PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows BIAB too ambitious ?

[Edit] ** The question was about RealTracks but I replied about RealStyles - I'm not yet ready to tackle those separately yet.**

Let me preface this with some background: I started using BIAB just this year with BIAB 2019 Pro. I brought up a a concern similar to yours in the forum recently. As still a "newbie" to BIAB (certainly as compared to others here), and not heavily into digital music production, my take on this is that you have to approach BIAB with the view that its design and traditional main function has been as a backing track software, which I believe is top notch. It doesn't have the look or the feel of many of the modern digital music production products out there, since it has evolved over the years and the interface has morphed but not had a complete makeover.

One of the ways in which PG Music has adapted, in my view, is to develop the BIAB DAW plugin feature so that you can combine the strengths of the product with the power and completely different focus and purpose of a DAW. I haven't really experimented with it much but others on the forum certainly have and may be able to comment.

I'll describe my initial dilemma with the product, and perhaps this will provide some help. At first I was just blown away with the amazing things you could do with it - basically crank out a full fledged instrumental song with a full band, solos and everything in just a few minutes, in styles from Jazz to Country to Rock. That's the easy part. I could quickly throw together a fully fleshed out song, then import it into GarageBand in my iPad, record some vocals and have a fully baked song, with a professional sounding band, which I could not possibly have done on my own.

Then I started to realize that most of the built in styles are based on Jazz, Blues and Country, although there is a mix of more modern styles like in recent versions and if you get the Ultrapak, there are significantly more choices in that version than the Pro. To get a flavor of the RealTrack styles that are in each RealTracks set, you can use the link below:

https://www.pgmusic.com/tutorial_realtrackslist.htm

So at this point, I started thinking, what if I wanted to create something that would sound more like Billie Eilish or Lizzo, or even Adele? They don't seem to fit cleanly into any of those styles. This is where I would need others to chime in with more input. I'm in the process of discovering how to take BIAB and make it work it less "out of the box" if you get my drift, and I'm certain that the possibilities are there - but it may take some experimentation and creativity to bring that out. I'm sure that I have not even tapped into 10% of the power and capabilities of this software yet, and for the price, for me, it can't be beat, so I'm really digging into it now.

I'll share just a bit of my philosophy about music creation here too. Now, there are the tools and equipment and the creator. A great creator will find ways to make the tools and equipment produce greatness. Bo Diddley could take an old wooden box and some fishing string and get you tapping your foot and dancing. So I try not to fall prey to the pitch that the latest and greatest software package will enable me to crank out a smash hit. Sure, it's amazing what you can do with some of this stuff, especially if you're willing to shell out thousands of dollars, and if it produces a result that you like, great. But what makes the difference between a good track and a great one is not the tool, but the heart, passion and talent of the creator - you.

One other thing that I've started to appreciate recently is the insight that BIAB gives you into the music structure and theory, and I have yet to find anything else that comes close with such ease and at the price point, so if you're interested in becoming more educated in music theory, that's definitely a strength too.

Regarding the bugs, there does seem to be a lot of activity posted on those, but in my daily use I don't run into many, and when I have they were fixed promptly, and the support response was very good.

Finally, for any potential customers, remember that if you purchase the product from PG Music, there is a 30 day refund policy - see the site for details. You really can't go wrong if you can spare the purchase price and a couple hundred gig or so on a spare hard drive.

OK - I'll get off my soapbox now ...

I welcome others to add their own views and experience, especially if you have a difference of opinion with me - I welcome friendly debate.