Quote:
BIAB, when they added RealTracks (something we had not requested nor imagined). About 2009, I think. That was my exact quote: This Changes Everything. PG Music used it in their promotion. But you already knew that.


RealDrums were introduced first in BIAB 2007, also completely unexpected and revolutionary:
Quote:
RealDrums - We’ve added real audio drums to Band-in-a-Box! RealDrums replace the MIDI Drum track with real recordings of top studio Jazz/Rock/Country drummers. These are not "samples," but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the other Band-in-a-Box tracks. Ctrl+click on this button to open the RealDrums Settings to make global settings for RealDrums.

For example, choose a brushes style, and you will now hear lush Jazz brushes. The results are dramatically better than MIDI. They sound like a real drummer, because they are recordings of a real drummer. Adding a real instrument to the mix makes all of the Band-in-a-Box parts sound more authentic. You’ll wonder, "Why does the guitar sound more real?" It’s because the realism of the drum part has the effect of improving the overall sound.

As well as improved drum sounds, you are hearing the exact rhythms played by the drummer, including features not seen in MIDI (subtle drum rolls, variations in ride cymbal taps, complex fills etc.). And the tracks intelligently play differently at faster/slower tempos, so you hear appropriate playing for the current tempo (not seen in MIDI drums). Change tempos or volumes during playback, using the same tempo/volume controls as MIDI. And best of all, we’ve seamlessly integrated the RealDrums into Bandin-a-Box, so you just use the program as you normally do, and you will hear RealDrums instead of MIDI drums, according to your preferences.

You can fully control which styles you will hear MIDI vs. RealDrums. New RealDrums styles can be made by the user or third parties, using standard WAV files. User created styles can control fills/postfills/pattern lengths/Substyles etc. We include a huge library of RealDrums styles to get you started, and all of the RealDrums styles are available in special value PAKs.


And then in BIAB 2007.5 (remember the half-year releases?):
Quote:
RealDrums improved! - Faster. Smaller. Now take up much less space, using WMA files instead of WAV files, still with great quality! Uses 1/10 of the space! When you install, you can either install as WMA or WAV files. Either can be used. This allows your downloads and installations of RealDrums to be much faster!

RealDrums Variations of instruments with each "play." Most RealDrums styles (starting with RealDrums set 5) contain may instrument variations ("brushes vs. Sticks", "HiHat vs. Ride Cymbal" "Percussion only" etc.). Now, by selecting Prefs-Real Drum Settings - choose different Variations with each play, you can hear a different variation each time play is pressed, so the song sounds fresh each time. One time you’ll hear it with "brushes," the next time with sticks and ride cymbals, etc.

"Favor Brushes," "Favor Sticks" settings. When selecting RealDrums styles to use for a style, BB will use your preferences for brushes and sticks. For example, if you choose "Favor Brushes," BB will always choose from among variations that include brushes (when available).

Selectable Folder for your RealDrums styles. Now you can choose any folder (e.g. e:\Drums) for your RealDrums. This allows you to, for example, conserve space on your C:\ drive.

RealDrums "Compatible song/style finder." In the RealDrums Settings dialog, there are now buttons that will, for a chosen RealDrums style, enable you to (1) play the RealDrums demo song, (2) show a menu of BB styles that would work with the Real Drum style and (3) play a song demo of various BB styles that work with the Real Drum style.

Tempo checking for chosen RealDrums styles. If you choose a RealDrums style, and the tempo is outof-recommended-range for the style, BB will inform you of that - you can still use the style of course. RealDrums styles that get chosen automatically by Band-in-a-Box will always be compatible with your song. RealDrums styles can now have 2 separate feels, with different push amounts, and custom fills for transitioning between Substyles (see above). We made a great new style that starts out in Bossa, and changes to ‘swing’ at ‘b’ substyle, with custom drum fills for the transition fills. This "BossaThenSwing" style is on RealDrums 10, and is very effective for Latin/swing tunes.

Drum Fills can now be customized to include fills specifically used when changing from ‘a’ to ‘b’ substyle (and vice versa).

RealDrums "Developer Mode."
1) People making their own styles benefit from the "Developer Mode," that outputs TXT files with information about their style-in-progress. Now they can render a batch of songs, which will all save separate TXT files, useful for analyzing their styles.
2) Bars Blocked limit increased to 2,000 bars


And then in 2008, we were completely floored by the three, count-em, three RealTracks they released. RealDrums were one thing, and that seemed relatively easy as they didn't need to respond to chord changes. But RealTracks. Who can do that? Well PGMusic did and still does that:
Quote:
RealTracks - With the previous release of Band-in-a-Box, we added RealDrums. Now we’ve added additional "Real" instruments, including Real Pedal Steel, Real Acoustic Guitar, and Tenor Sax soloing (RealSax). These tracks replace the MIDI track for that instrument, and can be controlled just like the MIDI instrument (volume changes, muting etc.). Best of all, they follow the chord progression that you have entered, so that you hear an authentic audio accompaniment to your song. These are not "samples," but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the other Bandin-a-Box tracks. RealTracks can be built in to the style, replacing the Bass, Guitar, Piano, or Strings part, or they can be generated to the Soloist (or Melody) track using the Soloist feature.



And then in 2008.5 (another mid-year release), along with multiple SETS of RealTracks, BOOM!:
Quote:
Faster Generation of RealTracks. - The time it takes to generate RealTracks is now three times as fast!

"Waveless" and much smaller in size, Version 2008.5 uses 1/8 of the hard drive space compared to
Version 2008! - RealTracks and RealDrums no longer need WAV files - they can use WMA natively. This frees up huge amounts of your hard drive, so that the RealDrums and RealTracks take up only 1 /8 of the space that they used to take! The handy "Archive" function will remove the no-longer-needed WAV files with a single-click. This means that the new version uses up much less hard drive space than previous versions.

Tempo stretching quality enhancements.
Now the RealTracks sound great over a much wider tempo range, typically -15 and +40 beats per minute from their original tempo.

Stereo panning is now available for the RealTracks.

Automatic prevention of audio clipping. (New Float mixing and Peak Limiter added.)

RealStyles available - These are styles that include all "Real Instruments," with no MIDI. Up to 7 Real Instruments all at once in a single style!

Improved transitions for RealTracks eliminating Pops/Clicks.

Right-click menu is available for each part in Band-in-a-Box (bass, drums, piano, guitar, strings), allowing you to quickly assign RealTracks (or RealDrums), MIDI SuperTracks, or loops to that part along with other functions like mute, solo, save as WAV file, etc.

RealTracks browser dialog shows comprehensive information about the RealTracks, including name, genre, feel, tempo, type, demos, and preview. Lists can be sorted or filtered by any column.

Easily save a style (.STY) with RealTracks, directly from the main screen ("save what you hear" as a style).

RealTracks Rests and Shots - RealTracks work for rests and shots.

Endings are now present in RealTracks.

Name of RealTracks or RealDrums display at the top of the screen for each part.

Save Single Track - Right-click on a part to save that single track to disk as a WAV file.

RealTracks demos now present in RealTracks - demos folder, and can be opened from the StylePicker.

RealTracks Preview function to hear how a RealTracks will sound, without losing your current song.

Time Shift RealTracks - Ability to time shift a RealTracks by certain amount, to achieve more laid-back playing for example.

Variations of RealTracks can be made, for things like a simpler type of soloing, or certain variations.

RealTracks can have multiple Substyles - For example, the Jazz Acoustic Bass plays "2"’ feel in "a" substyle, and "4" in "b" section.

Soloists can solo over different chords than the chords of the song - For example, the Metal Guitar Soloist can have a tonal center controlled by the user, different than the song chords. So that the Metal Guitar can be soloing over a G chord, while the chords of the song are G F G Bb, for example.

"Crescendo" Soloing can be generated for some RealTracks that have the intensity of the solo building up with the flashiest part of the solos played as the solo builds.

Musicality of the solo phrasing improved, phrasing much closer to human.

RealTracks button added to Soloist dialog, with color coding to allow quick access to RealTracks.

RealTracks folders now have descriptive names - Instead of cryptic names like RacG001, they have names like "Guitar, Electric, and Soloist Cowboy Ev 165"

Bass track can now play RealTracks!

StyleMaker lists RealTracks names on the main screen.

Non English versions will work with the newest RealTracks without a new translation of the Soloist list (Default.SOL file).

Archive and Install WAV buttons to control the use of the WAV files for RealDrums and RealTracks. WAV files are no longer needed as the program can use the much smaller WMA files. If you prefer to use WAV files (slightly higher fidelity and slightly faster operation), these commands provide the option to install or archive the WAV files on a global or folder by folder basis.


As Matt said, it was totally unexpected and was truly revolutionary.

John

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