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Hi, I had posted earlier that RealBand 2016 version 7 and version 10 were aborting on me. I can't find that post so here is the final result of that post.
My Ratings: ============== Band In A Box 2016. Love this program. 10 out of 10. A Keeper. Will upgrade if great new jazz related realtracks are introduced or maybe great new features. RealBand 2016. I have stopped using this program except maybe for creating an acid loop but I very rarely will do this. For this last reason I will give it a 3 out of 10. To many aborts for me. Details below. Audacity latest version as of 2019. I have replaced RealBand with this program. Love Audacity. Does everything I need extremely fast/well. Never seems to abort.
==================================== So I did a mix session for our jams. I did the first 3 mixes with RealBand. Lots of aborts. The 4th song was too much for me. I would say the total hours lost due to aborts was about 6. I decided to try Audacity. It took me about 4 hours to learn everything I needed to know. I finished the remaining 11 mix downs with zero aborts. In fact I learned to trust it so much that at the end I didn't do any interim saves. Audacity is clearly all I am likely to ever need. This experience with RealBand reminds me of the survey question the MultiCharts people put out on their forum. 'What is the most important feature you look for in our software". Every single answer was reliability. One last thing about RealBand. I had upgrade to version 10 of 2016. It seems that the aborts roll it back to version 7. Almost forgot. I am using Windows 7 service pack 1 on 3 machines. I have no other programs giving me any issues on any of the machines and I run a lot of software. I may have stopped using software before that was too buggy but not to often. I just remembered Version 3 of Multicharts had serious bug issues so I rolled back to version 2.9 for a couple of years then finally got the nerve to upgrade to version 8. It was fine. I am now on version 11 of MultiCharts. It has not aborted on me yet. The thing about Multicharts that is different than RealBand is that no other software is as good as as MultiCharts within its category. The main point is if your software is not not the best in its category you need to have your software running 100% bug free for users like myself (I don't do beta). I would recommend programming that stores a history of the abort somehow and when the abort is the first of a type force the dump to be saved to disk and somehow in the background (so it does not bother the user) ship it to your programming team for investigation. In addition to this make sure the user is contacted when you are sure the fix is in place (you need to make sure they know you fixed it). Automate this and make sure the user's know of this procedure (especially the ones who get an abort). Of course some aborts just lock up. I guess with those ones you just have to use in house testers and beta testers who are trained on how to get the info you need to you. The MultiCharts people use to have 5 dedicated testers (I do not know the current number). Some software vendors have 3 versions out there (totally reliable in that it never aborts, a bit risky, beta). Interactive Broker's Traders Workstation is like this. I have used only the totally reliable and I have never had an abort ever since 2007 when I first started using it.
John
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/02/19 03:32 AM.
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RealBand
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John,
Thanks for the post.
I too love BB 2016. I have the 2016 version of RB and I gave up on it for the same reason you did. It crashed almost every session.
I have been working with Reaper for the past week. I haven't turned off my wifi or my antivirus. It has not crashed once in about 12 hours work. I never had it that good with RB.
Thanks for the recommendations on Audacity, Cakewalk and Traktion. I think they may do a few things easier than Reaper. Still, I am really impressed with Reaper.
Again, thanks.
2b
i5-3210 laptop. Win 10 Home. 2.5ghz, 64 bit. 6gb RAM. Focusrite Scarlet 2i2.
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I have said it a 1000 times. I made a tool. Should you have to do this before each session? That's for debate. First save your RB setup. Before each session do a factory reset. Reload your setup file. Works for me for years.
Last edited by silvertones; 05/02/19 04:38 AM.
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I did the factory reset. Didn't fix the problem. That was mentioned in a prior thread. I included the pictures of the factory reset. Actually every time Realband goes down it comes back up asking me to do this anyway. It then aborts again immediately. Not only that I had saved my .seq files at various stages of the mix. Didn't help. I return the file and once it had a mind to abort it didn't matter. This pattern occurred a few times last month.
It seems that there are certain features in the 2016 version that were not working that well. They may have been fixed in the 2019 version. My decision was the try Audacity instead of upgrading. I am glad I did. It has features I like better (faster and easier). Such is the real market place.
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/02/19 05:21 AM.
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I have Audacity. It is a wonderful waveform editor program that I use to edit wave files. Audacity is also my preferred computer based digital recorder. I use Audacity to convert audio files from wave to MP3 formats. I find that for editing, recording or file conversions Audacity is far and away the most stable and crash resistant, easiest, fastest and accurate program for my use while performing those tasks. However, Audacity doesn't replace RealBand in my music toolbox. I haven't tried to use RealBand as a file editor, pc based recorder or file convertor tool.
I primarily use RealBand to add more audio content to Band-in-a-Box song projects. That is a task that RealBand excels in performing. I can't use Audacity because Audacity has too many limitations to complete that task. Audacity doesn't work with styles. Audacity doesn't work with MIDI. Audacity doesn't work with soft synths. Audacity can't import SGU or MGU song projects. Audacity can't guide a RealTracks instrument through the chords embedded in a chord sheet. Audacity can't create multi-riffs. Audacity can't use MIDISuperTracks. Not using RealBand means giving up the capability to easily add audio content to my Band-in-a-Box projects.
Jim Fogle - 2025 BiaB (Build 1128) RB (Build 5) - Ultra+ PAK DAWs: Cakewalk Sonar - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8 Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home
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Yes I agree Jim with everything in your post. I screwed up the BIAB tracks on two songs during the live jam recording. I tried to go back and use RealBand to insert them. I got the click track set and the bars lined up and it did not abort. Unfortunately it aborted on me when I tried the generate. I get the impression that RealBand 2016 was a very buggy release (maybe rushing to release the nodes).
The important part of my post is automating the dumps. I believe sharp programmers can figure this out if they are pushed to do so (automated abort processing - do not rely on the user to report them. Many users will be pissed of and in no mood to help at that point. They are more likely to look elsewhere and I am very glad I did so in a way it was a blessing in disguise.). If a company is under pressure to make the mistake of releasing programs before proper testing they should at least do this much and get back to users when the solution is found. Why am I pushing this? To help get PGmusic to think about this and increase chances they will continue to survive (loosing BIAB would be a shame - two very important MS-access tools were lost due to the companies going out of business - I am not sure why but the idea is don't think it can't happen - releasing buggy software is a big mistake - better to delay until you get it right). Think about this possible scenario (I still have BIAB 2016. I get an auto generated email. Your bug for this and that is fixed. It gives me another reason to upgrade because I would be truly impressed).
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/02/19 02:03 PM.
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I'm glad it works for you. I don't think it is reasonable to do this every session.
I also notice that some people have zero issues and some have frequent problems. Those of us who have problems aren't stupid and we don't have poor equipment, so I don't understand.
I like the RB interface. I love some of the things it can do. I just couldn't get it to do them without frequent problems. Some features such as time stretch never worked.
I suggested a long time ago that PG work to make this program more stable. As long as it is considered a free add-on, I don't think they will. But I am glad it works for many of you. I also appreciate all the help this forum gave me as I struggled with RB.
i5-3210 laptop. Win 10 Home. 2.5ghz, 64 bit. 6gb RAM. Focusrite Scarlet 2i2.
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I second everything 2bSolo said as well.
Maybe upgrading to RB 2019 may have helped but I was not sure and I don't want to see any more aborts. I needed a fix fast I could trust and Audacity gave most of it to me. Removing the BIAB track was not a big issue (just a jam). That issue was caused by my error. I don't blame RB for that one. However it is advertised as being able to help and it could not. That is the key point. Saying a software can do something but it really can't is not good especially when on top of that it wastes people's time. I don't trust RB now. Some companies make the absolute worst mistake of blaming the user. The fact that PGmusic is not doing this is a good sign.
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/02/19 02:12 PM.
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It took me awhile, at least maybe a year, to adjust my way of working to the way RealBand operates enough that the program would operate without crashing too often. But, it still crashes more often than I would like.
2bSolo, your right in your observation some users often seem to have RealBand crashes while other rarely do. I can't speak for others but for me it was a learning process. I constantly had to think about what I was doing when a crash happened, what could I do to adjust so it wouldn't happen again, test and see if my adjustment works. I discovered a couple of weak spots in how the program operates and try to avoid them.
Save, save, save! You can't save too often. The more often you save the less often you crash!
Every now and then use save as and save the project under a new name. If, or when, your project crashes, close the program, open the program and open the last project name that worked. You've lost whatever you did from the time of the last save as to the time the crash happened but ... you didn't completely lose the project!
If you use a feature like the gain or volume nodes you need to use extra care. In addition to the saves and save as you need to take steps specific to the feature like clean-up nodes, don't move any node up, down, left or right too much. In other words, don't create a node unless you need it and when you do create one, create it where you need it.
So, the program is temperamental. I wish it wasn't but it is. Learn what sets it off and minimize those things.
Everyone has to decide for themself if the benefits outweigh the effort required. For me, it does.
Jim Fogle - 2025 BiaB (Build 1128) RB (Build 5) - Ultra+ PAK DAWs: Cakewalk Sonar - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8 Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home
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Thanks Jim, It took me awhile, at least maybe a year, to adjust my way of working to the way RealBand operates enough that the program would operate without crashing too often. But, it still crashes more often than I would like.
This is the reality with much software. All programmers know programs should ideally never abort. The program should anticipate everything that comes at it and deal with it (example: popups when the user makes an error). It is a tall order and generally only very mature programs are this advanced. Ones with big money behind them like banking software or brokerage software. I constantly had to think about what I was doing when a crash happened, what could I do to adjust so it wouldn't happen again, test and see if my adjustment works. I discovered a couple of weak spots in how the program operates and try to avoid them. Yes. Always. With BIAB I had a macro doing some things to control it. BIAB would bomb and I would need to do a factory reset. I changed my macro to make it better for me and much to my surprise the macro change fixed the BIAB bombing. I have no idea why and no time to go back and figure it out. Save, save, save! You can't save too often. The more often you save the less often you crash!
Every now and then use save as and save the project under a new name. If, or when, your project crashes, close the program, open the program and open the last project name that worked. You've lost whatever you did from the time of the last save as to the time the crash happened but ... you didn't completely lose the project! This did not work for me. It should but something deeper was going on. I documented a procedure to do my mixes. About 8 major steps. At the end of each step I would save (it was part of the instructions). I would name the step after the song name. Returning the file did not fix an abort. I think bad data was getting saved. So for example I would close down the program, do the standard RB reset when prompted, return the file and it would immediately abort again. I think I even tried shutting down windows once and I got the same result. In other words it created the problem and it was a long time before its ugly head finally surfaced. Now that was very annoying. If you use a feature like the gain or volume nodes you need to use extra care. In addition to the saves and save as you need to take steps specific to the feature like clean-up nodes, don't move any node up, down, left or right too much. In other words, don't create a node unless you need it and when you do create one, create it where you need it. Yes, I am not surprised this feature would introduce bugs. Audacity seems to have it down pat. RB is better in that it gives you a number to reset to but in a way that isn't that important. Audacity is so fast at zooming in and out I just eye ball it and hear it (have to do that anyways). But getting back to the aborts it the program auto saved the info from the abort and asked the user to leave the machine on overnight while it uploaded the dump to PGmusic also telling them they would eventually get back to them when the fix was in place this would give users a lot of confidence. The program needs a detailed log of what it is doing upload as well as the user info for the problem is fixed emailing. I think it would need a central switch that can be used to turn the log writes off once they feel the bug is fixed. It I remember correctly Multicharts did the reverse. They built this into their programs anticipating potential problems and only if the bugs showed would they turn the log on. They would turn it on for sections of the program. However they did not have a (when fixed notification system). So, the program is temperamental. I wish it wasn't but it is. Learn what sets it off and minimize those things. Everyone has to decide for themselves if the benefits outweigh the effort required. For me, it does. True. I never had any aborts when creating acid loops. I put one in my BIAB backing tracks on one song. I will rarely use it. If cleaning up nodes is something that helps prevent the bugs this probably can be automated. The programmers are in a much better position to know when to do this and why. That should be blatantly obvious but may be it is only obvious to me because I am a programmer. The irony is if they put this in they probably can fix the issue and it may not be needed. Can't say for sure but I give it pretty high odds. After all they wrote the routine to clean it up didn't they. Who knows. Maybe this is why Audacity works so well in this way. Maybe every time you place a volume node it calls a clean up routine.
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/03/19 03:57 AM.
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In a prior post I indicated I decided to try Audacity because I did not trust PGmusic to have fixed their volume-nodes causing aborts issue. I just realized last night why I made that decision. If PGmusic has zero documentation on volume nodes (except one video which does not even mention gain-nodes) then the odds that they have had time and resources to fix the abort issue is very low. It is interesting how the unconscious mind helps us make decisions without our even being aware of what it is thinking.
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FWIW I went thru a period where PT/RB gave me issues with hanging. That problem went away a couple updates later. Don't recall if it was 2016 or not.
What I found was that a process called STOM.EXE would get stuck open. When it happened you could see it in the Task Manager process list after closing RB/PT. Manually closing it (End Task) would cure it for a while. Not sure what triggered the problem, assumed it was a plugin, but anyway I haven't seen the issue in years.
Jeff couldn't duplicate it at the time so it may have been machine/environment specific, but somehow something fixed it.
Last edited by rharv; 05/04/19 04:28 AM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
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Truth. You want RB to be perfect right? Me too but not at the cost of Peter selling PGM to Sony, Adobe or any of the other big guns. I've been making my living for 10 years with RB and have close to 300 songs. I also probably have the most complex setup of anyone here as well. I work the program hard.
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I've been making my living for 10 years with RB and have close to 300 songs. This is a much more interesting topic than my former issue with RB because I found something that works perfect and it only took me 4 hours to learn everything I need to know and probably ever will need to know since I am a jazz guitarist and won't deviate from that primary objective. How do you generate your revenue with Realband?
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/04/19 05:45 AM.
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Play live in South Texas.
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Cool! Do you use just RealBand or a mix of BIAB and RealBand? Do you play an instrument as well (doing something sort of similar to what I am doing but in my case I am not trying to make a living).
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/04/19 05:49 AM.
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Strictly RB. I use 2 audio cards for a total of 10 outputs into a digital stage box mixer. The mixer interface is software. I also use 1 midi track utilizing MIDI YOKE to trigger Qlite Controller+ to automate my lights. 3k watt PA with subs. I can kick [*****]. And do! BTW I only play live.I don't make cds. Biab no longer offers me anymore that RB can't do. In the first years I ran RB on a P2-400 with very little ram. I doubt anyone is using that old of a machine.
Last edited by silvertones; 05/04/19 06:32 AM.
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Interesting Pipeline. Mostly over my head :-) I am a lot different. I spend up to 9 hours a day practicing guitar after retiring from programming and market trading which was a deviation from my prior career of guitar teaching which I did for 13 years. I only use BIAB because people change their mind last minute requiring instant adjustment to the number of repeats in the backing tracks we use (normally drums since the current restaurant room is a bit small for drums). RB can't do this instant adjustment (I tried just out of curiosity). Peter wants RB perfect too of course and I am sure these aborts will eventually be fixed and at roughly the same time more documentation will be in place. Nodes are simply a sub-project that is not 100% complete yet (once it is complete the button for the users to clean up the nodes will be removed because it will be automated - a temp step might be documentation as to when to click that button). Like I said MultiCharts had issues in the early days and it has a lot less now. In 2005 MultiCharts was started.. But MC is a fairly expensive program (Cost me $630 in 2007 and now costs about $1,700). RB is free. It might take longer for RB to get close to perfect in that it rarely aborts. I am a bit surprised Audacity is still free. But then again I am not a recording engineer and I also have probably only used 2% of its features. Maybe it has lots of bugs in some of the other features. Most people make investments that are correct for themselves at the moment. Peter, myself and you. When removing bugs in RB is a good investment for Peter he will make it so. When he does that I may never know and may never try RB nodes again which is why I made some of the earlier suggestions. At present to know of these improvements I would need a routine to review the RB release notes yearly with a few key word searches (reading them all is too much work). My suggestions ultimately are a type of marketing idea. Number of aborts could be considered a leading indicator to an uninstall decision and many programs these days ask why one is uninstalling. It might be better if the user knows in advance the company has a record of your aborts and will get back to you when they are fixed. Just a thought.
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/04/19 07:07 AM.
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So here it is (the idea spelled out).
RB aborts but it is not a lock up. A popup comes up that says this.
The program has aborted and information is being saved to disk so we can later upload it to PGmusic for inspection and later contact you by email when the problem has been fixed. Please wait a moment for the next popup.
Once it is finished another popup appears saying.
Please check a checkbox to indicate a good hour during the day to upload the information to PGmusic. Your computer will need to be left on during this time. You can also check the checkbox at the bottom to indicate if you want your computer turned off after all of these uploads have completed. It will only be turned off it nothing else is running at the time. If your computer is not on during the hour indicated for upload it will continue to check daily until the information is uploaded.
The error routine should remember the settings.
How the dumps would be grouped for response or even bypass is the big question. There may be some manual work involved in this. What I am saying is you would want to be sure the correct people got notice of the fix and be sure there are no emails going out to incorrect people. You would also want to not send out more than one email if the user had 10 dumps related to a fix. I don't think this is really all that difficult to manage (just proper sorting and tagging possibly). The thing is putting this together would force a company to really have their act together when it comes to processing aborts. Having users switch to other software without the company being aware of it or aware of why is not a good thing. I could have just silently done that. But it is better for PGmusic in the long run if I speak my mind and introduce these ideas. They may need some sub-ideas to make them work (often the case). Do this very very well and you might have trouble getting rid of customers and also get more upgrades too :-)
Last edited by bowlesj; 05/04/19 10:18 AM.
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Oh I do play bass and sing live.Forgot to answer.
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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!
New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2025!
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
Check out all the 202 New RealTracks (in sets 456-467)
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!
The 2025 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2025 49-PAK!
Bonus PAKs for Band-in-a-Box 2025 for Mac!
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
Learn more about the Bonus PAKs for Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®!
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!
Learn more and listen to demos of the Xtra Styles PAK 20.
Video: Xtra Styles PAK 20 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch 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!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
Video: XPro Styles PAK 9 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch 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!
Learn more and listen to demos of the Xtra Styles PAK 20.
Video: Xtra Styles PAK 20 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch 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.
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