Thanks for the welcome Noel. Yes, I forgot to say that I ordered last Thurs and given that I am in the UK and PG are in Canada I was not expecting to even see the BB box (being sent via UPS) before Xmas. However I just checked the tracking number and my box was out of Vancouver and over in Philadelphia within 12 hours of it being ordered ! A couple of hours later and it was in Louiseville, departing to cross the big pond, so I may get it tomorrow or Wed, which is unbelievably fast for this time of year!...... that's service .....

Also, I didn't get my automated email with my download links, so I used the 'Live Chat' facility on the web-site. I'm normally very skeptical of these live chat things for support but I put my issue to "Will" (a real person!), and he replied in seconds with my UPS tracking number, and confirmation that he'd resent the download email (which appeared seconds later).

The world needs to learn about customer service from the Canadians in my book!

Similarly, the purchase, download and install of the RealTrack addons that I subsequently bought was fast, painless and worked flawlessly. 15 minutes after hearing the lovely Piano Ballads demo, I had that addon in my BB, playing my chords!

Am I a fanboy ...... guess so !

I do have some suggestions though;

[EDIT: I clearly lost the plot on this next bit, as I've checked back at the PG store and of course you can get genre-specific RealPAKs, ie... Rock/Pop RealPAK 3, etc. So just ignore the suggestion below, although I do think it would be good to offer a 'bundle' wher the buyer can choose the RealTrack Sets they want, ie... any 3 RT sets for $70 .. ]

1). The RealPAKs don't work for me, as they combine Pop/rock tracks with Jazz and Country. I would guess that a lot of people's musical style preferences bias either towards pop/rock, OR, jazz, OR country. Maybe not, but for me, I would much rather buy a 'bundle' of the pop/rock style RealTracks , that don't include jazz and country. I dare say there are some Jazz fans out there that wouldn't want pop/rock tracks.

How about offering a 'choose any 3 realtrack/realdrum addons as a bundle and get 20% off' type proposition ?

2). I would guess that RealTracks have elevated BB in a new direction and many people (like me) that would not have considered the original (MIDI only) BB, would be very interested in BB now with RealTracks and RealDrums. But I think a lot of people may be put off by some elements of the name, and imaging of the product. Also, although the 'plug in mode' is awesome, there are some elements that could be better aligned to use with external DAWs. (for those not using RB).

Eg.... You could developer a 'RealTracks/RealDrums only' product called "RealSession" which focusses on the automated production of performances (to selected chords) for various instruments, to go straight into tracks in a seperate DAW. Sure, that's exactly what BB does now, you say !! But the workflow could be changed to make this something more like 'EZ Drummer' (but for musical tracks, with the ability to choose chords). It could be a true plug-in in the DAW, and for this type of product/application I would leave out some of the more traditional 'accompaniment features', like Melodist, etc.

I hope you 'get' where I'm coming from here - I love the program and it's amazing putting these RealTracks into my songs, but the BB format as is, isn't the best suited for this type of DAW-orientated application; I guess it's better suited to the live accompaniament side of things, as was originally intended.

Thanks for an amazing product that is currently without peers!

David,
Newcastle upon Tyne, England