Ade,

A Daw is just a virtual digital mixing board. They have evolved to an amazing level and can produce the highest level results....even inexpensive home studio DAWS.

My comment was not directed to Daws.They will deal most effectively with whatever is put into them. After all...all the major studios use DAWS now...the days of the hard wired mixing console are long gone. The point is what is being put into them? Live musicians!Through ten thousand dollar microphones followed by all kinds of stuff!!

My comment was directed toward the world of computer based music >generation<. Before BIAB there was only midi and it just sounds phony to a real musician...because it is!No matter what you do to it it's still mechanical sounding...if you're into nuwave automatron techno it works for you. If you are a really good old school "real" rock/country/blues/R&B player it mostly leaves you cold. PG Music is the first and only entity to date to produce software containing programmable segmented recordings of actual players.My point is that this program is very inexpensive and as such should be not expected to do more than it was designed (and priced) to do (and does very darn well btw!)in the same way that a stock Toyota Camry doesn't get on the track with a Shelby Mustang.

I'm sure PG could expand the program ad infinitum taking it far beyond its present capabilities.After all...they developed "real track" technology. Who knows how far it could be expanded? Nobody even knows how they do it!

My point is this:

To do so would require a huge capitol investment for higher level musicians (most of whom would demand massive fees), more diverse idiomatic selection more geared to the real world of pop music and, hence, the dumping of the majority of renamed sameness now in the program. Recording and programming costs would be tremendous and the result could be "Band in a Box for Pros" or something like that. So who would buy it? And how many would be sold? It would have to cost...oh...wild guess...4-5 K maybe? Who knows? Would you invest in that? I sure wouldn't!

I love the program for what it is. An idiomatically limited writing tool designed to be stronger in jazz styles than in pop styles.(Yes, I personally find that disappointing but only because I'm a pop guy...so what? Who cares? So I make my own program? Don't think so) All it needs is some improvements such as making the Pedal steel and fiddle backing (especially ballads)tracks actually follow the chords you program, (It just sounds so much better when everybody plays the same changes at the same time)some really true-to-the-world-of-pop-music piano, sax, some more B3 choices, some less busy,less overplayed harmonica,some horn sections would be awesome and probably not that hard to get done, bluegrass lead guitar by a really hot bluegrass guitarist who hits all the notes,some more articulate rock lead guitar,some acoustic rhythm tracks without open strings played between the chord changes on the upbeat, and some half time styles so everything doesn't sound exactly like everything else with another name because an instrument has been left out or substituted with something else on the same basic track to enhance the content image.

So what do we expect for a few hundred bucks? The Nashville A team on a computer? Stevie Ray Vaughn's band? The Allman Brothers? (Must admit...I was dumb enough to! LOL)

I say let's be patient and give them time....they're adding better stuff as fast as they are going to do so....check out those John Jarvis piano tracks if you're into that style...I sure am! They are really good!

it's a great program...it doesn't crash....it works consistently, they have the greatest tech support you could ask for and there's allot of pretty cool stuff in it that you can use to work out some cool song sketches and even more if you're clever and resourceful once you sort through all the redundant "styles". You can mix them with each other sometimes and throw in some midi tracks etc.(Some of those are pretty darn good mixed with real tracks) It takes ALLOT of time for most non techies just to figure this thing out to the point where you can format something on it and there's allot of help on this forum.The creative part is listening to the styles and picking one you can edit later by changing the tracks around. Yeah it would be nice to have more style diversity of actually pop-relevant styles but who makes that call?

My point is it isn't intended that we sit home and make hit records ready for release on it. That is something that simply will never happen. At best maybe we can write a good song,get it to pre-demo status in BB and take it to a good demo studio...one listen and they'll have it...the thing even prints out charts! I think that's super cool.

Just have fun with it...it's a creative toy....but then what is a guitar? A cure for cancer? I think we musicians tend to be taken and take ourselves way too seriously sometimes. I know that has been a condition that has taken me a lifetime to work out of. Music shmusic...whatevah! Like Peter says..."have fun!".

Rock on! Sorry for the rant.