I ask these questions to understand well.... Are realtrack tracks not midi tracks? It's right? If I use realtracks the sound does not depend on the midi output driver,coyote, vst ecc but it is part of the realtrack? It's right? I'm a bit confused
RealTracks are audio, not MIDI. Think of them as snippets of audio (phrases from one to eight bars long), 'under control' of BIAB.
As audio, RealTracks play through whatever device on your computer all audio plays through (assuming you have this set in BIAB), like your CD player or YouTube audio. It has absolutely nothing to do with MIDI, MIDI drivers, and MIDI softsynths (VSTi) or hardware synths.
The beauty of BIAB is that PG Music figured out how to give us both MIDI and audio, and a lot more.
If this confuses you, ask your questions; we'll help you sort it out.
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; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
As Matt said, yes, RealTracks are not MIDI at all, but audio files. BIAB has the ability to look at your chord progression, and then extract a portion of audio that corresponds to the various chords, and string them together in an audio performance. They will not follow any notes you might enter on the track, because they are not MIDI and don't do that. However, you may see notes on the track, but that's just a notation transcription of the underlying audio.
So, while you may not have note-for-note control over the RealTracks, they will play correctly according to your chord progression, with all the nuance of a real player, because they were actually recorded from a real player playing their instrument.
BIAB (and RealBand) let you mix and match RealTracks, RealDrums, and MIDI tracks all in one song. So you can use MIDI for a specific melody or riff, and RealTracks for accompaniment and what will sound like improvised solos. The thing you cannot do is mix both together on the same track. You can replace a MIDI track with a RealTrack on a specific track (and vice versa), but you can't start with MIDI, then switch to Real (and/or vice versa).
One thing to be careful of is the term "style". Some people call RealTracks styles (I guess because they sound "in the style of" some performer), but BIAB views styles as a collection of multiple tracks to create a "band" of players, if you will. The single track may be an electric guitar, but a style might have two electric guitars, a bass, drums, and a piano or some keyboard instrument defined. Styles can be all RealTracks (in which case they are called "RealStyles"), or a combination of RealTracks/RealDrums and MIDI tracks, or just MIDI tracks. What gets played back is determined by what kind of track it is. There are separate underlying "engines" for generating RealTracks, RealDrums, MIDI performances, and SuperMIDI tracks even use an engine different from standard MIDI performances.
Clear as mud?!?
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Matt, your explanation was clear! I imagined it was so and this is wonderful and very magical the fact that BIAB is able to "control" these audio Realtracs. Also have songs with hybrid tracks, real and midi, is also very interesting.
jford, To me it's all clear what you said except what you said in your answer ... I do not understand ...
<<...However, you may see notes on the track, but that's just a notation transcription of the underlying audio....>>
So, Do I read exactly the notes that the real artist is playing?
And if I remake the realtrack track ... could this change? Be different? Does the controller create a different track release by keeping the artist patterns, and liks?
Not all RealTracks have notation. Of those that do, they may be generated by the performer and captured to MIDI, or they may be an approximation made by someone transcribing the sound (I've done some of this). Yes, when the track is regenerated, the corresponding notation will change.
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; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
What Matt said; but just wanted to ensure there was no confusion about trying to change the notes and expecting the RealTrack to change as well. You can regenerate the RealTrack and the notes will change; however, changing the notes in the notation for a RealTrack will not change what the RealTrack plays. Changing notes for MIDI tracks will change what the MIDI plays; however, unless you freeze the track, the MIDI track will change the next time you regenerate.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Dear friends, speaking of Realtracks again I have a question to ask: In a my song track ( my song ) I chose the Organ instrument. Now I would like this organ to be silent for the first 16 bars and in action only in part B of the song. I think that this can not be done as with MIDI tracks. It's true? Any workaround?
1) Use the "Rest command" to play everything except the organ track for the specified bars. This is easiest if you have your whole song laid out linearly (no repeats).
2) Set the volume of the organ track to zero for the places you want nothing to play using the F5 key. I'm not at my computer right now, so I cna't give you the step by step (without forgetting a few steps), so I'm sure someone will step in. However, you should be able to find the information you need in either the PDF user manual or in the help system.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Could you maybe open the song in RealBand and just highlight and delete the first 16 bars of the organ track (in the Tracks view) and save the new mixed version?
Not an expert. Just my take on what I might do.
BIAB 2022 PLUSPAK (ext HD), 49PAKs, STYLESPAKs 1 - 6, Win 7 64bit PC, REAPER, Ozone, Adobe Audition CS6, EZ Drummer3 + EZ Keys,Soundcraft MTK22, Behringer X Touch Universal Controller,, SE Gemini/Rode NT2/Neumann/Shure mics
With F5 in BIAB, you can Mute a track at a point, as well as set the volume to zero. I generally do Mute because it's perhaps faster. Then F5, Unmute where needed.
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; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
And conversely, I generally use the "rest" command to rest the instrument (at least since they implemented the "copy rests" command, so you don't have to enter it on every chord in every bar).
But both accomplish the same thing.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
All the explanations are clear .. but ..jford.. forgive me ... ah ah ... your explanation for the "rest command" is a little less clear ... Where is this command? How do you copy it?
There is one more fact to know. The F5 commands use first letter abbreviations for the default track names. As seen in the screenshot the default track names are: B = Bass, P = Piano, D = Drums, G = Guitar and S = Strings.
Band-in-a-Box has a checkbox option to change the displayed name of a track to the name of the instrument used in midi or RealTacks. For example if you place a banjo RealTracks into the Strings track the displayed track name changes from Strings to Banjo. This feature is enabled by default. But, the F5 commands still rely on the default track name abbreviations. It is EASY to forget the default track names while using the F5 commands therefore I suggest you uncheck this setting. Access the display track name setting by pressing "Ctrl + E" or "Options > Preferences ..." at the top of the screen to open the preferences window. Then make sure the "Display" button is pressed and remove the checkmark from "Auto-Generate Track Labels".
Last edited by Jim Fogle; 08/05/1708:54 AM. Reason: Corrected Default Track Names
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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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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.
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