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 are here on our website.
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 are here on our website.
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 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB 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 are here on our website.
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 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB 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)
XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
The XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs special offers are now available until August 31st at 11:59pm PDT!
Ready to take your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 experience to the next level? Now’s the perfect time! Expand your style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs—packed with a wide variety of genres to inspire your next musical creation.
What are XPro Styles and Xtra Styles PAKs?
XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-9 includes 900 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). With over 3,500 styles (and 35 MIDI styles) included in Xtra Styles PAKs 1-20, the possibilities are endless!
Get the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Get Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 19 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Don’t miss this chance to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box setup—at a great price!
Mac 2025 Special Upgrade Offers Extended Until August 15th!
It's not too late to upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® and save! We've extended our special until August 15, 2025!
We've added many major new features to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, including advanced AI tools like the amazing BB Stem Splitter and AI Lyrics Generator, as well as VST3 plugin support, and Equalize Temp. Plus, there’s a new one-stop MIDI Patches Picker with over 1,100 MIDI patches to choose from, all neatly categorized by GM numbers. The MultiPicker Library is enhanced with tabs for the SongPicker, MIDI Patch Picker, Chord Builder, AI Lyrics Generator, and Song Titles Browser, and the tabs are organized into logical groups. The Audiophile Edition is enhanced with FLAC files , which are 60% smaller than AIFF files while maintaining identical audio quality, and now ships on a fast 1TB SSD, and much more!
Check out all the new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® here:
Purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac during our special to save up to 50% off your upgrade purchase and receive a FREE BONUS PAK of amazing new Add-ons. These include the 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK, Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana, Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes, MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano, Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7, Playable RealTracks Set 4, RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark, and more!
Upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and add 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and 20 RealStyles, FLAC Files for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks, Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster, MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster, Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8, and RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe.
Learn more about the Bonus PAKs!
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.
especially when I have a couple of Izotope products open along with the DAW. 
Dansk
Deutsch - Windows
Español
Français - Windows
Italiano - Windows
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Svenskt
русский
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Korean