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Me too, Rob.
BB is great at what it does at my simplistic level.
I don't need it to look Space Age or like "X" because they like "X".
I don't 'get' midi so more RTs the better.
RB - I haven't booted up 2019 since I installed it.

My guess for the release date of BIAB 2020 is Nov. 30th.
(There should be a "pool" on this with the winner getting a free upgrade!)

LLOYD S

My guess for the 2020 BiaB for Windows release time and date is 12:00 AM PST, Saturday, November 30, 2019. That's Friday night / Saturday morning.

My guess for a surprise, new feature for 2020 Band-in-a-Box for Windows is the bar limitation will be extended from 255 bars to 999 bars.

Not a nice computer number like 1023?

Nope, it will be 999. PG Music will "humanize" the number of bars versus relying on a number restricted by the power of 2.

Guys, I think this is the year for the bar specific regeneration to arrive. Not like what is played between Bar 8 and 12 - just select those bars, pick which track you want to change, and hit "Regen-Selection". Coming Dec 6, 2019 late in the evening.

Funny. I’m sure you’re kidding because it would be a waste not to use every possible bar. But if they can break out of 8-bit addressing, then why stop at anything short of millions? 256 states (0 through 255) is 8-bit, 512 with one more bit, then 1024 etc. but why not use 16 or even 32?

Of course everyone wants this. The reason it may not happen is that every existing song file would have to be converted. But I wish they would.

We'll get 64bit RB

Excellent guess. We can certainly hope.

Why not 64 bit's? It's only 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 or in English:

one hundred and eighty-four quintillion, with the minor nuisance of some left over quadrillion's and change of a few additional trillion+

Larry

Larry, you could play a song with that many measures till the end of the sun's life and not finish it.

Since this thread is all speculation, I'll make a guess we are late on the release of BIAB 2020 Windows this season. PG Music is still actively working on patches to the 64-bit BIAB 2019 for Mac, itself delayed in release from past history. I hope I'm wrong but if I'm not, there's a legitimate reason. And no, I don't know anything you don't.

Maybe we'll get a release with 0 New Features but still a bunch of new RealTracks? Maybe the RealTracks team has been busy with their regular tasks while the programming team works on 2019?

I for one would be perfectly happy with a new release that was RealTracks only.

My prediction is November 30!

I'm as basic as it gets for producing songs in BIAB. I probably comprehend and/or use less than 10% of the features. But, I'm okay with that. What would I like to see? Simple:

1. Regeneration by the bar

2. A lot of new new RT's and Super Midis

That would satisfy me completely.

I've made a little money with songs I've created using just BIAB and Audacity. I have no expectations of "making it" using BIAB. I made oodles of money playing live for close to 50 years. Most of it (close to $100,000.00) disappeared when our granddaughter was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer at age 19 and had no insurance. But no complaints about the money - she's now 25 and doing well.

Now, I just want to create some new, fun stuff and have a good time doing it. If I get a royalty check once in a while and a few folks enjoy listening ... so much the better.

We all have different perceptions and motivations. These are mine. Wishing everyone the very best ...

Alan

Alan, many users have posted thoughts that PG Music products are not good enough to create commercial audio content. I'm sure MANY users are interested in learning more about how you've used BiaB and Audacity to make commercial songs.

Jim ...

I'll post more about that this evening. We're headed to our daughter's house in about half an hour ... her birthday. But ... it';s so utterly basic and simple, most folks might think it's still inadequate. I don't even use a DAW! Nope ... don't use Real Band, either. It's straight from the chord input sheet to Audacity. I'll give more detail this evening.

My predictive abilities have been abysmal over the years. I don't have a good crystal ball, I have a ball covered in mud. But in the spirit of self flagellation here I go:

None of these enhancements to Biab will happen, there will be some tweaks but nothing major that's on all of our wishlists. We'll get a great collection of new RT's and super midi's which will be good but the software enhancements will be focused on the VST. I think they're still wiping the egg off their faces about releasing it last year and it will be greatly improved. Pipeline will be happy. Or not. (Trying to wipe the mud off my ball and it just ain't working, that stuff is sticky...)

Bob

Hi Everyone ...

Jim suggested that several folks might be interested in how I record adequately to get airplay or movie acceptance on original songs I’ve written by using only BIAB and Audacity. I’ll do my best to explain. It’s a simple process but not quite so simple to explain.

First, I work out the chords … all of them, not just the basics … on my guitar until I’m satisfied with them. I then enter the chords onto the chord input sheet of BIAB. Then I select a style that might work. Sometimes I have to change styles a time or two in order to get exactly what I want.

Then I select the backing tracks. I usually delete some of the tracks from the selected style and replace them with other RTs. Occasionally I’ll add my own guitar tracks … depends on how much my Focal Dystonia is acting up (A disease that significantly affects the use and coordination of the fingers and hand).

I then use the basic mixer indigenous to BIAB and work my butt off using the panning, volume, tone, etc., as well as the plugins that come with the program. I use the PGDynamics plugin a lot … it’s much like a loudness control on a power amp. Sometimes I spend 2 to 3 hours doing just that. Greg Johnson has seen some of my SGUs and MGUs … I think he could affirm that I do a lot of work behind the scenes on the chord input sheet. The BIAB simple mixer is as far as I go using BIAB.

I also save the individual tracks as wave files and send them over to Audacity. In Audacity, I simply have more finite control over the adjustments I made in the BIAB chord input sheet. In Audacity, I fine-tune the tone, add compression as needed, fade/cut the tracks in and out as necessary.

For vocals, I record them directly into Audacity using an AT 2035 mic. I don’t use a PA type mixer. I use my guitar amp (Peavey Nashville 112) as my power source and then run the vocal from the amp through my TC Helicon VoiceLive/Play for effects. If I need any affects for the vocals, that’s where I get them. I then feed that into my computer’s mic input for recording directly into Audacity. I don’t record the vocals dry … I apply the reverb live from my amp. I much prefer the warmth of spring reverb over any digital reverb I’ve heard.

Once I have all the tracks, including the vocal, loaded in Audacity, I do the fine tuning, as I described above, until I’m satisfied. I then save the final output as both a high-quality MP3 and as a wave file. Some sites only allow MP3s to be loaded … that’s primarily why I do the MP3 save.

I take that final save in Wave format and load it onto Soundcloud and Songtradr. I load the MP3 versions on a couple of other music sites.

I’m done! I’ve received numerous complements on my mixes (thanks folks!), so I guess I’m doing something right.

I’ve tried repeatedly to learn some of the various mixing programs … haven’t a clue what they’re talking about. I still have no clue what an envelope or a buss is. Most of the software makes a lot of assumptions about the users’ basic recording knowledge … I have N-O-N-E! I made a ton of money playing guitar over the years … never once asked about the recording side of it. Setting up the PA was the extent of my knowledge. I’m still not sure what the difference between a parallel and series connection is. I just knew what to plug in and where to make it work.

The money I’ve made (from my original songs) is from a few movies (several in Europe and one in Russia) and overhead music distributors. The overhead is the music you hear from the ceiling speakers at malls and restaurants. Do I make a lot of money? Nope … a hundred or so dollars yearly from the overhead plays and various amounts from the movies (from $400.00 up to $2,000.00). All total, I’ve made about six thousand dollars over the past eight or nine years. It made some of my car payments and a steak dinner here and there.

Yes, my method is primitive ... probably bordering on professionally barbaric. Either I don't need all the other stuff everyone else uses ... or I do and don't realize it.

Regardless of how you record, I wish all of you great success with your music.

For those who haven't heard any of my music, here's a link to my best instrumental (in my opinion) of an instrumental using that method: https://soundcloud.com/alananddi/late-night

And here's a vocal by my wife, Di, again, using the same method: https://soundcloud.com/alananddi/dance-of-love-remix


Alan

Thanks Alan for generously sharing your workflow and experiences. This can be very helpful to others.

I use my guitar amp (Peavey Nashville 112) as my power source and then run the vocal from the amp through my TC Helicon Voice Live/Play

Never thought of trying amp then voice live. I just go straight in to voice live and I have to watch for clipping as the pre amp is good need to give it a go with an amp first then voice live.

Thanks