Please excuse the overall video quality and musical arrangement of this quick and dirty demo. I wanted to be the first. I am happy to annouce how well these work together! Who would have guessed? Take a look.
An impressive demo Dan, you made it look super easy
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.
An impressive demo Dan, you made it look super easy
Believe me it was simple! tonalic works just like EZKeys and Scaler with the block drag and drop. I have years of experience with those apps. A;so all I showed was that it works! There are lots of Tonalic demos to really push the features. But I had no crashes with BIAB. I would love to see someone do a quality arrangement demo - I didn't take the time since this was just feasiblity to me. I am anxious to take this over to my DAW and put some of my music into it. that will be tomorrow.
Hi Dan! Very interesting! I've been following the other threads with interest, so thank you for demo-ing this. Maybe not only competitors but companions? Andrew
Last edited by Andrew Dee; 01/17/2606:34 PM. Reason: added 'not only'
Dan, Thanks for making this video! Cool that it works very similar to Toontrack, NI, Kontakt with BIAB. You can try dragging Chord track to Tonalic right from header of Chord Track in mixer to the VST, skipping desktop. It might work. If they introduce normal perpetual license(s) I will definitely consider.
Over last decade, I collected all NI Session guitars and bases, plus you lured me into toontrack world too. I am pretty much set for a long long time as far as guitars, bases, pianos and drums go, especially including annual PGM offerings however... When/if Tonalic introduce winds/brass I will most likely sign up for a month or two to get stems for some of my tunes.
Can you explain / show this "dragging Chord track to Tonalic right from header of Chord Track in mixer" I have been complaining for a long time that there is no easy way to drag chords out of BIAB like you can in the BIAB plugin. I am more interested in dragging to the DAW.
Studio One (latest version), Win 11 23H2 , i9 -10940X 3.3 GHz, 32GB Mem, a 4K 40" monitor, PreSonus Studio Live III Console as interface/controller. secondarily test on Reaper, Cakewalk, and S1 on Surface Pro 3 Win 10 (latest versions).
Thanks for the demo. You did a nice job of explaining your process for how Tonality can be used as a Band-in-a-Box plugin.
How does it feel to be the first to use this product in Band-in-a-Box? 😁 You're going where "no person has gone before".
As you become more familiar with Tonality it will be interesting to see what surprises the deeper dives brings forth.
Jeff, great question you asked.
RustySpoon#, thanks for the video that shows how to block-drag chords. That is a powerful Band-in-a-Box feature. I have the feeling not many users are aware of. This would make a nice post in the Tips & Tricks forum section.
Jim, credit goes to pipeline. He showed this a few years back.
BIAB obviously has significantly more features / tools to create arrangement compared to many competitors. And I like the concept of "companion" vsts. What Dan showed, is exactly how I use Ujam, NI, Toontrack and a few others with BIAB. --------
It's great that finally we have VST3, options for Chord Track, single Library and a good progress was made on UI. However, now is the right time for PGM to tighten up a lot of things that relate to workflow. Complete unfinished features, consistency of navigation, zoom, transport, cursor, known bugs etc. So BIAB becomes a fully modular piece of composing software that feels premium and not only "accepts" companion software, but makes entire experience more integrated / user friendly.
The most productive leap since I started using BIAB was 2025, when PGM created and curated several pinned topics on UI in wishlist. They made known that they are open to particular change, gathered focused opinions and it turned out better than expected. Vast majority of people liked new UI. I feel that rather than just throwing ideas into wishlist well, PGM has to step up and set the tone for 2027 release, just as it did in 2025.
Thanks for the demo. You did a nice job of explaining your process for how Tonality can be used as a Band-in-a-Box plugin.
How does it feel to be the first to use this product in Band-in-a-Box? 😁 You're going where "no person has gone before".
As you become more familiar with Tonality it will be interesting to see what surprises the deeper dives brings forth.
Jeff, great question you asked.
RustySpoon#, thanks for the video that shows how to block-drag chords. That is a powerful Band-in-a-Box feature. I have the feeling not many users are aware of. This would make a nice post in the Tips & Tricks forum section.
Just as a quick follow up. I repeated my quick and dirty assessment of Tonalic, this time in Reaper this morning with a considerably less favorable outcome. I confirmed that the ARA2 version of Tonalic does not work. However, the VST3 instrument does work. However, synching chords did not go well on my first attempt as it did in BIAB. Tonalic did not follow my tempo map by default which was very dissappointing since many other VST instruments apparently do. I think I will have to view more demo videos to get that to happen.
Just click + hold header and drag. You can try dragging to DAW too. Most allow, a few don't. Some security /permissions stuff.
Oh I misinterpreted Your chord track to mean the chord view. So yes I know how to do it that way which means you have to create a chord track with all the caveats that you and Dan have been talking about for years. Sorry for taking off topic. Back to the topic.
Last edited by jpettit; 01/18/2611:57 AM.
Studio One (latest version), Win 11 23H2 , i9 -10940X 3.3 GHz, 32GB Mem, a 4K 40" monitor, PreSonus Studio Live III Console as interface/controller. secondarily test on Reaper, Cakewalk, and S1 on Surface Pro 3 Win 10 (latest versions).
Just as a quick follow up. I repeated my quick and dirty assessment of Tonalic, this time in Reaper this morning with a considerably less favorable outcome. I confirmed that the ARA2 version of Tonalic does not work. However, the VST3 instrument does work. However, synching chords did not go well on my first attempt as it did in BIAB. Tonalic did not follow my tempo map by default which was very dissappointing since many other VST instruments apparently do. I think I will have to view more demo videos to get that to happen.
I don't know what the technicalities are but Tonalic VST like several other VSTs, for instance Synth V VST have a "learn tempo" process. There is a series of steps (not at hand now), where you have to "learn the tempo" from the host. Look around in the tempo area perhaps a context menu. This is kind of a poor man's version of being able to follow a tempo map like ARA does.
Last edited by jpettit; 01/18/2612:06 PM.
Studio One (latest version), Win 11 23H2 , i9 -10940X 3.3 GHz, 32GB Mem, a 4K 40" monitor, PreSonus Studio Live III Console as interface/controller. secondarily test on Reaper, Cakewalk, and S1 on Surface Pro 3 Win 10 (latest versions).
I haven't had time to try any of this, but I applaud all the efforts reported so far and the videos are really helpful to see what is possible. It is a shame that the early work by the cited user was not effectively communicated.
Just a quick observation about the DAWs that work and don't work: I remember that some DAWs required that project files stay in their original location, whereas other DAWs allowed the whole project to be saved new in their own new location related to that DAW. At one point I knew which DAWs were which. Could this be a factor in why you have trouble in some DAWs?
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.
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
Whether you're exploring new features, checking out the latest RealTracks or Style PAKs, this is your go-to guide for Band-in-a-Box® 2026.
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac is here and it is packed with major new features! There’s a new modern look, a GUI redesign to all areas of the program including toolbars, windows, workflow and more. There’s a Multi-view layout for organizing multiple windows. A standout addition is the powerful AI-Notes feature, which uses AI neural-net technology to transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI—entire mixes or individual instruments—making it easy to study, view, and play parts from any song. And that’s just the beginning—there are over 100 new features in this exciting release.
Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Our Free Bonus PAK and 49-PAK are loaded with amazing add-ons! The Free Bonus PAK is included with most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac packages, but you can unlock even more—including 20 unreleased RealTracks—by upgrading to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
If you're already using Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, make sure to grab the latest update! Build 904 is now available for download and includes the newest additions and enhancements from our team.
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!
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