Latest "band machine" for budget (tight wad) home studio?

J

Jiminindy

New member
Hello, all:

Yes, I joined this site ten years ago and I believe this is my 3rd post in all that time.

Okay.....I've been using Jammer Pro as my band backup machine since it came out years ago. Why? Because I didn't need a six month college course to learn to operate it. I'm still in that mindset, but I'm hearing results of newer equipment on Soundcloud, where a lot of my stuff is (James Cox, Thomas Keel, Plus | Free Listening on SoundCloud) and though I'm nearing 60 years in this business, I think I could learn a new machine if it's friendly enough.

I'm looking for something that does it all; different drum styles, rhythm sections, maybe even some chord tied oohs and ahhs harmony parts. Just a lot of realism, but something that doesn't break the bank or take an engineering degree to operate. I'm computer literate and was in robotics and programmable controller maintenance when I retired, so there's that. I use a BR1200 recorder, Voiceworks harmony, and play some lead and rhythm guitar, but my arthritis is beginning to put some limits on my pickin' these days.

Any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated or drop me a line at diego1941@comcast.net. Thanks!
 
Have you ever thought of Band-in-a-Box, which is computer software. There are literally THOUSANDS of styles/substyles/exercise. You merely have to punch in the chords and there is your song. Of course you can do other things, like drum fills or having complete silence at certain points (or chord holding)... all of which is easy to apply. I've been using this software for years and that's how I compose my stuff. Jazz, Blues, Latin, Polka, Country, Rock, New Age, Metal... you name it.
 
I should add... Band-in-a-Box has plenty of MIDI stuff, but most of it uses samples from real instruments. There's also the other part of the program called Real Band, where you can record, etc. I never use it (can't tell you how easy it is to use)... I tend to create stuff in Band-in-a-Box... export my wave files and use the Sonar X3 DAW program to layer my tracks. I used that program long before Real Band, and so I didn't want to frig around learning something new.
 
BIAB always looked really cumbersome to me.

BDJohnston said:
Have you ever thought of Band-in-a-Box, which is computer software. There are literally THOUSANDS of styles/substyles/exercise. You merely have to punch in the chords and there is your song. Of course you can do other things, like drum fills or having complete silence at certain points (or chord holding)... all of which is easy to apply. I've been using this software for years and that's how I compose my stuff. Jazz, Blues, Latin, Polka, Country, Rock, New Age, Metal... you name it.
Click to expand...

That's why I've used Jammer since ver. 1, just loaded the newest and it's a great improvement over earlier, but thanks for your input. Now I need to post a question about it! I've never been able to get the reverb to work.

Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top