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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 20
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 20 |
If I were to build or buy the ultimate Band in a Box PC, what should I focus on?
Or, better yet what would the ultimate config be?
Accessories?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,616
Expert
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Expert
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,616 |
For performance, production, etc?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 20
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 20 |
I've been tinkering for a while. Finally decided to get serious and record my songs. I have a Fostex mr 80, vocal harmony, professional recording mic. Now my pc seems to be suffering. Takes a long time to render any RT styles. Planning to get 2013 (I still have 2008). Thinking of the audiophile version.
Guess it would be production.
Ideas?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
During the beta testing, I ran BB2013 from the USB drive on an aging XP laptop, on a Win7 Desktop and two sessions back to back on a brand spankin' Win8 laptop.
All performed remarkably well, the only exception being a slightly longer loading time for Realtracks when using the older XP machine. Don't take this the wrong way, the wait state is bearable, I'd say averaging about 20 secs (guesstimated, not timed) at most to load an all realtracks demosong.
Things just kept running this year, no crashes, freezes or the likes.
That said, I wouldn't recommend going with a bottom end economy puter, but I don't think you have to have a supergamer i7 either, although such is icing on the cake.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,926
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Veteran
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,926 |
See my basic specs below. I built it specifically to run Propellerhead Reason 6, but it manages BIAB quite handily. Closely based on a design from iBuyPC.com,* I built it from components. Price for equivalent performance now would be a little better than the +/- $1,000 it ran this past spring. (Or you could spend the same money and blow me out of the water.)  Anyway, decide on a budget and go from there. HTH, Richard *They build primarily for gamers, but with the right sound card they're great for music production. All PCs are burned in and guaranteed for 3 years(!). Spec a silent case and liquid cooling for added value as a music machine.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,416
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,416 |
CACntryGuy, welcome to the forums!
My box is close to what Ryszard has -- slightly faster i5, no SSD, different flavor of graphics card -- and everything's running golden. More to the point, my previous computer (sitting here until I clean out some space in the bedroom for it), with a lot less RAM, a lot slower CPU, and less than half the GPU, also ran it just fine.
Seriously, I think the most important thing would be a decently fast and roomy hard drive. As long as the rest of it is anywhere close to at least lower-mid-range, you should be just fine. Better sound card than mobo is optional but preferred; note that Creative cards have really lousy luck with 64-bit Windows.
Best, Tom SmithWin10/64 • i7-8700K • 24 GB RAM BIAB 2025 • Reaper 7 • Izotope MPS AKG C1000S • IK iRig I/O Pro
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 20
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 20 |
Awesome info guys.
I was figuring more memory and a high end sound card would be the biggest contributions to the best machine. But, the higher speed hard drive makes sense.
"Mr Immediate" (me) was looking for 'immediate' RT rendering. So, I could see the memory and harddrive having the most effect at least lessening the rendering time.
Thanks for the advice!
Also, thanks for the welcome. Been a long time BIAB tinkerer.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
Your assumptions about ram and hard drive are correct.
The hard drive store the raw realtracks, but when a song is generated and played, the results are pulled off of the hard drive and stored in ram and then played back from ram.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 15,830
PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 15,830 |
You would want to install the whole BB install to your PC's internal drive (likely c:\) The Everything Pak is 65 GB. So you'd need to have that much space available. Most PC's come with at least 250GB, so that shouldn't be a problem. But some come with Solid State Drives - great drives, but only 80-120GB in total. So I wouldn't get one with a SSD as an "ultimate BiaB PC", unless there was another drive on that PC as well. Other than that, CPU horsepower is good - faster the better. And fast hard drive is good too. Of course you'd want the latest goodies, like USB 3.0. If its a laptop, the quality of the built-in speakers would be important too - since you would be using that a lot. You can measure the speed of your PC by a geekbench test (free http://www.primatelabs.com/geekbench/ ). Most new PC's are above 2000, and the real screamers are up around 8,000. I program BB Windows on a MacBook Pro (running Windows 7 under Bootcamp) and its' Geekbench is about 3,500. I also test it on my older XP laptop with a geekbench of 1,100, which works, but obviously things are slower.
Have Fun!
Peter Gannon
PG Music Inc.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 204
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 204 |
Peter thanks for the link. I ran the Geekbench test and this is what I came away with. I have an HP pivilon dv7 64. The free version will not read 64,only 32. My final score is 7991. What does this tell me ,if anything.  Leon
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
Quote:
Peter thanks for the link. I ran the Geekbench test and this is what I came away with. I have an HP pivilon dv7 64. The free version will not read 64,only 32. My final score is 7991. What does this tell me ,if anything. Leon
While you're waiting for Peter to weigh in, I'll tell you that AFAIC that's an impressive geekbench score, certainly your machine should run Band in a Box quickly and efficiently!
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 15,830
PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 15,830 |
<<< My final score is 7991. What does this tell me ,if anything.
Smokin' !!!!
Have Fun!
Peter Gannon
PG Music Inc.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 26,970
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 26,970 |
More than three times my score (four year-old Core 2 Duo, which works fine with BIAB).
Smokin' is putting it mildly.
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; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,047
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,047 |
My newer unit doubled to ONLY 6000, but very happy with it
and the ATI grapics built into the APU.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 204
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 204 |
Mac, It is very quick. My wife has a toshiba i5 all in one and it is much slower. My question was about Geek Bench not reading 64 units. It could be that these #'s are not correct. Never the the less it is fast enough for my needs, which at 73 years are few, if you get my drift.  -Leon
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,416
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,416 |
For what it's worth, I just got 9607 on my i5-3570K in 32-bit mode, which is apparently right on track, and the chart for 64-bit mode says it'd get around 16K. Agreement with everybody, you should have no trouble running BIAB at speed.
Best, Tom SmithWin10/64 • i7-8700K • 24 GB RAM BIAB 2025 • Reaper 7 • Izotope MPS AKG C1000S • IK iRig I/O Pro
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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 2025 Italian Version is Here!
Cari amici
È stata aggerate la versione in Italiano del programma più amato dagli appassionati di musica, il nostro Band-in-a-Box.
Questo è il link alla nuova versione 2025.
Di seguito i link per scaricare il pacchetti di lingua italiana aggiornati per Band-in-a-Box e RealBand, anche per chi avesse già comprato la nuova versione in inglese.
Band-in-a-Box 2025 - Italiano
RealBand 2025 - Italiano
Band-in-a-Box 2025 French Version is Here!
Bonjour à tous,
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 pour Windows est disponible en Français.
Le téléchargement se fait à partir du site PG Music
Pour ceux qui auraient déjà acheté la version 2025 de Band-in-a-Box (et qui donc ont une version anglaise), il est possible de "franciser" cette version avec les patchs suivants:
BIAB 2025 - francisation
RealBand 2025 - francisation
Voilà, enjoy!
Band-in-a-Box 2025 German Version is Here!
Update Your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 to Build 1128 for Windows Today!
Already using Band-in-a-Box 2025 for Windows®? Download Build 1128 now from our Support Page to enjoy the latest enhancements and improvements from our team.
Stay up to date—get the latest update now!
Update to RealBand® 2025 Build 5 Windows Today!
Already using RealBand® 2025 for Windows®? Download Build 5 now from our Support Page to ensure you have the latest enhancements and improvements from our team.
Get the latest update today!
PowerTracks Pro Audio 2025 for Windows is Here!
PowerTracks Pro Audio 2025 is here! This new version introduces many features, including VST3 support, the ability to load or import a .FLAC file, a reset option for track height in the Tracks window, a taller Timeline on the Notation window toolbar, new freeze buttons in the Tracks window, three toolbar modes (two rows, single row, and none), the improved Select Patch dialog with text-based search and numeric patch display, a new button in the DirectX/VST window to copy an effects group, and more!
First-time packages start at only $49. Already a PowerTracks Pro Audio user? Upgrade for as little as $29!
www.pgmusic.com/powertracks.htm
Video: Summary of the New Band-in-a-Box® App for iOS®
Join Tobin as he takes you on a tour of the new Band-in-a-Box® app for iOS®! Designed for musicians, singer-songwriters, and educators, this powerful tool lets you create, play, and transfer songs effortlessly on your iPhone® or iPad®—anytime, anywhere.
Band-in-a-Box® for iOS® :Summary video.
Check out the forum post for more information.
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