I must say I think jr has a point. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for some slick, ultra-modern eye-candy piece of CPU and memory hogging kind of UI that loses functionality 'cos you can no longer find anything - a la Office 2007/vista/Win7.

No, rather, just some attention to detail and a more regular, logical layout. My own experience is that you "get used" to it, but that really isn't good enough. I like BIAB, haven't looked at RB yet 'cos I really don't have the need. BIAB does far more than my current requirements as it is really just a sophisticated rehearsal tool for me. I don't even use the notation editor because, despite its supporters, I still reckon it is far too mouse oriented. So if I need a melody, I create it in NWC, export as MIDI and import - WA-A-AY quicker for me.

And before I get jumped on, I realise I have zero studio experience, zero music (electronic) production experience, and probably zero other "important" areas of background to really "appreciate" what BIAB can do. That's all irrelevant. Two years ago I was a newbie to the product. I still am... Why? My time is limited, I need a product that is quick and easy to learn or it will take literally years for me to get up to speed. This is how BIAB is for me.

In fairness, I'm having to learn more than just how to use the product, there's all that background mentioned above I somehow need to make up for too.

BUT, if the UI were to be improved then my learning curve would be more of a mountain and less of a sheer precipice to ascend... Unfortunately, I'm at a loss to explain HOW to really improve it because I still haven't come to grips with all the functionality of BIAB. Like Mac says, I don't know what it is that I don't know, and the UI is making it harder for me to leap that particular hurdle.

RB appears to be the same in important areas, let me cite an example from just this morning (my time):
From the Windows 7 Oddities thread in the RB forum:
Quote:

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the feedback! After heeding your advice, I've seen the following changes in the StyleList.
Real Styles 264 increased to 344
Styles with RealTracks 765 increased to 857
Styles with RealDrums 755 stayed at 755

Are you or anyone else able to confirm that the numbers of RealTrack styles are correct now?

Hi rharv,

Thanks for wading in. I believe the situation you describe is exactly what happened to me. I don't typically launch a program from the install, but I'm pretty sure I did in this case. Figures!

Glen



Looked interesting so I scrolled up to find what Andrew had said:
Quote:

Quote:

As far as the missing styles go, I fixed that myself. I missed one of the 14 RealTrack DVDs during the install. This is a summary of the RealTrack styles now, does this sound right?



That looks pretty close. Open the RealTracks window, and then check the box 'Show styles that are NA' at the bottom. Do you have any N/A (not available) instruments? This is a good way to verify that you have all of the RealTracks to date. If you have any N/A, you could sort then by Set number (by clicking at the top of that column) and see if there is a particular set you are missing.

Once you have done that, I would next download the latest RealTracks update for sets 67-82 to make sure you aren't missing any of the latest .STY files. There were some .STY (Band-in-a-Box styles) added after the initial release.
http://www.pgmusic.com/support_windows_realdrums.htm#RealTracks67-82



Seems reasonable? Does to me, so I thought I check it out on my own copy of RB - just out of curiosity - can someone PLEASE tell me where to find
Quote:

Open the RealTracks window, and then check the box 'Show styles that are NA' at the bottom.


'cos it sure ain't obvious to me... I've searched every menu and button I can find and the closest thing there is to anything that resembles something associated with "Styles" is the button with the ellipses (...) next to the style name field. This thing takes you to an open file dialogue so's you can go find a style by name - OK if you know the name of what you want but useless to me...

To make matters worse, how do you select a style in the way you can in BIAB - I found it by accident - you click on the style field itself, not a button, and it still doesn't have what I'm looking for...

I'm sorry guys, but this UI is too "existing user" oriented. If you know your way round it's probably easy, if you're brand new to things PGMusic it's near impossible. UI's should be as intuitive as possible - the CUI (Common User Interface) standard was created for a reason (though m$ seem to be moving away from it with Office 2k7 etc.) - as a seasoned computer user (over 25 years as a professional in the game) I should be able to get reasonable functionality without going anywhere near a user guide. The guide should only be necessary for me when I start to get into the more complex and/or esoteric features - not the BASICS.

--=-- My credo: If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing - just ask my missus, she'll tell ya laugh --=--
You're only paranoid if you're wrong!