The Dawn 510 speaker system I mentioned in my post was at least partly engineered here in Wichita KS and later sold and is now largely extinct. I have two sets I bought on ebay and put in all new speakers. This unit has a sound dispersion that is fantastic. It has a down shooting woofer with a crossover out to two satellite 5 inch speakers that face up and have dispersion surfaces that nearly equal the Bose L-1. Placed behind the singers there is very little problem with feed back, and you don't need any monitor speakers because the singers and players hear the same thing as the audience. It sounds silly, but I have used this thing in a gymnasium with over 200 people and did not even come close to max power, and there was no distortion. And I have had audience as close as 5-6 feet to the satellites in small venues with not any complaints about volume, even those 30-50 feet away. This system was way ahead of it's time and did not catch on because in the early '70's it was all about big everything. The whole thing including my amp/mixer weigh about 50 pounds, which is nice for an old guy like me.
Curt, I have used an ipad. I convert the songs to individual wavs and they can be played in Garage Band or another program is Multitrack. In either case like the idea of being able to control each instrument/track.
If you want simple, export each song to one wav file and put it in iTunes and set up a folder for each set.
Once I tried exported each song to a single wav and then transferred the songs to my Boss RC3 loop pedal via USB cable. That thing can hold a ton of songs. The instructions in the pedal's manual list how to move from song to song. Worked pretty good but you need to get the songs set at the same volume before you move them to the pedal.
For the ipad, I purchased a Alesis I/o dock. It has a left and right out which I ran to two seperate channels on the board, panned one left and the other right. Nice stereo sound. I also set and armed two channel in the program I was using (multitrack at the time) which created live effects for my vocal and guitar. I could then blend myself with the other tracks/instruments. If you are by yourself, you can hit record during your sound check, lay down a song and then walk the room as you play it back. If you adjust the levels they will remain the same when you play live. Only concern... you need to do this for each song.
Hardware solutions such as the loop pedal are the safest. I always have a back up on my iPhone for each song. Technology has a way of failing when it counts most.
I am now working with Ableton live, which is set up mainly for this purpose.
To use in a live setting, I export from BIAB to a WAV file. Wouldn't want to rely on BIAB for live performance. I'm not familiar with the "looper pedal" or "mashine studio" so I can't comment on that.
I play my backing tracks directly from my laptop on stage. I use a PreSonus USB audio interface which sounds better than my laptop sound card and provides 1/4" outs to go into my live mixer. Using that setup, I don't have any problem with my tracks sounding "computer generated".
If you need more input, ask away.
Good luck.
Ditto. K.I.S.S. principle. Laptop with WAVs, backup files on Ipod.
I use an iPad with BIAB-generated lead sheets as well as scanned-in Realbooks on my iPad, using 'unrealBook'.
I usually play (guitar) with a clarinettist and a keyboard-player, but I've prepared MP3s for the majority of our BIAB repertoire with the melody suppressed, and a default of four choruses (head, clarinet solo, guitar solo, head).
This came in handy when our keyboardist (who supplies bass and drums as well as piano) fell ill and had to go home just after setting up for a gig. I was able to connect my iPad to an amp and run the tracks directly from the iPad with the lead sheet on the screen. unrealBook allows you to link any given chart to an MP3 file copied to the iPad using iTunes in the normal way.
There's no reason why you shouldn't use BIAB live from a laptop - we've done gigs that way too - but although this gives more flexibility than the pre-recorded MP3s it also gives more scope for error - e.g. forgetting to switch off the melody track, or using a file which has been tweaked for practice purposes and inadvertently saved at the end of a session.
My iPad will run for 10 hours on a charge, but if you want to connect one to a charger remember that you might have an earth loop causing hum (as you would with a laptop). Best to try it out on the equipment you're going to be using BEFORE you get to the gig!, and consider getting an isolating transformer (for the mains supply or for the line-out signal).
Thank you for your reply. Could you please briefly tell me the steps in taking a backing track from BIAB and moving it to a WAV file? I am looking in the help section, but I am not super technology minded. I am learning this stuff
My plan for now is to transfer my backing tracks to my BOSS RC 300. I play through that and my effects processor
Go to audio > then to burn an audio cd > DXi - Direct Render (in the box below place a check if you want one file per track or leave it open if you want one file for all tracks combined). The program will take care of the rest.
This is to answer your question "Does anyone use an IPad?"
I play guitar and sing, often at senior homes and private parties.
A few years ago my setup was playing "live" using BIAB backing tracks straight out of my laptop into my Peavey PA system. And I'd have to bring several binders of music which was a bit of a hassle if someone requested a song, and I'd have to locate it in one of the binders.
I now use an IPad, which has all of my backing tracks and all of my sheet music. It's very convenient. I connect the IPad to the PA system via RCA connectors.
I use an App called SetList Maker. With this App, it's easy to go from song to song, start the backing tracks with a push of a button, and start scrolling the sheet music with a push of a button. If someone requests a song, it's fairly easy to find it with the search function.
The backing tracks are BIAB files exported to M4a files. They are then loaded into the SetList Maker app when syncing the laptop using ITunes. The sheet music are pdf files which are also loaded into the App when syncing.
If you are not concerned with recording your own audio tracks, but are concerned with just using Band in a Box live for backing, the laptop's internal sound playback via the earphone jack, connected using a proper mini stereo connector that breaks out to the proper connect to your PA works very fine indeed.
--Mac
First, welcome to the boards, although we're a bit late with that.
We fully agree with what Mac said. We keep our projects simple and use very little equipment other than BIAB (2104 Everything Pak edition). We use Real band a bit but not much as we usually get what we're looking for in BIAB. Good luck with everything!
Don't think you're missing anything except you don't mention some decent speakers - I'd use what you have right now. the beauty of using BIAB 'as is' is that you can alter the tempo, loop the song, change the feel etc. to keep the gig going well. We've looped the intro of a song on gigs when our singer sin't quite 'ready' and other times we haven't - can't do that if you've made your backing tracks into a cd, or put them on an i player etc. Also, not that your public would notice, but I like the fact that each time I generate a tune, the real tracks are slightly different from the time before, which adds interest for us musicians! Finally, if you found a cracking bassist for a gig, simply mute that instrument and they can 'step in' - next time, if it's just you, un-mute it and off you go!!
Yep, what Paul said! We're so fortunate to have so many people willing to share both their knowledge and their experiences with the rest of us. To me, that's a huge bonus we get that's not substantially mentioned in the sales promos by PG Music. That makes the purchase even more intrinsically valuable.
I'm late to the discussion, but here's a point or two that hasn't been mentioned yet:
When deciding on a delivery method for backing tracks, the simplest answer depends on what functionality you need.
For example:
1) if you just want background music to play along with, the simplest delivery system is an MP3 player. (in all of these cases, I assume you will be sending output to an amp or PA system)
2) if you need to see sheet music, lyrics or other visual cues, you'll benefit from a device with a screen.. either an IPAD or a notebook computer
3) if you want to control lights, MIDI devices in synch with the music, then you'll need to play the song from sequencing software such as RealBand, Sonar, etc. Because the MIDI commands needed to control external devices can be embedded in the sequence file. This also requires a notebook or IPAD in conjunction with sequencing software.
Of course, even if you only need music to play along with, you can still use the device that is capable of more functionality. That way if you want to add functionality later, you will already have your set list in sequence files.
The nice thing about using an MP3 player is that they are cheap and you can always have a complete backup in your other pocket in case the first one dies.
I use a Boss RC 500. I play back the verse or chorus etc through the laptop and record directly into separate tracks in the looper. This allows me to be more flexible with the arrangement of the song. You could also record the complete song straight in, easy!
The Dawn 510 speaker system I mentioned in my post was at least partly engineered here in Wichita KS and later sold and is now largely extinct. I have two sets I bought on ebay and put in all new speakers. This unit has a sound dispersion that is fantastic. It has a down shooting woofer with a crossover out to two satellite 5 inch speakers that face up and have dispersion surfaces that nearly equal the Bose L-1. Placed behind the singers there is very little problem with feed back, and you don't need any monitor speakers because the singers and players hear the same thing as the audience. It sounds silly, but I have used this thing in a gymnasium with over 200 people and did not even come close to max power, and there was no distortion. And I have had audience as close as 5-6 feet to the satellites in small venues with not any complaints about volume, even those 30-50 feet away. This system was way ahead of it's time and did not catch on because in the early '70's it was all about big everything. The whole thing including my amp/mixer weigh about 50 pounds, which is nice for an old guy like me.
I realize this is an old thread. I really can't contribute much to this conversion. I don't do gigs, but build drum and bass guitar backing tracks with BIAB for my own entertainment. I have a Dawn MI510 speaker system and was glad to see another BIAB user also has a Dawn 510 speaker system. It's a great little unit.
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With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
Whether you're exploring new features, checking out the latest RealTracks or Style PAKs, this is your go-to guide for Band-in-a-Box® 2026.
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac is here and it is packed with major new features! There’s a new modern look, a GUI redesign to all areas of the program including toolbars, windows, workflow and more. There’s a Multi-view layout for organizing multiple windows. A standout addition is the powerful AI-Notes feature, which uses AI neural-net technology to transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI—entire mixes or individual instruments—making it easy to study, view, and play parts from any song. And that’s just the beginning—there are over 100 new features in this exciting release.
Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
If you're already using Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, make sure to grab the latest update! Build 904 is now available for download and includes the newest additions and enhancements from our team.
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