PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Having bought BIB 2016, can I just install new RTs etc but keep old BIB version?

Hi all

I have BIB 2014 installed. I purchased BIB 2015 but never got around to installing it, and next thing you know, it's that time of year again, so I got BIB 2016. I was just about to start installing BIB 2015, and then BIB 2016, but then got to thinking...

To be honest I bought BIB 2015 and 2016 only to get the new Realtracks and midi styles, not for any of the new program features (no disrespect).

I am also reading now that some users are having problems with BIB 2016. I know, I know, new software is never perfect, it takes iterations to stabilise a release, there are so many variables among user setups, can't please everyone all the time etc.

The thing is, BIB 2014 does what I want it to. It is also what all my projects have been created in.

I have read that at least one person here has had problems playing old files in BIB 2016. Don't want that happening here!

I have also read in response to some of the reports of problems with BIB 2016 that as the software evolves, problems can arise on older computers. Well, my 3 year old PC hasn't changed since I installed BIB 2014, so I don't want to risk any of the gotchas associated with BIB 2016 on my potentially "obsolete" system.

All I want to do is use the new (2015 and 2016) RTs and midi in old and new projects, all within BIB 2014. I really don't want to upgrade the main application from BIB 2014. I know the quirks in BIB 2014 and how to work around them. For me, nothing's broke so no need to fix. And nothing to gain in terms of new features, so no reward for any risk.

Now, as this long, rather difficult year winds down, I'd **really, dearly ** like to just settle in and make music, without any of the (for me, it seems, inevitable; I think Murphy's law was written with me in mind) new release bugs etc popping up like a jack in the box with its tongue out, making me scratch my head and sending me scurrying to the manual, tech support or this forum (as helpful as it is). Completely kills the buzz of music making. It's that "unwrapping reveals the toy under the Xmas tree arrived broken" feeling, tears all around.

As it stands, with my other software (especially the ever-mutating Sonar), de-bugging already occupies an increasingly irritating proportion of what is supposed to be my music-making time. I've had just about enough to be honest. At times I am close to hating my hobby because of it.

I can't control all variables -- after all , Microsoft updates my Win 7 OS every month -- but i can control some, like which programs to install. I really no longer need new software, so apart from the Windows updates I can "lock down" my system because in its present state it basically works.

So ... I have, with my upgrades, purchased the right to use the new content (RTs and midi stuff) which comes with BIB 2015 and 2016. So, can I just install those? They are separate files -- and in fact all are available for separate purchase, no? -- so seems I should be able to. Having purchased BIB 2015 and 2016 to get them, it should be my decision whether I want the new apps as well, no?

Grateful for any advice.

someone else with more knowledge will chime in any moment but my understanding is many (all?) of the new RealTracks require the latest BIAB to work.

http://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.packages.htm Check this page out. It tells you that you need to have BIAB 2015 installed to use 2016. Ray

I believe the answer is No. You need to be running 2016 to use the RealTracks that were new in 2016, and 2015 or 2016 to run RealTracks new in 2015. Etc.

Hi

Please see this Post, which might be useful

For what it's worth, my computer was purchased in 2009 and I've installed every update of BIAB without a hitch. I have all the realtracks and they work fine. I have windows 7 32 bit operating system.

VideoTrack posted what I remembered, that the tracks may work fine but you will have a challenge finding them. This is especially true in BIAB 2016 with its completely revised index system.

Ok, thanks gentlemen. Not the news I wanted to hear, but it's what I needed to hear.

I think this is the last year I'll buy BIB then. It's a great program, but I'm suffering from upgrade / new features / new bugs fatigue. Call me a reactionary ...

It would be great if in the future new RTs are modular, and so can be used in any recent-ish version of BIB. Just like when you get an expansion pack for something like Addictive Drums or EZKeys, or new loops for Acid. These work in the old applications. Their business model is to sell the razor cheap(ish) and make money on the blades.

With PG, seems you have to buy the razor each time as well. This probably makes sense for PG, but doesn't work for me.

From the Horses mouth or the Main Man Dr Peter Gannon,

"No, it wouldn't be recommended to use the 2016 realtracks with 2015, though it would work in an awkward way. The old stylepicker wouldn't show the new styles, except as other styles found. Other than that it should work."


As stated you won't have the new stylepicker, but if you are happy with the old one, and as long as realtracks show up in realtrack picker and you are happy with that, then by all means give it a whirl.

Can't see how it wont work, though the realtracks may show as non applicable on the realtrack filter, they are still there and usable.

I have it on an old biab 2013 version for nostalgia reasons.

Musiclover

one thought for the back of your mind...
The recently added system of having a registration key allows multiple installations for that key... and pgmusic is willing to work with you on that.

The next version has its own key and a whole new set of installations. So its easy to have different versions installed on different computers.

I am the worlds WORST at learning new software features! I hate new learning curves and having to renegotiate changed interfaces I once understood.

My approach is to keep an old version of BIAB/RB on my performing computer. That way I don't get blindsided at gigs by some new feature that suddenly doesn't work the way it used to.

On my 2 studio computers I have progressively newer versions. This gives me a chance to warm up to the changes on projects that are in development and aren't bound to an immediate time frame. By the time a song gets filtered through all 3 computers for various stages of refinement, I've had the chance to "warm up" to the changes on the newest version without getting freaked out, because one of the older versions I still have installed can get me out of any jam that may arise.

Tablets have driven the demand (and therefore price) of PCs down, so PCs have become really cheap in my opinion. The lowest priced PC at Walmart is easily able to handle anything BIAB will throw at it.

I've had some similar thoughts in the past and, as a matter of fact, didn't upgrade to 2015 from 2014.

I've upgraded to 2016, and I couldn't be happier with the new version. The new Real Tracks are a Godsend for what I play and the new Style Picker system makes everything SO MUCH SIMPLER AND FASTER that I can't believe nobody thought of it before!

Even if they're for free, just the new videos explaining the new features are worth every penny I gave for the upgrade.

Even being one grumpy old man that loves to have something to complain about, I just can't give anything short of two HUGE thumbs-up for BIAB 2016.

If you don't upgrade to 2016, it can only mean that you don't love yourself at all. Period.

HTH,

Thanks all for your thoughts.




Yo, Kojak -- who loves ya baby? ;-)

Oh, I indeed love myself -- you'll have to trust me on that one. That in fact is behind my reluctance to tempt fate with yet another big change to my PC setup, of which BIB is an important part. Self-love involves the avoidance of pain ;-).

Seriously -- when you say you have no regrets, and rather only satisfaction, about upgrading, I believe you and sincerely wish you lots of fun with BIB 2016.

I hope the same for me, too, in fact; though I am more pensive....just been through this too many times over my 18 years of PC-based music making:

-- there's an upgrade ...

-- many users report smooth sailing ... many of them also generalize their experience, say "What could go wrong? Don't be such a scaredy-cat," ignoring the fact that ...

-- other users do have real problems (just look at the December posts here, not just in 2015, but going back years). Stuttering audio, app not launching, old projects not loading, whatever ... you can read as well as I can. Seems most problems get sorted eventually, but sometimes only after disruption and troubleshooting sessions. I guess those don't matter if someone values their time at 0.

-- invariably, the latter group of user includes me, because the good lord, when it comes to me, seems to have a slightly perverse sense of humor or something. And it's now grinding me down.

So barring something revolutionary in future releases, this will have to be my last purchase. I don't have a spare computer around to keep my old version of BIB on as a backup, as was suggested above. Even if I did, I question whether the disruption to workflow would make it the right move. Now I can drag and drop from BIB into Sonar. But if my "safe" copy of BIB were on another machine, there's the extra steps of transferring my wav files to an external disc, and then from there to the main music PC and into Sonar.

Tangent: can I install BIB 2016 alongside BIB 2014, or must I install BIB 2016 on top (overwriting) BIB 2014? Maybe worth it's own thread....

Not to kick a dead horse, but this is exactly the kind of consequential "gotcha" I'm dreading

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=324996&page=2


which I only learned about because I happened to visit the RealBand forum -- thank goodness I haven't upgraded yet, losing a bunch of FX settings would really have been a painful bummer.

Again, can I install BIB 2016 alongside BIB 2014 on the same machine, or must I overwrite BIB 2014 when installing BIB 2016? The former would at least provide the ability to keep working....

To my knowledge (which isn't a lot), the answer is NO. You need to install the whole version to make everything working the way it is supposed to.

I am sure that someone smarter will chime in and either dismiss or confirm my statement above.

Good luck!

How about just using 2016 in the USB hard-drive it cames on and load ur old project there for a try?

I have finally given up on 2016 until PG get their act together.

I installed 2015 over the top of 2016 by running the 2015 BIAB/RB exe file. Everything works fine and the 2016 styles show up in Stylepicker as "other styles"

Tony