I upgraded last year but didn’t go for any extras this time. I always went for the whole deal before. It seems to me BB are losing the plot. What does one do with thousands of Real Tracks? New features were scant in 2023, at the least. It going to take some revolutionary features this time round for me to stay the course. I rarely visit the software anymore; it’s become bloated and difficult to master.
I have tried the online subscriptions to some of the AI music sites but all are sterile, as is most compositions I have tried using BB. Most people want the elusive WOW factor or have to eventually give in and go the creative and imaginative way, if it is in them. I started in my early teens and am still at it. I write and play keyboards and guitar and have been on the Folk scene all over the UK and was lucky to have success with my songs, in my 20’s. Now at 74 I would love for some company to shine, with providing the ultimate song composing tool, with the least effort BUT with some emotion in it.
Real Tracks are not enough, there are too many and also we are drowning in Genres. No Classical Real Tracks have been really offered and no new instruments of any note also.
So, come on BB, let’s have something to stun us in 2024 or it’s goodbye from me.

Mal

Well, it has something to it and probably a large piece of truth. As a distributor for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, I deal with this quite often with clients, that innovation, mainly in the form of new and new Real Tracks, does not matter much to the average user, but maybe something that will help, for example, with the study of a song, in the direction that, for example, soundslice.com is moving, proper I would also like a mobile and tablet field application.

Well, the involvement of AI not only in documentation but also in audio transcription, for vocals, individual instruments, that would be the bomb

I agree wholeheartedly with your post.

I have been a fan of BIAB for many years but stopped at 2021 due to lack of attention to workflow and ease of use issues. These things are much more important to me than new realtracks.

Lets hope 2024 has some good news.

I did a complete audiophile upgrade for 2023, and am quite happy. Not just the large number of real tracks and styles, but also some cool features like multi-riff and micro-chords and stuff. I guess it's what you like and need that matters. If you want more classical multi-tracks, may I suggest either a subscription to EastWest Orchestrator, or Sonuscore the Orchestra (or both) which function similar to BIAB (ie chord input) and sound great and it would be unlikely that BIAB could beat them in that genre. Still, there are things I would like improved, particularly proper playback of pushes, which has always sucked.

Kinda like AI, BB requires some input from a human who can think out of the box.... (pun intendid?) You can get some really good stuff but you have to be creative to get those extraordinary results.

It's not impossible.... And those thousands of real tracks? Love them! What I look at with the new year release is not the new features.... although those are cool.... I want to see hundreds of new, cool, better quality, great sounding, real tracks. And I have to admit.... the RT's are freaking amazing and seem to get better with each new year.

I agree 100%!

Yes, the RealTracks are definitely a winner and have kept BiaB in a very favorable position in a competitive market.

Yep ... that's why I get an update every year - RTs and DTs. And the Styles selection isn't bad, either.

Yes sure there are lots of issues with Biab GUI etc..
but just on the point of RealTracks I would like to see the same instrument/guitar mainly Direct Input (allowing whatever FX you like), to have lots n lots of different patterns so you can change patterns at any bar or beat and it will be seamless transition with no tonal change. You pick the guitar and tempo then over to the side you have a preview list with all the patterns (similar to RealDrums with the Variations). The same with a solo instrument.
This would also cut down on the amount of Playable RealTrack sfz's you would need down the track, you don't need FX versions also just the DI that will use a default vst fx. RealTrack are not added each year only new patterns to the existing guitars.

Why hasn't there been any news from 2024 yet? I remember BIAB2023 was released at the end of November last year?

Possibly they are not ready for a release. I think last year it was at the start of December.

I ordered BIAB 2023 on Dec 1, 2022 and I think it may have been announced a day or two prior. I tried to check on Wayback Machine but PGM has apparently requested that they exclude their website from their system. I wonder why that is?

Patience. All things come to those who wait.

It seems like I'm talking about stock trading

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Seems it sparked a lot of views and people seem to be hoping there well may be some surprises coming that may ease some frustrations.

I know there is the diehard Real Tracks contingent that are happy to have oodles and oodles of new tracks to play with but there are those of us who wish to utilise BB for its potential and do not just wish to toy with endless Real Tracks.

So heres hoping as we step well in to December.

Mal

I don’t disagree with the original comment but…
First, there’s always some feature in the latest version that I find very useful and secondly I’m always happy to add new real tracks and especially their super midi counterparts and finally and most important, PG is not a big company. I imagine they mange to make a decent profit and provide employment for their staff but they just don’t have the resources to do a lot of what we want. I always buy the new versions to support what they’re doing. It’s generally more than I can afford but I do it anyway.
I’m absolutely sure Peter Gannon gets persistent offers from other companies to buy BIAB but he holds on and I appreciate that. I don’t know what Presonus, UAD, or Fruity Loops would do to BIAB but I’m not sure I would like it.

Or SSL then we would have to use ILok to access RTs!!!

ILok? Oh, never.

Ah ... the perils of acronyms.
For a few moments I wondered how the secure sockets layer applied and how iLok used them.
OK, of course; SSL is Solid State Logic (which itself also means something different to me).
Ho Hum.

I worry about licence managers, in part because I've worked in places where there's no network access and because I've broken dongles.

Anyone know when BIAB24 will be on sale this year? Thought they usualy go live 1st December?

any minute now... maybe.

Ho Hum

Now!

2024 is here now! It has some outstanding new content and some great new features the two stars of the show are the new Multipicker! A one stop shop for all media content. and the new Tracks view. A DAW like window to allow you to see your creations in a familiar manner. Speed has been enhance greatly in both Band in a Box and the Plugin.


MultiPicker is accessed thru F7 Once you do the Rebuild after first start up which is still done by the legacy style picker then close that and hit F7 it will take a second or two then it can be toggled on and off with F7

Open a song or song demo and click the new tracks icon on the tool bar under views. hot the Play + to generate and watch the speed it generates.

Well I did an upgrade but no extras, largely as a fond farewell. I still have all the floppies in the attic right from inception.

I won't be using the software anymore though. It's bloated with an extraordinary array of RT's and I was hoping for more this year. It didn't happen. I think nebies would need a Masters Degree now to handle this software. The manuals just leave me sterile. I'll dabble with the plugin for a riff or two when using Nuendo 12 but that's about it.

Mal

Mal,

I am sorry you feel that way, I have a completely opposite view.

1) Regeneration times are now almost instant.
2)Non-Modal MTP (Multipicker) Library lets you browse RT's with near instant placement right in your tune, so you can audition actual rendition of it on the fly. Not only that, you can switch whole styles on the fly.
3)MTP Library opened up a lot of MIDI and other content that was hard to get to and just made whole process of searching and browsing 10 times better.
4)Several other tools became non modal, so workflow became much easier and less restricted.
5)With track view and CTRL+F8 you can regenerate any part of any track on single screen super easy and fast.
6) A great selection of new content. I do understand that it is a thing of taste.

But as far as program goes:
With a few shortcomings and about two dozen of known issues, that I sincerely hope will be ironed out in the next month, in my view this is one of the best updates ever.

If anything, workflow improved significantly.

Malevans said,

"I think nebies would need a Masters Degree now to handle this software"

Though everyone is entitled to their opinion Mal I couldn't disagree with you more here,

1 Open the software,
2 audition a number of styles.
3 Type in a number of chords
4 Generate and play.
How simple is that.

Of course you can add more realtracks or realdrums, loops etc and maybe make it as complicated as you want it to be.

And maybe when you go really deep into the program things can get a bit complicated.

A newbie who has a little basic understanding of music theory such as chords etc, would be up and running with Band in a Box within ten minutes in my opinion.

Is there usually a new year sale, or Spring Fever sale? Will this be the lowest price point?

The Windows version is on special discounted pricing right now.

Package prices are listed here.

Please see the above links. Unless history does not repeat itself, I very much doubt that the pricing would be reduced further

Okay, so what must be the regular question every year: are the perks worth the upgrade, or better off just buying the Real Tracks a la cart? I was psyched to get multiriffs, microchords, playable Real Tracks and (further back) utility tracks. Anything as groundbreaking?

Can anyone explain MutiPicker?

I'm not exactly sure, but I suspect that some of the new Real Tracks won't be recognized by an older version of the program. Others may know more.
Definitely the Multi-Picker dialog is a worthwhile feature. All the pickers in one neat spot.

For me the upgrade was worth it. If you are a frequent user of of Multi-Riff, you will find the tracks view incredibly time saving, and much more capable of precisely isolating exactly what you want to regenerate. If you like to mix and match different tracks (midi and/or real) from various styles, you will find the Multi-Picker amazingly useful, not just to find them, but audition them quickly.

BUT (and it is a big butt) if you don't use Multi-Riff and usually keep the same instruments that come with a pre-set style, you may not find that much difference, although the rendering time seems to be faster. But, then again, if you are not using Multi-Riff and adding extra players, that is a shame and might be because it was so cumbersome in the past, so these workflow improvements may induce you to take more advantage of these great features.

Yes, Track Generation time has been significantly improved. Songs can generate in a fraction of the time taken previously, as all tracks are generated simultaneously now.

Check out this user's "should I upgrade" video!

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=788290&gonew=1#UNREAD