PG Music Band in a Box - 2010.5 (Macintosh) User's Guide download pdf (Page 224)

Chapter 12: User Programmable Functions

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The Band-in-a-Box Program is capable of playing back in any time signature (via the Bar Settings option on the Edit

Menu or Option+B) so user defined waltz styles would be made as 4/4 but played as 3/4.

Editing Existing Styles

The easiest way to become familiar with the StyleMaker is to start with an existing style and modify it. In this

tutorial, we will describe several ways to edit an existing style. These include:

- changing patches saved with style

- adding/editing drum patterns to a style

- copying and pasting drum patterns

- recording additional bass patterns

- adding strings to a style by importing strings from another style

Let's edit the Light Rock Style, which is called ZZLITROK.STY.

1. To select a style for editing from the main screen:

Mouse click over top of the style on the Title window. This area on the main screen indicates the style that is

currently in memory. If you want to edit the current style, (in this example it is ZZLITROK.STY) then choose

either User | Edit Existing User Style or press Option + Y.

If you want to edit a different style then load a different style from the StylePicker, or by selecting the Load Style

From Disk… option on the User menu, or press

+u, or select a style from the Style menu.

2. The StyleMaker window is then opened and you will see the display of the style prepared for editing.

The StyleMaker shows you patterns that have been recorded for Drums and Bass constantly. If you would like to

see the patterns recorded for Piano, Guitar, or Strings, then select the appropriate instrument button to view them.

The currently selected instrument for Piano/Bass/Strings is indicated by the

highlighted instrument button. In the diagram, you'll notice that the Piano is the

current instrument. Clicking the mouse on a different instrument button will change

the instruments.

The StyleMaker begins by displaying the Drums and Bass. Let's have a closer look at the Drums.

The ZZLITROK.STY Drums screen will look similar to this:

You will notice that there are 4 rows of drum patterns:

A Pattern is the row to record drum patterns for the “a” substyle.

B pattern is the row to record for the “b” substyle.

Fills are recorded on the Fills row.

Endings are recorded on the Endings row. (2 consecutive patterns of 1 bar.) If you‘ve made a style, and haven’t

included an ending, a 2-bar ending based on the style can be generated automatically, based on the style.

Let's have a closer look at the A Pattern row.

Each of the numbers represents a drum pattern that has been already

recorded. There are 8 patterns that have been recorded on this line. The

numbers themselves are called weights. The weights can be from 1 to 8 (a weight of 9 is a special case explained

below). Most of the patterns have weights of 5, which is the default. Assigning a higher or lower weight will cause

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PG Music Band in a Box - 2010.5 (Macintosh) User's Guide Page 224