After discovering Real Tracks, I have figured out that it is a gold mine for people who use non-linear production tools (Ableton, Bitwig) as well as samplers (Digitakt, Akai MPC, etc.).
It is so easy to export tracks that can be used as loops or samples for these applications. I am surprised PG does not devote more marketing to this crowd. Many give a lot of $$$ to sites like TrackLib to get cleared samples.
Anyone using this type of workflow?
Writer. Author. Music Producer. Technologist. Former contributor to Mix, Electronic Musician, Recording, Cleveland SCENE. www.tonythomas.net
Tony, I am sure people are using it like that. But keep in mind, BIAB Real Tracks are much more than loops. If you chop a loop, that is what you will have, a loop. You will have some control over it, but changing it drastically will make it sound somewhat unnatural. With BIAB it lets you regenerate a different takes of same section. Variants of same section - that is actual recorded take, not overmanipulated static WAV. If you are not there yet, I encourage you to explore a feature that is called Partial Regeneration. One of the best features BIAB adopted in recent years.
Think of it as a loop in a liquid form, while it's in BIAB.
Tony, I am sure people are using it like that. But keep in mind, BIAB Real Tracks are much more than loops. If you chop a loop, that is what you will have, a loop. You will have some control over it, but changing it drastically will make it sound somewhat unnatural. With BIAB it lets you regenerate a different takes of same section. Variants of same section - that is actual recorded take, not overmanipulated static WAV. If you are not there yet, I encourage you to explore a feature that is called Partial Regeneration. One of the best features BIAB adopted in recent years.
Think of it as a loop in a liquid form, while it's in BIAB.
I am definitely familiar with that and learned all about the partial generation feature. However, in more experimental music and genres like low-fi, you are not looking for realism. You are just looking for cool sounds to mangle. Are you familiar with Mr. Bill?
Or Ricky Tinez:
Last edited by tony10000; 06/21/2404:10 PM. Reason: added
Writer. Author. Music Producer. Technologist. Former contributor to Mix, Electronic Musician, Recording, Cleveland SCENE. www.tonythomas.net
"Are you familiar with Mr. Bill?" I am not, but I've seen similar. I just don't get this concept... "in more experimental music and genres like low-fi, you are not looking for realism" RealTracks are about realism
If I would be in search for realistic audio loops - that I can make sound unrealistic... It still would make sense to go to Mothership-BIAB and generate something that is useful for a particular composition, instead of using short pre-made snippets.
What I think can be useful for loop/section based DAWs is this: If you get your section way you want it in Trackview (or audio edit, etc.)... select a part and drag it directly to DAW. So instead of the whole track, only selected area will be dragged. That actually would be a neat item for wishlist, perhaps not too hard to implement, and can be useful for other things too, not just for loops.
"Are you familiar with Mr. Bill?" I am not, but I've seen similar. I just don't get this concept... "in more experimental music and genres like low-fi, you are not looking for realism" RealTracks are about realism
If I would be in search for realistic audio loops - that I can make sound unrealistic... It still would make sense to go to Mothership-BIAB and generate something that is useful for a particular composition, instead of using short pre-made snippets.
What I think can be useful for loop/section based DAWs is this: If you get your section way you want it in Trackview (or audio edit, etc.)... select a part and drag it directly to DAW. So instead of the whole track, only selected area will be dragged. That actually would be a neat item for wishlist, perhaps not too hard to implement, and can be useful for other things too, not just for loops.
Understand that the loops I am referring to can be of any length.
That is the beauty of a non-linear DAW.
You can combine a 16-bar loop with an 8-bar loop, some 4-bar loops, some 2-bar loops, and a single-bar loop. Plus, you, can trigger short samples as well.
They can all play at the same time.
I was experimenting with this earlier in Ableton. I created an 8-bar loop and played and then chopped up the loop into snippets using the sampler. I also had the individual tracks to play with.
I can take the same loop and only have Ableton play a small section of that loop, copy it, and play another section. I can also transpose the loop for key changes.
You can do a lot with a longer loop in Ableton. Or a whole song as an audio file or individual tracks.
Last edited by tony10000; 06/21/2407:54 PM. Reason: fixes
Writer. Author. Music Producer. Technologist. Former contributor to Mix, Electronic Musician, Recording, Cleveland SCENE. www.tonythomas.net
Buttery butter. Tony, what I am saying, if person is able to drag out a selection of 1/2 bar, 21 bars or 121 bars, workflow would improve for loop type production, instead of dragging out or exporting whole track. You are defying your rough loop points at the source, not target, yet retaining ability to dramatically change that selection via partial Regen. Simple as that.
Buttery butter. Tony, what I am saying, if person is able to drag out a selection of 1/2 bar, 21 bars or 121 bars, workflow would improve for loop type production, instead of dragging out or exporting whole track. You are defying your rough loop points at the source, not target, yet retaining ability to dramatically change that selection via partial Regen. Simple as that.
I think I follow what you are saying. THANKS!
Writer. Author. Music Producer. Technologist. Former contributor to Mix, Electronic Musician, Recording, Cleveland SCENE. www.tonythomas.net
The thing is, I requested a similar feature couple of years ago, before the Track View - to be able to export selected segment. Track view is still very raw at this point and very likely, it will get more tools/options. I am not a programmer, so not sure how difficult it would be to do something like custom clip drag/export, but it seems like a good candidate to request in wishlist. I can see it being useful not only for loop extraction.
you can easily export a section of a genned track in rb....to your fav daw eg ableton.
eg...as follows which i tested this morning with reaps v2...i dont have ableton here. but im sure ableton has a import feature of course.
test if this meets your needs useing rb....all done in rb tracks view.
1. import song from bb...OR..layout song in rb chords window. 2..generate track or tracks....eg lets say track 19. 3..highlight the genned section you want of track 19....useing mouse. 4..ctrl+DRAG highlighted section to a free track eg track 20....lets call 20 named "sections to transfer" or do 5 and 6 below IN TRACK..i just like order to things....or you could copy/paste 19 to 20. 5..right click over the highlighted section in track 20....looong menu appears. 6..select menu item save track or selection wav or wma or mp3 whatever... there are a bunch of save options....job done....import into ableton.
note in rb settings there is a neat option not to gen all waveforms on import of sgu.. so you could gen just the track you want.
note in rb you can time stretch and pitch shift section of a track and do a ton of other things. ive used rb to slice n dice genned tracks or sections a million ways to sunday. all sorts of slice n dice options in rb...and options...acid etc etc. all in the manual.
nothing to stop you creating samples of any length eg a vocal section down to just a note or two for import into ableton.....eg...'my granny rules' or ''whassup'.
if one doesnt get down n dirty with rb...one will miss lots of usefull features for music production. rb does things i havent seen in another music app.
now time for my bfast.....lol.
i just thought of a crazy wild idea...smpte lock tween rb and another product. see rb manual for info...cos rb has a smpte feature... so its sorta like we used to do in studios. one piece of gear is master...(no smpte doesnt mean 's n m'...lmao)... and another piece of gear is ...the slave...is synced to the master.
get the drift ?...inside studio joke...lol....whether it might be usefull re two daws linked...dunno...would need to test. note rb has various smpte rates if i remember.
happiness. om
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 06/22/2405:04 AM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
OM, Before I even start reading this...what you wrote....Are you talking about RB, as your first sentence suggested after lol accusation, or BIAB here?
I found that I am able to extract sections by shift-clicking them in chord view and then dragging and dropping from Master to Instrument selections up top.
Writer. Author. Music Producer. Technologist. Former contributor to Mix, Electronic Musician, Recording, Cleveland SCENE. www.tonythomas.net
PowerTracks 2026 is here—bringing powerful new enhancements designed to make your production workflow faster, smoother, and more intuitive than ever.
The enhanced Mixer now shows Track Type and Instrument icons for instant track recognition, while a new grid option simplifies editing views. Non-floating windows adopt a modern title bar style, replacing the legacy blue bar.
The Master Volume is now applied at the end of the audio chain for consistent levels and full-signal master effects.
Tablature now includes a “Save bends when saving XML” option for improved compatibility with PG Music tools. Plus, you can instantly match all track heights with a simple Ctrl-release after resizing, and Add2 chords from MGU/SGU files are now fully supported... and more!
Get started today—first-time packages start at just $49.
Already using PowerTracks Pro Audio? Upgrade for as little as $29 and enjoy the latest improvements!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2026!
We've added many major new features and new content in a redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
Version 2026 introduces a modernized GUI redesign across the program, with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, and a new Dark Mode option. There’s also a new side toolbar for quicker access to commonly used windows, and the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, making it easier to customize your workspace.
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®.
There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
Upgrade your Band-in-a-Box for Windows to save up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade packages!
Plus, when you order your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade during our special, you'll receive a Free Bonus PAK of exciting new add-ons.
If you need any help deciding which package is the best option for you, just let us know. We are here to help!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can process an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PST on January 15th, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® today! Check out the Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all the purchase options available.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.
Dansk
Deutsch - Windows
Español
Français - Windows
Italiano - Windows
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Svenskt
русский
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Korean