There are over 40 new features in Band-in-a-Box 2010.5!

• The StylePicker now has a filter to show show/hide RealTracks styles or MIDI styles. So you can set this if you only want to see MIDI styles, or if you only want to see styles that use some or all RealTracks.
• If you like the current mix (of volumes, panning, reverb), and you want this applied as a default for all songs, you can now set this by Right clicking on the Combo radio control. Choose “Make Current Mix the Default,” “Load Default Mix,” or “Reset Mix (to factory defaults).”
• RealTracks' naturally occurring pushes are enhanced in many styles. This requires updating the ST2/XT2 files, and these are included in the 2010.5 update.
• When rendering, you can now add a dB amount to the whole mix, so that the mix will be louder or softer. There is automatic "peak-limiting" added, so that the music will not distort if you set it too high.
• For Audio Track rendering, Reverb is now added to the mix if there is Reverb set for the audio track.
• Improved timing and performance on MIDI DXi/VST Softsynths. Files now render about 20 percent faster.
• Styles can now be made that are set to use Half-Time and Double-Time RealTracks. We include some of these styles. For example, you can make a Jazz Ballad style (tempo 65) that uses a Sax Soloist at tempo 140 (playing double time). The StyleMaker- Misc-More dialog now has setting called TimeBase: Normal/HalfTime/DoubleTime for RealTracks.
• MIDI Styles can now be expanded or reduced. For example, if you have a Bluegrass style at a typical tempo of 130 that is 16ths note based, and you would prefer it as a style that is 8th note based at a typical tempo of 260, you can do this in the StyleMaker by selecting the menu item Style-Expand. Style-Reduce is available also for styles that you want to reduce from 8th notes to 16th notes.
• If Band-in-a-Box cannot find your RealTracks folder or your Drums folder, a yellow hint message appears at boot up to alert you to that, and tells you how to fix it: “Note: You have RealTracks installed, but none are found in your RealTracks folder. You should point to your correct RealTracks folder in Prefs-RealTracks Settings.”
• RealTracks Pushes are now played a little quieter (2 dB quieter), so that they don't stand out as much.
• For HyperCanvas or TTS-1 users only: The Roland HyperCanvas and Cakewalk TTS-1 sound better in Band-in-a-Box if you use note 36 for bass drum, instead of note 35 (36 is more velocity sensitive). Now you will get a message to that effect when you exit the MIDI Driver dialog, and if you answer yes, it will set this for you, improving the sound of the drums with your HyperCanvas/TTS-1.
• For RealTracks, many Jazz comping styles now play triads (instead of 7ths) when simple triads are entered, instead of "jazzing them up" to 7ths chords (e.g. Guitar: Freddie, Wes Piano: Some Jazz. All Stride, Rehearsal). If you prefer this “the old way,” where triads are automatically “jazzed up” when comping using Jazz RealTracks, then you can set the Prefs-Realtracks settings option to force 7ths for triads.
• Important change: The default for the tempo swapping feature for RealTracks is now true. It used to be false. Tempo-swapping is a nice feature that will automatically substitute a similar RealTracks that is recorded at a tempo closer to the current tempo. For example, if you load a ballad style, with a RealTracks piano at a tempo of 60, and then speed the song up to 200, BB's tempo-swapping feature will choose a RealTracks piano that is closer to 200, likely one that is 190.
• The RealDrums button now has a menu (like the RealTracks picker button) to choose RD Prefs or RD Picker.
• The Auto-generated song memo now says if RealDrums come from the song or style.
• A message now appears if a frozen track is loaded, but the required RealTracks or RealDrums folders do not exist.
• Frozen tracks now generate faster if played again.
• Enhancements for entering songs quickly: Typing special words, instead of chord names, will make the following settings:
  begin <enter> sets the begin of the chorus to the current bar
  end <enter> sets the end of the song to the current bar
  chorusend <enter> sets the end of the song chorus to the current bar
  tkc <enter> sets key signature to c, tkbb would set it to bb
  trc <enter> transposes song to key of C
  t125 <enter> sets tempo to 125
• Enhancements for playing songs from the chordsheet
  <spacebar> or double click on ending bar (or a bar in the tag), and it will play from the ending (or tag). This only applies to the chordsheet, since notation windows always play from the ending or tag already.
  Right Click on ChordSheet (or notation) to quickly set Chorus Begin, Chorus End, or Song Ending
• Utility function added to "Change all songs in current folder to a specific tempo."

• Band-in-a-Box 2010.5 requirements

  • Windows® 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / XP / Vista / 7
  • Memory (RAM): Minimum 128MB.
  • Hard Disk space: Minimum 400 MB. More space is required for RealDrums, about 100 MB per set and RealTracks require about 800 MB per set.
  • PC Sound Card or MIDI module.
  Utility function added to “Change all songs in current folder to the current style name.”
• Utility command added to change channels by N on melody or soloist.

Notation Enhancements:

• Notes like Fb, Cb, E#, B# can now be entered. To do this, right click on a note (like F), and set the forced accidental to #, and the note will appear as E#.
• Right Click menu item added “edit section text”
• Option added for the Leadsheet Lyric memo start on new page on printout.
• If a song has lyrics (or other text) in the Lyric Memo or Lyric Document, these lyrics will now show up on the Big Lyrics window, so that they can be seen during playback. Note: if you have lyrics in text format, it is easy to paste them in as a Leadsheet Memo, and now you will see them on the Big Lyrics Window as well.
• When entering lyrics, additional buttons are available “Close lyrics” “Edit Lyrics” and “Enter as Section Text” (instead of Lyrics).

There were many other features added since the release of 2010. These include:

• Coyote Wavetable (GM compatible) DXi synth included with Band-in-a-Box. This works on all versions of Windows including 64 bit Windows Vista and
  Windows 7. This is useful because the Roland VSC doesn't work on 64 bit Windows.
• Many enhancements for RealTracks, including 4 bar endings added for most RealTracks.
• Many other program enhancements. For details see: http://www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm

And many more!

Includes the Band-in-a-Box Pro RealCombos (RealTracks & RealDrums), Style Sets 0-3, Soloist Set 1 and Melodist Set 1.

Includes the Band-in-a-Box MegaPAK RealCombos (RealTracks & RealDrums), Style Sets 0-77, Soloist Sets 1-11 & 16-20, and Melodist Sets 1-8.

Includes RealTracks Sets 1-101 (ALL!), RealDrums Sets 1-29 (ALL!), Styles Sets 0-77 (ALL!), Soloist Sets 1-11 & 16-20 and Melodist Sets 1-8. Ships on a 160GB USB Hard Drive!

Includes RealTracks Sets 1-101 (ALL!), RealDrums Sets 1-29 (ALL!), Styles Sets 0-77 (ALL!), Soloist Sets 1-11 & 16-20, Melodist Sets 1-8, the Songs & Lessons PAK and the Video Tutorial PAK. Ships on a 160GB USB Hard Drive!

Purchase the Band-in-a-Box Audiophile Edition with RealBand, and you'll receive a 1.5TB USB Hard Drive that includes ALL the WAV Files for RealTracks Sets 1-101, and RealDrums Sets 1-29 (ALL!), Styles Sets 0-77, Soloist Sets 1-13 & 16-20, Melodist Sets 1-8, The Band-in-a-Box Video Tutorial PAK, and The Songs & Lessons PAK.