For full discloser I initially hesitated to purchase my yearly update of BIAB due to financial constraints. I have just built my retirement home on the lake and have not yet sold the home I have been in for the past 20+ years. The dual home ownership is nearing an end but also nearing the breaking point for my saving. As a result, I felt it best to just sit back this year on any discretionary spending.
But I followed the PG Forum from the day of launch Dec 1, to the end of the year. What a roller coaster it has been –initial excitement for the new VSTi and 64bit features, then disappointment for their reported shortcomings, then love for the new folk guitar real tracks, then anger for the loss of CoyteForte, my favorite GM synth. At times when reading the forum threads it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Patches came, and Patches went and still problems continued to be reported. Best I could figure from the forum was PGMusic had made a colossal mistake in releasing this new update. I am not new to rough launches for the company, but this year seemed more challenging than most. As a result, up to the point of closing the sale at midnight on Dec 31, I was convinced that my decision to hold my cash and not purchase a problem product was the right thing for me.
On Jan 01, 2019 I woke. Switched on my computer… What’s this? The sale is still on? The 2019 update is still in my Cart for the same discounted price? In the breaking of a new day and a new year all I could imagine was, “ What could I have been thinking?” As the sun rose a new clarity came over me - Of course I am going to update, it is all so clear now! it was always just a matter of when! If I don’t jump off the fence now it will cost me more $$ at a later time. I need to save those extra $$ for when we move to the new home! And with that, I jumped off the fence and pushed the order button.
On Jan 1, 2019 I Downloaded and Installed BIAB2019 v208. My first 20 minutes of use was a revelation. I pushed each button with extreme care expecting smoke to come up from my PC at any time. I specifically tried the new features including opening the VSTi in Reaper. In this short period of time everything has been flawless!
Now I don’t expect that I could have put BIAB 2019 through all its paces in this short a period of time and it is likely that some bugs continue to hide, but I will not look back and I don’t regret for a minute the purchase. Workflow has always been a critical aspect of BIAB and with so many ways of getting things done I know I will find a way. And if and when I find a problem\bug that prevents me from getting it done, there is always the Forum to raise holy heck to get the attention of PGM and the help from our Forum mates.
Have a Happy New Year all and remember to have fun.
Dan
BIAB – 2025, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud (Tip: No need to create a SC account to hear music - just hit ESC ).
congrats ... now you're finally in RealTrouble tracking all them new goodies
BIAB2019 - Now introducing for the first time release of the new feature: RealTroubles! ...that is cute That is what I will be in when my wife sees the charges on the credit card.
BIAB – 2025, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud (Tip: No need to create a SC account to hear music - just hit ESC ).
Happy New Year Dan. Whats this about CoyoteForte Dxi?Are you saying it no longer works in BB?Ive not managed to get any other,like Vacuum Pro etc to work without horrible distortion.If all ive got for midi therefore is the windows bilt in thingy then thats a GameChanger for me. All I want from midi are for the instruments to sounds like what theyre supposed to be.Techies love allthe fancy screens,pretty knobs and buttons and jumping through hoops to get stuff to work.Not me.I just vwant to make 'X' my default like my Forte is now and it "work". No? Wendy
BiaB2022PLUS,927. every extras pack I can find ;-),Sonar7XL,Win 10
one of the best GM2 synth VSTs is free: Halion Sonic 3 SE Probably with 32 bit OS/BIAB you'll need jBridge; i found that this worked flawlessly with BIAB 2018 on a 64bit OS last year.
Happy New Year Dan. Whats this about CoyoteForte Dxi?Are you saying it no longer works in BB?Ive not managed to get any other,like Vacuum Pro etc to work without horrible distortion.If all ive got for midi therefore is the windows bilt in thingy then thats a GameChanger for me. All I want from midi are for the instruments to sounds like what theyre supposed to be.Techies love allthe fancy screens,pretty knobs and buttons and jumping through hoops to get stuff to work.Not me.I just vwant to make 'X' my default like my Forte is now and it "work". No? Wendy
Wendy,
What kind of sound are you trying to get out of your synth? Synthy sounds (evolving swirly shimmery stuff, or pumping trance) or natural instrument sounds to feed MIDI into and have them sound like natural instruments?
TBF, I picked up Vacuum pro as well, and it's layout and sounds are modeled on classic old-school hardware synths, and, although it excels at hitting the specific mark it aimed for, it's also unfortunately one of the least intuitive, and visually incomprehensible VSTs I ever encountered in my life :-( It also uses terminology and naming conventions that are trying to be clever instead of the industry standards.
Band-in-a-Box 2024. Custom Build Desktop PC W/ Windows 10 Home 64-bit. CPU: Intel Core i5-9600k @ 3.7GHz (6 core x 6 threads) RAM: 16GB DDR4. Storage 238GB SSD + 2.7 TB HDD. GPU: ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
Whats this about CoyoteForte Dxi?Are you saying it no longer works in BB?
I might have misunderstood, but I understand that currently, the existing Coyote Forte works with the 32-bit version and VSTSynthFont64 works with the 64-bit version. Also, that Coyote Forte will probably be released soon as a 64-bit version (maybe this has happened).
BIAB & RB2025 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
one of the best GM2 synth VSTs is free: Halion Sonic 3 SE Probably with 32 bit OS/BIAB you'll need jBridge; i found that this worked flawlessly with BIAB 2018 on a 64bit OS last year.
Thank you for this info fiddler,
Can I just ask whereabout's did you browse to on your computer to find the Vsti for Halion?
I do have Cubase elements 7 which includes Halion?
I do have Jbridge.
Or wonder do I need to download something else from your link?
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Usually here, C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins\HALion Sonic If you have Cubase 7 legit (there's a much used illegal one around) you might have Halion Sonic, the more extended version compared to SE. F
The free one seems useless since you have to purchase sound sets to make it work.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB 2025, Realband, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 9 32c , Melodyne 5 editor, Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL, Presonus control app.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB 2025, Realband, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 9 32c , Melodyne 5 editor, Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL, Presonus control app.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB 2025, Realband, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 9 32c , Melodyne 5 editor, Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL, Presonus control app.
set it to GM mode, and configured it in BiaB as default synth it still has no sounds I can see the midi data hitting it as the channels light up but no joy
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB 2025, Realband, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 9 32c , Melodyne 5 editor, Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL, Presonus control app.
RobH - Are you running build 610? There was an issue in 609 where certain synths didn't produce sound. That might be your problem with not hearing it.
Quote:
Summary of changes for build 610 (Dec 28, 2018) --------------------------
Fixed: Some VST plugins were silent (eg. SampleTank 3). Fixed: Some ASIO drivers might not work. Note that the bug can cause the driver to remain open after using Band-in-a-Box, so this bug fix might require you to restart your computer. Fixed: The drop station would not allow M4A export (highlights red) if QuickTime is not installed. This should only be necessary for Windows Vista or XP. Fixed: The Find File dialog was not displaying folders, and not loading the song chosen. Fixed: If there is a RealTrack on the Drums track, Band-in-a-Box might crash when rendering a region of bars. Fixed: Opening a song file from Windows Explorer would not work if Band-in-a-Box was already open. Fixed: (for the VST DAW Plugin) Generating multi-riffs would sometimes generate an error. (tips: make sure to first select a multi-riff before generating. Also, highlight a region of the chordsheet first to generate just that section as a multi-riff) Added: (for the VST DAW Plugin) Shots, holds, rests, push chords now read in from BB files.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB 2025, Realband, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 9 32c , Melodyne 5 editor, Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL, Presonus control app.
Happy New Year Dan. Whats this about CoyoteForte Dxi?Are you saying it no longer works in BB?Ive not managed to get any other,like Vacuum Pro etc to work without horrible distortion.If all ive got for midi therefore is the windows bilt in thingy then thats a GameChanger for me. All I want from midi are for the instruments to sounds like what theyre supposed to be.Techies love allthe fancy screens,pretty knobs and buttons and jumping through hoops to get stuff to work.Not me.I just vwant to make 'X' my default like my Forte is now and it "work". No? Wendy
Wendy,
What kind of sound are you trying to get out of your synth? Synthy sounds (evolving swirly shimmery stuff, or pumping trance) or natural instrument sounds to feed MIDI into and have them sound like natural instruments?
TBF, I picked up Vacuum pro as well, and it's layout and sounds are modeled on classic old-school hardware synths, and, although it excels at hitting the specific mark it aimed for, it's also unfortunately one of the least intuitive, and visually incomprehensible VSTs I ever encountered in my life :-( It also uses terminology and naming conventions that are trying to be clever instead of the industry standards.
Happy New year Deacon. Ok-lets try and sort out what i want.Im using BB in 32 bit-no interest yet in 64. Ive got Forte DXi and the midi sounds FROM PRE-EXISTING MIDI STYLES are better than the original ones.But not great-as in they dont often sound like the instruments theyre supposed to.Im looking for a BETTER DXi or VSTi hopefully free that will give the existing instutments in BB midi styles more reality.Id make it my default. So am I just chasing rainbows? Wendy
BiaB2022PLUS,927. every extras pack I can find ;-),Sonar7XL,Win 10
Mac 2025 Special Upgrade Offers Extended Until August 15th!
It's not too late to upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® and save! We've extended our special until August 15, 2025!
We've added many major new features to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, including advanced AI tools like the amazing BB Stem Splitter and AI Lyrics Generator, as well as VST3 plugin support, and Equalize Temp. Plus, there’s a new one-stop MIDI Patches Picker with over 1,100 MIDI patches to choose from, all neatly categorized by GM numbers. The MultiPicker Library is enhanced with tabs for the SongPicker, MIDI Patch Picker, Chord Builder, AI Lyrics Generator, and Song Titles Browser, and the tabs are organized into logical groups. The Audiophile Edition is enhanced with FLAC files , which are 60% smaller than AIFF files while maintaining identical audio quality, and now ships on a fast 1TB SSD, and much more!
Check out all the new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® here:
Purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac during our special to save up to 50% off your upgrade purchase and receive a FREE BONUS PAK of amazing new Add-ons. These include the 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK, Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana, Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes, MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano, Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7, Playable RealTracks Set 4, RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark, and more!
Upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and add 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and 20 RealStyles, FLAC Files for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks, Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster, MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster, Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8, and RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe.
Learn more about the Bonus PAKs!
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Windows!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
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That is what I will be in when my wife sees the charges on the credit card. 
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