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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 20
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 20 |
AMD has their x6 processors out now. $200 at www.newegg.com. They have gotten rave reviews. They also overclock very nicely if you want to squeeze a little extra speed out of them.
Jeff
Custom built computer
I7 920 processor over clocked to 3.8 ghz - water cooled
Win 7 64 bit
6 gig memory
2 tb raid 1 hard drive
40 inch monitor
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48
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OP
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48 |
Peter, you've got a great program, and I'm having a fun time using it, and exploring all of the features. You've packed a huge number of features in BiaB and Real Band, and many of these are challenging my musical knowledge. On the threading, all of these features show up as generally about 20 active threads (it varies from 10 to 30 or so) at any one time. I think the only time a programmer would really try to intervene is when you know a subroutine is going to be a resource hog, so you try to give it priority and its own core (or 'hyperthread' = fake core) or memory until if finishes. I generally am scared of second guessing the compiler or operating system. It's not so much that you can't do better, but the odds are stacked towards you getting in completely wrong.
Jazzmammal, I think there is some real street cred in recycling your old cases -- I take pride in the fact that I didn't even buy this case; it was given to me by a friend who had already used it for a few years. I'm going to see how long I can keep it on the road.
Jeff, I had seen the write-up on the AMD 6-cores (Thuban was their internal code name) which have L1/L2/L3 cache and DDR3. The two core Phenom II uses the same cores (the K10 cores) and basically salvages rejects from the 4 core chips (chip harvesting) with two cores disabled. Because of this, you get a real discount ~$85 wo fan. And you get that same 6mb L3 cache shared by two rather than six cores, which should help predictive execution for a single program (but who knows). And they all clock at 3-4Mhz.
But I think just as important is the memory access -- I'm guessing that RT/RB are really memory intensive; probably the sequencing part as well. On my monitor, BiaB is the biggest memory consumer (around 200 MB out of 2GB or 10%) of the active programs besides the system. And I suspect the read/write activity is pretty high. So having DDR3 (twice the transfer rate of DDR2) and a 64-bit fetch (which you can have on Win7 and Mac) is perhaps just as important as cores. And I like to have a lot of onboard memory (at least 4GB) so the disk can page into the memory.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48 |
BTW Jeff, the best deal, if you wanted to go the AMD Phenom II X6 processor route is to buy Dell's Studio XPS 7100 which has this processor, a Foxconn board (produced to Dell specs ... a good deal), CD R/W, 1TB HD power supply, onboard ATI graphics (AMD owns ATI) and nice box all for $799. Don't add anything, but just buy your extras from Newegg. I have the forerunner of this (with Athelon II X4) which was about $600. You can't build them for this price.
Chris
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48 |
Just a quick note on my setup. I've installed my memory (the Corsair, which is OK but not great) and the AMD chip and Motherboard:
ASUS M4A88TD-M ATX Motherboard $98
AMD Phenom II X2 3.2 GHz 2x512 KB L2 + L3 Cache Dual-Core $89
I figured I try out an option I'd seen on other forums of unlocking the cores on the AMD. AMD basically makes one chip -- a 4-processor Phenom II x4 ... if they disable the l3 cache, they call it an Athlon (dropping 30% off the price); if they disable one or two cores, they call it an x3 or x2 (knocking 25% to 50% off the price). It's all marketing so they can address different markets and pricepoints. Blackbox chips can be overclocked (the 3.2Ghz can be made higher ... in the extreme, they've gone up to 7GHz with this chip); blue and green box can't.
Fortunately, Asus has motherboards (e.g., M4A88TD-M) that override AMD's settings -- just flip a physical switch on the MB or go to the startup menu. It takes no time at all. I was able to turn on all four cores and overclock to ~3.5 GHz within a few minutes and everything is stable.
Realtracks and Realdrums compile in <3 seconds, even if I have RealTracks on all of the sequencer tracks. I checked and all four cores are being used about equally during this process -- I think that Win 7 does most of the load balancing and assignment of cores.
Anyway, if you are looking for a quick upgrade on the cheap, this is a great way to do it.
Last edited by westland; 10/24/10 12:58 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333 |
That is a very good report, thanks!
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697
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Veteran
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697 |
Great report, thanks Chris!
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48 |
Thanks John and Bob ... here are some pictures ...  From the Store  This old cabinet  This is what's in the boxes Removed my old board and DRAM  New MB assembled  Bolted into the freshly vacuumed case (amazing how much dust these accumulate in a couple of years)  Finished, almost, I need to neaten up the drives 
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 48 |
Here is the final Win7 performance comparison of the hacked $200 ASUS/PhenomIIX2 system versus a commercial budget Dell (the Dell counterpart to my hacked system is now about $800) 
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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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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
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.
Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac is Here!
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!
Special Offers
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac and save up to 50% on most upgrade packages during our special offer—available until May 15, 2026. Visit our Band-in-a-Box® packages page to explore all available upgrade options.
2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK Add-ons
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.
Holiday Weekend Hours
As we hop into the Easter weekend, here are our holiday hours:
April 3 (Good Friday): 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT
April 4 (Saturday): Closed
April 5 (Easter Sunday): Closed
April 6 (Easter Monday): Open regular hours
Wishing you an egg-cellent weekend!
— Team PG
Update to Build 10 of RealBand® 2026 for Windows®!
If you're already using RealBand 2026 for Windows, download build 10 to get all the latest additions and enhancements.
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.
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® users: Build 1237 is now available!
Already a Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows user? Stay up to date and download the build 1237 to get all the latest additions and enhancements.
PowerTracks Pro 2026 for Windows is Here!
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!
Order now!
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