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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Using Focusrite Scarlett with a iPad or laptop does it really help improve the song?
Rich
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I have a Scarlett 18i20, big machine, the preamps really improved my songs.
Al the best.
Antonello
I muri sono creature... scontrose
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There is a whole new class of USB2 interfaces out now shipping beginning October. All have a Blend/Mix or similar knob and promise near-zero latency. Everyone's using the same ICs but the feature list varies. Focusrite's version is called 3rd Generation and those are the ones you want. Avoid the older ones. https://focusrite.com/news/introducing-scarlett-3rd-genI just bought a Mackie mixer with one of these new interfaces built in and love it. I will probably buy the MOTU M4 for the desktop soon but am waiting for NAMM to see what others are releasing. The Mix or Blend between input and output plus extremely low latency over USB 2 is the hallmark of all of these from MOTU, Mackie, Native Instruments, Behringer, RME, M-Audio, PreSonus and a few others I'm forgetting. AKG has a new podcasting mic with that interface built in, too. Mackie has desktop boxes and 6–30 channel traditional mixers (mine is a 12). BTW, USB-C is just a connector. None of these is USB 3 except the PreSonus and none are USB 3.1 or Thunderbolt. Frankly, the round trip is so fast (2.8ms) that USB-2 is fine. Everyone is coming out with something and the prices are low. It's a buyer's market.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
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Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Back to your question. Using Focusrite Scarlett with a iPad or laptop does it really help improve the song? It depends what you're doing and how you want to do it. If recording vocals to go with your BIAB tracks, then yes, better mic preamps are, well... better. If you're already using a Mackie with VLZ or Onyx mic pres, then save your money unless lower latency is the goal. Focusrite, MOTU, Mackie and RME are noted for the cleanliness of their mic pres. M-Audio and Behringer, uh... not so much. All the new interfaces are similarly priced for the same feature set. This allows you to nitpick among the other features before spending your money. The MOTU M2/M4 has Mac drivers that let channels 1 & 2 have independent blend controls and shave .2ms off the round trip. MOTU and NI have nice meters though they do it differently. As I posted earlier, besides desktop boxes, Mackie has traditional mixers and the entire line of USB 2 interfaces features their high-gain Onyx preamps. PreSonus actually USB3 which shaves about .8 ms off the round trip (yep, that's all). If all you need is a microphone, the AKG Lyric has this built in. iPad only The Apple USB3 Camera Connection Kit is required on the Apple side for the lowest latency with your iPad and has a spare 12V (iPad charger) charging port. If you have a 3rd gen iPad Pro, then you have USB3 already through the USB-C port. With any of these new interfaces, you are going to monitor from the interface. You can put a piece of tape over the headphone jack; it's now officially obsolete. Taping over the 'phone jack lessens the chance of moisture damage and taking out your motherboard by having someone bump a plug (this actually happened to me). If you have an older USB interface into an iPad, you can use a USB3 audio hub into the CCK and monitor off it instead, I use this unit from UGREEN. Though it has its own 5V charging port, I run mine with bus power—very little draw from my iPad Pro 2nd generation. If someone knocks the jack, I'm out only $16. https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-External-A...49262&psc=1There's no such thing as true zero latency but the latest units (including that UGREEN) are so fast that you can't hear it.
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Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Focusrite's version is called 3rd Generation and those are the ones you want. Avoid the older ones.
I've got a 1st generation Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 here, no problems with it whatsoever. I use it for recording guitar tracks, no noticeable latency.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Focusrite's version is called 3rd Generation and those are the ones you want. Avoid the older ones.
I've got a 1st generation Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 here, no problems with it whatsoever. I use it for recording guitar tracks, no noticeable latency. And there's nothing wrong with that but you have to set it up within an app to fake low latency. It's USB 1.1 and 1/10 the round trip speed of the new units. I'm still using my MOTU 828mkII FireWire (through the Apple FW–TB converter into a TB 2 dock into a TB2–TB3 converter into the USB-C port on my iMac Pro — Yikes!) which is a little faster and I've set it up to work great. It's 13 years old, now, and better is out there for a lot less than I paid in 2007. The new units are using a chip set that allows them a 2.7 ms RT right out of the box—actual USB 2 speeds. No need to compensate in the app. It just works through the blend control. Among other features are 24-bit/192kHz converters. It doesn't matter who the manufacturer is — they're all using the same core ICs and they're extremely good. This now lets you shop features such as the actual mic pres, metering, I/Os, form factor and so on. I'm looking at the MOTU M4 ($219) but a Scarlett 4i4 ($229) would work fine for me. I like the M4's metering, however and the ability to have separate blend controls for R/L if I install the Mac drivers. I really don't think the .2 ms speed increase (with the drivers only) will make a difference. The thread is about what to buy now. A Scarlett older than Gen 3 is obsolete and the new ones are so much better and quite inexpensive. It makes no sense to buy the old versions at any price. I am not recommending that you toss yours just because it's old. Same as I'm not rushing to buy my daughter a new unit. Her 1st Gen Scarlett is doing quite well, too. NAMM is still a month away. Waiting to see what else gets announced before I pull the trigger.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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What version of the mackie did you buy?
do you connect to the mackie using usb? Instead of headphones jack?
I appreciate your help
Thanks
Rich
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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What version of the mackie did you buy?
do you connect to the mackie using usb? Instead of headphones jack?
I appreciate your help
Thanks
Rich
Yes, I connect via USB. It's the 12 channel version of this: https://mackie.com/products/profxv3-professional-effects-mixers-usbIt behaves like any of the other new USB 2 recording interfaces with the Blend/Mix control. I first bought the 6 channel version but it took up more desk space than I liked — records great, though. I want a smaller package on my desk and may buy the Scarlett Gen 3, MOTU M4 unless something else blows me away at NAMM in a few weeks. The 12 channel plus my MacBook Pro is my new remote rig. The mixer + MBP fits the gig bag from my old 1402vlzPro but it weighs about 5 lb. less.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
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Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Focusrite's version is called 3rd Generation and those are the ones you want. Avoid the older ones.
I've got a 1st generation Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 here, no problems with it whatsoever. I use it for recording guitar tracks, no noticeable latency. And there's nothing wrong with that but you have to set it up within an app to fake low latency. It's USB 1.1 and 1/10 the round trip speed of the new units. The Focusrite Scarlett series have been USB 2 from the beginning.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Focusrite's version is called 3rd Generation and those are the ones you want. Avoid the older ones.
I've got a 1st generation Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 here, no problems with it whatsoever. I use it for recording guitar tracks, no noticeable latency. And there's nothing wrong with that but you have to set it up within an app to fake low latency. It's USB 1.1 and 1/10 the round trip speed of the new units. The Focusrite Scarlett series have been USB 2 from the beginning. Nope. It's easy to be confused on this point. The Gen 3 interfaces operate at "high speed USB 2.0" and are not backwards compatible. This is true of all of the new USB 2 interfaces released since August 2019 that use this new chip set, no matter which manufacturer. The 1st & 2nd generation Scarletts may require firmware upgrades to become USB 2 Class Compliant. In addition, they require apps to compensate for latency. The 1st gen uses Scarlett Mix Control while the 2nd gen uses Focusrite Control, both downloadable from the support site. Personally, I've already bought the Mackie FxPro12v3 with this same technology because I like the Onyx preamps and get seven along with a standard mixer layout for $329. I want a smaller box for my desktop, however. The Scarlett 4i4 gen 3 ($229) and MOTU M4 ($219) are the likely contenders — unless something blows me away at NAMM this week.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia/Tahoe, M1 & M5 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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The 1st & 2nd generation Scarletts may require firmware upgrades to become USB 2 Class Compliant. In addition, they require apps to compensate for latency. The 1st gen uses Scarlett Mix Control while the 2nd gen uses Focusrite Control, both downloadable from the support site. I really think that you must be thinking of something else, because my 1st get Scarlett 2i4 is connected as a USB 2 device, and I don’t have any Focusrite software installed. Nor have I ever installed a firmware update. The manual for the 1g 2i4 says Note that Scarlett 2i4 is a USB 2.0 device, and thus the USB connection requires a USB 2.0+ compliant port on your computer. It will not operate correctly with USB 1.0/1.1 ports
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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The 1st & 2nd generation Scarletts may require firmware upgrades to become USB 2 Class Compliant. In addition, they require apps to compensate for latency. The 1st gen uses Scarlett Mix Control while the 2nd gen uses Focusrite Control, both downloadable from the support site. I really think that you must be thinking of something else, because my 1st get Scarlett 2i4 is connected as a USB 2 device, and I don’t have any Focusrite software installed. Nor have I ever installed a firmware update. The manual for the 1g 2i4 says Note that Scarlett 2i4 is a USB 2.0 device, and thus the USB connection requires a USB 2.0+ compliant port on your computer. It will not operate correctly with USB 1.0/1.1 ports Indeed. Also the statement " In addition, they require apps to compensate for latency." is false.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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The 1st & 2nd generation Scarletts may require firmware upgrades to become USB 2 Class Compliant. In addition, they require apps to compensate for latency. The 1st gen uses Scarlett Mix Control while the 2nd gen uses Focusrite Control, both downloadable from the support site. I really think that you must be thinking of something else, because my 1st get Scarlett 2i4 is connected as a USB 2 device, and I don’t have any Focusrite software installed. Nor have I ever installed a firmware update. The manual for the 1g 2i4 says Note that Scarlett 2i4 is a USB 2.0 device, and thus the USB connection requires a USB 2.0+ compliant port on your computer. It will not operate correctly with USB 1.0/1.1 ports Indeed. Also the statement " In addition, they require apps to compensate for latency." is false. Focusrite disagrees with you. It's all on their web site—look under Support. Frankly, I don't care one bit for the pissing contest you armchair experts seem to crave. I was answering the OP. I've done that and am through with this topic. I will neither read nor respond to this thread. My work here is done.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia/Tahoe, M1 & M5 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture
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????
The user manual for the first generation 2i4 clearly states it is a USB 2.0 device. It is also clearly marked as a USB 2.0 device at the back of the unit. And I'm not running any apps to compensate for latency.
But, believe what you want.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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For what it's worth, the Focusrite Saffire 6 USB was a 1.1 device whose last version was upgraded to USB 2. It's been out of production for a while, though.
Anyway, if you find a good deal on a Scarlett 2i4 1G, I've been pretty happy with mine for quite a while.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac - Special Offers End at 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th, 2026!
Order before 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th and SAVE up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 for Mac Upgrade packages... and that's not all! With your version 2026 for Mac purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks... that's 222 NEW RealTracks available with version Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac!
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® today for as little as $49! Check out the Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all available purchase options.
Learn more about the Free Bonus PAK and 49-PAK here.
If you have any questions about which package is the best option for you, just let us know. We're here to help!
202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
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Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
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Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
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- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
- Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
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- MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
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XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-10 includes 1,000 styles!
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
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Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
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Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Holiday Weekend Hours
As we hop into the Easter weekend, here are our holiday hours:
April 3 (Good Friday): 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT
April 4 (Saturday): Closed
April 5 (Easter Sunday): Closed
April 6 (Easter Monday): Open regular hours
Wishing you an egg-cellent weekend!
— Team PG
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