Band in a Box ?

Billy McCombs · Post by **Billy McCombs** » 18 Nov 2007 1:42 pm

Im new to BB and when I record with a track and try to burn to a CD I only get my steel track recorded. Im useing a ADS instant music sound card to play my steel thru. would appreciate some help and please try to keep it where a average Joe can understand

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 18 Nov 2007 2:40 pm

You would need a full duplex sound card and have the "what you hear" (what's playing on the PC speakers)or also referred to as "system mixer" option in order to record both the BIAB generated audio and a sound card input to a CD (if you can even do that).

What would be more realistic is to record the "what you hear" sounds to the hard drive first as a wav file and then burn the CD from the wav file. Burning directly to a PC's CD is a bad idea as you can't get separate tracks for different songs and if something goes wrong during the recording the CD is a "coaster" and whatever you've done is gone and you will have to start over.

Any type of audio that you input (or generate on the PC that you record) for recording such as an input from an external tape recorder should be first "recorded" to the hard drive with each song separately recorded as a wav file. Once you get what you want on the PC you can then make (burn) an audio CD with the songs. Or if you want MP3 song files you can convert the wav files to MP3 (do not record as MP3 first and then convert to wav as an MP3 is something less than full fidelity and if you convert an MP3 to wav you will not regain the full fidelity).

Billy McCombs · Post by **Billy McCombs** » 18 Nov 2007 3:30 pm

Hi Jack, I did the Wave file and it did record the steel but no sound track. Also when I go to BB volume control it says I have a problem with my sound hardware? Billy

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 18 Nov 2007 9:20 pm

Billy-Before Band in a Box will record as you want, as it is in Midi, you must render it to a Wave file first, then it will blend with your Steel. I render the BIAB backup that I want to a Wave file, it is easy with BiaB 2007, just a couple of cliks and it is done. Then I name it and put in a file, then I use Power Tracks , from PG Music, to pull it in on track one, then play the steel on track two. Then you use the Merge and save and it is ready for buring to a CD...I got some of these ideas from George Wixon's Website.Good luck...al.

:)

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 18 Nov 2007 9:41 pm

Billy, here's a link to George Wixon's website. He's got a lot of answers pertaining to Band in a Box and PowerTracks

Billy McCombs · Post by **Billy McCombs** » 19 Nov 2007 1:41 pm

Thanks Al and Andy. Andy I will answer your E mail later tonight.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 30 Nov 2007 1:12 pm

Well, I did it, I bought ABIB 2007 and I know apsolutely nothing about it, zero, zilch, nada...let me explain what I have in my head...ABIB in a laptop, from the laptop into Roland mini studio where I also plan to plug in steel and vocal mic in different channels, then do a final mix on Roland and then burn a final mix on the laptop...is this possible? help needed, recording dumba$$ here...I was going to get RODE NT2000 mic for vocals,any comments?Db

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 30 Nov 2007 6:31 pm

Damir, there's no reason why it shouldn't produce great results. Once you get comfy with BIAB check this out. Forte Dxi It'll make the instruments in BIAB sound way better.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 1 Dec 2007 3:25 am

Andy, Im` getting message "url is not valid"....

Db

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 1 Dec 2007 3:47 am

this is what I had in mind,enough for me, few things but I tried to go as high with a quality as my budget will allowed...

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 1 Dec 2007 4:15 am

Damir, that's odd, when I click on the link it opens right up. Try this Link. There's two demo videos under "Video Demo of Band-in-a-Box with ForteDXi" pick either one. It's a very good demo of the Forte Dxi.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 1 Dec 2007 6:40 am

Andy, I have apple and that is probably the problem.I read on there where it works with windows but it doesn`t mention apple.

Db

Brian McGaughey · Post by **Brian McGaughey** » 1 Dec 2007 6:57 am

Hey fellows,

My BIAB v.12 came with a "soft synth" made by roland called virtual sound canvas or VSC. It beat the hell out of the MS or Creative SB sounds.

The Forte DXi is similar to VSC I suppose?

I'm wondering if Damir's 2007 version has the Roland program or something similar? I'll bet so. And if so, is Apple compatable?

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 1 Dec 2007 10:07 am

I believe it's standard to include the roland virtual sound canvas with BIAB. I used it when I first got BIAB and it did improve the instrument sounds considerably. Forte DXI is yet another step up though in sound quality.

Brian McGaughey · Post by **Brian McGaughey** » 1 Dec 2007 1:57 pm

You're right, Andy. Forte DXi clearly does sound better than VSC. I found the VSC-vs-DXI midi comparison files on the PG music web site. Cool. Gotta get that for $40 bucks...

Ken Lang · Post by **Ken Lang** » 1 Dec 2007 7:17 pm

More than a couple steps up. Cakewalk makes a sound program called, Dimension Pro. It's the best I've heard in the under $1000 catalog. It's around $250 now I think, and there is a bit of a learning curve but the sound is fantastic. Also, for each instrument there are multiple choices for what you'd like. In strings for instance, their must be almost 50 choices. It also has the Garritan Orchestra sounds.
Worth the money if you can afford it.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 1 Dec 2007 8:05 pm

WOW, it looks like times when people were paying big money to get their demos done are gone,today you can have kicka$$ digital quality home recording studio for $4000-$5000

Db

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 1 Dec 2007 8:27 pm

A simple and basic home recording studio is now very affordable and can produce excellent results. I don't gig out much cept for a little lap steel and dobro once in a while so for me recording is mostly a learning tool. My setup is about as inexpensive as you can get I think. I use BIAB, Forte dxi and PowerTracks with a laptop. I can pipe my BIAB rhythm tracks from the laptop into a second amp for some mighty fine practice sessions. When I want to record something it's easy to patch my steel into my laptop and record a track over the BIAB files with PowerTracks. Half the fun is mixing down the tracks into a stereo wav file. Recording yourself play can really help you to develop as a steel player and I highly recommend it.

James Collett · Post by **James Collett** » 30 Dec 2007 9:42 am

Someone's probably already said this, but make sure in the MIDI driver preferences the DXI box is checked. Then have VSC dxi selected in the box that comes up.
James

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 1 Jan 2008 8:14 am

I use Forte DXI also, and it sounds really good. With it, there's really not much need for Real Drums. The Real Drums take up lots of disc space, and if you use a laptop, there's usually not much disc space to spare.

John Roche · Post by **John Roche** » 6 Mar 2008 4:34 am

I installed BIAB 2008, but I don't have the steel guitar.
I looked in the folder Real Tracks but there is only one file called ( Decompress ), any ideas?

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 6 Mar 2008 5:36 am

Damir, Kool..You can get a lot of very good recordings with what you have. Purpose is everything.

The BIAB thing, it's a cool tool but don't be afraid to learn how to edit the patches to eliminate some odd drum fills or to ADD a more "friendly" drum fill.

don't forget to post your #1 million $$$ seller so we can download it for free !

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 6 Mar 2008 7:05 am

John R, it is there in BIAB 2008. I heard sound samples of the BIAB steel. I say, since you're a steel player yourself, you certainly don't need those tracks.
I thought that is what BIAB was all about for us steelers...put on your own steel.

As for me, I only have 2005. Just recently I have buckled down trying to learn the darn thing.

John Roche · Post by **John Roche** » 6 Mar 2008 7:27 am

Bent, I sorted it now, I'm just being nosy , see what it can do. it might come in handy as a tool ...

Howard Tate · Post by **Howard Tate** » 6 Mar 2008 8:23 am

If you have VSC3 installed the fastest and easiest way is to click on the Audio button at the top of the window. You don't have to be using it, just have it on your computer. In the dropdown list select "Render midi to stereo .wav file. When the dialog opens just follow the instructions. It only takes a few seconds to render, and it does a good job.

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