BillyRay,

I understand your disappointment. I first started with Band-in-a-Box when it was midi only and was disappointed with it enough to quit.

I became interested again after my wife gave me a clearance discounted 2011 ProPAK for Christmas in 2012. RealTracks and RealDrums were the game changers that changed my attitude regarding Band-in-a-Box. The first time I changed a song key signature from "E" to "G" and the regenerated audio transposed, I was hooked. It still amazes me today how easily Band-in-a-Box can accomplish that one feat. It has always been easy to accomplish with midi but getting pre-recorded audio to transpose, that's pure magic.

I stayed with using just the ProPAK for about a year and a half. That gave me time to concentrate on learning everything I could about the capabilities and features of Band-in-a-Box and RealBand without becoming distracted by all the additional content I didn't have.

I like that the Band-in-a-Box and RealBand programs are full featured regardless of which package you purchase. To me it is worth taking the time to understand the program features and capabilities. I also like that the ProPAK includes midi styles, RealTracks, RealDrums, midi SuperTracks and acidized audio loops so you can learn to incorporate all the different types of available content into a song file.

I updated to the UltraPAK on hard drive in 2014 and have maintained that content level ever since. Funny thing is, I still use many of the RealTracks that were included in the 2011 ProPAK. The "Hank" series of acoustic strumming and finger picking just fit most of the songs I enjoy. Go figure!

By the way I'm one of those "takes five minutes to change chords" musician. I play at guitar and piano when I play but truthfully I'd rather listen to Band-in-a-Box play than to listen to anything I play myself.

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