PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Why use Midi?

I'll take these quotes from you in order. I added the numbers.

1. The reason it sounded like "computer music" is because it was computer music. A very basic fact, Biab has no midi sounds of it's own. None. It only uses the sounds you provide it. You provided it with the basic Windows software synth that is normally used for the quirky Windows notification sounds and basic gaming. For real music it sounds like crap. The new Win10 Wavetable synth is way, way better than it was 20 years ago but still not close to a good software synth. Somewhere along the line PG made a deal with Roland and provided users with the Roland VSC synth. Better than the Windows synth but far from good quality and when Win10 came out as 64 bit it killed the VSC because it only runs on 32 bit systems.

Others have already mentioned a bunch of software/hardware alternatives you can buy and use. The calculation is very simple, the more you spend the better your midi tracks will sound. You can spend from $40 for the Forte Dxi that PG sells to $125 for the new Roland SC8820 software synth to several hundred on up to thousands.

The big deal and problem for some folks is the convenience factor. Biab is GM and only a few software synths are native GM. By that I mean you install the synth and Biab automatically plays the correct instrument parts by assigning your Biab tracks to the correct instrument in the synth. That's the beauty of GM but GM is also very limited and most GM synths only have so-so sound quality. The better high end synths are not GM. That's not a deal breaker but it means before you hit Play you have to go in and manually set what instrument you want to play the different Biab tracks. It only takes a few minutes but it's not instant like simply hitting Play with a GM synth.

This is why lots of us here don't bother setting Biab up with an expensive software synth, we just use a basic GM synth that sounds good enough to put the song together, audition some styles and after that export it to Real Band or another DAW. It's the DAW that uses all the expensive plugin synths and effects because it's much better set up to use them than Biab is.

2. This is a harder question to answer. Everybody loves the RT's especially older folks who don't understand midi and are intimidated by it. You could fall in that camp but since you're asking, it shows you have some interest in it.

Ultimately I'll say yes, you're missing a lot but the real question is is it important enough for you to spend time learning about it? That's for you to decide. I'm guessing you're retired as am I. I look at this as a hobby and since you're not working at a real job any more, what's the harm in learning something new? That's what hobbies are all about, right? Dig in, figure it out, keep your mind working and all that happy stuff. Who cares if you ultimately need midi or not?

3. I touched on this in the first answer. It's easier and cheaper to go software. The cost is $40 on up to infinity but if you catch the Xmas sales which are coming up you can probably get SampleTank 3 for a couple hundred bucks. It requires you to have a 64 bit OS though. If you're running Win 10 you're good. ST3 is not the best but it doesn't cost thousands either and it's way better than all the cheapies.

4. Time. I can't answer that but say a couple of weeks off and on with you trying things, having problems and posting questions here. It's really not hard to at least get things set up and running. Midi can get really complex if you're doing serious editing but that's for later anyway. You already have Real Band and it's a pretty good midi editor. To just get started and hearing some good sounds from your Biab tracks, it could just be a couple of hours.

5. Absolutely not, dig in and do this. You will find a use for it. You may decide it's not worth the trouble, the RT's are fine but so what? Now you know.

One last thing. Depending on when's the last time you listened to Biab midi tracks, they have gotten a whole lot better in the last 5 years or so. Midi style parts are being done live by studio players using midi instruments just as if they're recording RT's. They sound very much like regular studio audio recordings if you're using a good quality softsynth. You will be surprised.

That's it for now. If you want to proceed let is know and we'll start getting specific.

Bob