What are the best Band-in-a-Box alternatives?

Band-in-a-Box is described as 'intelligent automatic accompaniment program. You can hear and play along to many song ideas and go from "nothing" to "something" in a very short period of time with Band-in-a-Box as your "on demand" backup band' and is a music production app in the audio & music category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Band-in-a-Box for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD and iPad. The best alternative is Impro-Visor, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Band-in-a-Box are ChordPulse, MMA, JJazzLab and Rosegarden.

Band-in-a-Box alternatives are mainly Music Production Apps but may also be Digital Audio Workstations. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Band-in-a-Box.

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Band-in-a-Box

Paid • Proprietary
Music Production App

Mac
Windows

Band-in-a-Box is an intelligent automatic accompaniment program. You can hear and play along to many song ideas and go from...

Learn more about Band-in-a-Box

Impro-Visor
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Music Production App
Mac
Windows
Linux
66 alternatives to Impro-Visor
Impro-Visor (short for “Improvisation Advisor”) is a music notation program designed to help jazz musicians compose and hear solos similar to ones that might be improvised. The objective is to improve understanding of solo construction and tune chord changes.

Impro-Visor has no features, suggest some!

Impro-Visor vs Band-in-a-Box opinions
Most users think Impro-Visor is a great alternative to Band-in-a-Box.
Guest
better user interface. many similar facilities to BIAB.
Positive comment•
0
ChordPulse
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Freemium • Proprietary
Music Production App
Windows
10 alternatives to ChordPulse
ChordPulse is a handy backing band software for music practice, inspiration, improvisation, and pure fun with music. Play and sing along with ChordPulse. Use it as a full accompaniment, a drum machine with bass, a metronome with chords, and more.
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ChordPulse Features
Accompaniment
ChordPulse vs Band-in-a-Box opinions
Most users think ChordPulse is a great alternative to Band-in-a-Box.
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Guest
Easy to use, simple interface that even beats I-Real Pro.
Top positive comment•
0

Guest
better designed user interface, you won't need a manual. It has lots of styles embedded, which all sound perfect for practicing soloing. Also, it exports to midi so you can load your jam track to a DAW and start recording your song. ChordPulse does not do automatic soloing but who uses that, really?
Top positive comment•
0

Guest
I have BB but this is easier for beginners.
Positive comment•
1

Guest
it's cheap. incredibly easy to use, it's very complete in its chord options and many styles which all sound great. Also, having a mixer built-in for the separate tracks like drums of bass helps me a lot. I also use it to create chord progressions which you can export to text and MIDI which I will then import into my recording software
Positive comment•
4

Guest
Its just so much easier to use.
Positive comment•
0

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5 of 6 comments
MMA
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Music Production App
Mac
Windows
Linux
8 alternatives to MMA
“MMA—Musical MIDI Accompaniment” is an accompaniment generator. It creates MIDI tracks for a soloist to perform over from a user supplied file containing chords and MMA directives.
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MMA Features
1. Support for MIDIMMA includes MIDI hardware and software support to record and import audio.
MMA vs Band-in-a-Box opinions
Almost everyone thinks MMA is a great alternative to Band-in-a-Box.
Guest
Produces backing tracks to play over.
Positive comment•
0

Guest
MMA is free. It runs on (among other platforms) linux. I have it running on my $35 Raspberrry Pi. The data file of chords (and, optionally, melodies, and song structure (repeats!), is text but pretty easy to follow. Type in the chords, the repeats, some melody or solo licks, choose styles (and substyles) and a quick run will generate a MIDI file. A free Biab alternative!
Positive comment•
2

Guest
After trying it out, I should be able to describe it.
Positive comment•
-2
JJazzLab
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Music Production App
Mac
Windows
Linux
17 alternatives to JJazzLab
JJazzLab is a free Midi-based application which automatically generates backing tracks (a musical accompaniment) for any song. It’s a jam buddy to have fun improvising, learn new stuff or just practice your instrument. It’s also a great tool for teachers.
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JJazzLab Features
1. Music SequencerRecord, edit, or play back music with JJazzLab, by handling note and performance information.
Backing track
JJazzLab vs Band-in-a-Box opinions
Almost everyone thinks JJazzLab is a great alternative to Band-in-a-Box.
Guest
Easy to use and imports Band-in--a-Box files
Positive comment•
1
Rosegarden
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Music Production App
Digital Audio Workstation
Linux
BSD
102 alternatives to Rosegarden
Rosegarden is a well-rounded audio and MIDI sequencer, score editor, and general-purpose music composition and editing environment.
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Rosegarden Features
1. Support for MIDIRosegarden includes MIDI hardware and software support to record and import audio.
Piano Roll
Customizable
Rosegarden vs Band-in-a-Box opinions
This alternative is disputed. Rosegarden is still a legitimate alternative to Band-in-a-Box, but it might have issues that some users think are important.
Guest
IT's a DAW and BIAB is not.
Negative comment•
0

Guest
Rosegarden is a DAW, BAiB is not.
Negative comment•
4
Avid Sibelius
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Freemium • Proprietary
Music Production App
Mac
Windows
iPad
59 alternatives to Avid Sibelius
Sibelius is a scorewriter program, created by Sibelius Software (now part of Avid Technology) for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and historically RISC OS.
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Avid Sibelius Features
1. WYSIWYG SupportAvid Sibelius integrates a WYSIWYG editor to edit the look and content of a document, page, or file.
2. Support for VST PluginsAvid Sibelius support third-party Virtual Studio Technology (VST) plugins.
Visual timeline
Ideas Hub
Visual bookmarks
Ribbon Interface
Engraving options
Music XML Support
Avid Sibelius vs Band-in-a-Box opinions
This alternative is disputed. Avid Sibelius is still a legitimate alternative to Band-in-a-Box, but it might have issues that some users think are important.
Guest
The two softwares have very different goals - BIAB to create backing tracks, Sibelius to compose and notate sheet music. They share very few similarities.
Negative comment•
0

Guest
Sibelius is a notation (Score writing) application, Band-In-A-Box is not.
Negative comment•
4

Guest
It's for writing sheet music, not for making backing tracks
Negative comment•
-1

Guest
Sibelius is music notation software. You would have to create the accompaniment yourself in the notation. There is little similarity between this and BIAB.
Negative comment•
1
Aria Maestosa
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Yes
No
Free • Open Source
Music Production App
Mac
Windows
Linux
37 alternatives to Aria Maestosa
Aria Maestosa is an open-source (GPL) midi tracker/editor. It lets you compose, edit and play midi files with a few clicks in a user-friendly interface offering keyboard, guitar, drum and controller views.
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Aria Maestosa Features
1. Support for MIDIAria Maestosa includes MIDI hardware and software support to record and import audio.
musagi
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No
Free • Open Source
Music Production App
Windows
12 alternatives to musagi
Musagi is a complex music authoring and synthesizer similar to trackers.
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musagi Features
Synthesizer
Denemo
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No
Free • Open Source
Music Production App
Mac
Windows
Linux
50 alternatives to Denemo
GNU Denemo is a music notation editor that lets you rapidly enter notation for typesetting via the LilyPond music engraver. You can compose, transcribe, arrange, listen to the music and much more.
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Denemo Features
1. Support for MIDIDenemo includes MIDI hardware and software support to record and import audio.
Power Tab Editor
Do you think this is a good alternative?
Yes
No
Free • Proprietary
Music Production App
Windows
49 alternatives to Power Tab Editor
Power Tab Editor is a free tablature authoring tool created by Brad Larsen for Windows. It is used to create guitar, bass and ukulele tablature scores, among many others. The current version uses the *.ptb file format.
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Power Tab Editor Features
1. Support for MIDIPower Tab Editor includes MIDI hardware and software support to record and import audio.