Since trying to get to grips with Realband and trying to use its benefits in editing BIAB files, it constantly crashes.
The scenarios where this happens are:

When I try to insert/generate a track, whether that be a Realtrack or a midi track.

When I try to insert a multiRift to an existing Realtrack.

There may be other situations, but these are the two that I have encountered.

CPU usage is around 30% when this happens and sticks there until I use the Task Manager to shut the program down.
I deleted ASIO4ALL as I don't use it, but just thought that might have been the problem. Sadly it wasn't.

Have any others experienced this crashing problem and did you manage to solve it?

BIAB has no problems at all.

First thing I would try is to set RealBand to run as administrator (right click on the RealBand.exe file, select Compatibility, check the Run as Administrator checkbox).

Second thing I would do, assuming you trust the RealBand files, is to go into your anti-virus program and exclude the RealBand and BIAB folders from your anti-virus scanning. This allows RealBand and BIAB to launch more quickly.

Are you running RealBand from your workstation hard drive or from the external USB hard drive? If the latter, you may want to try a different USB port, or use the double ended plug that comes with it to ensure the drive is getting enough power.

Also, make sure you have set up your MIDI in/out and Audio in/out settings properly.

While RealBand will occasionally crash on me, I generally can work for hours with no problem. I do save fairly often, however, just to make sure I don't lose anything.

Hi John,
tried your suggestions...
Compatability/Administrator and antivrus exclusions.

All loads faster as you said, but problem exists.

Running program from main hard drive.

Midi/Audio setup hasn't changed, same as setup in BIAB, but checked anyway. Problem exists.

Is there a way to install RB without having to go through the whole BIAB installation process?
If so, I would like to give that a try.

I may also, as a last resort, do a system restore to see if that helps.

Thanks for your suggestions anyway John.

Some things to check:
Check your plugins. There may one be causing an issue. Do you use 3rd party plugins? If so, try removing any suspect ones.

Try running RB from the external drive. I've had good luck with that sometimes.

Do you have the latest update for your version? Check the Support button at the top of the page; if you are running the initial build there may have been a problem already fixed.

Next thing I'd try is moving the Audio Temp Directory (found in Prefs) to a different hard drive if possible; this is where RB generates and stores edits (for Undo maneuvers). Having a single drive reading/writing/jumping around may cause bottlenecks in some systems.
Lastly the mysterious hidden window; try minimizing RB, then maximizing it again .. I've seen this cause a hidden window to appear that had launched behind the main window and was otherwise unavailable.

One other; try MME drivers temporarily and see if it is a driver issue. It may be RB is unable to lock onto the drivers reliably, which can be caused by a few different things, including some other app not releasing the ASIO drivers when needed.

John, thanks for the tips. I tried them all and nothing worked. BUT.....

I tried again this morning and for some reason I can now get MultRiffs to work fine, but not sure yet about generation of RealTracks.
I will have to investigate further, but I would like to thank all for their help and suggestions so far.

Will report back later.

One common suggestion is to reboot when applications start acting weird .. could be something you did recently is affecting things. Just opening and closing a given program can claim resources (and sometimes not release them cleanly).

I'd venture to say if Multiriffs worked then RT's will work, since Multiriffs uses RT generation over and over again in one pass.

Rharv,
I think you're right about being PC related.

I know it will take a long time, but I'm on the verge of doing a complete install of BIAB.

Something else that might be related, is my restore points have disappeared so a system restore is out of the question.

Might just try and install Windows 10 over the top of the existing system

If your restore points have disappeared, I would check to make sure they are actually turned on for your C: drive. I have found that occasionally, restore points disappear and I find that restore protection has been turned off (presumably by some errant Windows update).

Hi John,
Yes I checked whether it was switched and it is.
Have re-installed W10 over the existing OS, but has made no difference.

I think I'll just accept the pain and do a complete re-install of BIAB and see where we go from there.

Am losing the will to live at the moment.

BTW, I tried it out on my laptop and everything worked fine, so it is something on my desktop which is causing the problem.

So here we go.........

Hi All,
I got fed up with trying umpteen possible solutions (thanks for all your advice) but unfortunately none worked.

So I took the plunge and did a complete re-install of my PC from Windows 10 up !
It took me nearly TWO DAYS, but everything works as it should.
The unfortunate thing is that I still don't know what caused it in the first place.

But all up and running now and thanks again for your help.

Al

Ok, my joy didn't last for long !

After all the effort of reinstalling everything, it's still not working correctly.

So my conclusion is that there is a problem with my either my PC architecture or Windows 10 or both, as my laptop works fine with W10 (both are Lenovo)

I have now rolled back to W8.1 and everything is fine. I installed a Windows 7 type app to give the Start button.

So after many hours and lots of suggestions from you good folk, we are up and running again.

Fingers crossed

Same problems here:


Every time I try to set up my ASIO audio device, which RB sees well enough to display ports for selection.

I make my selections and click OK ... crash-loop with above box that never dismisses. TM End Task req'd. Details, Email Error Report, Save Report and the red 'X' do nothing visible.

Rebooted, run as admin, exclude from Defender, face east, face west, etc

Win8.1x64, Tascam US-16x08 ... if I leave audio settings pointed to MME default I don't get this crash, but I'm not sure awaits further in. And I don't want to use MME.

Are you sending the error reports to PG Music Support?

I'm posting here to see if this is an already acknowledged problem.

"I'm posting here to see if this is an already acknowledged problem."

There have been issues and complaints about Tascam drivers since I learned how to say 'ouch'.

It doesn't matter that it worked with this gadget or that one. That it worked flawlessly with your last OS or even worked this morning. Tascam drivers have a mind of its own.

Their old 8 channel USB interface comes to mind immediately. Some had issues and some never did and some developed issues somewhere along the way.

Not knocking Tascam - in fact, I love Tascam equipment. Owned a ton of it. Never had a piece of hardware quit on me.

My recording set up is based around a Tascam DP24. It is very easy and efficient to transfer BIAB/RB files back and forth between my Tascam DP-24 and my computer.

There are many benefits and options owning a Tascam DP-24/32 to work in conjunction with a DAW and BIAB.

But back to your set up and situation, look at Tascam drivers first

Tascam is doing their own these days ... I have the latest installed. Works great with everything else ... which doesn't always matter. However, I was thinking that compatibility with BiaB might make a diff when talking about RB. No?

Works great with BiaB 2016.

My intended use for BiaB is as a scratchpad, with tracks destined for either Sonar or Reaper, which the 16x08 works great with too

Once I figure out what RealBand is I might not even have a use for it.

BobF,

RealBand and Band-in-a-Box are very different products that share some, but actually very little (as far as I can tell), commonality.

BiaB started as a midi product with the ability to work with audio files added much later. Midi underlies how BiaB does everything.

RB started as an audio daw called PowerTracks (which PG Music stills sells as a separate product).

The two programs had two different functions. BiaB was for auto accompanying while PoweTracks was(and continues to be) an audio workstation.

RealBand is a blend of the two programs. Limited BiaB functionality has been added to PowerTracks to create RB. Evidently one of the differences is how BiaB and RB interface with Asio drivers.

Meh. RB prolly won't do much for me then.

If you look at all music programs as different tools in your toolbox, it may be that you are already using another program do do what some of us use RB to do.

But RB does let you add more real tracks to a project very easily, and that's one reason why a lot of people use it as their DAW, or as an intermediate step between BIAB and their DAW of choice.

However, from the BIAB environment, You can drag and drop any number of additional tracks either directly to your DAW of choice, or to the desktop, from which place you can import them to your DAW... so there are lots of ways to skin the same cat with or without RB. It *IS* handy to keep refining and regenerating your tracks until you have exactly what you want while you are still in RB.. because once you move the tracks to Sonar or Reaper, you can't generate new instruments.

Personally, I think it's a valuable tool and worth taking time to get it working, whether you use it as your final DAW or just as an intermediate step.

I will eventually want RB working properly. It's not my priority right now though.

I updated my ancient BiaB copy to use as a scratchpad, not for producing final tracks.

Thanks for the input