Skip to content

Jazz-Sax.Com

Jazz-Sax, all things Jazz and Sax

  • About
  • Home
  • Gallery
  • Polls
  • Articles
  • Toggle search form

Category: Reviews

Top 10 Albums Of 2011

Posted on January 1, 2012January 1, 2012 By ericdano No Comments on Top 10 Albums Of 2011

There are a LOT of sites that are posting top 10 albums of the year. I thought I’d post my favorites. In no particular order. There were a lot I left out….:-(

Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band – That’s How We Roll iTunes,amazon. Duh….obviously.

Christian McBride Big Band – The Good Feeling iTunes,amazon. Love that there are more Big Bands starting up and sounding amazing other than the already amazing Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band.

Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook iTunes,amazon. Latin jazz music is awesome, and Miguel is the master of it. Great album.

John Escreet – The Age We Live In iTunes,Amazon Great album with Dave Binney.

Captain Black Big Band – Captain Black Big Band iTunes Another Big Band? Yep.

Tony Bennett – The Best Of The Improv Recordings iTunes,Amazon Haven’t really been a fan of Tony’s. I generally thought his singing was too commercial, to….scripted? Not these recordings. More like Sinatra….which is good.

Omer Avital Quintet – Live at Smalls iTunes,Amazon Great, tight group.

Scott Hamilton & Dusko Goykovich – Tight But Loose iTunes,Amazon I never tire of listening to Scott Hamilton. He is in the top of my favorite tenor players.

Richard Cheese – Live At The Royal Wedding iTunes,Amazon Need a Weird Al jazz person? Except not PC? Then Richard Cheese is your man.

Ken Peplowski – In Search of… iTunes,Amazon Clarinet and saxophone played awesome? Yup. Peplowski is great.

Articles, Reviews

Superscope Elevation (Stay away…..zombies!)

Posted on September 11, 2011September 13, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Superscope Elevation (Stay away…..zombies!)

So I get the Jamey Aebersold jazzbooks emails. In their latest “Economic Stimulus Sale!” one, at the bottom something got my interest. Elevation Software play-along offer. Hmm…sounded interesting. So I decided to go to the site, www.superscopetechnologies.com and check it out. Downloaded the demo for Mac…..and then the disappointment happened.

$149 for this piece of crap? That is all I can really think of after using the demo. Let me list the disappointment for you shall I?

1. Drag and Drop works….but not for AAC (m4a files) formatted files. So, anything that you get off of iTunes or perhaps have already ripped into AAC format (which is BETTER than mp3) won’t work with the program.
2. The IMPORT dialogue box is NOT mac like at all. I dunno where they got it, but it looks like a Linux box. So, I don’t have access to my sidebar favorites, nor can I use my Default Folder program to navigate to my files.
3. The program crashes like it is in a demolition derby. I mean, I maybe got it to work twice correctly. And I’m still on 10.6.8.

So, why would I spend this much money when programs like The Amazing Slowdowner, or Transcribe! can do what this program does at half the price. And they don’t CRASH! And support AAC files.

People, avoid this software at all costs. AT ALL COSTS. DO NOT GET IT. STAY AWAY. Imagine it is Zombie-fied and going to eat your brains if you download it.

On a side note, I kind of wish Jamey Aebersold would release his play-alongs in a APP format that includes the books and a way to slowdown/speed up, record, and put the songs in other keys. I think Aebersold is missing and/or has missed the boat in this. Instead of selling physical CDs and books, embrace technology. Make an iPad app that has say volume 1, with the tunes, with a metronome. That perhaps you can drop out the piano and bass or whatever. That you can change the pitch and speed of. That sells for the same price in the App store. You’d sell more, and you would ditch the printing and cd costs. The 30% or something Apple would take is easily less than what it actually costs to make the books, cds, and do the packaging.

Articles, Reviews

Band in a Box 2011

Posted on April 6, 2011April 17, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on Band in a Box 2011

PG Music has updated their awesome program, Band in A Box to the 2011 version. The main new features are:

  • More natural sounding real tracks over various tempos (ie: better pitch stretching and compressing technology)
  • Takes up less space (I haven’t been brave enough yet to try this on my install of Band in a Box yet)
  • Multistyles and Change of individual RealTracks. So you can pick your favorite parts of RealTracks and put them all together or have the style change midstream.
  • Scales Wizard which is great for students of Jazz

The basic look and feel of the program is the same, which if you love it, then all is well in the universe, and if you think the circa 1991 look sucks then….well….it’s going to suck. I think PG Music really needs to hire an interface specialist and completely overhaul the look of the program. Functionality wise, it is amazing. But a LOT of things could be better, like the Preferences area (please PG Music, look at like Digital Performer or even FINALE on how to clean up the Preferences), or just navigating the program in general. I know the program’s roots are from the Atari ST days, but the whole concept of GUI is different now, and PG Music still doesn’t seem to get it.

Take for example the new Mixer. While it is very nice to have a mixer, it is completely backwards. And there are 5 tabs to access the features, where a smart design could have put them all in ONE spot. And left right for volume? The only program I use that has that is Garageband. A standard DAW type mixer where there are UP DOWN volume, knobs for panning and tone, a pop up level thing for reverb. And it always wants to be the top window. DAWs like Digital Performer or even ProTools let you the mixer behind other windows.

Things like this drive me mad. I mentioned the whole mixer thing several times in the Beta test, and nothing happened. *Sigh*

Band in a Box is still a program without equal though. The complaints about interface quirks don’t tarnish the program. As a musician, you’d be foolish NOT to own this program with ALL the RealTracks. Once you hear it, and use it, you won’t be going back to your Aebersold play-alongs.

I give it a 9.5 out of 10. More features, smaller footprint for the RealTracks, generally faster than the previous version, more RealTracks, more options. All great additions to an already great program. 0.5 deducted for PG Music still not fixing strange things in the interface or just cleaning it up. Though, this program still runs FINE on my 2006 iMac as well as my MacPro.

PS, I HIGHLY recommend getting the Hard Drive versions. Since downloading the program can take hours, and several 10s of gigabytes. A lot of ISPs are now capping your monthly allocation as well (Comcast, and now AT&T). PLUS, getting it on a hard drive means you can RUN it from there or have it as a backup.

Reviews

iKlip

Posted on January 11, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on iKlip

I received my iKlip today. So, now, I can live the good life and read music on my iPad anywhere? Well, not quite.

If you read the first part of the iKlip page, it says: “IK Multimedia introduces iKlip™ — a multi-angle lightweight iPad microphone stand adapter. Now you can take your favorite iPad™ music apps on stage for live performance.”

But the next paragraph says: “The new iKlip for iPad makes it easy for you to use your iPad in any live setting — on stage, in the studio, at school or in the boardroom. With its multi-angle adjustable design, you can now securely position your iPad for optimal viewing and accessibility, while all controls, buttons and connection ports remain free from obstruction.”

So, are schooling supposed to have a microphone stand for each kid? The iKlip DOES NOT FIT ON A MANHASSET stand. Ok, technically, if you were standing, had it extended a ways and were over 5′ tall it fits, but certainly NOT if you are sitting. The connecting thing does NOT FIT AROUND a Manhasset stand. Period. HUGE design flaw. Seriously. Even my simple Pop Filter has an adjustable mount that can handle various stand sizes.

SECOND major problem is that if you want to rotate it from page to landscape, you need to loosen a screw, turn it, and then put it back. Seriously? They couldn’t come up with something else? I mean, it’s made in Italy, did they totally not see the problem? It’s like having a Ferrari with like little Yugo tires on it. You have this beautiful stand. And it is very nice, except there is this screw……ugh!

A MINOR grip would be that you have to take your iPad out of its case to use it. Not a BIG deal compared to the two other problems, but if the two other problems didn’t exist I would probably say that would be the ONLY minor complaint I have about it.

IK Multimedia had a chance to hit it out of the park. The two design flaws are huge in my opinion. The totally missing that it can’t attach to a music stand? Stupid. And the screw adjustment? Stupid. I see about maybe 20 times someone being able to get the screw attachment in, but heaven help you if you screw the screw in at an angle.

I give this a 5 out of 10. For $40 its alright. Don’t plan on using it with a music stand, especially Manhasset ones. And don’t plan on switch it between landscape and portrait a lot. If you can live with these limitations, it might work for you.

Pictures I took, including me showing it will not fit around the base of my microphone stand, but will on the upper part, of the infamous screw, of me showing it not fitting on a Manhasset stand, and of my $10 mic pop filter stand attachment that IK Multimedia SHOULD HAVE designed/used.

img_0288

img_0290

img_0292

img_0294

img_0295

img_0301

Reviews

unRealBook vs. GigBook

Posted on January 1, 2011January 2, 2011 By ericdano No Comments on unRealBook vs. GigBook

I received some iTunes gift cards from students this year, same as in previous years, and I decided to use some of them on two iPad apps that a lot of people have been buzz about, unRealBook ($4.99) and Gigbook ($4.99).

Let me start off by saying that both programs absolutely suck on how you get stuff into them. Part of that is Apple’s fault. It would be nice if Apple would allow access to the area where iBooks are being stored, but that doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment, though they now allow Apps to talk to iTunes and play music from your library which unRealBook does. It would be idea for both of these developers to come up with something to allow easy importing/syncing of PDFs. I suppose one could use DropBox.

A slicker alternative, PadSync ($9.99) works great. Strangely enough on yet another iPad Music reading App recommended it. Yet, this too doesn’t really offer anything I really want. I would LIKE to have say a folder called SaxBooks and have ONE of these programs, when I sync to iTunes or run some syncing program, update any changes or additions. Is that so much to ask? Hence, this is why I really like using iBooks. It syncs to iTunes, and I can keep all my PDFs in iTunes, tag them, etc.

Moving on past the pain in the butt that is putting files on you iPad into one of these programs, what can you expect? Which one works better? First, lets look at Gigbook. This is a slick program. You can organize scores into Binders, make set lists, organize by composers, genre, key, tempo, time. You can make it part of a Collection so you can bookmark 400 page PDF fake books for songs. It feels like a proper iPad App, like my favorite iPad App Reeder.

UnRealBook has a lot of neat features. You can draw on your music, different pens, colors, etc. Save it. Undo it. Email the changes. Very cool. You can link a PDF to a song in your iTunes library and play it. VERY COOL. You can export Pages, send files via Bluetooth, Get files from DropBox or a URL, email PDFs, pages. There are lots of things you can do. However, the navigation around the program isn’t very “iPad-like”. Plus, once you’ve gotten used to the Binders and Collections that GigBook has…..

It’s a tough call to pick a winner. Feature wise, unRealBook is the best. The ability to mark up your PDFs and play things out of your iTunes library and attach those things to PDFs. Total thumbs up. Gigbook needs to step up and have these things. Interface wise, Gigbook is clearly the best. And the Collections and Binders are pretty invaluable…….

Winner…..Gigbook. Of the two, it is the one that is really the best thought out and implemented. If unRealBook redid its interface, and implemented something similar to Binders and Collections, then it would be the winner.

Couple of notes:
Both programs work with the Airturn BT-105 (seriously, who the hell names these things).
Both programs DO NOT and SHOULD read PDF fields like Title, Author, Subject and Keywords that are in PDFs. I take the time to tag my PDFs, it would be nice for these programs to read them.
Both programs should be able to read and use bookmarks in PDFs. Seriously, I bookmark important PDFs or RealBooks I have in PDF format.
Both programs should allow cropping of PDFs. After I did this experiment, it can really help make things more readable.
Both programs should have contrast controls, like GoodReader.
Either Apple or these guys really should find a way to access PDFs in iBooks or come up with some easy way to manage PDFs between the Mac and iPad.
AND it would be nice to have TEXT searching in PDFs. Programs like GoodReader allow this, and for 400 Page RealBooks, it would make finding a song easier.

So, Gigbook. Now if someone wants to send me forScore 2 ($4.99) to play with………I might have to revisit all this (HINT HINT). Or if GoodReader had a few of the features of Gigbook and unRealBook (Binders, ability to draw on PDFs).

Articles, Reviews, Sheet Music

MusicReader For iPad

Posted on April 22, 2010April 29, 2010 By ericdano No Comments on MusicReader For iPad

There are lots of very interesting Apps coming out for the iPad. One that has come out for musicians is MusicReader for the iPad. While the iPad App is free, the software to get files into the program costs anywhere from $59 to $99. Outrageous? Damn right. Seriously, this is highway robbery. A more reasonable solution would be maybe to charge $4.99 for the program and give the converter program out for free. But $59? You have to be kidding.

I’d stick to GoodReader, which is $.99 and request that the author of this GREAT program to add annotations, which would basically do what MusicReader does. I have scanned in or printed to PDF a number of things and you can read them easily in the GoodReader. For $0.99 rather than nearly $60…..

Articles, Reviews

The Real Book Play-Along – Volume 1

Posted on April 16, 2010April 29, 2010 By ericdano No Comments on The Real Book Play-Along – Volume 1

Hal Leonard is selling a CD set of backgrounds to ALL the songs in the Real Book Vol. 1. For about $100, you get 12 CDs of piano, bass and drums background that range in time from about 2 1/2 minutes to 6. Depends on the song. A couple of songs, like Wave, have guitar on them….sorta….it almost sounds like a synth patch. Or it was added as an afterthought. Some of the tracks could have been better with just guitar, bass and drums (like wave or Summer Samba). A couple of songs they took the piano out and replaced it with an electric keyboard type sound (like Sugar) which isn’t bad, but it isn’t as good as, say, a good B3 type of sound.

Is it worth the $100? Yes. Originally I thought this would be sort of a lame package, or something that wouldn’t really add anything to the songs one might already have the Aebersold versions of. Or maybe that my favorite program, Band in a Box could do what this offers and more. The backgrounds on these discs are accurate playings of the songs found in the Real Book that Hal Leonard publishes (or if you still have the “illegal” version that used to float around until Hal Leonard picked it up). The guys on the discs will give you whats on the page. I suppose that Band in a Box could do that too with some work, but it still couldn’t capture the drum hits on songs like Some Skunk Funk.

9/10. It’s a little costly, some of the songs aren’t as long as I would have liked, and I wish there was more variety than 90% if the tracks being Piano, Bass and Drums, but it still offers a lot of songs (240 according to my iTunes playlist after I imported all of them) to practice with.

Articles, Reviews

Saitara Software AC-7 Pro Control Surface for iPad

Posted on April 15, 2010April 16, 2010 By ericdano No Comments on Saitara Software AC-7 Pro Control Surface for iPad

Yes, the iPad is out. Yes, it is amazing. No, it is not simply a bigger iTouch or an iPhone without the phone part. If you haven’t been able to try one, then go to a store and try it. You will be hooked. There are a few music apps out, like Magic Piano which is neat-o to show your friends, but really has no practical use in my opinion.

However, there are a few functional apps in the store, and one that I’m growing fond of is the AC-7 Pro Control Surface for the iPad ($9.99). It turns your iPad into a virtual fader board and DAW controller for Logic, Digital Performer, and Pro Tools. It does this “magic” by utilizing your WiFi network to connect to your Mac using an open source program called DSMI to connect to the app and translate its messages to midi. You then go and configure your DAW to receive the midi stream from DSMI as a Mackie Control. And it works….mostly.

I say mostly because, well, there are issues. First off, using your general wifi network (ie the network that your mac, iphone, ipad, internet connection is on) it seems to work most of the time, but it will lose connection every now and then. Usually when you really need it. General consensus seems to be that on an busy network, if there is a packet that gets dropped, DSMI and the app don’t retransmit it. Or something to that effect, resulting in programs like Pro Tools complaining about the HUD connection or worse, messing up the position of the fades, which could be bad.

If you have a Mac that has built in WiFi, you can create a private wifi network, and put the iPad on it, and then the App works flawlessly (at least for me). But if you have a MacPro that doesn’t have its own wifi transmitter, well, you are going to have to suffer for a while. To get dynamic track names, you also need to use a freeware program called midipipe.

So, it is a start. I think really what needs to be done is a custom app on the Mac side that connects properly with the iPad app and won’t drop packets and drops the need for midipipe. If you can get through the setup, it is a very slick app. The Pro Tools support is basic, but the support for Digital Performer and Logic is pretty darn complete. And it can only get better with updates which will hopefully add more Pro Tools support. It’s bleeding edge, but workable. It is really nice now to not have to be tied to the computer to control Pro Tools. If you have an iPad, or an iPhone/iTouch (there is a smaller version for iPhone/iTouch), and work with DAWs a lot, check this app out.

8/10 (2 points deducted because there is no unified mac app for it…..you have to run 2 programs, and the configuration is not totally apparent).

Some guys demo of it.

Why this guy is wearing a Microcrap shirt I don’t know……(Update: He works for Microcrap….I can hear the chairs being thrown by Steve Ballmer now….)

Articles, Reviews, Videos

Band in a Box 2010 for Macintosh

Posted on March 16, 2010 By ericdano No Comments on Band in a Box 2010 for Macintosh

It has been really hard keeping the cat in the bag (I was a beta tester for the last 2 weeks or so), but tonight PG Music finally released Band in a Box 2010 for the Macintosh. As was the case in the previous version, this version is Intel only. So, you people with G5s or other PowerPC chipped computers….you are out of luck. Though the speed increases in this version (more on that in a sec) probably would have made Band in a Box 2010 tolerable for G5 Macintoshes.

There are quite a few new features, and I’ll list the ones that I think are the best.
1. “No more long waits for RealTracks to generate! RealTracks generate much faster, 4X faster on average. A typical song with RealTracks that took 20 seconds to generate will generate now in about 5 seconds. And if you freeze some or all tracks in the song (see below), playback of RealTracks is almost instantaneous.” In Band in a Box 2009.5, generating Real Tracks took FOREVER. Even on a MacPro, it took a while. On an iMac…..it could take nearly a minute in some cases. NOT ANYMORE. On my iMac from 2006 (a lowly 2 Gigahertz Core 2 Duo iMac), it was fast in generating real tracks. Most took maybe 5 seconds to do. I think the longest (like 10 choruses with 4 real tracks and a real soloist) took maybe 10 seconds. Ok, 12. But that was still totally fine. They are NOT kidding about the speed. It is way faster. Useable fast.

2. “Time for generation of MIDI arrangement is much faster – now ‘instantaneous (less than 1 second)!” Yup. Midi arrangements are nearly you press play and it goes. Even if you do 20 choruses with 5+ instruments.

3. “There is now a “Plug-in” mode for your favorite sequencer (GarageBand, ProTools, Logic, Nuendo, Reaper and more). With the new plug-in mode, BB is open as a small always-on-top window, and acts as a plug-in for your favorite DAW/sequencer, so that you can Drag-n-Drop MIDI and audio (AIFF) tracks from BB to your favorite sequencer. Work in your favorite sequencer, type a progression in Band-in-a-Box, and then simply drag the track from Band-in-a-Box to your sequencer’s track at the desired track and bar location.” This is actually really cool, though how it works is a little strange initially. You can, say, load up Garage Band, and say you have been working on a tune that is in 3/4 and is in the key of A and you need a guitar line. Or solo. You can fire up Band in a Box, type in some chords, select a style or soloist or real track, or real soloist (or whatever they call it), and switch Band in a Box into DAW mode, tell it you want to generate AIFF or m4a audio tracks or Midi tracks, and drag the track right into Garageband. Boom. (I did leave out one step, but I feel you need to SEE it to understand it)

4. “Freezing (locking) MIDI or Real tracks/RealDrums. Any track can now be frozen (MIDI or Real track). When frozen, it won’t get changed or re-generated. This saves time when replaying previous songs, and allows you to freeze an arrangement that you like. If you freeze the whole song, you don’t have to wait at all for the song to regenerate. Next time you play, it is ready to go. (Note: this new freeze feature is different than the previous limited freeze feature that renders the whole arrangement to the audio track)” Kinda cool, but since it is so much faster overall in generating tracks I didn’t really use it much. Though if you FREEZE all the RealTracks, it plays back the song instantly.

There are some other things like it will Normalize a rendered Audio file, Endings of songs work better, you can resize the window, things are saved with the song. All good stuff. But the 4 listed above I think are the bread and butter. Ok, so, there are still some things that are in the Windows version of Band in a Box that are not present in the Macintosh version. Most notable is the Ear Training part (which is really nice). It doesn’t detract from the overall amazingness that this program has. If you do music, you NEED to have this program on your computer. If you are a Jazz student, or someone who plays jazz, this program is something you need to have for working out that new chord progression at whatever tempo, for 30 choruses, in a Polka style. Or whatever.

Upgrade price from Band in a Box 2009 is $159. First time purchasers $399. You get something like nearly 70 gigs of stuff. Amazing sounds. Totally worth it. 10/10 (and I can’t remember the last time I gave something a 10 out of 10)

Articles, Reviews

Rico Saxophone Strap

Posted on March 3, 2010 By ericdano No Comments on Rico Saxophone Strap

A few months ago, RicoReeds.com had a survey or something (honestly don’t remember) on their website that, if you took the time to fill it out, they’d send you a neck strap. Well, lo and behold months later, I received said strap.

(it looks sorta like the one on the right, sorta. The patterns different.) If I was buying this strap for $10, I would. The hook is great, and it adjusts in a snap. That is what I love. My favorite neckstrap to take on gigs, especially if I have to switch saxophones a lot or use a bass clarinet, is a Ray Hyman strap.

Why you say? It adjusts instantly, and easily. But it has no padding?!? True enough, but generally in Orchestra Pit work and gigs, one wears a shirt with a collar. However, since I am down to ONE of these Ray Hyman straps (from 3 :-/), this Rico Strap will probably be the strap of choice. It is more comfy than the Hyman, but still has its adjustability. Oh, and they also make the same strap but padded.

I like this strap. Even though it says Tenor/Baritone, it works fine on Tenor/Alto. Thanks Rico/D’Addario for finally sending it out!

Reviews

Capo 1.1.4

Posted on February 22, 2010February 22, 2010 By ericdano No Comments on Capo 1.1.4

The world of programs to slow down songs to figure them out has another member, Capo ($49). Right off the bat, this program has a great interface.
Capo Screen Shot
Smooth, and Mac. It also has a great vocal remover. And you can export sections of the songs to a file, or if you removed the vocals, you can save it to a file. You can also add markers for sections of the song and stuff. Pretty cool.

Yet…..for a $1 more, you can get Transcribe, which might not have the amazing Mac interface, but has way more functionality….like using the markers to divide up the beats between measure markers. Or the spectrum analysis (which is EXTREMELY helpful).

So, while I like Capo’s feel, for the same price, you can get Transcribe….which is better. Maybe if they dropped the price to $25 or so, it might be worth having in the arsenal. But not for $49 when there is something way better for that price.

Reviews

Pitch Primer For The iPhone/iTouch

Posted on December 3, 2009 By ericdano No Comments on Pitch Primer For The iPhone/iTouch

The Apple iPhone/iTouch software market is amazing. Games, tuners (like the great Strobe tuner). Even AutoTune things like I Am T-Pain.

Now, there is the Pitch Primer for the platform. It is amazing. Transcription tool? Sure it could be. Amazing practice tool? YES! Amazing idea? YES! It is easiest to see a demo of it. Things that I’d like it to do would be EXPORT the audio you recorded (several other iPhone/iTouch programs can do this). And it would be killer if it would export things as a midi file. Or Music XML file.

Amazing product. Get it now while it’s $4.99.

Reviews, Videos

Jazz Phrasing For Beginners by Greg Fishman

Posted on September 1, 2009September 10, 2009 By ericdano No Comments on Jazz Phrasing For Beginners by Greg Fishman

jpfbGreg Fishman has a number of excellent books out. I’ve reviewed and highly recommend his Jazz Etudes Book Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and his Saxophone Duets book. His latest book is Jazz Phrasing For Beginners, which is aimed at the beginning student. It contains 10 melodic tunes that great examples of idiomatic “classic” jazz tunes such as “C Jam Blues” and the like. The tunes are great studies in good voice leading and use of jazz rhythms. Also great motivic (or sequential) development. You get 2 CDs with the book. One CD that has Alto Sax demos and backgrounds, and one that has Tenor Sax demos and backgrounds.

As a book for someone who is just starting to play, this would be a good first book before diving into something like Jim Snidero’s Jazz Conception Easy. The etudes are short, and emphasize excellent idea development. However……

Read More “Jazz Phrasing For Beginners by Greg Fishman” »

Articles, Reviews

Band in a Box 2009.5 – Mac

Posted on August 30, 2009 By ericdano No Comments on Band in a Box 2009.5 – Mac

After YEARS of waiting, and PG Music saying it was coming…it is here. Band in a Box 2009 for Macintosh. I could hardly believe it myself. Yes, the languishing program that was 7 versions behind the Windows version (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2007.5, 2008, 2009) has been brought back to life. I wondered what happened to Dr. Frankenstein….seems he was hired to bring the Mac version of BinaB to life again.

I always thought it strange that PG Music made a HUGE effort to move Band in a Box to OS X with their version 12, but then promptly let it sit for years and years while the Windows version added more and more features. It was mentioned years ago they were planning on a new version but….nothing ever materialized. Well, no more. The 2009 version pretty much brings the Macintosh version up to the Windows version.

First off, the program is HUGE if you want to download it, you better have a high speed connection. A real FAST high speed connection. We are talking 20+ gigs of stuff to download if you purchased/upgraded the version with RealTracks (more on that in a minute). PG Music offers digital downloads in addition to physical media available on DVDs or an 80 gig hard drive (same price). As a previous owner of version 12 for the Mac, I opted for the “Everything PAK” and the 24 PAK upgrade that included some extra stuff. It was $184.

Ok, now……lets dive into the program, the features it has, what works, doesn’t work, and what is still missing in the Mac version that the Windows version has….

Read More “Band in a Box 2009.5 – Mac” »

Reviews

Roy Benson Altos

Posted on August 10, 2009August 10, 2009 By ericdano 4 Comments on Roy Benson Altos

There are a lot of cheap student model altos out on the market now. Heck, even Costco sells instruments now. I have a couple of students who have the Costco instruments. They are crap.

With a new store in my area that is peddling these Selmer student models for nearly $1600 (a price where you can get a used pro-level instrument), the store where I worked found these Roy Benson Altos. IMG_1023 I have nothing but good things to say about them. As good as the Selmer student models the “Music and Gifts Store” is selling, and half the price. Retail price is $799. They play great. I’d say if you are looking for an alto that is cheap, and built well. A quality alto, but not at the huge Selmer markup, check out Roy Benson’s line of instruments.

img_1027
[Show picture list]

Reviews

Posts pagination

Previous 1 2 3 4 … 6 Next
  • Articles
  • Featured
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Sheet Music
  • Sheet Of The Week
  • Videos

Akai Apple Bad Band-in-a-Box Big Band Brecker Computer Education EWI Finale gear History Humor iPad ipod itunes Jazz Katy Perry mac makemusic Maroon 5 Michael Brecker Music Obit Opinion OS X PGMusic pop Practicing protools Recommended Recording Saxophone Sheet Music Sheet Of The Week SmartMusic Software Taylor Swift technique Technology Technology video Wordpress wtf youtube

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Donate

Donate to Jazz-Sax.Com

Downloads

  • Zinn Practice Regimen III (592.7 KiB, 52,857 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • Zinn Practice Regimen (211.9 KiB, 20,275 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • Breckerisms - Michael Brecker Type Patterns (379.6 KiB, 15,069 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb (4.6 MiB, 12,512 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns Reference (600.9 KiB, 12,110 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Eb (4.7 MiB, 11,716 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb Pages 1 to 100 (1.7 MiB, 11,500 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb Pages 201 to 289 (1.6 MiB, 11,001 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb Pages 101 to 200 (1.9 MiB, 10,986 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Eb Pages 201 to 289 (1.6 MiB, 10,925 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.

I encode my music with...

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Downloads

  • Zinn Practice Regimen III (592.7 KiB, 52,857 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • Zinn Practice Regimen (211.9 KiB, 20,275 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • Breckerisms - Michael Brecker Type Patterns (379.6 KiB, 15,069 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb (4.6 MiB, 12,512 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns Reference (600.9 KiB, 12,110 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Eb (4.7 MiB, 11,716 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb Pages 1 to 100 (1.7 MiB, 11,500 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb Pages 201 to 289 (1.6 MiB, 11,001 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Bb Pages 101 to 200 (1.9 MiB, 10,986 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.
  • II-V-I Patterns in Eb Pages 201 to 289 (1.6 MiB, 10,925 hits)
    You do not have permission to download this file. Go register first.

Sites

  • A-NO-NE Music
  • Aebersold Music
  • AKG Headphones and Microphones
  • Apple
  • BopLand.org
  • Boston Sax Shop
  • Bret Primentel
  • Casa Valdez Studios
  • Charles McNeal
  • Create Digital Music
  • Dorico
  • Eric Dannewitz
  • EWI Musician
  • EWI Reason Sounds
  • EWI-EVI Page
  • Greg Fishman
  • Hollywood Saxophone Quartet
  • Horn Pedalboard Subreddit
  • iRockJazz
  • Jazz Standards
  • Jazz-Clarinet
  • Jazz-Flute
  • Jazz-Oboe
  • JazzBariSax.Com
  • Joe Allard.org
  • Kenyon Carter
  • M-Audio
  • McDSP
  • Metric Halo Labs
  • Michael Brecker
  • MOTU
  • Norbert Stein
  • PG Music
  • Phil Woods
  • Ricci Adams’ Musictheory
  • Sammy Nestico
  • Save A Bunny
  • Sax Pictures
  • Seventh String Software
  • Shure Notes
  • Sound On Sound
  • Tape Op
  • USA Horn

Copyright © 2025 Jazz-Sax.Com.

Powered by PressBook WordPress theme