From jake92028@yahoo.com Thu Dec 29 04:34:36 2005
Subject:Re: Druumer-in-a-box recommendations?

I am a huge fan of Band-In-A-Box from PG Music at pgmusic.com. It
only takes a couple of minutes to set up a repeating pattern and
duration of bars in the key you want to play in. Transpose your
setup/song anytime you want back/forth, change speeds and mute
instruments you don't want, maybe just leave bass and drums. There's
a couple of Blues Jam folders with various simple blues styles, like
well-known artists, in C and F keys (you can change keys). PG Music
is a Canadian company with jazz roots, so they always use standard
jazz turnaround chords which really sound funny with their
interpretation of Howlin Wolf or Doctor John, but just go in and put
the chords you want. I use it to send completed simple arrangements
and chords for songs in .mid or .wav format to guys I'm going to be
playing with, so we don't have to rehearse for "laid-back" gigs. They
do the same, some with Garage Band or a couple of other auto-
accompaniment programs that can translate/send as .wav or .mid. BiaB
is maybe the easiest to get into, takes about a weekend, then learn
tips and tricks along the way. Also, per your specific question, it's
a great song-writing tool, i.e., you get to hear your bad ideas
before someone else does and take another direction :) You can also
record your vocals and/or live instrument direct and save the result
as a .wav file. If you want a recording of what your BX3 sounds like
through your speakers along with your voice - connect your keyboard
and microphone to a mixer and plug it into your computer's USB or
MIDI to sound card and follow the directions.

Otherwise the Boss DR-series would be my 2nd option. I still have a
DR-660 from the mid-90's that's almost worthless on eBay, but will do
anything midi/sequencing the new ones will. Good luck! Walter j

> the computer or as a stand-alone unit?