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Quote:

>>>...the BB MGU files don't contain the audio anyway...>>>

Really? Did not know that. Where are the frozen tracks stored? Can I cause the frozen tracks to be stored in the same folder as my MGU file, and is there any advantage in doing that?

.



Flatfoot,
There are no seperate audio tracks saved as "frozen". Only the code in the MGU file which tells BIAB what sections of each RT to play is "frozen" and therefore it does not change what sections play. So the MGU file is no bigger or smaller than normal.

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Quote:

I would advise that you call PG Music Support to talk you through this one. However, I'll take a crack at it.

Yes, 2011 introduced the Elastique algorithm, and as a consequence, they needed only one-third the previous number of files for RealTracks. There is a menu choice in the Preferences, RealTracks to shrink the files. I'm not in front of BIAB so I can't tell you the exact wording, but you could do this first. It would dramatically reduce the size of BIAB on your hard drive, to about 40% of what it used to be. Then you are prepared to install the new version. Note that this should ONLY be done on a machine fast enough. Again, PG Music could advise better.




Upgrade after upgrade, I too begin to get short of my HD drive space, and every time I open BIAB, there's the advice concerning shrinking the un-needed RealTracks files.
BUT, if I go into this option, a new advise pops in saying that I'm running BIAB on Windows XP, and that it's better to shrink these files ONLY on modern machines. And at this point I don't know what to do.

My PC is a Fujitsu-Siemens Intel Core Duo CPU E7300 @ 2.66 GHz, with 2 GB RAM. So, my question is (expecially if I want to make some space for the new 2012 version): is my PC modern "enough" or not? Can I shrink those Realtracks files or is it better going on this way?

Thanks in advance!

Alfredo

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I think you should be good to remove the extra files.

Here is how to check, Go to Options - RT's and uncheck "Use +/- Realtracks for Generation, (enable on slow machines). This will effectively stop BIAB from using the files. Then if all sounds good, go ahead and delete them, otherwise, enable the box and keep the files.

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Yep, Dan's suggestion should 'test' the machine for capability before actually removing them.

Last edited by rharv; 12/02/11 05:59 PM.

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Yes, Dan's suggestion is a good one. Try it with that unchecked, and if things are OK, then feel free to delete them all.

A good measure of speed is 'geekbench' - available online for free. http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/

A geekbench score of about 800 (or higher) would be about what is needed - I programmed BB 2011 on a HP laptop with 1GB RAM, and a 800 geekbench score, and it worked fine.

Most new PC's are in the range 2,000 to 8,000 on geekbench.


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Just ran it on my VISTA Home Premium 4 gig AMD 64x2 5200+.
Was bit disappointing, but was in the range you mentioned.

2943 average, with memory and stream tests 1000 points below that.
They brought the average down quite a bit.
Machine is over 3 years old, so guess thats decent.

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Matt

Will the loops change with each chord change or just the overall key?

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Quote:

I think you should be good to remove the extra files.

Here is how to check, Go to Options - RT's and uncheck "Use +/- Realtracks for Generation, (enable on slow machines). This will effectively stop BIAB from using the files. Then if all sounds good, go ahead and delete them, otherwise, enable the box and keep the files.




Dan, thank you very much!

I didn't remember I had already unchecked the +/- option in the RT section after my last upgrade to 2011.5, so I deleted all the unnecessary files, and now I have more 74 GB free space.

My HD keep on saying "Please give my regards to Dan!"

Oh, BTW, thanks Peter, Geekbench, gave my PC a score of 3066, so...perfect!

Ciao!

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>>> and now I have more 74 GB free space

Hi Alfredo,

Glad to hear it.

And a reminder, to anyone else upgrading to 2012 from 2010.5 or earlier... you shouldn't forget to do the same command... RealTracks-Prefs-Remove UnNecessary files - and save up to 74 GB of Hard Drive Space!


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Peter Gannon
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If you're getting the hard drive, then you've "got it easy", as it comes pre-installed with everything ready to go. So all you would need to retain from your "old" Band-in-a-Box installation are the songs that you made (plus any customized styles that you may have made).

But you won't be using your existing Realtracks folder, because the hard drive has one already. And, yes in version 2011, we shrunk the size of the RealTracks by 65%, so you'll likely find that version 2012, even though it has 303 more RealTracks than version 2010.5 did - takes up way less space!


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Peter Gannon
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Quote:

Matt

Will the loops change with each chord change or just the overall key?




it looks as though they can work either way, depending on how you set the loop parameters.

Quote:

>>> If you bring in a chordal loop from another package... will the pitch of the snippet follow the chord changes?

Yes. You need to set the loop to :
1. Retrigger every Chord Change
2. transpose, and tell it what the root of the loop is (e.g. Eb).
Peter







here's a link to the NEW FEATURES video, which explains it (and other things) in more detail

http://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.demos.htm

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