PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows I am looking at Nectar 2 with a Bundle deal. I have a question

Hi BiaB Brothers(sisters too),

I have a question does any of you know about iZotope? I just got the name from this forum. Someone brought up the name talking about plugins. Anyway there is something called Nectar 2. A Vocal Production Suite. It has many wonderful presets. I love presets because I am not pro and they can really dial it in I am sure. I really want my vocals great so I might go for it. Thats if you guys tell me that it is compatible with BiaB and RealBand. Also with this Bundle Alloy2 and Ozone5 if you know about all these I would like to hear it. Now it is only 399 for the Bundle. They just received an Emmy for their Audio Repair program RX3 But that is more so I am considering this 400 dollar deal. If it works hand and hand with BiaB and RealBand it could really give me the tools to produce some decent sounding albums. That would be great since all of my life I have recorded shabby one take bare-bones guitar vocal demos. With BiaB and Nectar2 it could make this PC turn into a very impressive studio. My product could sound great. I will take all 2014 just to study all of this. Take my time and enjoy it. Ok I will be here to receive your reply on this post.

Sly, I just bought this bundle and it is amazing! the tools are incredible and the presets can save you a ton of time! now some folks will poo poo presets and advise you that you need to study for years until you become an "expert" but I say "Bah, Humbucker!" Jump right in, grab a preset by the tail, tweak it a little and you've got a pretty great result! Rinse and Repeat until you have an album. Master it with Ozone and make a down payment on that Ferrari! (ok, maybe wait to buy the Ferrari!)

The one qualifier I will add is I do my mixing in Reaper, not BIAB or RealBand. So someone here will need to help you figure out the ins and outs of integration. But from my own personal experience, I'd recommend checking out a DAW like Reaper anyway. My workflow is, 1) write song, 2) use BIAB to generate tracks (if I need them), 3) export tracks from BIAB, 4) import BIAB tracks into Reaper along with my vocal and other tracks and then 5) do all my mixing, editing, mastering, etc. in Reaper.

Great to hear John. I just heard read the name iZotope in here then I went to research it. I dropped the idea of this other studio bundle when I saw Nectar 2. And the other 2 plugins for 399. Because I mainly am concerned about my vocals. Getting that right. And I have always wanted to do Voice Overs. Maybe do some projects with my voice and this has a voice over preset. Yes I love presets too. Why not use there presets when they know what they are doing? I am glad you are on the preset bandwagon also. Like you said you just tweak their preset a little if you want. Likely you can save it with another name your tweaked preset.

I will check into Reaper. I have heard that name around lately. I will check it out right after I type this. But lets say I didn't get reaper. Can I use Nectar2, Ozone5, Alloy2 in BiaB or RealBand? Like they utilize that Amplitude Plugin? I already paid off my audiophile since I sold my broken down Lexus for 350. So I might be ready to use my new Costco Card American Express at ZERO PERCENT interest on this 399.00 dollar deal now. I have to do it. My dream is to produce some great songs. And you can't have any weak links. Especially with your vocals. And these guys just got an Emmy award for that Audio fixing program RX3. So you know they are the best in the business. Nobody just gets an Emmy award for their technology that easy. So WOW I discovered just what I need. It was an Engineering Emmy Award. It kind of makes me want to buy that 999 deal with RX in it. But poor boys like me shouldn't get buy happy when I will have my hands full with BiaB and Nectar 2 and the other plugins alone. I am not in business fixing audio. But it just seems like it would be nice to own lol. I am getting greedy.

Ok so let me know if they do work in BiaB. I think you already pretty much said yes but you mention Reaper so I just want to verify it will work with it. All three plugins from that iZotope Studio bundle for 399.00. And no I don't work for the company throwaing out product placement. It is just little ole me that just bought Band in a Box Audiophile and I need to top off this Studio with something that will make it all shine!!

Thanks,
Sly

Hey Sly, I just confirmed that all three of these, Alloy, Nectar and Ozone work perfectly from inside BIAB. Just install them and then, in the mixer, click the plugins tab and then, on the track where you wish to use the izotope tools, click [None]. This will pop up a dialog where you simply choose your plugin (Alloy, Nectar or Ozone). Once you pick it that tools interface will appear and you can select a preset, tweak it, etc. And when you export your tracks these effects will be applied and saved with the tracks.

So, there you go...no external DAW required! And although I did not test with RealBand I'm sure it will work there too. This BIAB/RealBand is an amazing piece of software!!

Thanks JohnJohnJohn!!

That is good news. From the videos on this bundle I am very impressed. What a find. Some guy mentioned the name on this forum and I just checked it out. I am investing in it. My Studio isn't a studio without this suite of plugins now that I have checked it out. So I have a lot to do in 2014. I am going to work hard on studying BiaB and RealBand and this iZotope these top notch Studio plugins. Wow this is going to be interesting to involve myself in. I won't stress the learning. I want to enjoy it. Take my time. I am not up against the clock on producing albums and writing songs. Learn all these tools in 2014. Maybe in 6 months start writing my songs. Who knows. Good times ahead though that is for sure. Ok thanks a lot of the confirmation. I will go buy it now. Why put it off. I can't pass this Christmas special up.

By the way I did check out Reaper. I didn't see much to it when I opened it. It is just plain I guess until you put the input channels on it. I might interest myself in that someday who knows. But it looks to me I have something with RealBand. That DAW doesn't look too shabby. Looks like all the bells and whistles I will need are all there. Especially after I get Nectar 2 and the other two iZotope plugins to be part of it. It will make RealBand great!!!

Thanks again

Ditto on Ozone. I have O4 and use it all the time. I have built my own presets but still do use the factory presets. Simply tweek them and save them.

BTW: great price.

Sly, the main reason I use a separate DAW is I prefer tools that are specialized and focused on doing what they do best. I don't wanna start yet another DAW debate here but I have found RealBand to be quite slow and clunky compared to a more modern DAWs such as Reaper (of course, RealBand does something no other DAW can do, namely generate RealTracks but I find I can use BIAB for that purpose and it is very fast by comparison.)

So, for me, I love using a state-of-the-art DAW that is designed to the latest GUI standards and that is constantly being updated! And I know some folks will say the GUI is no big deal (I remember the same folks at every stage of the computer revolution...they preferred command line over GUI...green screen over color...dot matrix over laser...and on and on!!) But the truth is the GUI is your interface into the software and if it is cumbersome and counter-intuitive that will slow you down considerably in your mixing!

With all of that said you should definitely try RealBand and see if it works for you because it is included in your package! But I'd advise giving something like Reaper a try as well and then decide for yourself which is easier and more efficient to use!

Sometimes I take a project from BB first, for general songwriting, arranging & basic layout to RB for further refinement as to layout, take advantage of the BB engine to regenerate realtracks at the per bar level, etc. and then export that result to one of the highend DAWS for the finish.

Takes advantage of what each program does best.


--Mac

Mac made a great point about RealBand that I have not really checked out yet...the ability to regen RealTracks at the bar level. This is something I can see me needing to do as I get more comfortable with all of this. That single feature seems powerful enough to force me to at least include RB in my work flow!

Sly, sorry to be a big wet blanket but my advice is no, no and hell no.

Remember what I said in the other thread about learning these programs especially Real Band first before shelling out good money for anything else? That applies triple for what you're talking about.

PG has mastering plugins built right in that are pretty darn good. Scott (RockstarNot) is an engineer who really knows this stuff and he's talked about how the same guy who does programming for Izotope and other big name companies designed the PG plugins. They just don't have that very cool killer looking interface.

It's your money but LEARN WHAT YOU HAVE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU FIRST!! Once you completely understand all the PG plugins then you can make an informed decision if shelling out another four or five bills is worth it.

This is what I meant when I called you a noobie and you got upset because of your background in computers. I said then and I'll say it again now. That background means absolutely squat when you're talking about digital audio work including audio editing, crossfade looping and mixing and mastering. If you've never done it before and you've indicated that's the case then you're a noobie and it's called baby steps man, baby steps.

Ozone is for someone who already has years of experience and knows what they're doing already. You barely know what to listen for yet. You will or should, compare your recordings to some of your favorite commercial recordings like Sinatra's stuff and others and yours won't sound like his and you will have no clue why. Hitting some presets in Ozone or mixing it in Reaper instead of Real Band will not help with that one little smidgen. Trust me on this.

Bob

Never say "never"...

Bob, where would I find the Nectar-quality vocal processing and presets in BIAB? they seem to be missing from my version! and I cannot locate the Ozone 5-quality mastering plugins either!

Sly, you don't have to take anyone's word on this! Let your ears be your guide! Download the Izotope bundle, install it on your machine and play with it for 10 days! You can even produce complete recordings with this full-featured trial. Try out the presets and see if you think they will help you get where you want to be quicker. If so, you cannot beat their holiday price!

Bob is right that learning how to do all of this is very important. And there is probably as much art involved as science. But in my opinion he is wrong about whether there are tools (like presets) that can be used even by a noob to greatly increase the quality of your mixes. I am probably a total noob by Bob's standards yet I have improved a lot in less than a year and I have benefited greatly from better tools.

My bottom line is, if a tool helps you then use it! I don't care whether I completely understand why it helped! If it helped I am happy! My goal is not to become a top-drawer audio engineer but to make nice recordings of my music using whatever tools I can afford and enjoy!

Thanks Bob for adding to my lovely little threat here Wow lol. Yeah I was a little irked. But my disturbance has past. About these the izotope plugin suite called Studio. Now it is just 399. And I just got myself some top notch plugins. I am sure RealBand might have something good but not what these do. There is a preset for Voice Overs also. I have been into voice work. My own projects mostly. And there is something that takes out the breath in the silence. Sounding very natural. That alone is worth a hundred dollars to me to get some voice over work later or use it for my own projects. I will get some ideas. Many great presets for vocals. This is a vocal production suite. It is incredible. Sure I my middle name is preset so what? Sly Preset Ruby. I love it. These plugins will make RealBand wonderful for me. It will take my vocals to a higher level. This company iZotope just got an Emmy Award for there audio fixing software RX3. What they do things right. I want to find the thread where I first heard the name iZotope when talkning plugins. It was yesterday. And all it took was about 3 hours and talking to John to confirm it all works in BiaB then to place my Holiday priced 399 deal. I just put it on my introductory ZERO percent interest American Express. I paid off my Audiophile BiaB so why not go for the Gold here. Could I have went without this wonderful Voice Production Suite? Maybe. But John isn't going without it. So why not Sly Ruby? lol. Sure paint me up as the little redheaded stepchild newbie all day long. Do it for many more months. Maybe years. Call Sly a newbie that is still wet behind the ears. And maybe I will be into presets for some time. Maybe I won't hear the difference in some setting changes at first because I just can't hear the difference. But when my final product comes out my vocals will just shine. My singing will fly to the moon. My Sinatra voice will be incredible. Wow people will say. What a tone. What a singer. Sly Ruby will hit the online digital Independent artist album scene. I will have many fans. Could be 500 fans or maybe 5000 fans. Could be 5 fans all I care. But now with my great new suite and all the presets that puts me up with the pros!! John and I are going places!!! WOW and all the rest that get in on this deal. I hit a gold mine here with Band in a Box, RealBand, and my Vocal Production Suite by iZotope. 2014 will be a good year. I will study hard to get out of the newbie status. But as much as you love to call people newbies I doubt if I will be anything but a newbie for many years to come. Are you a trained engineer or something? With years of background? Maybe you get a little upset because of how someone like me that hasn't been a recording engineer and well trained can hit a few presets and manage to come out with a product that sounds very nice. Though we will see. I have a lot of work to do. My albums might be as shabby as can be. But I know I will write some good songs. Come out with a product that is pretty good. Better than many. Time will tell. This is all just for my entertainment. I don't have any plans on being rich and famous. It is all a great hobby. What a discovery for me. I am just building on from BiaB. Thanks BiaB!! WOWOWOWW. Band in a Box University begins for me soon. First stage...Newbie finding his way. Though forever Sly is Jazzmammal's Newb!! even if I learn a few things I will always be a newbie lol. I doubt I will ever prove myself to you. Hey at least go check out my album cover on www.Frychester.com and SlyRuby.com...is this ok to put addresses on our posts? I make no money from it. It is just logo and an image of a potential album cover. My projects. I will have to find it. Ok no hard feelings. Don't mind all the rattling. Hey Jazzmammal. Be sure to give some links to your projects. You must be a top notch engineer and producer. Possibly musician. I am ready to critique your work. If you give me no links to your work I guess you don't want me to critique it lol. I might put you in a newbie class for your production of a song that just won't make a grammy anytime soon. But maybe a B Movie. And believe me a B movie is a great achievment. I would love to get some songs on a B movie. Some independent film someday. I will look into that later after I produce a couple albums of original songs.

John I bought it right after your confirmation. We both made a wise decision on this for 399. We are with an Emmy award winning company that will make our BiaB productions have more of a chance to really have a great quality sound. My microphone I am using is a Shure SM7B. That is a 350 dollar mic so for me it is very nice.

Sly, I look forward to hearing what you come up with! You certainly have plenty of enthusiasm and positive attitude! Rock on dude!

Hey John I have a question. I am just starting to install these plugins. I am on Alloy 2. They do have Direct X. Not sure when people use those. So I install VST 32Bit? Since Band in a Box is 32bit? Or since I have Windows 7 64bit the 65bit will function in BiaB and RealBand? What did you install?

I installed everything. I have plenty of space on my hard drive and that way I have it all if I need it!

True...I will install the 64bit and 32bit. It won't hurt anything to do both anyway. Though I will just leave out pro tools since I don't have any pro tools software

Hey I am installing these into VST Plugins folder. But when I go into BiaB or RealBand to install the plugin I click on the DLL and it says it isn't a valid plugin. Not sure what is up. How do I get to the part of the installation where it opens the plugin so I can put the Serial numbers in? I wrote izotope to has the question but not sure when they will reply. It could be a couple of days.