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I know Real Band is a little dated but since I moved to a Mac, I’ve missed it. There are features in it that I’ve never found in other DAWs.

Blues.

im glad you said that about rb.
whenever i extoll the advantages of rb some people say comments like its c**p.
like you ive never seen another daw with some of its features. for example this past week i tried an expensive daw that costs over 1000 bucks and soon realised i would miss certain unique rb features.

i think frankly that rb is the sort of app that one must be prepared to delve into....and spend time with rather than cursory look as rb is very deep. it msy be on the surface a tad ugly and not flashy...but underneath there are some lovely features.
it also helps if one 'RTFM' . ...lol.

btw did you move from pc cos of windows frustrations ?
if so the key to a successfull pc rig is optimising a pc for music production as well as choosing the right pc.
for example my new pc has ultra low dpc inherent microsecond latency...boots into win and bb and rb in just a few seconds.
and asio reported latency is only 4 milliseconds and i could get lower but dont bother....it was dirt cheap.

if your still doing some production on pc check out my thread in tips forum re optimising an existing pc. it might be usefull.
on gearspace.com ive seen soo many studios oscillate between pc to mac back to pc etc etc. the truth is both platforms have plusses and minuses.

happiness.

om 🇨🇦🇨🇦 🇬🇧🇬🇧

I used to use both Mac and Windows. I w one point when I upgraded my Mac to the M2 chip and a 2tb ssd I decided I could get rid of my PC and run the windows version on Parallels.
I found that I was only using Parallels for BIAB and RB. And mostly because I couldn’t wait for the Mac version six months later. I finally realized that I was investing too much money and CPU resources to satisfy my obsession. BIAB runs better on a PC but not that much better. And getting my Parallels partition back (btw, I also to 2TB external drives) had a palpable improvement in the performance of my Mac, 💻

Blues.

got ya.

much as the new m series processors excite the tech in me i might just get a m2 mac to see what i can do with it when cheap refurbs are available with m2 tech as users upgrade to future versions like m3 or m4 or whatever.

but what im really interested in and which excites me is how apple engineering deal with the laws of physics as the power of the m series is ramped higher. ie how many ghz can engineering wring out in future
m cpu series....its gonna be very interesting.

im no uber fan of win but i have to be fair...my carefully selected new pc is running day in and out like a champ...not one problem.

ps i didnt realise you were a mac user when i posted in your drums thread.

happiness.

om 🇨🇦🇨🇦 🇬🇧🇬🇧

I remember my first computer. It was a Mac Portable - suitcase. It was super powered. 30hz and a 20 mb hard drive. I was assured that 20mb would last me 10 years.

I had it running on Mac some years back:
Realband On Mac

As PG Music has stated many times over the years, with GarageBand being free, they saw no point. With the DAW plug-in introduced a few years back, I have to agree.

Logic Pro X is a pro DAW with a huge VI library and telephone support. It's been $199.99 for a dozen years now with free updates. Reaper isn't great but it's not bad for $140 less and free Audacity no longer sucks.

Since PGM now bundles RealBand with the Win version of BIAB, I do not see how they can justify spending even $5 to port it to the Mac.

I'd rather just have PG continue to gradually make BB itself more DAW like- we are seeing the start of that with BIAB 2024 the new Tracks view.

I think it would makee far more sense for things to eventually reach the point that Windows RealBand users have a smooth migration path to just eventually being able to open up and run their old RealBand projects in BandInABox - and then gradually deprecate RealBand -

It would save on dev resources. I tried RB years ago - and just thought this was a very poor attempt at a DAW with arranger abilities.

Writing a good DAW is extremely challenging - I would rather see just enough DAW-like abilities in BB standalone to be able to come up with musical ideas in that - OR in the BB plugin using a DAW - I see benefits to both approaches.

RealBand just needs to be put out to pasture - and have its benefits added to BB standalone.

Precisely.

I've seen some of the M1 Mac Mini's floating around for under $500 CAD. Worth every penny if you ask me, considering the M1 easily can outperform an i9 or Ryzen at a tenth of the wattage.

Ghz doesn't matter much anymore - that was proven over 20 years ago when the first Pentium 4 CPU's were being outperformed by significantly lower clocked Pentium 3's. These days it's efficiency and scalability that offer speed gains. All of the M-series chips are between 3.2 and 3.68 ghz - the performance difference between versions is in the amount of cores and the energy efficiency. More efficient means more flops per watt of heat.

I think that's true, but who knows quite how things will pan out in the future, with research into light ICs and soo on.

Not so long ago they were suggesting that 15nm geometries on ICs was about as low as one can go, because at that stage the leakage losses start to heat the chip and wreck any potential performance gains.

TSMC are now talking volume production of 2nm geometries in 2025. And I'll wager power consumption will fall again.

Simon.

i laud and respect you for you always offering an intelligent perspective
on tech....good comments.

heres my perspective in reply...as ive seen practically every ploy working in tech in how to strategically control a market and use tech to be successfull and thus boost
stock price etc etc.
let me comment as follows...because i respectfully suggest that
the coming next 5 years or so in tech are going to be one of the
most interesting tech eras to date in computing....
and we will see some very interesting market battles in the process....
between tech titans which...in fact ... i feel will be very advantageous to users
looking for very inexpensive powerfull computing solutions...
eg poor musos...lol.

let me explain...maybe i'll get egg on face...we shall see...lol.

1..apple dropped intel as we know and strategically decided to
produce its own m series processors.
a smart move imho...very very smart...love them..HOWEVER...
2..i suspect intel are not too happy with the loss of revenue.
thus...intel WILL RESPOND imho...and what better way than 'seeding'
very powerfull processors in under 150 buck mini pc's !
(notice the ever growing numbers of manufacturers of such ??
see amazon.ca 'mini pc'...also i agree with gordons TSMC comment.)
my perspective being that neither msoft or intel will just roll
over and lose market share. (same for amd.)
let me go further....
3..i was wrong in thinking likkle hold in ones hand mini pc's were just
incapable of serious music production and not ready for such.
(thanks gordon for suggesting i look at them...i'm hooked...lol.)
right now i have 2 mini pc's. (retired the old pc refurbs that
served me well.). one...a ryz 7/m.2 etc etc is 'blowing up my kilt'
regarding its use in creating songs. verry low dpc count.
rb reports huge track counts possible...
(way more than i ever need...) and win/rb/bb boot up in a few secs.
runs day in/out win 11 with nary a prob. cost a few hundred bucks.
the second one i just got cost less than 150 bucks...and i only got
for the net. which it works great for. low end processor of course.
but for s's and giggles of course...lmao... i had to check if it would puff out
doing basic sketching out of song ideas...being the inquisitive
tech nerd that i am. well heck it too has suprised me.

rb reports max track count one third of what the ry does of course but
as long as one doesnt go bonkers with track and of course
resource hogging fx etc one could get a song idea down in a few tracks..
as its got of course lower single thread count and poorer math scores
than the ryzen. btw its fanless. note..the ry7 mini makes no fan noise.

why am i mentioning point 3 above ?...heres why..
it goes back to the intel 'seeding ' point.
(and its same argument re rasp pi el cheapo pc.)
these el cheapo pc's are starting to get serious power and
faster busses....
and i'm wondering what would happen in the market if/when
they get next generation usb and more powerfull processors
for under 150 bucks.
(here my fanless has very fast usb and i can hang
off m.2 if i want...which ive done. its very fast.).
so whats gonna happen to the m macs when they are undercut
by these el cheapo powerfull pc's ??
see my thinking ??... and lets not forget if you read Pete Brown's
blogs (who owns an amazeing project studio rig..he works for msoft..)
its obvious msoft is makeing serious upgrades to the OS for
people who create songs. (see the msoft api's.)..as i said msoft isnt gonna roll over
and cede the market.

add it all up and bottom lining it...i would respectfully suggest that not only
will the pc tech vendors respond to apples superb m series
offerings...but will continue to undercut in price and thus
maintain traditional market share.
(lets not forget there are lots of musos that work for tech companies providing input of ideas.)
in summary...imho...in the short term...apples m series are gonna garner lots
of sales which i suspect will dwindle once the pc vendors respond to maintain
their historical market share. frankly i might get a m series mac refurb once
prices drop and to see what i can do with logic.
interesting times...lol.

and now lets add in another 'wrinkle'...cell phones.
my wife got a new moto 5g phone.
(ends up she is also paying less per month for the service...to boot.)
she loves it...powerfull likkle product.).
lets also not forget tablets...gradually all these products
are getting more powerfull.
eg i came across this daw that runs on an ipad.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/multitrackstudio-for-ipad/id776998585

(note i'm currently testing the pc version.
great app. lean and mean...not a resource hog...very impressive.
doesnt have various features rb has...but...all the same i
rate it highly from what ive seen so far as a straight daw.
see multitrackstudio.com for more info. i dloaded pc version and was
up and running in a few ticks...dload was fast even tho i dont have fast net.)

thus the writing is on the wall i feel ..
as tablets and cell phones get more powerfull this will allow
daw developers to port their music apps more easily imho.

and lets not forget the many up and coming processor manufacturers
in the far east. thus their processors are being put
in various phones/tablets/other lectronics etc.
(i'm sure they are working on more powerfull processors too....maybe
aforementioned TSMC ?? )

so bottom line its gonna get mighty interesting as the tech
titans compete for the users bucks.

now throw egg at me simon...dont ya just love tech ??...lmao.

re rb...let me just mention something.
right now i'm doing a very VERY difficult 5/4 song concept useing rb.
fyi its challenging me no end.
ive just come off a week trying various daw trials from pricey high end
down to freeware. while each daw had lovely features of its own..
rb with all the content genning facilities got me going with beds
playing back and scratch vocs in just one and a half hours effort.
nothing else i looked at...as i said...nice as they were..
had the features i needed other than rb...PLUS it showed the 5 cels
in a bar graphics for 5/4. (kudos to jeff.) as did the other daws i tested.
much as i like logic pro...a great daw...i would have to go to and fro
all the time between logic and bb. useing the plusses of each.
which takes time instead of staying in rb where i can do it all.
note this is a down and dirty 5/4 music production effort,..
and...if i fail it wont be rb's fault....its a very difficult song to pull off.
what i'm trying to do so far...only rb daw has helped me the most
turning concept into reality.
(see the odd time sig OTS discussion plus OTS wishlists for bb/rb for
further info.)

hope i make some sense...lol.

ps...Gordon...good points.

respect and happiness.

om