Band in a Box is an extremely easy and efficient program that allows a musician to quickly create a backup group for singing or playing. It has a huge variety of styles from which to choose, so no matter what genre the music, you will likely find something that fits very well.

It is a program that has been developing for many years, very mature and laden with features. That is its virtue and its problem. The user interface may seem daunting to the beginner. Like pretty much all high-level programs, it is a box of tools, and you need only learn the ones that fit your needs. One does NOT have to learn the WHOLE program to be extremely productive.

While this application will do a lot of things, the one thing it does above all others, is accompany you. It is not a great notation program. It is not a great sequencer program. It is not a great sound recording and editing program, though it has elements of all of these. If you want a band awaiting your pleasure, this is the program to own.

Band in a Box is not a sound creation program either. It is based upon MIDI and sends commands to either a software synthesizer that your computer sound-card plays, or an external synthesizer or module. I makes no sound whatever, itself. A software synth is installed with the program.

The quality of sound produced depends totally on the quality of the source and the sound-system it plays over. A good external synth played over a good sound-system can be magnificent, while the very same file on a low-end computer sound-card and poor computer speakers can be really dismal. Band in a Box has no control of this.

Please understand that this is just a tutorial to get you started. There are excellent help files included with Band in a Box, and you should make good use of them.