Hi, I am very excited about the new FLAC files but I have one major installation concern.
I have a whole bunch of 'bonus' Realtracks/Realdrums that came with the various bonus paks or with Xtrastyle sets or Xprostyle sets that I have bought over the years and these are installed in the same Realtracks/Realdrums folders as those supplied with the main program. If when I install a new version I first delete the existing Realtracks/Realdrums folders then I would lose all these 'bonus' RT/RDs and figuring out what is missing and reinstalling it would be a nightmare (even if I could still find the install disks - I am talking about well over a decade worth of these bonus tracks!). To counter this I have previously been advised by PG not to delete the old Realtracks/drums folder contents but instead to copy the new ones across over the top and this works fine with the duplicate files just copying over the old ones with the same name & extension and my 'bonus' RTs/RDs being preserved.
However...
As the new versions of the RTs/RDs from 2025 onwards will be FLAC files rather than WAV I assume that they will have a different file extension and will not copy over the existing wav files but instead just be installed alongside them. This will mean that I will end up with duplicates of all the pre-2025 RTs/RDs (one FLAC version and one WAV version) and instead of saving 60% on my disk space I will instead end up using 140% of what I currently use - which kind of defeats the purpose of the smaller FLAC files.
Are PG able to provide some sort of intelligent install function that deletes the old WAV version of an RT/RD file when a FLAC version is available? (or even a post install clean-up utility to do this?). I guess that this issue would only need to be addressed once and then everything would be FLAC only from that point on.
Regards, Aubrey
If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor.
Audiophile Version that is shipped on HD - has (should have) everything except for 49Pack that released that year as far as audio goes. So if you are upgrading / crossgrading to 2025 Audiophile + purchasing 49Pack, it will have everything as far as RT/RDs from previous years except for STYLE packs and other non audio add ons that were purchased separately. You will likely be able to download all these style, loop packs separately from "My Product page". Style packs don't contain audio as far as I know. I am not sure about the Loops (if they will be available as Flac).
Would be nice for PGM to clarify / guide to do this the right way.
As I have mentioned in my other post: I have all the style packs and extras I bought as installers in one folder. Most users can download these from their "My Products" page. My plan is when HD arrives to uninstall everything related to PGM. Do a clean install of Flac version and install all the xtra packs I bought on the top.
I see you've been on the forums since 2002, so it's more than likely that you have gathered some material from BIAB that is no longer available. I understand your situation.
Just to clarify... (a) Do you intend to install the FLAC version of BIAB on your computer's internal hard drive (the full FLAC installation is a around 750GB)? (b) Or are you intending to install the compressed file version of BIAB on your hard drive and run the Audiophile version from a USB drive? (c) Alternatively, are you thinking of getting the Audiophile PlusPAK to upgrade your 2024 Audiophile version of the program?
Hi Noel, Thanks to you and Rustyspoon for your responses.
I would be intending to take your option a) (full install of FLAC RT/TDs on my internal computer drive). I have a large, fast SSD installed especially for this.
And you are correct, I do have lots of stuff that probably isn't available from PG any more - I have pretty much bought every plus-pak and style set that I could over the years. What is more I am not sure exactly what I have got so reinstalling (even if I can locate the files) could be a challenge!
Rustyspoon is correct, the style sets don't normally include new track content but I believe that a few of them have had some additional RT/RD content.
Regards, Aubrey
If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor.
As far as I'm aware, and it would pay to clarify this with PG Music, there has never been any Realtracks or Realdrums that were a 'once off and never available again' purchase. All Realtracks and Realdrums that have ever been created are still available in today's top level packs.
With this in mind, I would...
(1) Copy your present \Drums and \Realtracks folders to another drive as backup.
(2) Once I had those folders and their contents safely stored, I would delete \bb\drums and \bb\Realtracks within the \bb folder. (It is these files that take up most of BIAB's disk space.)
(3) I would then install the latest version of BIAB directly over the top of your present version of the program (just like you always have).
(4) During this install, I would direct the installation program to add Realtracks to \bb\Realtracks and Realdrums to \bb\Drums. This is the default installation and it will make the installation program create new Realtracks and Realdrums folders in your \bb folder. Your new FLAC files would be installed to those directories.
What I suggest you do is to copy this message and send it in an email to PG Music Sales and ask if this is the best approach to installing the new FLAC files over and existing installation of BIAB that has been built up over a couple of decades. PG Music staff will modify any aspect of the approach that is needed.
We need a forum "sticky". A guide on installing, reinstalling, migrating, etc for different versions. What to do, and what not to do. It would save so much time! Why each year we have these long discussions instead of pointing to a clear written guide by PGM?
P.S. Also, there should be a simple solution that takes care of all purchased (PGM) add ons within BIAB. Not only showing "what is installed" in "Help menu", but also cross referencing user account > downloading and installing everything that is missing in one click.
A Powershell script to do this would be pretty easy. Install all, Run PS script to delete WAV files if FLAC file exists with same name (in simplest form).
PGMusic *should be able to do this with the installer I would think: Install FLAC and delete the matching WAV (if so desired) during the install.
It's early in the release yet, give them some time ...
In the mean time, a PS script to delete duplicates and clear space should be a pretty easy script to write.
Don't run this (it's untested, so needs to be tested on safe data), but here's an idea/concept; navigate to folder in PS then something like -
Last edited by rharv; 12/04/2405:26 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
I’ve been asking about this for several days and was coming around to installing my RealTracks to a separate new location so I get just Flac files. Then I was going to approach it in reverse by programming something that would copy a RealTrack to that location if no equal name Flac file exists. I think a compare then delete routine might take a lot of time and generate a huge recycle bin. Not sure yet.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
With the right script there is no recycle bin .. you just need to be confident the script will do what you want. I've used scripts to delete by date (keep only last 30 days) and PS does not just move them to Recycle bin, they are gone.
Last edited by rharv; 12/04/2407:04 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
There are a few trusted duplicate >replace finders out there too with UI, with pretty advanced rules, however, why invite trouble? I think in a short and long run it's in PGM's best interest to have clear instructions and possibly certain tool(s) in place to ensure complex operations that involve many thousands of files go smoothly for everybody.
There are a few trusted duplicate >replace finders out there too with UI, with pretty advanced rules, however, why invite trouble? I think in a short and long run it's in PGM's best interest to have clear instructions and possibly certain tool(s) in place to ensure complex operations that involve many thousands of files go smoothly for everybody.
Absolutely! They have already done much more elaborate with for example this famous "BB_Cleanup.exe"
Thanks for all the responses. I have logged this via Live Chat with Jerry who has promised to pass it along to the development team for their review and response. Let's hope that they can deliver us a suitable utility!
Regards, Aubrey
If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor.
The comment that all RealTracks and Drums that have previously been released are included in the current full packages is correct. So you should be able to replace your RealTracks and Drums folders with the shipped ones, unless you have added files to those folders yourself. The drives do not include Xtra styles on them, so if you have any Xtra styles, XPro styles, Loops-with-styles, those need to be installed to the drive - that would add some files to the RealTracks Data folder (mostly style audio demos).
The current Audiophile drive does ship with both .wma and .flacs, since some people want to copy the .wma's to their internal drive. This may change if it seems that people are happy copying the 600GB bb folder to an internal drive (saving 160GB or so by not having the wma's). We plan to add a BiaB feature to delete unneeded wav/wma files, however this is not currently in the program. As noted by a few people it is definitely possible to do with a script, however you have to be very careful because unexpected things can happen and end up deleting files you didn't intend to.
Hi Andrew, The 49-Paks often include RT/RDs that are not shipped with the core product and I have bought all of those over the past decade or more. I am also pretty sure that some of the Xtrastyles/Xprostyles sets (and I have bought all of these) included some additional (non-core) RT/RDs.
This is why PG advised me to copy the new RT/RDs from each new version over the top of my existing RT/RD folders (rather that deleting the existing folder contents before copying the new version over) so that I wouldn't lose these 'non-core' RT/RDs.
For this reason, the feature you mention to delete unwanted (I take it you mean 'duplicate'?) Wav/WMA files would be really useful sooner rather than later.
Many thanks
Regards, Aubrey
If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor.
To my understanding, a previous year 49pack is rolled into next year's Audiophile. So to be current, you have to update to 2025 and get the 49 pack.
As far as all other Xtra packs, (which potentially can have RTs) Why not download all those installers to a separate folder? They are much smaller than RT sets, so not a big deal to store them as a local backup.
Last year I tried (successfully) running compare>add script for audiophile. Process was painfully long and there were some errors I had to fight. I think it's better to spend 15-20 minutes, figure out what you bought as far as Xtra packs go, download their installers and do a clean Flac install +Xtra stuff when drive arrives and live happily ever after. But hey, it's your call.
Hi Rustyspoon, Thanks for the above. I hadn’t realised that the 49-PAKs were automatically rolled into the next release. That, as you say, makes the problem more containable. It will be a bit of a chore to reinstall all 26 style packs but if it is a one-off then I guess it will be worth it for the much smaller FLAC footprint.
Best regards, Aubrey
If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor.
I was always told that the current 49PAK was included in the current Audiophile and I did not need to purchase it as it contains only wma files. Reaper has a batch converter to convert all wav or wma files to FLAC, it should have an option to skip the folders with that already contain FLAC and remove source file after conversion. You can also do a file search for *.wav with explorer then drag and drop them all into Reaper Batch converter and convert to FLAC removing source wav files after.
It will pull tracks or track sections from SGU or currently running Biab you are working on instantly with no rendering of wav files, you simply have all the tracks frozen, Save Biab then hit the Reload Tracks button in the Reaper script:
Aubrey, Not too bad. These xtra packs download and install fairly fast and you don't have to open BIAB each time. Also, you will have all installers in one place, so if you decide to reinstall at a later time, you don't have to fish for them.
musocity, "I was always told that the current 49PAK was included in the current Audiophile" I believe you are confusing this with Bonus pack, which is included. Not the 49 pack. Next year, in 2026>2025 pack will be rolled in into Audiophile, but there will be a new "optional" 49pack with unreleased tracks that are not in any other tiers of upgrade. So each year to be current on your tracks, you have to buy Ultra or Audiophile + 49pack.
Hello everyone. In my case, I purchased "Special Audiophile upgrade" ($199) I don't need to get rid of wav files just yet. I usually use the Biab 2024 4tb Hd drive as location for RT and RD files. There I have added the 30 Gb of new flac downloables files from Biab 2025. Everything works as expected. Why stop using what works well? This Hd It also has almost two terabytes left for future upgrades
When I receive the SSD, I will install all the add-ons on it and it will simply be a backup that I can also use on another computer. It can also replace the 4tb 2024 hd, depending on whether a significant improvement in operation is noticed
"Why stop using what works well" Lets see here... My internal storage is maxed at 4tb (expencive) nvme. Previous installation 2+TB vs New Flac >1TB. A good enough reason?
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