Their father, Joe Gannon, was a professional pianist in Dublin, Ireland, before moving the family to Winnipeg in 1957. Those solos were likely due to the company's musical director for many years, Vancouver Jazz guitarist Oliver Gannon, the older brother of company founder Peter Gannon. Jazz guitarist Geof Dresser, whose day job is a network software developer said,' It's playing hipper lines than I can'. Gannon said, 'We started out with Band-in-a-Box as a MIDI program, generating MIDI and synth accompaniments.' In late 1997, the 'soloist' feature was introduced, allowing the software to generate solos choosing from a menu that includes emulations of jazz luminaries, past and present e.g., Miles Davis or Freddie Hubbard in what reviewer Peter Hum calls 'credible imitations'.

It also became popular in karaoke venues which touted 'Band in a Box Karaoke' in advertisements. Widely known as 'BIAB' by its users, the software was initially used as a practice aid for musicians but quickly became popular for 'one-man bands' to play at weddings or similar venues. Refinements and research over many years led to recordings (called 'RealTracks') of real musicians playing real instruments, a breakthrough in the quality of the music. Early versions featured only MIDI data often emulating the phrasing of noted musicians. The software is published in ten different languages. Peter Gannon, for whom 'PG Music' is named. The creator of the software is a Canadian, Dr. īand-in-a-Box was first introduced in 1990 for PC computers and the Atari ST.

It can create backgrounds, melodies or solos for almost any chord progressions used in Western popular music, and can play them in any of thousands of different music styles. The software intelligently retrieves and customizes groups of measures that are appropriate for soloing over a particular chord at a selected key and tempo. The developers have enlisted the help of a number of skilled musicians as soloists and sidemen to build huge databases of phrases in many styles of music. The software generates a song played typically by four or five studio musicians whose parts may be then substituted or additional ones added. The screen resembles a blank page of music. The user inputs four basic keyboard inputs consisting of: chords a key a tempo a musical style. The software has many capabilities, but perhaps the most remarkable one is enabling a user to create virtually any song and have it played by real musicians (playing real instruments). Band-in-a-Box is a music creation software package for Windows and macOS produced by PG Music Incorporated in Victoria, British Columbia.

Rock band in a box