Hello, first post here, totally new to BIAB, a little confused by it all so I need a little help with what version / packs etc I need to buy. Here's what I need to do:

I'm a jazz bassist, and I'd like realistic backing tracks for all the Real Book jazz standards for practice / studying. I currently either use iReal Pro (useful but gets very repetitive) or I program songs in Logic (I don't play keys so this can be very time consuming).

I'm looking for as close to a realistic sound as possible, and I only need drums, keys and guitar, but they need to sound good. The closer I can get to a real jazz sound the better - I don't need soloing or melodies etc, just convincing comping.

Thanks in advance.

Firstly, a big welcome to the forums.

Your question is excellent and is often asked.

My recommendation is to go for a pak with as many RealTracks as you can comfortably afford.
The entry level Pro Pak probably won't give you the results you are seeking.

The Mega-Pak should be your base choice, or the Ultra-Pak if the budget stretches that far. (The Ultra-Pak gives you more than 2,500 RealTrack combinations)

Hope this assists in your decision making in some way.

Videotrack is giving good advice.

There have also been folks who bought the Pro (starter) package but called PG Music Sales soon after to upgrade.

The actual program is the same; the differences are in how many RealTracks and styles you get.

A big welcome to the friendliest site on the web. All questions are answered here and you will never get a read the freakin' manual response.

I would definitely use RealTracks for your songs. I would purchase the largest package that you can afford. This gives you the most band for the buck. Also note that the engine is the same for all versions of BiaB, the only difference is how many MIDI styles, RealTrack styles and Realtracks you receive.

{edit} I see I was typing the same time as Matt was!

Thanks very much for the advice, I think it's starting to make sense. Couple more questions:

- The jazz real track packs sound great, is there a way of buying BIAB with just these bundled, or specifying exactly what packs you'd like to include in a purchase? I have no real use for any other genres. Or would I just need to buy the most basic version and grab the Jazz packs seperately?

- Maybe an obvious question but can you mix tracks from different packs? For example, let's say I like the drums in resound.sty in Jazz 13, but I want to mix them with the keys snowdin.sty in Jazz 12 - is this doable?

thanks again.

Yes you can buy piece meal but there is a cost is doing so.

A first time purchase for the basic program is $129 (all in USD)

14 jazz RealTrack paks at $79 each is $1106 and 7 jazz Realdrum paks at $29 each is $203. This comes to a grand total of $1309.

A first time buyer can get all of the above for $469 in the Ultra Pak.


Yes you can mix and match RealTracks and RealTracks to RealDrums.

Yes, you can mix anything!

No, PG Music doesn’t to my knowledge offer all the jazz, and just jazz, in a package. You should call Sales and ask, but the last time I checked (several years ago) it would cost more to buy individual sets than to go for the Ultrapak.

I’m a jazz player too, but I’m surprised how often I load other genres, both with jazz tracks and for other people.

Hi Dave and welcome to the forum! You're not in LA by any chance are you? I need an upright bassist for a gig in Santa Monica on November 24.

First, Book One is floating around the internet in Biab song format but I've not seen Book Two yet. Yes, since it contains the melodies, it's illegal. Shhhhh....

Second, by doing searches you can still find individual Biab jazz songs and could probably find all of them if you wanted to bad enough. BUT, you probably have those books already, no? Trust me it's faster to simply enter the chord chart yourself into Biab than spend hours trying to find it on the internet.

Listen to all the jazz demos on this website even though they use odd melodies you've never heard of, the chords will sound familiar. Why? Because they are actual Real Book songs but for copyright reasons PG has chosen to put a home made melody to Autumn Leaves for example. We actually had a little contest going here on the forum as to how many demo songs could we identify and I believe it wound up at 50 or so.

Now, I will diverge a bit here and say if all you want to do is practice the basic jazz pak may be enough. They all include some Real Drums swing and bossa's and a couple of piano and guitar tracks. That could be enough for you BUT the full boat gives you so much more to play around with you won't believe it so yeah, if you can afford it get the Ultra Pak. You won't believe how well some funk guitar can go with a classic swing tune for example then there's the much more modern smooth jazz stuff, it's really good. And the latin stuff, not just basic bossa's but serious latin including songo's, clave's, piano montuno's, etc.

And then, as a bassist wouldn't you like to see written out what some of the best players in the world did on a certain tune? A lot of the RT's have been transcribed into midi notation Real Charts including the bass parts. You could find those quite interesting. Matt btw did some of those transcriptions.

Bob