded style. This feature is also available with a click on the name of the style, which opens the StylePicker. The [Song Demo] button loads the demo song for the current style.

OK to load style with songs allows you to keep a style in memory. This way, subsequent songs that are loaded will not change the style (even if they have a different associated style), so you can easily play songs in the same style. If you have found a new favorite style, you can try it out in all kinds of songs without having to reload the style each time.
For example, let’s say we’ve discovered the GARNER style, and want to try it out on many different songs. Select File | Load Style Special | OK to load styles with songsto ensure the item is NOT checked.
Then when you load a song the saved style associated with the song doesn’t load and the song will play in GARNER.STY. You can over-ride this style by loading in another style using the [Style] button or the Styles menu. The new style loaded will stay in until you choose another one, or until you turn off the forced styles option and load a song that uses a different style. You can also create and store Favorites lists.

Style Aliases: You can create an alias so that when Band-in-a-Box looks for a style, it will load its alias instead, so when you have found a new favorite style just change the alias and you don’t have to change all your songs.

Restore Style Prior to Style Alias reverts to the original MIDI style after you have used a RealTracks replacement. It also turns off the style alias feature for the song.

Auto-Replace MIDI styles with RealTracks styles when songs loaded: If you have made a lot of songs using older MIDI styles, and would prefer that they play with RealTracks, you can now do this easily by selecting the menu option File | Load Style Special | Auto-Replace MIDI styles with RealTracks styles when songs loaded. Then, if you have the needed RealTracks installed, your MIDI style will be intelligently replaced with a RealTracks style. There is also a manual option to do this on as-needed basis, disable the feature for a certain song, or to reverse it if you prefer the MIDI style.

Suggest RealTracks style replacements when songs are loaded: This feature is the manual option for Auto-Replace MIDI styles. It will suggest RealTracks style replacements but doesn’t automatically load them. That is done manually from the RealTracks toolbar button menu. It is disabled when “Auto-Replace” is checked.

New - Make A New Style launches the StyleMaker to create a new style.

Edit Current Style launches the StyleMaker to edit the current style.

Auto Rename 8 Character song filenames will rename all song files in a folder using the song title as the name. If you have a folder with files that are in the short filename format, you can quickly convert the filenames to long file names. Band-in-a-Box will use the title of the song as the file name, so if you have a file called OldFolk.mgu, Band-in-a-Box read the actual song title stored within the song and rename the filename to Old Folks at Home.MGU.

Convert names in ALL CAPS to Upper /Lower Case: If the song title found is OLD FOLKS AT HOME, setting this option would allow the file name to be called Old Folks at Home.
Convert names to ALL CAPS converts a song title with upper and lower case to an upper-case file name.
Replace Underscore with Space Char / Replace Space char with Underscore are options to make the file names with either spaces or underscores between words.
Rename files even if the title is Untitled Song: Since Band-in-a-Box’s default song title is Untitled Song, setting this option would rename the files to names like Untitled Song. If enabling this option results in a duplicate file name, Band-in-a-Box will append the original file name (e.g., MySong.MGU), so the full name would be Untitled Song MySong.MGU. This ensures that all file names will be unique, even if the song titles are the same.
Maximum # characters for filename: Since song titles are a maximum of 65 characters, you can auto-rename song file names up to this 65-character limit. After renaming the files, Band-in-a-Box will offer to remake the songlist.doc file. This file is used by the SongPicker dialog that shows you the songs with full titles and other information.

Rename Any Song on Disk or Rename Current Song on disk allows you to rename files.

Delete a Song from Disk deletes a song file without exiting the program.

Erase it! (Delete Current Song from Disk) deletes the current song.

Render Song to .aiff Audio opens the Render to Audio File(s) dialog, which renders the full mix or selected tracks to either a compressed or an uncompressed audio file in mono or stereo. Output can be an AIFF file, an M4A file, or a WAV file.

Open Finder in Folder of Current Song goes directly to the current song folder.

Copy From… To… launches the Copy Chords and/or Melody dialog.

Copy Rests opens a dialog to allow copying of rests.

Copy/Move Tracks allows copying/moving of any track to any other track.

Copy Song(s) to Text on clipboard or file(s) allows you to select the items to include when you copy the chords in the song. It also allows you to copy or save all songs in a specific folder to the clipboard or save them as text file(s).

Title/Key/Tempo/Embellish will open the Main Settings dialog. This dialog offers you the option to set the title, key, and chorus begin/end, etc. These settings are usually entered on the main screen.

Song Form Begins at shows the bar number for the start of the chorus. Choose this command to set a new beginning for the chorus by clicking on the bar in the Chord Sheet.

Song Form Ends after shows the current bar setting for the end of the chorus. Use this command to set a new ending for the chorus by clicking on the bar in the Chord Sheet.

Total Choruses shows the number of choruses for the song, click to change.

Vary Middle Style: If checked, the middle chorus(es) of the song will be played in the “b” substyle.

Additional Song Settings will open the Additional Song Settings dialog. This dialog has arrangement options like rests, pushes, chord embellishment, tags, endings and more that turn a standard Band-in-a-Box song into an arrangement. They are saved with the song.

Repeats/codas/1st-2nd endings: You can add repeats and endings so that the Lead Sheet window will display and print using 1st /2nd endings

Intro Bars Auto-Generate will launch the Generate Chords for Intro (or Remove Intro) dialog where you can specify the characteristics of the intro you wish to generate.

Shrink cuts chord durations by 50% (e.g., 4beats>>2beats; 2beats>>1beat).

Expand doubles the durations of chords (e.g., 1beat>>2beats; 2beats>>4beats).

Unfold (convert to 1 BIG chorus): Choose this command to unfold a multi-chorus song into one BIG chorus. When selected, Band-in-a-Box will display all choruses and verses of a song without loops or repeats. It is useful, for instance, when you have a song with 3 choruses and want to convert it to a single large chorus, or to customize a song with the “Edit Settings for Current Bar” feature to change meter, tempo, patches, styles, and/or harmonies and generate a MIDI file for export.

Set Time Signature for Range of Bars allows a new time signature to be selected for highlighted bars on the Chord Sheet.

Mute Melody during middle choruses gives the Soloist(s) a chance to play on a given song during the middle choruses. Toggle this option on if you would like the melody to be muted during these choruses.

Kill Melody in Middle choruses will permanently erase the middle choruses of the Melody.

Force song to # choruses: Toggle this option on if you would like a given song to have a preferred number of choruses.

Rearrange Chords (Song Form Maker) allows you to define sections of a song (A, B, C etc.), and then rearrange the song by typing the form you want (e.g. AABABAACA).

Transpose From ... To ... launches the Transpose dialog for transposing a particular section of the song. The bar values can be typed in manually or you can transpose a portion of a song by highlighting the region you wish to have transposed, selecting this menu item, and typing in the new key you wish to transpose to.

Transpose DOWN 1 semitone and Transpose UP 1 semitone allow you to transpose the current song 1 semitone.

Transpose # Semitones will open a dialog where the song can be transposed up or down by a semitone, or by any number of semitones. These operations can also be performed with keystrokes.

Copy Lyrics to Clipboard opens the Options for Copy Lyrics to Clipboard dialog, which allows you to copy bar-based and/or note-based lyrics to the clipboard so that you can paste them to another program.

Move Bar-Based Lyrics Up/Down Row(s )allows bar-based lyrics to be shifted up or down in a range of +/- 24 rows.

Erase Bar-Based Lyrics erases the bar-based lyrics from the song.

Convert Note-Based Lyrics to Bar Lyrics converts the note-based lyrics to bar-bar-based lyrics lyrics

Edit Lyrics as Event List opens the Edit Lyrics dialog with Edit, Insert, Append, and Delete functions.

Vocal Synth - Auto Mode (Generate Vocal Audio from Lyrics & Melody): Your Melody or Soloist track with lyrics can be rendered to a vocal audio track by sending it to the third-party vocal synthesizer Sinsy. Choose the language, Japanese or English, and one of the female or male vocalists. You can adjust the gender of the voice in a range from -0.8 to +0.8. Higher values are more masculine. If your track does not include lyrics you can enter a syllable to use for notes with no lyrics.

Vocal Synth - Manual Mode (Generate Vocal Audio from Lyrics & Melody): With this command, Band-in-a-Box will generate a file named Sound.XML and save it in Band-in-a-Box/Data/ SRequest. Use your browser to navigate to www.sinsy.jp and upload the xml file. A file named sound.wav will be returned and loaded into the Audio track of your song.

Chord Substitution Dialog (Choose Your Own) will show a list of possible chord substitutions for the current chord progression.

Auto-Generate Chord Substitutions will automatically pick chord substitutions for all or part of the song.

Chord Reharmonist Dialog (Choose Your Own) will show you the current bar in the song with a list of suggested chord progressions for the current melody, based on the melody and genre that you choose.

Auto-Generate Chord Reharmonization generates an entirely new chord progression for a complete song or a portion of a song. Selecting this menu option opens the Reharmonist dialog.

‘Jazz Up’ the Chords will “Jazz Up” the chords by changing chords like C and Cmaj to 7th and 6th chords. Song embellishment will be turned on for the song. Select the type of 7ths from the list box then click on the [OK – Jazz UP] button.

‘Jazz Down’ the Chords will “Jazz Down” the chords by changing chords with 7ths (e.g. C7) to triads (e.g. C) and 9ths and 13ths to 7th chords. Song embellishment is turned off. Press [OK – Jazz Down] to proceed.

Edit Chord “Shortcut.txt” will edit the file SHORTCUT.TXT using Teach Text. This is the chord shortcuts file.

Refresh Chord Shortcuts saves changes to the SHORTCUT.TXT file. Changes must be saved with this command or they will be lost.

Make General MIDI Patch Map: Band-in-a-Box makes its patch (instrument) selections from the standardized General MIDI patch list, which is identical to the basic set of Roland GS Patch numbers. If you are using a non-GM (General MIDI) device you will need to remap the patch numbers for the GS instrument list by selecting the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Make General MIDI Patch Map command. This opens the GS Patch Numbers dialog, where you can make a customized General MIDI patch map for your non-GM instrument.

Set Favorite Patches/Combos: For each of the 8 tracks (Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, Strings, Melody, Soloist, and Thru) you can assign up to 10 “favorite” instruments. Once assigned, these instruments can be quickly and easily set.
Use General MIDI instrument numbers. If you use a custom patch map it will handle the conversion to your synth’s non-GM patch numbers, always enter GM patch numbers for the favorite instruments.
A Favorite Combo is a group of patch changes (1 for each part) that are sent out as a “batch” when you send one of the combos.

Edit Drum Kit (Note Values): If you have been unable to find a preset drum map that matches your synth’s drum notes, then you may need to type in the drum notes that your sound source uses. This is done in the Assign Drum Map dialog.

Save/Load MIDI Setup/Drum Kit allows you to save different custom MIDI setups or load in preset or custom setups.

Send Sys-Ex File is a command that sends SysEx information to your MIDI device.

Style Aliases: Let’s say you have a new style for jazz called “Dizzy.”  You can create an alias so that when Band-in-a-Box looks for a Jazz Swing style, it will load in “Dizzy” instead, so you don’t have to make changes to all your songs. And when you have found a new favorite style, just change the alias. You can also load or save sets of “Alias” files and share them with others. To make an alias, click on the original style then select the style you would like to load (substitute) in its place. If you want to type in a style name that you don’t have, use the Custom button. When you have successfully made an alias, you will notice that there will be a small arrow in the Styles box on the main screen indicating that you have an alias loaded.

Choose Patch from Higher Bank will display a list of higher bank patches as found in *.PAT text files. Choose a .PAT file from the Synth Kits folder.

Output chords to external device is useful with an external arranger that can read chords in real time. Band-in-a-Box will output chords in root position on the selected channel during playback.

Thru Transpose Settings will transpose the Thru part, which is the live playing on the MIDI keyboard, so you can play any song in any key.

Filter for Recording is used to filter the MIDI information that is recorded to the Melody track.

Panic!  (Send all MIDI Note-offs) sends a sweep of all MIDI notes “Off.”  Use if notes are stuck “On.”

Reset Sound Canvas to Factory resets the module to factory settings.

Reset Sound Canvas And Send BB sends a reset message to the Sound Canvas and then sends the startup Band-in-a-Box patch changes.

Master (Combo) Volume Adjust sets the overall output level for Band-in-a-Box.

Send General MIDI Mode ON sets the external module to General MIDI mode. This command will ensure that the module is ready to accept GM-specific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information.

Send GS mode On Message (Roland) / Send XG Mode On (Yamaha): Since the inception of the GM (General MIDI) standard, there have been two major subsets/extensions of this standard - GS (Roland) and XG (Yamaha). Therefore, in addition to the GM Mode-on menu item feature there are additional commands to send a GS mode ON or a XG mode ON message at any time by accessing the GS menu.

Auto-Send GM Mode at Start sends a “General MIDI mode on” message when the program boots up.

Auto-Send GS Mode at Start sends a Roland GS system on message when the Band-in-a-Box program boots up.

Auto-Send XG Mode at Start sends a Yamaha XG system on message when the Band-in-a-Box program boots up.

Panic! (send all MIDI note-offs) sends a sweep of all MIDI notes “Off.”  Use if notes are stuck “On.”

Turn Local OFF (external MIDI keyboard) / Turn Local ON (external MIDI keyboard): If you are hearing the information played on your keyboard played twice (an echo effect) then Turn Local OFF. If you can’t hear what you are playing at all, set then Turn Local ON.

When program quits, turn Local ON: Normally, while using Band-in-a-Box the “local-off” setting for your MIDI keyboard is best, since the THRU part will be coming from Band-in-a-Box and you don’t want to hear your MIDI keyboard doubling the notes that are being played. However, when you exit Band-in-a-Box, you might want the “local on” setting for your synthesizer turned back on. This option defaults to true.

Set Panning to Mono / Set Panning to Stereo: Mono/Stereo menu optionsare available to easily switch all parts to mono or stereo. Also, if your current settings are mono, the program will offer to convert to stereo when you exit the MIDI Driver selection dialog.

There are buttons for Preferences, Display Options, Preferences 2, More Soloist Settings, Reverb Settings, Plug-In Options, Audio Settings, Global Override, and MIDI file.

Boost Velocity of MIDI Pushes by: The pushes in Band-in-a-Box are the chords that get played before the beat. Typically, pushes are played a little louder than other patterns. You can leave this setting at 0 or set it to between 0 and 10.

Allow any Rests: You can disable the rests feature. You might want to do this if you’ve got a song with a lot of rests in it and are then having difficulty recording a melody because you don’t hear the drums providing the beat (due to the drums resting). If so, you can temporarily disable the rests so that you can record and listen to the drums.

Allow any Pushes: If for some reason you don’t want a style or a song to have pushes, you can uncheck this box.

Allow Style Pushes: If for some reason you don’t want a style to have pushes, you can uncheck this box.

Allow Lead In Bars: People who use Band-in-a-Box for soloing practice will likely turn the lead-in off to allow endless looping uninterrupted by the lead-in count.

Play Lead In even if Intro present: If a song has an intro, it’s usually not necessary to play the 2-bar lead-in count. There’s a new option to always omit the lead-in if an intro is present. If you would like the lead-in bars to be played even if an intro is present in the song, set this feature on.

Lead-in Type: You can specify to have Band-in-a-Box play 2 bars of a drum pattern instead of the count-in. You may prefer hearing the drum beat to a simple count-in, since it provides more information about the upcoming groove. To set this, set Lead-in Type to one of “b” substyle fills, “a” substyle fills, or fill-pattern or pattern-pattern combinations.

Audible Lead In / Volume: Use these settings for the audible drum count-in. You can select any drum instrument for the count-in. You can choose different count-in rhythms (e.g. Tap on 2 and 4 instead of 1-2-3-4).

Instrument: Choose your pick of drum instruments for the lead-in count.

Pattern: Choose the pattern for your lead-in count from the dropdown list.

Drum Countin (this song): This allows you to set the lead-in option for the current song only.

Lead-in Drum count if drums muted: This is great for drummers who play along with Band-in-a-Box and mute the drum track. Previously, when the drum track was muted or disabled in a song, the count-in drum click wouldn’t play. Use this option to play the drum count-in in all circumstances.

Smart Lead in: This option avoids playing the count-in drum sound during a melody pickup

Metronome During Recording: Select this to hear the metronome while recording.

Allow Any Endings: Song endings can be turned off for all songs, or on a song-by-song basis.  To turn song endings off for all songs, uncheck the “Allow Any Endings” option. To turn the song ending off for a single song select the Additional Song Settings option from the Song menu and uncheck “Generate 2 Bar Ending for This Song.”

SpaceBar Key: These different functions can be assigned to the spacebar. The default is to play from the current position, which will also stop play when the spacebar is pressed during playback.

Move current cell when playback stops: If this is enabled, the current cell will move to the last played bar when playback stops.

Automatically check for updates every __ days: If this is enabled, the program will automatically check for new updates. This will occur as often as you choose. A setting of 0 days will check every time you run the program.

At program bootup...: When the new session starts, Band-in-a-Box can automatically open the song or style that was used in the last session.

Natural Arrangements (re-interpret complex chords): If you give a pro musician a complicated chord progression with fancy extensions like C7b9b13 or Gm11, the musician may reinterpret these rather than playing them exactly as written. This can achieve a much better sounding arrangement because the musician has freedom to choose from similar chord extensions. You can get Band-in-a-Box to do the same thing with this option for all tracks in all songs. (Note: To set this feature for all tracks in the current song, use the option in the Song Settings dialog. To set this for specific track(s) in the current song, right click on the track radio button, go to Track Settings | Set Natural Arrangement, and select an option.)

Show Messages: You can select to show a flash message when chords are re-interpreted. The choices are: Always, Never, and Once per session.

OK to Load Harmony with songs: If you enable this, the harmony settings for each song will be loaded and saved with each song. If set to NO, the harmony setting won’t be saved or loaded with the songs. If you are using a certain harmony, you should set this setting to NO, otherwise you’ll have to keep re-selecting the harmony when you load in new songs.

Change Harmony with new chords: For example, if a harmony is played on bar 1 on a C chord, and then the note is held as the chord changes to a Fm7 chord, (if this setting checked) the harmony notes will change so that they will be still be playing chord tones. If they don’t the harmony sounds dissonant. Leave this setting checked, unless you have a specific reason to disable it. The harmony is changed by moving the voices to the nearest chord tone.

Harmony Volume Adjust: Raise or lower the overall volume of the Harmony with a range of –128 to 128.

OK to Load Style with songs: Leave this unchecked to audition the same style with several different songs.

Use MSB for Bank (Roland): Band-in-a-Box sends General MIDI bank changes in two ways. Most synths (e.g. Roland, Korg, Kawai) use the Controller 0 for the bank. This is the MSB (Most Significant Byte) method. Check this option if you are using one of these synths. Some synths use Controller 32 for the bank (e.g. Peavey). This is the LSB (Least Significant Byte) method. If you have one of these synths, then uncheck the “Use MSB for Bank (Roland).”

Pause Play until MIDI note/event (or QWERTY key) received: This allows playback to be started from another keyboard or the computer keyboard. The Band-in-a-Box arrangement will be generated, and then the program will pause until the MIDI or keystroke signal is received.

Defaults for new songs: This allows you to set the default length of the new songs.

Number of Levels of Undo: Set the number of levels of undo from 5 to 999. Undo takes up memory, so don’t use huge values unless you have a lot of memory or make a lot of mistakes.

Allow multiple instances of Band-in-a-Box to be running allows you to have more than one copy of Band-in-a-Box open at a time. (Note: You need to duplicate the Band-in-a-Box.app to be able to run multiple instances Band-in-a-Box You can duplicate it as many as you need. For example, if you want to run 10 instances of Band-in-a-Box, you need 10 duplicates of the Band-in-a-Box.app.)

Allow Fast Bootups: Normally, this option should be enabled. This should only be disabled if you are having some problem with bootup.

Write a detailed log of bootup times (used for troubleshooting): This will be used as a diagnostic tool only. When this option is enabled, you will get a message on bootup, which displays a detailed description of times for bootup.

OK to save/load rev/vol/chorus w/songs: This offers global control over additional song settings (i.e. reverb, chorus, etc.) that can be saved and/or loaded with each song.

Send GM mode at startup: For sound modules that are GM compatible, this command will ensure that the module is ready to accept GM-specific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information.

Send GS Mode On at startup: For sound modules that are GS compatible, this command will ensure that the module is ready to accept GS-specific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information.

Send XG Mode On at startup: For sound modules that are XG compatible, this command will ensure that the module is ready to accept XG-specific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information.

Turn External Keyboard’s Local On at end of session: Normally, while using Band-in-a-Box the “local-off” setting for your MIDI keyboard is best, since the THRU part will be coming from Band-in-a-Box and you don’t want to hear your MIDI keyboard doubling the notes that are being played. However, when you exit Band-in-a-Box, you might want the “local on” setting for your synthesizer turned back on. This option defaults to true.

OK to beep with messages: Now that computers have better speaker systems, a simple “beep” when an incorrect key is pressed can seem loud enough to “wake your neighbors.”  Setting the “silent beep” option allows Band-in-a-Box to visually flash the window title bar to get your attention, instead of generating an audible “beep.”

OK to prompt to reduce/expand: If a style is changed with a different feel (16th notes instead of 8th notes), Band-in-a-Box will automatically offer to expand or reduce the duration of the chords and change the tempo to accommodate the new style. This also works as the song is playing.

Lowest Bass Note (E2 = default): Styles will normally play bass notes (down to the low E) if the pattern won’t go below a low E. This happens with all styles automatically, but there is also an option to set the lowest bass note real low, so you can get a low C if you want to!

My soundcard or MIDI doesn’t have brushes – remap them: Most GM modules have brushes available on patch 41 on the drums. On some, you need to load a GS sound font for this to occur. On the Yamaha XG, you likely need to send a “GS mode on” message from the GM menu in Band-in-a-Box. But if your module just doesn’t have brushes available, then you can set this option, and the style will remap the notes to different drum instruments that don’t have brushes.

Save Button on main screen works as Save As: The [Save] button will launch the file dialog where the location and name of the file being saved can be changed.

Name MIDI files with .MID extension: This will append the file extension .MID to MIDI files saved in Band-in-a-Box, rather than prefacing them with SMF (Standard MIDI File).

Show Custom Track Labels and Descriptions: If this option is enabled, then the Track buttons at the top of the main screen and the track labels on the Mixer will display custom track labels and descriptions that you have customized.

Auto-Generate Track Labels: If this option is enabled, then the Track buttons at the top of the main screen and the track labels on the Mixer will show the current instrument names (e.g. Banjo, Flute, Harmonica). Also, the track buttons in various windows (Notation, Lead Sheet, Guitar, Piano, etc.) will display initials of auto-generated labels. For example, [H] will show for a track that plays Harmonica.

Help Tags: Help tags are short messages that appear if you leave the mouse pointer hovering over an interface element for a few seconds. When the pointer leaves the object, the tag vanishes. If the mouse pointer is not moved, the operating system hides the help tag after about 10 seconds.Use these settings to enable help tags, and to set the delay time in mS before a tag opens.

Normalize MIDI velocities to…: If performing live or at a jam session, it helps to have the volume of all the songs be similar. With the “Normalize MIDI velocities” feature, you can level the volumes to a setting you enter. For example, you can set all volumes to be 70 and the program will make each song play within those levels.  Normalization for the Melody and Soloist tracks is optional, if you want their MIDI velocities left “as-is” you can uncheck the “Also normalize Melody, Soloist“ box.

Insert Breaks (silence) in arrangement, also called “Chord Breaks,” is a great feature for practicing tempo control. Select the # of bars, and Band-in-a-Box will play for, say 4 bars (selectable), and then will rest all instruments for the next 4 bars. Once set, this feature works automatically with all songs until you turn it off.During the silence, you keep playing (comping, drums, melody, etc.), trying to stay in tempo. Drummers can mute the drum part.  When the band comes back in after the 4 bars, you’ll get instant feedback on how well you have maintained the tempo, if the band comes in time with you or not.  Once set, this feature works automatically with all songs until you turn it off.

Woodshed Tempo (increase tempo every loop): The Woodshed feature works with looping of a song or passage to adjust the tempo in increments each time the loop repeats. This is a very useful feature for practicing, or “woodshedding.”

• Woodshed tempo by (default = 0 bpm) is the number of beats per minute (bpm) that the tempo will be changed each time the loop repeats. When set to a non-zero tempo, Band-in-a-Box will speed up (or slow down) the tempo every time it loops back to the start of the song or loop.
• Mode determines how the Woodshed feature works. If set to “Up,” the tempo will always increase up to the maximum setting (up to 500 bpm). If set to “Up then Down,” the tempo will cycle up then back down again. If set to “Up/Reset to base/Up,” the tempo will increase to the maximum, reset to the original baseline tempo, and start over again.  If set to “Up and stay at Max,” the tempo increases to the maximum and stays there.
• Maximum Total Tempo Change (bpm) is the setting for the maximum amount that the tempo can rise in the “Up then Down” and “Up/Reset to base/Up” modes.

Play (and Generate) generates an accompaniment and starts playback of the current song.

Play (with no re-Generation) plays the current song without generating a new arrangement.

Generate (even if tracks are frozen) forces generation of a song that is frozen.

Play from Bar # …: Choose a chorus and bar to play from with the current arrangement. Tracks won’t be regenerated.  Use this command during playback to jump to any bar in the song.

Play from Current Position - no Regeneration: When the song is stopped this command starts playback again at the bar with the highlight cell with the current arrangement.

Go (Open and Play) launches a filedialog for selection of any song in any folder. The selected song loads and plays automatically in Band-in-a-Box.

Start a Melodists File allows you to make and edit Melodist styles saved under the filename of your choice. See Melodist Edit dialog for additional details on importing/exporting/saving Melodists.

Edit a Melodists File opens a file dialog where you can select any Melodist file (*.mel) to edit. If you have not created any of your own Melodist files or if you want to edit the one you are using, use the Edit Current Melodist File command.

Edit Current Melodists File opens the Select Melodist dialog with the currently installed Melodist file.

Refresh Melodists allows the Melodist full access to all melody ideas contained in its database. Use to refresh after several Melodists have been made.

Import Melody from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Melody track.

Import Melody from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted on the clipboard (e.g., from a sequencer).

Record Melody launches the Record MIDI dialog to record a MIDI melody.

Record Melody from Bar #... lets you click on any bar to start recording there.

Step Edit Notes allows you to enter/edit a melody in step time using an event list.

Quantize, Time Adjust shows a submenu to quantize, humanize or adjust the Melody track.

Transpose has a submenu to transpose the Melody track.

Form has a submenu which is related to a song form.

Adjust Level of Melody allows you to increase or decrease the volume (velocity) of the Melody track without affecting the other tracks.

Copy to Soloist Track copies the entire contents of the Melody track to the Soloist Track. Useful for a temporary holding area for your Melody or bouncing tracks.

Move to Soloist Track copies the entire contents of the Melody track and erases the original data from the Melody track, preparing it for a new track or data.

Swap Melody and Soloist Track performs a “double copy/move” so that the data that was in the Melody track is transferred to the Soloist track and vice versa. This is also known as track bouncing.

Convert Harmony to Melody Track converts a single line Melody track to include the current harmony selection.

Remove Harmony (or Guitar solo) from Melody Track removes a harmony from a track, providing that the harmony was put there by Band-in-a-Box in the first place using the Convert Harmony to Melody Track command.

Generate Guitar Chord Solo opens the Select Guitarist dialog for generating a guitar chord solo.

Auto-Rechannel to Guitar Display converts the channels on the Melody track to Guitar Channels 11 to 16. When it encounters a chord, it will determine the fret position that it’s most possible to play that chord with. Otherwise, if it’s a single note, it will play it at the current position at the guitar neck. If you want to convert an existing melody to a customized Guitar part, this command is a good starting point, and you can edit the track further to achieve a better result.

Add Legato/Staccato to Melody allows you to increase legato of the Melody track by N ticks, avoiding the next note by M ticks, or reduce the length of notes by N ticks, preserving a minimum of M ticks duration of notes. To increase legato of the notes, enter a positive number in the first dialog. The duration of notes in the track will be increased by this number of ticks. Then, in the next dialog specify the number of ticks to avoid the next note.  To reduce the length of notes, enter a negative number in the first dialog. The duration of notes in the track will be decreased by this number of ticks. Then, in the next dialog, specify the minimum duration of notes.

Embellish Melody toggles the Melody Embellisher feature on or off.

Embellish Melody Dialog opens the Melody Embellisher dialog, allowing you to customize the settings of the Embellisher, choose an embellisher type from presets, and make a particular Embellishment permanent.

Start a Soloists File allows you to make and edit Soloist styles saved under the filename of your choice. See Soloist Edit dialog for additional details on importing/exporting/saving Soloists.

Edit a Soloists File opens a file dialog where you can select any Soloist file (*.Soloist) to edit. If you have not created any of your own Soloist files or if you want to edit the one you are using, use the Edit Current Soloist File command. Band-in-a-Box comes with over 100 Soloists built-in. If you want to make your own or modify an existing Soloist, use the Soloist Maker (edit) module. The Soloist Maker allows you to define the parameters essential to a soloist’s playing, such as instrument range (i.e. tenor saxophone), extra legato playing, playing more on top of the beat than most jazz musicians, and playing straighter 8th notes than usual swing 8th notes. In addition, you can set phrasing options, such as how long the phrase should be, and how much “space” to leave between phrases. You can also set how “outside” the playing should be.

Edit Current Soloists file opens the Select Soloist dialog with the currently installed Soloists file.

Refresh Soloist allows the Soloist full access to all solo ideas contained in its database. Use to refresh after several Soloists have been made.

OK to Load Soloists w/ song: Enable this option if you want Soloists to be automatically loaded with a song that was saved with Soloist information.

Allow Soloist Harmony (on THRU): Enable this option to permit the Soloist to utilize the Harmony features. This will allow the Soloist to make a harmonized solo with the harmony of your choice.  See the Select Soloist dialog for additional details.

Import Soloist from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Soloist track.

Import Soloist from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted on the clipboard (e.g., from a sequencer such as PowerTracks).

Record Soloist records a MIDI part to the Soloist track instead of recording tothe Melody track.

Record Soloist From Bar #  records at the current location of the highlight cell. When you click to select the bar to begin recording a prompt will ask you to select which chorus to record. At the end of recording the regular Band-in-a-Box confirmation dialogs will open. 

Step Edit Notes allows you to edit a solo in step time from an event list.

Quantize, Time Adjust shows a submenu to quantize, humanize or adjust the Soloist track.

Transpose has a submenu to transpose the Soloist track.

Form has a submenu which is related to a song form.

Adjust Level of Soloist allows you to increase or decrease the volume (velocity) of the Soloist track without affecting the other tracks.

Copy to Melody Track copies the entire contents of the Soloist track to the Melody Track. This is useful for a temporary holding area for your soloist or for bouncing tracks.

Move to Melody Track copies the entire contents of the Soloist track and erases the original data from the Soloist track, preparing it for a new track or data.

Swap Melody and Soloist Track performs a “double copy/move” so that the data that was in the Soloist track is transferred to the Melody track and vice versa. This is also known as track bouncing.

Convert Harmony to Soloist Track converts a single line Soloist track to include the current harmony selection.

Remove Harmony (or Guitar solo) from Soloist Track removes a harmony from a track, providing that the harmony was put there by Band-in-a-Box in the first place using the Convert Harmony to Soloist Track command.

Generate Guitar Chord Solo opens the Guitar feature dialog for generating a guitar chord solo.

Auto-Rechannel to Guitar Display converts channels on a track to channels 11 to 16. Channels 11 to 16 are used by Band-in-a-Box to indicate strings 1 to 6 of a guitar. It uses the current position marker on the guitar for this command.

Add Legato/Staccato to Soloist allows you to increase legato of the Soloist track by N ticks, avoiding the next note by M ticks, or reduce the length of notes by N ticks, preserving a minimum of M ticks duration of notes. To increase legato of the notes, enter a positive number in the first dialog. The duration of notes in the track will be increased by this number of ticks. Then, in the next dialog specify the number of ticks to avoid the next note.  To reduce the length of notes, enter a negative number in the first dialog. The duration of notes in the track will be decreased by this number of ticks. Then, in the next dialog, specify the minimum duration of notes.

Generate Scales allows you to set options for the scales that are generated.

Auto-Generate Scales when play pressedgenerates scales for all loaded songs.

Copy 1st Chorus to Whole Songcopies the first chorus of audio to the rest of the song.

Kill Entire Audio erases the Audio track from the song completely.

Erase Audio Choruses erases audio from the selected chorus.

Erase Region of Audio erases a specified region of bars/beats of audio.

Adjust Level of Region of Wave File (Permanent) allows you to change the volume of the Audio track itself. It uses a sophisticated peak-limiting algorithm to ensure that increases in the volume do not result in clipping of the sound, which would be heard as a loud distortion.

Timeshift Audio (ms) is used to time shift the whole Audio track a certain number of milliseconds.

Insert Bar(s) in Audio inserts best(s) to the Audio track. For example, if you decide to add an extra 2 bars to the intro, and you’ve already recorded audio, you should insert 2 bars (8 beats in a 4/4 time signature) into the Audio track as well.

Delete Bar(s) from Audio deletes best(s) from the Audio track.

Convert Channels (mono/stereo) converts the Audio track from stereo to mono, or vice versa.  There is an option to choose the percentage of each channel.

Start a New Harmonies Fileallows you to make and edit Harmony styles saved under the filename of your choice.

Edit a Harmonies File allows you to select and edit a Harmony file.

Edit Current Harmonies File allows you to edit the Harmony file that is currently loaded on your system.

OK to Load Harmony with Songs: Check this option if you want to load any harmony settings that were saved/embedded in a given song.

Save Harmony with This Song: Check this option if you want to save the Melody and/or Thru harmony settings for the currently open song so that they may be recalled automatically later.

Change Harmony with New Chord: Toggle this option on to allow the program to vary the harmony characteristics (i.e. inversions) each time a new chord is encountered in the song.

Allow Melody Harmony: Toggle this option on to allow the Melody MIDI channels to utilize the harmony features.

Allow Thru Harmony: Toggle this option on to allow the Thru MIDI channels to utilize the harmony features.

Allow Soloist Harmony (on THRU): Toggle this option on to allow the Thru MIDI channels to utilize the harmony features for the Soloist track.

Use Passing harmonies for THRU: When you play along on a MIDI keyboard (or the wizard), and use a Thru harmony, you can use passing harmonies. For example, on a C7 chord, with an Ab note, the harmony might be a B diminished chord, which is a passing harmony.

Notation Window toggles between the Notation and the Chord Sheet windows.

Movable Notation Window opens a movable and resizable window.

Event List Editor opens a window which allows you to edit events including all MIDI events and lyric events.

Display Log Text File of Yellow/Green Messages: Log of “yellow and green messages”, listing the message and date/time, is saved in a file called /Applications/Band-in-a-Box/Data/FlashMessageLog.txt.  This file is saved when you exit the program.  The list can be displayed inside the program at any time, by choosing a menu Display Log Text for Yellow/Green Messages. Very long single word strings in the Flash Messages now show up correctly.

Write BandInABoxRequest file: Use this menu item if the support asks you to do so when you have a problem activating the program.

begin<return>

Sets the beginning of the chorus to the current bar.

chorusend<return>

Sets the end of the chorus to the current bar.

end<return>

Sets the end of the song to the current bar.

tkc<return>

Sets key signature to C, tkbb would set it to Bb.

trc<return>

Transposes song to key of C.

t125<return>

Sets tempo to 125.

option+2

Mute the all tracks

option+3

Mute the Bass track

option+4

Mute the Piano track.

option+5

Mute the Drums track.

option+6

Mute the Guitar track.

option+7

Mute the Strings track.

option+8

Mute the Melody track.

option+9

Mute the Soloist track.

option+0

Mute the Thru track.

option+2 then option+3

Solo the Bass track.

option+2 then option+4

Solo the Piano track.

option+2 then option+5

Solo the Drums track.

option+2 then option+6

Solo the Guitar track.

option+2 then option+7

Solo the Strings track.

option+2 then option+8

Solo the Melody track.

option+2 then option+9

Solo the Soloist track.

option+2 then option+0

Solo the Thru track.

control+F5

Switch to next track.

control+shift+F5

Switch to previous track.

control+3

Select the Bass track.

control+4

Select the Piano track.

control+5

Select the Drums track.

control+6

Select the Guitar track.

control+7

Select the Strings track.

control+8

Select the Melody track.

control+9

Select the Soloist track.

control+0

Select the Thru track.

control+shift+Q

Decrease the current track’s volume by 5.

control+shift+W

Increase the current track’s volume by 5.

control+shift+E

Decrease the current track’s panning by 5.

control+shift+R

Increase the current track’s panning by 5.

control+shift+T

Decrease the current track’s reverb by 5.

control+shift+Y

Increase the current track’s reverb by 5.

control+option+shift+R

Set the current track’s volume.

control+command+A

Decrease master volume by 5.

control+command+S

Increase master volume by 5.

control+command+V

Set master volume.

control+shift+command+Q

Decrease all tracks’ volumes by 5.

control+shift+command+W

Increase all tracks’ volumes by 5.

control+shift+command+E

Set all tracks’ volumes.

/ <return>

Feature Browser.

command+T

Display Notation screen or Chord Sheet in full screen.

control+N

Toggle Notation and Chord Sheet windows.

control+shift+N

Movable Notation window.

control+L

Lead Sheet window.

control+P

Print Lead Sheet.

control+D

Drum Kit window.

control+shift+G

Guitar window.

control+Y

Big Lyrics window.

control+M

Mixer Window

command+N

Start a new song

SS4<return>, F3, command+O

Open song.

SS7<return>, control+shift+F8

Open previous song (in alphabetical order).

SS8<return>, shift+F8

Open next song (in alphabetical order).

SS1<return>, SS<return>, command+F7

Open song using the Song Picker window.

SS2<return>, shift+F3

Open song from favorite songs list.

SS3<return>, shift+F3

Open song from recently played songs list.

option+shift+F

Open song from favorite folders.

command+F3

Open song with melodies.

SS9<return>

Open MIDI file.

SS13<return>

Open Karaoke file.

SS10<return>

Open audio file.

SS12<return>, S9<return>

Open song demo for the current style.

S6<return>, command+U

Open style.

S7<return>, control+shift+command+F8

Open previous style (in alphabetical order).

S8<return>, shift+command+F8

Open next style (in alphabetical order).

S<return>, S1<return>, control+F9

Open style using the StylePicker.

S4<return>, option+F9

Open style from recently played styles list.

S5<return>, option+F9

Open style from favorite styles list.

S2<return>

Show the Best RealStyles list.

S3<return>

Open the Song Titles Brower.

S10<return>

Play audio demo for the current style.

RT<return>, RT1<return>, control+K

Select RealTracks in the RealTracks Picker.

RT2<return>, control+shift+K

RealTracks Settings.

RT3<return>

Select Best All RealTracks.

RT4<return>

Select Best Chording RealTracks.

RT5<return>

Select Best Soloist RealTracks.

RD<return>, RD1<return>, control+U

Select RealDrums in the RealDrums RealDrums Picker.

RD3<return>

RealDrums QuickList.

RD2<return>, control+shift+U

RealDrums Setting.

RL<return>

Select Loop.

F2, command+S

Save song.

control+S

Save song as MIDI file.

option+shift+S

Save song to favorite folder.

command+A, F4

Play song with generation.

command+R

Play song with no generation.

control+F

Play song from any bar.

control+X

Play song from current bar.

F10

Play and loop the highlighted area.

control+G

Open song and play.

control+H

Pause/Resume playing song.

spacebar or esc

Stop playing song.

command+J

Play/Stop Jukebox.

command+[

Play previous jukebox song

command+]

Play next jukebox song

control+R

Record MIDI.

option+R

Record MIDI from any bar.

option+W

Toggle play-along wizard.

command+C

Copy.

command+X

Cut.

command+V

Paste.

command+Z

Undo.

shift+command+Z

Redo.

option+C

Copy From ... To…

option+K

Erase From ... To…

command+shift+V

Paste text to Song(s).

command+I

Insert bars.

command+D

Delete bars.

F5 or option+B

Edit current bar options.

option+Z

Edit current chord options.

F6, M return

Set MicroChords.

command+B

Set the first bar of the chorus.

command+E

Set the last bar of the chorus.

command+L

Set the number of choruses.

control+command+T

Set tempo.

control +

Set to normal speed.

control -

Set to half speed.

command+K

Song Settings

F7, T return

Track Settings and Actions dialog.

control+shift+H

Chord Builder.

shift+return

Play current chord

control+shift+B

Auto-generate intro chords.

option+shift+T

Auto-generate a title.

control+command+1

Transpose Melody track one octave down

control+command+2

Transpose Melody track one octave up

control+command+3

Transpose Soloist track one octave down

control+command+4

Transpose Soloist track one octave up

control+command+5

Transpose song 1 semitone down.

control+command+6

Transpose song 1 semitone up.

control+command+7

Transpose setting dialog.

control+shift+A

Transpose Thru settings dialog.

shift+F5

Select Melodist.

shift+F4

Select Soloist.

shift+F7

Refresh Melodist or Soloist.

control+option+H

Select Melody harmony.

control+option+T

Select Thru harmony.

control+F10

Select favorite Melody harmony

control+F11

Select favorite Thru harmony.

option+H

Allow Melody harmony.

option+T

Allow Thru Harmony

control+option+E

Toggle Melody Embellisher.

control+option+L

Melody Embellisher dialog.

option+M

Song Memo.

command+=

Send GM mode on message.

command+G

Reset Sound Canvas and send BB MIDI settings.

command+M

MIDI Settings dialog.

command+, or option+P

Preferences dialog.

F12

Panic! All notes off.

F1

Displays Band-in-a-Box manual.

command+H

Hide Band-in-a-Box

command+F4, command+Q

Quit the program.