Thanks for your helpful and informative reply, Guitarhacker.

It would definitely be a huge plus for me to have Real Band and add my own instrumentation to the Realtrack instruments imported from my saved BIAB projects, in the way that you do.

Like I said, I was immediately impressed with the quality of the Realtracks in BIAB 2017 compared to the midi synth type sounds in BIAB 2008, and I feel that I could certainly use some of them in my future song projects.

From the late 1980's, I began creating my own music using Steinberg's Pro 24 sequencer which ran on an Atari ST micro computer. By connecting it to a series of multi-timbral synths, it was possible to build quite good quality audio backing tracks which could then be recorded onto two tracks of an 8 track hi-speed cassette machine (ie.Portastudio). This would leave me with 6 tracks remaining for vocals, guitars and bass to be added.
Of course, when the first PC's became available, software sequencers improved dramatically and eventually it became possible to record vocal and guitar tracks to them, which made the Portastudio redundant.

Steinberg's Cubase was the successor to the Pro 24 sequencer, and it also included many more features to help musicians tweak and edit their projects. However, I must admit that I never really got to grips with it. I didn't have the time to go through the learning curve as I was too pre-occupied with performing in various rock bands and a semi-pro duo at the time.

Even when I purchased a digital 16-track recorder which included Cubase LE6, I couldn't be bothered learning how to use it, and I actually prefer to use Audacity, the free open source digital audio editor and recording computer software application for Windows.
As I no longer perform live (except occasionally as a solo artist), and I've recently retired from my day job, I now have the time to record and release my own music which is exactly what I have been doing since 2012.

Thanks for the link to your music, I've had a listen and your sound is very professional and impressive. I will obviously have to consider my purchase more carefully before deciding which version best suits my needs and budget.

If it's just BIAB and RealBand that I'll mainly be using, maybe I could save money by purchasing a slightly earlier version and importing the styles and saved files from my existing version into a more recent version, and using Realtracks to play them ?

As regards the purchase, wouldn't I be entitled to exactly the same help and back up whether I purchased it new from PG Music, Amazon, Thomann or eBay ?

http://andyshearer.bandcamp.com/


Last edited by Andyman; 03/09/17 06:00 AM.
https://linktr.ee/andyshearer