What type of software works as alternative to the common workstation keyboards "styles"?

Question

I always found it handy to have these styles (rhythms + accompaniment) that are provided by the workstation keyboards.

The auto-accompaniment styles come with an INTRO, VARIATIONS (A, B, eventually C, D, etc), and an ENDING.

I would like to connect a midi keyboard to my computer and record songs in MIDI format, with a track for each instrument that comes in the style accompaniment.

What is the type of computer software that provides such a functionality? What are the most popular choices? It would be great to have access to a marketplace of styles and to import SFF2 files too.

Answer 1

There are two practical ways to do this:

• Band-in-a-Box method: enter the song structure and chord progressions in the application by typing in a chord/bar grid, click a button and the software generates all the instrument parts based on a "style". There are other applications, but BIAB is the most well-known one, and a synonym for the whole application category.
• Record the MIDI output from an arranger keyboard. Use a regular hardware arranger keyboard that can output all its instruments on separate MIDI channels, via a MIDI or USB cable into the computer, and record the output into a MIDI sequencer application. This should be possible with various Casio, Yamaha, Korg, Roland, etc. arranger keyboards.

There might be real-time arranger software that does what an arranger keyboard does in real time, but I'm not aware of widely used ones.