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Joined: Dec 2003
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I have a Tascam Porta3 Recording Mixer that I used exclusively before DAW. It was THE ultimate tool for analog work. The belts were new and no signs of "keystoning" of the head when I last used it. It was a valuable piece of gear in it's day.
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Joined: May 2000
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Quote:
The multitrack cassette is a rather poor sounding technology that I for one will never miss...
Tape hiss (yes, even with Dolby), limited high end, wow, flutter, limited bass response, in many instances the pitch changes as the takeup reel gets larger with tape, the loss in overdubbing, all of these anomalies have been solved via pcm digital recording. ....
That's why its headed out the door here. Doing some cleaning up and re-arranging in my music room at home. That floppy based keyboard from another thread was part of it as well. Technology marches on. That old board sure taught me a lot about sampling and sequencing .
I'm sure I copied all the MIDI sequences from those (176) floppy disks to a hard drive around here somewhere, so it's pretty much useless now.
That hard drive is still useable though (although it may be a 100 meg drive if its the really old one laying here)
Gotta start swapping out drives now and see whats on each one. 16 or 17 years of digital recordings takes a few drives to keep track of. I should probably get another terrabyte external drive and replace quite a few of them. Always something to do here.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Joined: May 2008
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Bob, I kept my Tascam 246. Beautiful machine. Sits in my "studio" for mood lighting. Fun times but I sure don't miss all that bouncing down tracks. BIAB makes computer recording fun for me. It's the next best thing to having live musicians with none of the hassles. And all of the computer DAWs and plugins available now - many free - it was overwhelming at first but fascinating once I got into it. I still get frustrated but I got frustrated with the Tascam back when too.  When I looked at some newer stand alone recorders I didn't care for those itty bitty screens. I think computer recording has done what Tascam originally did and that is bring home recording to the masses - only even more masses now. 
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Mine was a Yamaha MT-50, I wore the heads out on that thing & took it everywhere there were folks willing let me set up 4 mics  Before that it was 2 cassettes decks & a Radio Shack mixer, before that it was Stereo Panasonic Reel-To-Reel that I used a piece of film negative over the Erase Head to do overdubs... I miss the one-kob-per-function way of doing things, just reach over & give 'er a spin! 
i5 3.20GHz, 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD OS, 12tb HDD, 4gb gForce vid card, 32" monitor, Audient id44, Win10 x64, BiaB/RB 2023, Reaper 6,IK Multimedia Total Studio 3.5 MAX, Waves 10
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Bob at first I thought you were joking, just making a comment about modern life. But, if you're serious, you do know how to arm a track in Real Band, right? It's dead simple. Plug in your instrument, arm a track and hit record. That's it. Same as the Tascam. If you want three other friends over to record live with no overdubs then get an interface with 4 or more 1/4" inputs. Don't worry about plugins, EQ, midi, effects or mastering. Just use 4 tracks and the mixing faders and create a 2 track stereo mix. Just like the Tascam. If RB is too complex for you then use the freebie Audacity. If you want to be brave and innovative use an analog tape plugin to give you that great, crappy, noisy tape sound. Actually, you don't even need that, run your audio outputs through some old yard sale amp or tape deck and record it back into RB. Be happy.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Joined: Jan 2002
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Just to go kind of old-school, I recorded this little song intro with my iPhone and it's internal microphone in my kitchen, iPhone mic pointed toward sound hole, about 10" away. 4 tracks: an arpeggiated chord, two tracks of simple plucking the bass note, and a little modal melody on the 4th track. Used internal reverb and delay build into Garageband. Again, this is a 5$ application. https://soundcloud.com/rockstar_not/4-track-record-acousticCheap 60$ acoustic guitar BTW, at least that's what I paid for it used on Craigslist. New they were around $300. -Scott
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Bob, Quote:
Bob at first I thought you were joking, just making a comment about modern life.
You had it right the first time. My tongue was firmly in cheek, except that I was serious about wishing I’d held on to the old Tascam 244 and about how much recording I’d accomplished on it.
So far, my favorite DAW has been Sonar 4 PE. It’s very intuitive and easy to use, but unfortunately mine is 32 bit only. It won’t even install on a 64 bit system. On my last PC I had Win 7 64 on the C drive and XP 32 on the D drive and I had it set up as a dual boot system with Sonar running on XP. It worked great until the MOBO fried.
I got a new PC custom built earlier this year and I intend to add another drive for XP 32 so I can install Sonar 4 PE, but I haven’t done it yet. I’ve looked at RB and I’ll probably give it a whirl at some point before bothering to add XP. RB looks fairly intuitive and the ability to generate tracks is a definite plus.
In the thread, I was also wistfully remembering the “good ole days” of recording on a dedicated unit. I didn’t mean to give the impression that I’m a Luddite.
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See, you had me worried there buddy. Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Just checked a stack in the garage and yup, I've got a TASCAM PortaTwo which I was given by a customer, and which I never used. Why? Before that I had a TEAC 2340-SX SimulSync four-track reel-to-reel deck which I mixed through a TASCAM M-106 desk onto whatever cassette deck I had at the time. With an outboard Dolby AN-60 I could get up to 10 mono tracks with what was, up until the mid 1980s, acceptable noise levels. Got a bunch of material with great (well, to me) vocal harmony work, but no drums--which is why I got Band-In-A-Box in the first place.
I also have a Korg DDM-1 drum machine which was supposed to take the place of a drummer, but I still had to program it and dump sequences off onto cassette. What a pain. By the time I got the PortaTwo I had already embarked on my digital journey with BIAB v. 7 and Passport's Master Tracks Pro. It hass been another kind of struggle as I learn to work with audio in the digital domain, but it is an infinitely more elegant process. It's still not easy, but the results are fantastic compared to what I was able to produce on my own with tape. The journey has been a lot of fun--when not trying to pull my hair out because this or that doesn't behave as expected.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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About 20 years ago when I was in Chicago, we had an 8 track Fostex reel-to-reel that was hooked to a 2 track mastering reel. Somehow you could sync the two if needed.
We had a nice board to mix with, but not being able to save settings .. ouch
Sure you could get a really good mix set up and move sliders easily .. but the next time you wanted to work on it, it was a crapshoot if anybody did anything else in the mean-time.
Digital convenience for the win (IMHO).
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Special Offers Extended Until May 31st!
Good news- we've extended our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® special offers until May 31, 2026!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 is packed with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can transcribe an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PDT on May 31st, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
Check out the Band-in-a-Box® for Mac packages page to find the best package for you.
Holiday Weekend Hours
It's Victoria Day Long Weekend in Canada. Our Customer Service hours are:
Saturday, May 16: Closed
Sunday, May 17: Closed
Monday, May 18: 8:00am - 4:00pm
Regular hours resume Tuesday, May 19th!
Today's the Last Day of the Band-in-a-Box 2026® for Mac Special!
Order before 11:59pm PDT today (May 15, 2026) to save up to 50% off your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® upgrade and receive a FREE Bonus PAK loaded with great new Add-ons to use with this new version!
Don't wait - order today!
Check out all the new features in the redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac - Special Offers End at 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th, 2026!
Order before 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th and SAVE up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 for Mac Upgrade packages... and that's not all! With your version 2026 for Mac purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks... that's 222 NEW RealTracks available with version Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac!
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® today for as little as $49! Check out the Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all available purchase options.
Learn more about the Free Bonus PAK and 49-PAK here.
If you have any questions about which package is the best option for you, just let us know. We're here to help!
202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!
And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
The 2026 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2026 49-PAK!
2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
With your version 2026 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 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 2026 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 25 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
- Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
- Playable RealTracks Set 5
- RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
- SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
- iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
- 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
- FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
- MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
- RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
- SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
Learn more about the Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
All of our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs are on sale until May 15th, 2026!
It's the perfect time to expand your Band-in-a-Box® style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs. These additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® offer a wide range of genres designed to fit seamlessly into your projects. Each style is professionally arranged and mixed, helping enhance your songs while saving you time.
What are XPro Styles and Xtra Styles PAKs?
XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-10 includes 1,000 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 includes 3,700 styles (and 35 MIDI styles)!
The XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs are not included in any Band-in-a-Box® package.
The XPro Styles PAKs 1-10 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.
The Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the Xtra Styles PAK Bundle for only $199 (reg. $349)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.
Note: 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.
The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version as they require the RealTracks included in the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Supercharge your Band-in-a-Box today with XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAK Sets!
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