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One more question: a lot of the Bandstand sounds are OK, but in addition to the brushes issue, some are weak, and there is only one GM sound bank. If I want to use Bandstand on several MIDI channels, but another software or hardware synth (Garritan?) on other MIDI channels simultaneously, will BIAB 2009.7 for Mac let me do that? (I seem to recall I couldn't do that with the Windows version of BIAB, which always seemed strange.)


The Mac version is in fact more flexible than the Windows version as it allows to choose a different *port* for each instrument channel. So basically you could route each instrument channel to its own dedicated software or hardware synth.

In particular, there is also "QT Music Instruments" available in the port menu. So for example, if you're running Bandstand standalone via BIAB Virtual Output, and you don't like the brush sounds, just choose QT Music Instruments individually for the Drums port to use its brush sounds in combination with Bandstand for the other instruments.

PS. Note that the GM standard does *not* define the mapping of specific brush sounds (tap, slap, swirl) to note numbers. For example, Roland and Yamaha use different numbers. BIAB and QT Music Instruments are both using the Roland numbers and thus perfectly compatible. But I've found that high-quality software brush kits in general are not directly compatible with BIAB and require some remapping. Unfortunately Garritan's JABB is an example of this.