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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697
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OP
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697 |
Here's the comparison between my old Win 7 box and the new one. First the specs on the old one. It's an Athlon Phenom 6 core with 4 gigs of ram and a 1 TB hard drive. It took between 2 and 3 minutes to initially open Biab from a cold boot and after that if I closed and reopened Biab it took maybe a minute to reopen. Then once open it would take 15-20 seconds to render a 5 instrument Real Track song including the Real Drums.
My new SSD machine with 16 gigs of ram as described in my sig opens Biab in 4 yes, FOUR seconds! I just rendered a 5 part RT song in the same time, FOUR seconds. All I can say is WOW.
I just installed Sampletank 3 so the next thing is to start using that with some Biab midi styles and see how that goes.
Those who complain about how long it takes Biab to open or render songs really should consider upgrading to an SSD Win 10 machine if money allows.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 145
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 145 |
Very valuable info, Bob!
I use a Pentium 4, Quad core, 2.66 GHz, regular 500 GB disk drive, and 4 GB RAM. BIAB takes about the same time to open and render as you described with your old system. At least now, I know BIAB is working 100 percent to specs. It's my 7 year old computer that needs an upgrade!
May I ask, what was your approximate investment? Remember, I'm from Canada eh, so you must add five or six zeroes for the conversion to Canadian dollars (LOL). Thanks.
Gear: Tyros 5, MOX8, SoundCraft EFX12 mixer, two Bose L1 Compacts, Yamaha HS-8 monitors, BIAB 2016 UltraPlusPAK, Cubase 8, Steinberg UR-44 interface.
"If everyone played a musical instrument, we wouldn't need police officers or armies." Lee B.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697
Veteran
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OP
Veteran
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697 |
Canada, eh? I lived in Calgary for 12 years and still am a landed immigrant if I ever want to go back. I bought one of these used off Ebay for $625 USD: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/34..._ImYxoC7h3w_wcBNew it doesn't include the OS or RAM. Mine came with Win 7 and 16 gigs RAM. I just did the upgrade to Win 10. This is one of the few mini PC's that does not have a mobile processor. The Intel 4770t is a regular processor. I was seriously considering a Surface Pro but I really don't need a tablet/laptop and this blows a Surface into the weeds for speed plus double the RAM and no temp related throttling that a mobile processor is prone to have. The only thing about this ZBox is the fan noise is pretty loud, too loud to do recording with a mic in the same room without isolating it. But, the fan can be replaced if need be. It only has three USB3 ports so I picked up a powered hub. The size of this thing is just slightly larger than my 4TB external HD. Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,803
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,803 |
Yes... the computer makes a HUGE difference in wait times....
I remember a similar experience when I moved from my Duo Core lappy to the custom build. Very nice savings in time.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 145
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 145 |
Thanks for the details, Bob!
- Lee
Gear: Tyros 5, MOX8, SoundCraft EFX12 mixer, two Bose L1 Compacts, Yamaha HS-8 monitors, BIAB 2016 UltraPlusPAK, Cubase 8, Steinberg UR-44 interface.
"If everyone played a musical instrument, we wouldn't need police officers or armies." Lee B.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 280
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 280 |
For the record, the biggest difference is made by the SSD.
jazzmammal, don't you find a 256BG SSD is a little small?
For a computer to make music, a 512GB SSD should be the minimum size, if you ask me.
Last edited by LtKojak; 07/20/16 04:49 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697
Veteran
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OP
Veteran
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697 |
Good question but so far no. I loaded the complete Biab 2016 HD onto it and that folder is 98 gigs. There are a ton of RT's I never use so as time goes on I'll delete those. I'm also going to experiment with comparing the generation times in Biab using the RT's on the SSD vs setting it to use the RT's on the external HD. If there's little difference I may delete all of the RT's from the SSD and just keep the program itself on it. 256 Gigs is plenty big enough for programs only and all data is on standard drives.
One thing I forgot to mention in the spec's of this ZBox, it also came with an internal 500G storage drive. When I installed Sampletank 3 I also put all the instrument sounds on that storage drive so it's only the app itself that's on the SSD.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
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Happy New Year!
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Season's Greetings!
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy holiday season—thanks for being part of our community!
The office will be closed for Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) at 6:00am PST.
Team PG
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