Originally Posted By: RickeG
Hey PG Style makers,
I have hit the wall when trying to use the thousands of styles provided in the Ultra Plus Pak for 2013. True there are many styles available. However, when you take into consideration the quality of the arrangement of many of them, you are in reality left with a handful of quality Jazz, Country, and Rock styles. All the others do not offer any real quality accompaniment. When I bought this Pak I had the high expectation of at least finding several hundred within the thousands of styles offered being I like almost every genre of music style. Instead, I am back to using the same dozen or so styles I had from the prior version.

After hours of tinkering with everything in the style list, I find myself growing weary over the wasted time with no outcome. Plus, I am having trouble within the styles I choose where an example would be in measure 1 is set to the "A" phrase of the chorus. The "B" is slated for measure 12. The drum comes in strong on the intro, completely changes upon measure one. Then, by measure 3, he has changed again to a completely different pattern. It is as if the drummer is suffering from schizophrenia.

The other problem is found in the MIDI styles. The arrangements are so out of date, they really should be removed where your advertisement can be more truer to the actual number of useable styles. After listening to many of the songs on the board, I don't hear any of them played by your other customers as well. It does not seem fair that we are given the expectation that there are thousands of styles available where in reality, only a small handful are within the acceptable listening style in their arrangement. I don't mind the MIDI as I can transfer them to virtual instruments to provide the sonic properties I am after. But, when it comes to the arrangement themselves, there is nothing I can do with that. The whole purpose of your program is to supply accompaniment; in other words arrangements that make it enjoyable to play with. If I have to change the sound in my VST, AND have to rearrange the parts, then what purpose does your style serve?

Thanks for reading. I hope this will encourage two things to be considered in future product releases: 1, an honest count of the actual usable styles as this is intended to be an accompaniment tool and should be able to withstand the test of providing quality arrangements in all the tracks advertised and provided.
2. If you wish to advertise the offer of thousands of styles, that you make each style usable to where a performer would not be laughed off the stage while playing the BIAB accompaniment.

For those who are considering purchasing this product. BIAB does offer some excellent Classic Rock, Traditional Jazz, and Country styles. If you fall into any of these styles and don't mind using the same styles over and over again, then BIAB can be very resourceful. However, the thousands of styles advertised in reality works out to be about a handful within each of the genres mentioned. tired

As for me, if I had known that I was going to net about a dozen more styles after having upgraded to 2013, I would have spent my money elsewhere. I feel I did not get what I paid for. Sorry gang. Very disappointed.

BIAB is an amazing tool but I do get what you are saying. based on the pre-defined styles and the songs being created in the user forum, I get the strong impression that if your musical tastes get very far outside the standard genres you mentioned (classic rock, trad. jazz and country) you may be challenged to achieve what you want with BIAB. or maybe it is achievable but I do not know how to get there yet. I am still a rank newbie having only used the product for a year. plus, my tastes tend to fall somewhere inside the country and classic rock genres so I can usually find what I want. but I have begun to notice my searches tend to end up with the same handful of styles. I guess that is why folks are always excited about new RealTracks!