I am making up for no blog post in June and getting August's done nice and early...
Now, I know I am going to take some flack for this post but the purpose is not to start an argument but conversation is always good so feel free to fire away.... The purpose is really to encourage new Band-in-a-Box users who are just getting into using a DAW to give Realband a try before splashing out on another DAW. Comments are always welcome.
That has nothing to do with the DAW. It has to do with the plugins you were using. I'm using mostly waves plugins these days, no software protection device needed.
Item 3: "It is not a resource hog"
There are lots of DAWs available that are not resource hogs. The example you gave, Pro Tools, is probably the worse DAW out there as far as eating up resources, but it is designed for a professional environment where that is not an issue, not for running on an entry level laptop. I've been using reaper here the last couple of years, it is far better than Pro Tools at managing resources.
I would argue that 7 & 8 are basically the same point. Alt F5 in BIAB lets me change the chord or generate holds (or shots, etc.) on specific instruments.
But yes, the ability to do BIAB type things within your DAW is a cool feature and I agree 100% that for a new user it makes sense to check it out!
Since Mac BiaB does not include RealBand I have little to offer other than I run BiaB and Logic Pro X simultaneously and with BiaB's DAW mode my workflow is smooth. In the spirit of transparency I have to admit to running 20gb RAM and my Mac has a 27" screen. I couldn't imagine working via a laptop! My old eyes require a large screen especially when I have a couple of Izotope products open along with the DAW.
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
I first saw the August Blog over on Facebook this morning. I enjoyed reading it and thinking of all the uses of RealBand. It's a nice, informative article and should get new users and possibly some long time users to take a look at Realband.
The biggest surprise to me was no mention was made of the Multi Riff feature nor the total of 48 tracks to work with. Mentioning those would have given you ten reasons to use RB as your DAW.
In my song "Say I Do", I used Multi Riff on the lead guitar track 18 times for fills and the solo. That is the real life equivalent of having a studio session musician compose and audition 126 punch in's. That could never been done in the few minutes it took to complete in RB by a live session player. I also used the Multi Riff on the Saxophone track but not to the extent that I did on the lead guitar track.
Multi Riff provides a level of uniqueness to the track and removes the genericness of a single RealTrack that may be recognizable to other Real Track users. I believe Multi Riffs across multiple tracks make it nearly impossible for another user using the same style, RealTracks, chord chart, tempo and key to replicate precisely and produce the same song.
48 tracks versus 8 is at least a reason to use RealBand. Especially since it is included for free if you have the Windows version of Biab.
Awesome blog post! It really showcases what RealBand can do This would prove useful to anybody trying to figure out what route to go for a DAW for after purchasing Band-in-a-Box. Thanks for sharing!
Great article, Josie. I like the tight integration with BIAB and the convenience of having RealBand right at hand when I'm working. I don't always use it, but I've found it to be an excellent program with lots of features. If I had one complaint it's that I wish it were prettier.
School me on the muti-riff. I will typically regen solo and some rhythm tracks multiple times and then stack them below the first gen in my DAW (Logic has as many tracks as you have memory for) and then cut and past from the multiple tracks to create a single track to my liking. I assume this results in the same outcome as the "multi-riff?"
Thanks,
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
With “Same but Different” MultiRiff selection you can audition 7 different RealTracks performances, to choose the one that works the best with your song, with a single click! This works for the entire track, or the highlighted region of a track. Choose one riff or multiple riffs to add to the song.
For example, if you want a pedal steel riff for 4 bars, highlight that region, and listen to the 7 selections, and choose the riff that works best. Or if you want 2 “different” acoustic guitar strumming parts, choose 2 from the 7 different generated parts, they will be written as to different tracks, and contain different strumming. We call this “Same but different” since the strumming patterns are on the same chords, but are different performances.
This way, with one command, you get 7 generations of a RealTrack over the same highlighted section of your song. Since each generation is slightly different, you get lots to choose from. You can audition them and then decide which one(s) you want to actually write to track(s) within RealBand.
And of course after doing it once, you can do it again, or choose a different part of the song to create the multiriff variations, or even select the entire song.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Bud, there could be, and should be a book just on Multi Riff alone. It is similar to how you generate, cut and past multiple tracks merging the edits into a unique single track. But that does not equal to Multi Riff capabilities.
Multi Riff is capable of constructing a riff from a note to the whole track. It will give 7 selections and the user can choose to select one, more than one or all 7 Multi Riff versions. If more than one riff is selected, the user can select the tracks where the additional tracks will be placed. Riff generations are user selectable to begin earlier and end later than the highlighted selection allowing a higher quality merge between the newly generated audio and the track audio.
You have two choices with every Multi Riff selection to either generate the current instrument or to choose any different RealTrack in the database. That means if you had used all of the available 48 tracks and needed room for a Bridge solo, you can use Multi Riff to generate and insert your solo on any existing track to do so.
On my system, generating a Multi Riff also generates a Midi Real Chart for the generated audio. A Midi instrument or Super Midi instrument can use the chart to twin with the Multi Riff generated audio. The Midi Real Charts can be erased and discarded if there is no need for them in your song.
If you are not satisfied with a bar or two of your chord chart, you have a choice to select and regenerate the RB track as normal or you can choose to generate 7 versions with Multi Riff to give yourself additional choices.
You get a lot of choices in the way you generate multiple tracks now. If you had the Multi Riff feature, you could save time and have better focus by being able to hone into the specific area you are wanting to work with. Also, if you are generating 7 track or 8 tracks to comp a solo for 8 bars, you have many choices if the generated tracks share additional verses or chorus's with the area you are working in. If they don't, say you are working on a bridge and it uses chords specific to the bridge, then without further time spent generating additional tracks, you are limited to the 7-8 tracks. With Multi Riff, you can generate a series of 7 multi Riffs in probably a 1/4 of the time it takes to load and generate complete tracks.
Again using an 8 bar uniquely chorded bridge, the seven different Multi Riffs can be cut/pasted into a unique bridge from the 7 selections.
I've probably overlooked things but that is a short summary. I'll leave with the thought that a year or so ago, I gifted the Pastor of the Church I attend a BIAB program. He uses the Mac platform and requested the Mac Biab version. I gave him a RB and Multi Riff demonstration and he purchased a PC desktop for his music and got the PC version of Biab.
Hopes this helps. If I've overlooked features or you have questions, post them here and either I or another user will try to help you out.
If you are wondering if it's worth the investment of a PC based desktop or laptop, I think it is.
Thanks for taking the time for such a detailed explanation. I read it several times over and I "think" I now grasp the capabilities of it. I would love to have that function but for several reasons I'm reticent to pursue it. First, I used PC's daily from their inception in the early 80's until I switched to a Mac five years ago. For creating videos and photos editing (I fancy myself as a bit of a photographer) I feel that the Mac programs far exceed what I was using on my Dell. Secondly, I'm extremely pleased with the seamless manner that Logic Pro X and my Izotope suite work together. Dunno about RealBand and Izotope?? Over the past five years I've pretty much gotten my workflow established to my satisfaction.
There is one option that I could consider and that would be to create a Windows partition on my Mac's HD (readily doable) and run BiaB/RealBand there. But for mixing/mastering purposes I would have to transfer the tracks to Logic Pro X on the Mac side.
Pardon the thinking "out loud" and a big thanks again for your time!
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
I fully understand that going cross platform from MAC to PC could can be a deal breaker. The only reason it wasn't for my Pastor, he got Biab for free and the cost of the PC was less than the Biab version he got. He also walked away with a computer dedicated to just music...
Considering the quality of your work, you're not missing much more than convenience. I've never seen a review or comment on one of your song posts where someone said, "Great song, but I'm hearing some Multi Riff opportunities that would have sent this song over the top."
As for photography, check out gigapans if you are not familiar with them. You can see gigapan photos at www.gigapan.com I take gigapan photos and it is a very satisfying and rewarding genre of the photography hobby. As you will see, they are great for mountainous locations. From the main screen, there is a search box and the word 'gigapans' should be listed as the search perimeter. Just click on the magnifying glass and it will open the browser for the latest gigapan posts. Enter my name, first and last in lower case and it should take to a few I posted as I was learning how to use the equipment.
FWIW - This feature has been requested for BIAB (not exactly sure how it would be implemented, since BIAB doesn't have 7 extra audio tracks, but who knows...PGMusic often surprises us).
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
I'm definitely in the NO crowd when it comes to RealBand!
I'm not sure whether or not it is a resource hog but I have found it to be sluggish compared to more modern DAWs. I like Reaper and it is free to use as long as you want so that is not really an issue either. Because RB is an add-on to the main product it is not nearly as feature-rich as other DAWs nor is it ever likely to compete with them on that front. And I disagree with the notion that using a flawed tool is a worthwhile trade-off because it is "free". I agree new users should give RealBand a try but they should also try other DAWs to see what they are missing!
RealBand does have a single killer feature...the ability to generate RealTracks. So I use it for that feature, export the tracks it generates and do my mixing in a serious DAW!
I, for one, would like to know more about holds. I only ever used them in chord input in biab. Midi supertracks etc.; I need to go back to midi and the new midi sound generator and see what's what. I for one now value what realband has and have started to use it, but will finish mixing and mastering with izotope etc in Reaper. At least, that's the plan.
Windows 10 Home 20H2 Build 19042.487 BIAB 2021 (Build 818) Intel(R) Core(TM), i3-4160, CPU @3.60 GHz RAM 16 GB, 64 Bit X64-based processor Zoom UAC-2 (USB 3 interface-built in midi) VoiceLive 3 Extreme, Sputnik Valve Condenser Mic
Wow! what great feedback from everyone. I have learned a few things in this. Firstly I live in a "windows bubble" and tend to forget that there is a whole army pf people who use this wonderful product on a Mac. So it never crossed my mind that you would not also get RealBand with the Mac version.
Secondly, Charlie, thank you so much for your posts on the multi riff feature. I have never used it but I am definitely going to give it a try. I usually just keep hitting the "regenerate" until I get something I like.
Lamanda.. I think I need to do a very short blog post on how I generate the holds in Realband. It really is the most awesome feature and can add a very professional feel to your tracks.
I knew that there are some folks who do not use Realband at all in their workflow and that is fine. I am really not trying to convince anybody to change from their existing DAW to Realband, I am just trying to convince BIAB beginners who are graduating from using BIAB exclusively to a using a DAW to give RealBand a chance.
I experimented a bit with the multi riff feature in Realband and produced an instrumental gypsy jazz track. I have posted it to realstyle competition here (if anybody is interested)
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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especially when I have a couple of Izotope products open along with the DAW. 
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