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Maybe it would be interesting to share what applications/software BIAB users find most satisfying when it comes to “Usability and User Experience” ranked for their top 2-3 software packages.
“So while the goal of usability is creating a product that's easy to use, the goal of UX is to make the user happy before, during, and after using the product. This is no small feat. That's why UX design is an iterative process of researching, planning, testing, and refining every touch point of the user journey”
Mine top 2 would be:
1. Tonetrack series EZDrummer3, EZKeys2,,, (clean GUI, intuitive and supportive of the workflow at hand)
2. StudioOne pro 6.5
Both these are examples of software that get my work done efficiently and makes me happy before, during and after using the product.
BIAB 2026, Studio Pro 8, Song Master Pro, Win11 Home. i7-9700K CPU, 32GB, ESI MAYA44eX, ZOOM UAC-2, Guitar Pro 8, Transcribe, (EZKeys2, EZD3, SD3, EZBass, EZMix3)
Amateur: fiddle, guitar, vocal, beginner on bass.
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Mine top 2 would be:
1. Tonetrack series EZDrummer3, EZKeys2,,, (clean GUI, intuitive and supportive of the workflow at hand) Both these are examples of software that get my work done efficiently and makes me happy before, during and after using the product. Ditto that, In the VSti music making world could not agree more. Both are number 1.
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Mine top 2 would be:
1. Tonetrack series EZDrummer3, EZKeys2,,, (clean GUI, intuitive and supportive of the workflow at hand) Both these are examples of software that get my work done efficiently and makes me happy before, during and after using the product. Ditto that, In the VSti music making world could not agree more. Both are number 1. Another ditto that and Studio One Pro!
Last edited by MarioD; 11/21/23 09:19 AM.
Back in my day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender shouted "last call"!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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I agree with both of them, I use all of them and they just have great UI that just works for me.
BIAB 2026 Ultrapack- Fender Studio Pro 8, Windows 11, Mac Mini M4 with Logic Pro 11, Melodyne Studio, Luna Pro
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Although not in the field of music On 1 Photo Raw, https://www.on1.com/products/photo-raw/has a very easy to use and customizable GUI. It is very easy to use and in fact I believe that one can go very deep into the program without reading the manual. You might want to look at it and if you're into photography you might want to give it a spin. There is a 30 money back guarantee.
Back in my day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender shouted "last call"!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Yes I have the 2023 version ON1 Photo Raw. I will probably upgrade to 2024.
BIAB 2026, Studio Pro 8, Song Master Pro, Win11 Home. i7-9700K CPU, 32GB, ESI MAYA44eX, ZOOM UAC-2, Guitar Pro 8, Transcribe, (EZKeys2, EZD3, SD3, EZBass, EZMix3)
Amateur: fiddle, guitar, vocal, beginner on bass.
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the goal of UX is to make the user happy before, during, and after using the product. YES! A tool like these should be FUN to use! Every time someone reports an issue with BIAB and a long-time user provides a helpful but obscure and difficult work-around I am reminded of this! That's why UX design is an iterative process of researching, planning, testing, and refining every touch point of the user journey Many companies skip this process entirely and it shows in their products. But it is an expensive and difficult process. EZDrummer3, EZKeys2,,, (clean GUI, intuitive and supportive of the workflow at hand) Agree 100% on these two!
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I'll keep my answers to music software.
From my older software, these are the standby winners: Adobe Audition (ever since it was Cool Edit Pro); Studio One 6 (I rarely need the manual); Notion 6 Desktop is my notation software, chosen because the workflow is SO much better than others.
But for design and usability I nominate new stuff: Pure Limit by Sonible (and their other modules like Pure EQ, Pure Verb, Smart Gate, etc.) is great design and makes what could be a tedious task very easy. AI gets you very close to great in short order. It's all the fun of Ozone by Izotope but much easier.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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This will solve most issues related to PG products and bring them into the realm of the other software mentioned: Re: When will Band In A Box be available for iOS ...Any development underway for us? If they are looking into to this now behind the scenes as suggested it would be a good way to go: JUCE is the most widely used framework for audio application and plug-in development. It is an open source C++ codebase that can be used to create standalone software on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, as well as VST, VST3, AU, AUv3, AAX and LV2 plug-ins. JUCE allows developers to focus on the most valuable parts of their software by taking care of the differences between operating systems (both desktop and mobile) and plug-in formats. With JUCE’s library of digital audio processing (DSP) building blocks you can quickly prototype and release native applications and plug-ins with a consistent user experience across all supported platforms. Using JUCE also future-proofs your products against operating system and plug-in host updates. With their current programming language PG spend 6 months on the Win Version then the next 6 months on the Mac version let alone iOS.
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Hmm, Usability and other experience.
Friday I was trying to put together some playlists for some practice sessions and a gig. 56 songs, quite a few of which are new to me and were supplied as PDF leadsheets.
I assembled the leadsheets into three playlists in MobileSheetsPro ready for the sessions and set about assembling the same for my own practice before meeting the others. I felt rather under pressure because there were so many new pieces to organise. So often when I try to create songs in BIAB, it seems hard work, particularly when there are intros, codas and so on and I have to set up the playlist.
I changed strategy. For the first time in ages I went back to iRealPro. Nope, it doesn't sound as good. Yes, it's more restricted on styles. But here's the rub ... I did it quickly and had a decent time to practice. I spend too long messing around in BIAB just trying to get the job done.
BIAB will certainly give a better experience once I get to play, but I spend too much time building the songs and too little playing.
I need to think about that and about what I'm trying o do here.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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Expert
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Hmm, Usability and other experience.
BIAB will certainly give a better experience once I get to play, but I spend too much time building the songs and too little playing. +1
Latest BIAB version, latest build.
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That's a reasonable statement Gordon. Yes, BiaB will deliver fantastic goods but to get great sounding arrangements, sometimes it's a little more than just typing in the chords and pressing play. Your situation was rather unique that you needed to get some output quickly. Of course you can then use BiaB to work with and improve your arrangements.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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That's a reasonable statement Gordon. Yes, BiaB will deliver fantastic goods but to get great sounding arrangements, sometimes it's a little more than just typing in the chords and pressing play. Your situation was rather unique that you needed to get some output quickly. Of course you can then use BiaB to work with and improve your arrangements. I think the main differences are that iReal offers far fewer style,. but they're OK and they'll stretch more than 10%, the handling of repeats and codas and the playlist handling. On iReal, pick an approximate style, set the BPM and go. Set lists are easy on iReal, though for sessions and performances I'll usually use MobileSheets, which does similar for PDF lead-sheets. MobileSheets set list handling is better still, I think. BIAB can be a real pain with setting up a song as I refuses to allow first and second ending or tabs on a single chorus song, which can make the setup frustrating. Then there are very many styles to trawl through just to get something that's OK. The Jukebox(set list?) plays either alphabetically or random. I can fix that by prefixing each song with, e.g., a number 000, 001, 002, but iReal orders them as I enter them and lets me slide them around to adjust the order. I have to say that with 50+ songs in the set list that's not totally painless, but it's certainly better than having to number or renumber 50+ files. When playing, swipe left to get the next song, tap it, if wanted set the repeats/bpm/key and tab play play. Some background: although I continue to get better, I'm still struggling a bit with the depression caused by the [redacted] with whom I used to work, and I was beginning to find practising a challenge. The less painful route from the PDF set list I received to iReal made that easier. I practised, rather than giving up. For once in a while now, I enjoyed it rather than procrastinating. Of course I'm normally using these just as a practice tool, not to produce a performance, but I've now realised just how much for me the process was hurting the purpose.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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I'm honestly surprised nobody's mentioned Apple's software yet - honestly they've always been about user experience. It's why I switched to Mac over a decade ago and never looked back, not to mention that their hardware is almost always good. Not that they haven't done a LOT of things I dislike, of course...
I'm still one of those holdouts that avoids streaming services and still buys music (mostly digitally), and iTunes is invaluable in keeping it organized. It's simple and straight to the point, and I can zero in on one song out of 20,000 quickly and easily. It's also why I still use a nearly 20 year old iPod lol.
I work here
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Apple's software is great !
But when it comes to other software it's not allowed to keep working as the apple os changes every week to something new and developers have to work overtime to update an app version to work on this weeks apple.
We see that regularly in the Mac BB forum (when will a patch be available ?). That's why I gave up on it.
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Apple's software is great !
But when it comes to other software it's not allowed to keep working as the apple os changes every week to something new and developers have to work overtime to update an app version to work on this weeks apple.
We see that regularly in the Mac BB forum (when will a patch be available ?). That's why I gave up on it. I agree, but that's why I don't update my OS on my music machine until I know everything's compatible. Still running Monterey for that reason.
I work here
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How do those 32bit apps run on Monterey, if we had a Mac that would run every app how good would that be ? I'll just stick with the Macs that come with coke and fries until then: ![[Linked Image - Only viewable when logged in]](https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=25540&filename=bb17-23.png)
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Update to Build 10 of RealBand® 2026 for Windows®!
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Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
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