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Hello,

I was just wondering as to what are the advantages and disadvantages of using real band for whole song project instead of using biab as well ie creating a song in biab first and then importing into real band.

I can think of a few (provided I am correct in my assertions)

Advantages of using real band.

1 ability to save real tracks as played currently in real band.


Disadvantages of using real band.

1 somewhat slower to open dialog boxes than biab (my computer anyway)
2 no preview of style in style picker (just a demo which doesn't give a clear picture of the style, well to me anyways)


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I like to start out in BIAB because it has many more features that RealBand doesn't support at this time. Plus, I've got a lot more experience using BIAB at this point.

However, I don't think there is a pat rule to be adhered to here.

Do what you feel the most comfortable doing, I say.


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While BiaB often provides a smoother workflow there are a few big advantages of RealBand:

    no restriction to 255 bars
    support of multiple VSTis
    plenty of tracks

Disadvantages of RealBand:

    Way poorer notation support - no repeats, second endings etc., no key signature changes


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Editing my song in Biab's chord window is far superior to what I can do in RealBand. Can't wait for RB to catch up there...


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This might be a daft question but why can't BIAB and RB be integrated into one programme? After all, you can't buy RB separately from BIAB. I don't see why they can't be integrated into one single programme. Peter?


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I would worry about feature bloat. Each does a lot of good and i have seen other programs grow and add until stability and reliability went out the window.

RB is still a tad shakey as it is.


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Yes, please, don't combine them.

I like my realband just fine as is. I never use BiaB and the features would just be a drain here.


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Quote:

Yes, please, don't combine them.



+1


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Ok, don't combine them.

Personally, I always start out in BIAB and then move it to RB (used to be PTPA but I don't really use PTPA much anymore).

There are really useful tools in BIAB that I use that don't exist in RB:

The Melodist
The Soloist
Jazz Up / Down Chords
Vocal Wizard

There are more...

BIAB is far better for composing and generating something totally new


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I think what would be cool would be if BIAB could "save as" a SEQ file that could preserve all the "BIAB" stuff. So any harmonies, any RealTracks, Realdrums, solos (MIDI or RealTrack), additional MIDI channels, etc would be saved to the SEQ file. Then just open the SEQ file in RealBand to finish editing it. It seems that one of the biggest gripes is that RealBand doesn't recognize the stuff BIAB does (such as soloist, harmonies, multi-styles, etc). Since PGMusic knows the file format, I would think it would be an easy matter to save it to the SEQ file format.

I think that would go a long way towards bridging the gap between the two. It would also save time - you don't have to load scrap, insert wav files, etc. You would just open the SEQ file in RealBand and go from there.


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Excellent point, John. Also a good work around that would make the connection between BIAB and RB seamless.

A firm +1


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Quote:

I think what would be cool would be if BIAB could "save as" a SEQ file that could preserve all the "BIAB" stuff. So any harmonies, any RealTracks, Realdrums, solos (MIDI or RealTrack), additional MIDI channels, etc would be saved to the SEQ file. Then just open the SEQ file in RealBand to finish editing it. It seems that one of the biggest gripes is that RealBand doesn't recognize the stuff BIAB does (such as soloist, harmonies, multi-styles, etc). Since PGMusic knows the file format, I would think it would be an easy matter to save it to the SEQ file format.

I think that would go a long way towards bridging the gap between the two. It would also save time - you don't have to load scrap, insert wav files, etc. You would just open the SEQ file in RealBand and go from there.




Excellent suggestion: +1


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Hm ... since RB may open .MGU files, wouldn't have BB save .SEQ files be kind of redundant?


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"...that could preserve all the "BIAB" stuff".

This is the key reason for the suggestion to save a .SEQ.

While RB can indeed open a .MGU file, it does tend to loose some of the details. For example, try changing tempo in the middle of a chorus in BIAB at the B section. Works good in BIAB but open the same .MGU file in RB and the real drumer sits this one out.

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Tempo changes in the middle of a chorus of BB are passed on to RB here. Key signature changes won't get recognized - that's currently a restriction with RB anyway.


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Tempo does indeed change, however, at my end the real drums are absent.

Beat Map Error in RB


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RealDrums do change tempo here as well.

It might be easier to duplicate the reported Beat Map Stretcher error if you could give details on a song shipped with BB.


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Martin,
I'll return to the original thread and post the actual BIAB file to see if others can duplicate the error when opening in RB.

dan


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Song plays through OK here. I have Misty in Eb and have the melody. I added the melody to your song but the Sax is stealing the show. I'll lower the Sax volume and see how that works out.


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