Band in a box/Sonar as drum basis?

  • Thread starter Thread starter wfaraoni
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wfaraoni

wfaraoni

ear art's not a science
Does anyone import drums from band in a box and edit them in Sonar? A player I know said he saw a guy who used it a lot for live performances as his drum tracks which he edited in Sonar and recorded as his backup. He said it sounded very good. I have Band in a box but I use it for lead practice only. I never realized you could export the midi drums until now! Too much software ,too little time, especially for an old fart like me.
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Id like to hear what the result is if anyone has played around with it.
 
You can export ALL the instruments to seperate tracks in Sonar if you want to. It's a quick way to come up with the basic rhythm section to a song. You can program the chord changes in BIAB, then export the whole thing into Sonar. Then you can edit the MIDI, change instruments on different parts, or delete tracks(instruments) you don't want. The interface isn't all that great in BIAB, but it's a very versatile program. It will also generate solos and melodies for you based on the chord progressions.
Pretty cool program.
 
Yeah, Ive used Band in a Box for drum tracks. You can browse thro for a style that fits your composition. Set the tempo the same as Sonar. Then I click on bar 5 so that it changes colour from blue to green (alternative rhythm). Click on mid button and save as midi multitrackfile. Load that file into Sonar, select just the drum track for copy and copy to my composition drum track. You then have a range of variations of that drum track usually including fills and alternatives that you can copy and paste to make up the final drum tracks. It's incredibly fast!
 
If so inclined, one could even go so far as to write an original arrangement of chords in BB or (Jammer - my preference) and import the midi file into Sonar. At this point your midi rhythm section is in place - bass, drums and keys. Choose the patches of choice and record these parts individually as waves. Now add guitars and the lyrics you conjured up to fit in the whole mess. Mix it to a stereo wave file and but it on a cd or convert to mp3 for internet.
 
AlChuck

GREAT JOB great arrangement and guitar work!!...But If I may respectfully add,"except for the drums"..I know that you are one of the Gurus here and it may be that you got the sound You were looking for.. If so I apologize But to me the drums sounded like someone playing on metal cans of some type. They had no depth or punch, no verb or sustain they did not sound like real drums at all on my headphones. You say these are done out of band in a box, did you go direct to audio or did you export midi and work it from there?
I listened to the drums in leave me alone and they sounded great so its not you, is it the band in a box? By the way, your guitar work is to be applauded, lots of great tone and delicate inflection in the higher ground song . Do you like your Line 6 pod?
Ive got an line 6 ax2 and I absolutely love it, I could never go back to any other type of amp!
When I get this recording stuff down a little more I hope to post some more of my songs, this is a good forum to be honest In.
 
The drums are MIDI parts generated by Band In A Box. I didi nothing to them, I don't think I even bothered loading one of my better Sound Font drum kits for it, which might explain why the drums sound bad. I guess I should be a little more critical and discerning about what I put out there for folks to listen to!

The drums on "Higher Ground" are also MIDI drums, but not from Band In A Box.

The other tunes all use loops for the drum parts.

Thanks for the comments on the guitar work. I really do like the POD, and I'm very happy overall with the sounds I get out of it.
 
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