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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 196
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 196 |
I'm a Mac user, who's been running BIAB Windows 2009 with VMware Fusion, and it runs nearly flawlessly. There are limitations -- can't use any of my Firewire peripherals (neither Fusion nor Parallels will recognize them), and waiting for a second OS to boot is a bit of a drag, not to mention that the second OS eats up additional RAM. It's also more difficult (for RAM and other reasons) to run other Mac OSX audio or video software simultaneously with Windows BIAB. And there are other things I don't like about Windows (like having to run and update my antivirus software all the time).
I also have BIAB 2009 for Mac. But I haven't used it that much, since it seems to be missing a few features, and by now I'm comfortable with the Windows version, along with its various plugs-in (like Forte) not available on the Mac.
In my ideal world, PG would sell me a version I could run on either platform, with all the RealTracks and RealDrums also ready to run on both. But PG apparently won't.
I can't afford to keep upgrading BIAB on both platforms simultaneously forever, even at PG's reasonable upgrade prices. So could somebody tell me:
- How do Mac BIAB 2009.5 and Windows BIAB 2009.5 compare?
- Any features I'll have to kiss goodbye to, if I upgrade only my Mac version to 2009.5?
What about the audio features in the Windows version -- what's missing in the Mac version? (I like the TC Helicon harmonizer in the Windows version.)
- Is there anything the latest Mac version does that the Windows version doesn’t do, or does better?
- What about the overall speed of the program on each platform?
- Do the Mac and Windows versions work equally well with third-party styles?
I'm also interested in what "crossgrade" pricing PG offers -- didn't see it on the web site -- but if I go all-Mac, I’ll need all the BAIB styles, realtracks, realdrums, and every solo disk as well (already own them all, except for the latest ones just announced, for the Windows version.)
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
I say stick with the Windows version, not only are you accustomed to using it, but there surely are quite a few things that the Mac version has yet to implement.
Consider picking up a PC just for BB, they are dirt cheap these days. Even a laptop like the 300 Acer or HP minis will do the trick.
Then you can generate with BB on the PC but record with the Mac.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1
Newbie
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Newbie
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1 |
I would like to know more about the comparison too. I am a Mac convert and have BIAB 2008 running in Fusion. I would like to have 2009.5 in Mac, but from all the data in the BIAB web site, I can't seem to figure out what to do?
Can I use the "update" price to go to Mac 2009.5, based on my past purchases of Win? The latest purchases were UltraPak 2007, then a MegaPak upgrade to 2008.
Confused.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 9
Newbie
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Newbie
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 9 |
There are features still missing in 2009.5 for Mac, in comparison with the 2007 for Windows version I had running under Parallels:
- no multiline notation window
- no repeats/codas/1st-2nd endings dialog
- no simple marking and looping of any arbitrary section
- no choice of jazz or regular fonts in lead sheet printouts
- no chord symbols like a triangle for Maj7 in lead sheets
When I first bought 2009 for Mac I found this pretty annoying, but in the end I decided to just work with it and see what happens. And you know what? After a while I found I was getting things done fine in the Mac version, eventually I de-installed the Windows version and I've never missed it. I still hope those features I mentioned above will be coming soon in the Mac version, but in the meantime it's just not worth the hassle of working with Windows.
So that's my advice to jholman - since you already bought 2009 for Mac, give it a proper trial by using it exclusively for a while, that's the only way to find out what you really miss.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
Quote:
Can I use the "update" price to go to Mac 2009.5, based on my past purchases of Win? The latest purchases were UltraPak 2007, then a MegaPak upgrade to 2008.
Hi,
Why not take this up with PGMusic Sales directly?
Via email or telephone call, they have a tollfree telephone wats line up there.
Good people, they will find the best possible upgrade paths and pricing for you quickly.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 89
Enthusiast
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Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 89 |
jholman,
You are doing yourself a huge disservice by running BIAB on your Mac using Fusion. I too did it that way at first. I was sold on Fusion because you do not have to reboot to switch between the Mac & PC.
I had serious latency problems when I tried to record through Fusion. I went to the Mac store to get help. I was told that they could not resolve the issue. They suggested that I run the Windows program using Bootcamp instead of Fusion. I figured it was worth a try. It was quite an ordeal to reinstall everything but I am kicking myself for not doing it sooner. The latency problens went away but the big difference is in the sound quality using Bootcamp. It is also much faster. Everything works much much better using Bootcamp instead of Fusion. Also, using the ASIO drivers makes a huge difference.
Do yourself a favor and try Bootcamp and ASIO drivers. You will be glad you did.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 196
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 196 |
Quote:
jholman,
You are doing yourself a huge disservice by running BIAB on your Mac using Fusion. I too did it that way at first. I was sold on Fusion because you do not have to reboot to switch between the Mac & PC.
I had serious latency problems when I tried to record through Fusion...
Thanks for the suggestion. I don't doubt that the Windows version of BIAB would run better on a Mac using Bootcamp, than with Fusion. But the issues you raise haven't been problems for me, since I use BIAB mainly to generate MIDI and real tracks, and do almost all of my recording in another program (Logic Pro). It's been useful to be able to generate some tracks in BIAB (Windows version running on Fusion), and import them into Logic -- then maybe decide I really wanted a different chord somewhere, redo the tracks in BIAB, and reimport them into Logic -- all without any rebooting, which would really slow my process down.
But even that routine is a little clunky, so last week I went ahead and ordered the Mac version of BIAB 2009.5. So far, its slightly-more-limited feature set, compared to the Windows version, hasn't been an issue for me -- though I'm glad I've got the Windows version also if I ever need it. (I went ahead and partitioned a 250 GB portable WD hard drive into one Windows and one Mac partition, and now I've got one small drive with both the Windows and Mac versions of BIAB 2009.5 It's the product I wish I could have bought directly from PG, but I guess I've made that point before...)
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
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Season's Greetings!
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy holiday season—thanks for being part of our community!
The office will be closed for Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) at 6:00am PST.
Team PG
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