Hi,

I to have no axe to grind.

Re BIAB - it is the best tool I know for doing "beginning, middle and end" in a millisecond. It is the discipline we need to get the song done. I think 95% of the styles are not the best but that is a personal view. Just committing the song with BIAB is enough. To move forward music skill is needed. However, I need great sound quality even at the exploration stage. I cannot get this with 32 bit BIAB.

Now I mentioned I don't like hanging the software on the end of a hardware synth. In my view, again personal, the sound quality is not great. PG music has provided software alternatives for getting sound out of the program but again, in my opinion these are not great. I don't want lots and lots of Realtracks I would like lots more supermidi. In my part of the World most of the Realtracks would be of no value - you cant give away "Country" -and "Gospel"here. How can this program be so poor at "EDM?"

Now for some years Windows and mac software (I am not an expert in the latter) have evolved to allow larger memory allocation eg from 4Gb to say 64GB but within these domains 32bit BIAB restricts us to 4 GB max.

In my earlier email which included Peter Gannon he responded what does 64 bit do other than extend memory. I replied "absolutely nothing". The real question which he refrained from asking was was "what can you do with BIAB and access to 24, 32 or 64 GB RAM". The answer is almost anything.

I got cross with jazzmammal for his slagging off and rubbishing anything to do with BIAB 64. I was unfair - his music system would work with 32 bit BIAB forever so he has no driver to move towards 64 bit.

However, nowadays there are a lot of us with 64 bit DAWs and large sample libraries - we have been allowed to realise sound quality we could only have dreamed off in the past. Sadly BIAB is 32 bit, which means I have access to 4 GB RAM. 64 bit software allows me to access much larger libraries. I am not asking to change the structure of BIAB just let me access my 5 VSTi slots with 8 - 16 GB of sounds I want to use.i.e don't make it a DAW - just give me 8 - 16GB access

The info we got from Peter and Mat showed 64 bit BIAB is a long way off.

With this in mind I look for an alternative because I look forward to having access to my much higher quality sound libraries that need to be driven in 64 bit.

So I like very much Synfire - I think it is more intelligent musically than BIAB but you cannot press a button and get an instant 5 part song. It does have a way of coping with an 8 part Kontakt sampler as a single instrument rather than launching the same 5 times and it will talk within a 64 bit environment. It costs about the same as BIAB audiophile for download.

Within Cubase 7 and its Chord tracker this ability of Synfire to work in the 64 bit domain using drones is most useful. Like BIAB having Rewire. Notice Steinberg recently hired the complete UK "Finale" team after they were let go by Avid. We can expect major chord/music push button stuff to come within Cubase aka BIAB- all within 64 bit. Actually, even a lower quality BIAB midi file going into Cubase 7.5 is not so bad - but you have to know what you are doing to make it better.

I have been with BIAB since the beginning of time (but quiet on the forum) - I worry that BIAB becomes "Blackberry" and whereas they saw no future for the touchscreen BIAB underestimates that many have moved their sound quality forward.

Sorry this is a book and I planned not to revisit until next December 2014 to see if the program moves forward,

Neil