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End of the RainbowThat damned cat's at the door
You'd think that he never gets fed
He keeps scratching away
Guess I'll get myself out of bed
The morning drive still an hour away
Waiting for the coffee to kick in
And for the day to begin
You say "Have a nice day" and give me a smile
I say "See you in a while"
You and me, just like falling leaves (just like leaves falling from trees)
Now those storms that blew us round are just a breeze (storms will die away)
After work, down to the park for a walk
Watching the ducks and the kids on the swings as we talk (as we talk)
The same old thing makes a perfect day (perfect day)
Like my favorite song I wait for the radio to play (radio plays)
Sharing with you each simple thing (simple thing)
Wondering what the next day will bring (what the day will bring)
You and me (you and me)
At the end of a rainbow (at the rainbow)
Finally made it to the eye of the storm
Now the sun is sinking down
You're warm in bed with a book
But our "happily ever after"
Turned out to be much harder than it looked (looked, it looked)
Taking out the trash, putting dishes away
Glad that life is finally so boring and ordinary (finally ordinary)
Days (the days go by) after the storm (the storms will pass)
Finally found a place to stay
That's safe and warm
Safe, safe at lastInstruments1569:Bass, Electric, Soul60sA-B Ev 110 2810:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm SmoothSoulFast16thsMike Ev16 110 1570:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Soul60sHighBackBeat Ev 110 1155:Organ, B3, Rhythm Reggae Ev16 100 1950:Piano, Acoustic, Soloist PopRootsyJohn Ev16 100 (Bluesy) 1404: Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Soul70sWarmA-B Ev16 100 1407: Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Soul70sA-B Ev16 100 1410: Piano, SynthLayer, Rhythm Soul70sA-B Ev16 100 Loop: HipHop\Old School - gangstar_beat_95b drums ev16.wav RealDrums: Soul70sPercEv16^ RealDrums :Soul60sEv^ Vocals: Synthesizer V - Eleanor Forte (Lite) Mix ChainMaster: Ozone Imager 2 -> Lurssen Mastering Console Lead Vocal: Synthesizer V -> Greg Wells VoiceCentric -> Goodhertz Vulf Compressor -> Sunset Sound Studio (Room) Lead Vocal Apiration: SpitFish De-Esser Harmony Vocal: Synthesizer V -> Greg Wells VoiceCentric -> Raum Reverb Harmony Vocal Apiration: SpitFish De-Esser Drums: ReaEQ -> Goodhertz Vulf Compressor Bass: Scheps Omni Channel EQ Organ: JS Tremolo -> TrackSpacer -> Vulf Compressor Piano: TrackSpacer Synth: JS Tremolo -> TrackSpacer Blah-bitty Blah Blah BlahThis started from the _RECTIFY demo. I changed the key, changed the chords - the standard stuff. When I assembled the song, I thought that I'd have the standard repeating chorus, so once I put the chorus together, I could just cut and paste that part in. Oh, best laid plans. How you go awry.  Actually writing the lyric proved a much more difficult than it should have. The backing suggested a happy sort of song, which is probably the most difficult kind for me to write. I mean, everything's great, what's to sing about? (Yes, I know: I should take a cue from Noel's songs). I had in mind something along the lines of America's "All Around" - maybe someone going for a walk reflecting on the day. But the motivation for the song - the "who" is walking, and "what's happening to them" just didn't come. I think this reflects a lack of curiosity about other people on my part. I've got a tough enough time figuring out my own life without having to create mental models for other people. I spent the last two weeks watching all three seasons of Hinterland hoping I could crib idea from there, but since it's one of those murder-y shows, that didn't help. Still, I enjoyed the series.  While I prefer to make sure that anything in my songs that's based on my own life is heavily fictionalized, I do have a cat named Harry who wakes my up every morning scratching on my bedroom door. So I guess I can thank him for the song. Once I got a start, I was able to slog through in a linear fashion. Each chorus required their own set of lyrics, leaving me to curse at myself for my foolishness. Especially when I got to the final chorus, and I was completely stuck. I initially was going to have the singer be single, and the first verse he had an imaginary conversation: You'd say "Have a nice day" and give me a smile
I'd say "See you in a while"But that didn't scan well, and it added complexity to the narrative. So I replaced the "imaginary" person with an actual person, and moved on to the second verse, skipping the chorus. It's never a good sign when you're writing the song without the chorus! Breaking the verses by time seemed the most obvious choice, and singing about work is boring, and requires too much work to set up a narrative with little payoff. So off to the park for verse two. This is the point where I finally figured out the point of the song - drama in a relationship sucks. Still no chorus in sight, but I did come up with the lyrics "we reached the end of the rainbow", so figured that the other chorus would be variations on that theme. For the final chorus, I tried to touch on the bits of emotional conflict that hadn't yet been said. Finding a rhyme with "ordinary" turned out to be a pain, because I'd been using /ay/ sorts of rhymes. I finally cheated and went with the near rhyme "finally" figuring that they both ended with the long /e/ sound. Close enough! That got the verses completed, but no choruses. I fleshed out the "end of the rainbow" idea for one verse. A "storm" is associated with rainbows, so hurrah - thematic continuity. Since I was completely brain-dead by this point, the final chorus had me completely stumped. I finally decided to crib a lyric from Steely Dan's "Home At Last", which borrowed the idea from Homer's "The Odyssey", so I doubt Donald Fagan will be sending his lawyers. The vocal needed a lot of tuning - getting the male vocal to sound consistent in the lower registers is a bit of a balancing act. I'm sure it could be better, but better to get something out the door than fiddle with it forever. Yes, it probably needs a de-esser. I tried to err on the side of intelligibility. I then brought it into Reaper to assemble and mix. My son listened to the initial rough and fiddled with the drums and bass. I wasn't sure that I was going to add harmony to this one, but my son suggested that the song was pretty much the same all the way through. I lied to myself and said that if I added harmony, I wouldn't have to create a better arrangement. So I went back to Synthesizer V to work out a harmony part. I was initially going to do add a male voice singing a simple harmony part in 3rds and 6ths. But I had a headache, and I lost the chord sheet. There are some "interesting" chord choices in the song, so getting the harmony to work out took a bit of doing. If I was going to do that much work, I figured I'd do something more fun than parallel harmony. A couple ibuprofen later, the harmony was done. At that point, it started sounding a bit more like a song. I then went back to BiaB to find additional instruments to add to the track to add some variety. Then it was a matter of removing instruments in various parts, and adding others to (hopefully) create hills and valleys in the arrangement. Mix, mix and mix some more. Edit: I mentioned on the Synth V forum that I really should have used a de-esser, and someone pointed out that the vocal can automatically be split between the harmonic (voiced) and inharmonic (unvoiced) portions. Which was really cool, because putting it on another track means that never hits the compressor and can be added back in to sound more natural. So I've made some changes and re-uploaded the file. All comments welcome! 
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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I think you did very well with with this track - Eleanor often sounds better when using the deeper and darker sounding parts of her abilities...  I truly enjoyed listening twice to this song. However, it is still not convincing if you compare with a true human voice and I know you will be the first one to say that, David. I wonder if it would be possible to make it more convincing if we choose not to make the lyrics an important part of the track... meaning... write some lyrics that sounds good using Synth V, but not care too much about the meaning of the words... like they did in the 70s and 80s funk music (I remember someone from Tom Tom Club (or maybe it was Talking Heads) saying something like "deep and meaningful lyrics are for folk music or country music, but they can be distracting in funk music meant for dancing".) In other words... why not try to make a vocal that is sounding very convincing and compose the music around that? I'm experimenting with that myself... Thanks a lot for sharing all your great tracks with Synth V! Will
Last edited by Will Josef; 03/28/21 05:11 PM.
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David,
I always enjoy reading your detailed recounting of your musical journey.
A good rhythmic Pop track. The combination of drums, bass and stab-y piano is nicely infectious. You have a good handle on adding "a bit of sugar" along the way to add interest. The organ, for example...
Love that stop @ 1:00.
I'm impressed with the rhythmic singing of your vocaloid. That can't be easy to achieve. Adds nice expression. Your BGVs are impressive as well!! Nice countermelodies and call-responses...
The mix sounds good to me.
fj
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So very cool how these songs are developed. Just can imagine the possibilities with this technology. AI lifeforms that you cannot tell if they are real people or software.
Cool tune and lyric. Well done
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I am truly impressed with your work. Not only do you have your stable of singers actually harmonizing wonderfully, the lyrics to the song fit the AI vocalists perfectly. It is all rather brilliant. Good job to you, the girls and the band.
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I think you did very well with with this track - Eleanor often sounds better when using the deeper and darker sounding parts of her abilities... I truly enjoyed listening twice to this song. Thanks, Will! However, it is still not convincing if you compare with a true human voice and I know you will be the first one to say that, David. You're absolutely right about that. It can be a bit startling moving from a synthetic voice - which sounds fine - and then a real vocal, and realize how much is missing. I wonder if it would be possible to make it more convincing if we choose not to make the lyrics an important part of the track... meaning... write some lyrics that sounds good using Synth V, but not care too much about the meaning of the words... I'd actually wanted to do exactly that, something like Miraculous Encounter - the lyrics are throw-away and hearing the "English" vocal "Hurdy Hurdy Hurdy..." always makes me laugh. I actually started out trying to do something like that, which is one of the reasons it took even longer to get this song done. But this is the sort of song that's best built on a drum loop, and I didn't have any luck finding a style in BiaB that worked well. Plus, I didn't have a good grasp on the style. But eventually... I'm experimenting with that myself... I'm looking forward to hearing it!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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I always enjoy reading your detailed recounting of your musical journey. Hi, floyd jane. I aim to please! Everyone has a different methodology, and every song - no matter how well planned - has a different sort of genesis, and I enjoy reading how other people approach the process. Well, except for pros like Jimmy Webb, who follow a known processes. And floyd jane, who revealed the true secret of lyric writing is to mow the grass while the subconscious works things out. One look at my so-called lawn would reveal why I've got problems coming up with lyrics. A good rhythmic Pop track. The combination of drums, bass and stab-y piano is nicely infectious. You have a good handle on adding "a bit of sugar" along the way to add interest. The organ, for example... Thanks, I appreciate hearing that! I'm impressed with the rhythmic singing of your vocaloid. That can't be easy to achieve. Adds nice expression. Your BGVs are impressive as well!! Nice countermelodies and call-responses... Thanks again! The background vocals are one of the few places in the writing process that's actually fun, because by that point all the lyrics are written, and it's interesting trying to get the balance right. Thanks for commenting!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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So very cool how these songs are developed. Just can imagine the possibilities with this technology. AI lifeforms that you cannot tell if they are real people or software. There are some very interesting things going on with synthetic singing these days. But - if you've got some money - it's amazing how many excellent singers for hire there are out there that can do a fantastic job. Cool tune and lyric. Well done Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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I am truly impressed with your work. Not only do you have your stable of singers actually harmonizing wonderfully, the lyrics to the song fit the AI vocalists perfectly. It is all rather brilliant. Good job to you, the girls and the band. Just because of that, I'll double everyone's pay on this one. Thanks for the kind words!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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David, You are on a roll! These synth productions are great. Very well mixed. For some reason, the music progression on this sounds very XTC to me. Do you remember them? Was it Andy Patridge? (That is a huge compliment by the way.)
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I think you did very well with with this track - Eleanor often sounds better when using the deeper and darker sounding parts of her abilities... I truly enjoyed listening twice to this song. Thanks, Will! However, it is still not convincing if you compare with a true human voice and I know you will be the first one to say that, David. You're absolutely right about that. It can be a bit startling moving from a synthetic voice - which sounds fine - and then a real vocal, and realize how much is missing. I wonder if it would be possible to make it more convincing if we choose not to make the lyrics an important part of the track... meaning... write some lyrics that sounds good using Synth V, but not care too much about the meaning of the words... I'd actually wanted to do exactly that, something like Miraculous Encounter - the lyrics are throw-away and hearing the "English" vocal "Hurdy Hurdy Hurdy..." always makes me laugh. I actually started out trying to do something like that, which is one of the reasons it took even longer to get this song done. But this is the sort of song that's best built on a drum loop, and I didn't have any luck finding a style in BiaB that worked well. Plus, I didn't have a good grasp on the style. But eventually... I'm experimenting with that myself... I'm looking forward to hearing it! Thanks a lot for your detailed answer, which is very much appreciated. I hope you will continue the journey with Synth V - it is very interesting to follow and I enjoy listening to your tracks! Will
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David, Enjoyed reading about conception, struggles, found object motifs, methods and resolutions in journey to create this tune. Turned out pretty cool. If I was given this in a blind test, I would think that Korean producer is trying to hit western markets Funnies aside, excellent and well thought out Pop composition. Unusual twists in phrasing and harmonies. Vocal Synth voices are spooky, but make the point. Interesting listen for sure. Thank you for sharing. Misha. P.S Cats are the best!
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You are on a roll! These synth productions are great. Thanks, David! Thanks again! Sometimes it's just painful to go back and listen to earlier stuff, but all we can do is keep learning and moving ahead. For some reason, the music progression on this sounds very XTC to me. Do you remember them? Was it Andy Patridge? (That is a huge compliment by the way.) Huge compliment appreciated! I didn't listen to a lot of XTC back in the day, but my son put Making Plans for Nigel on a CD recently, and that got me listening to King For A Day and Mayor Of Simpletown. That's some crazy good pop! But the harmony for this song was inspired by some of Fujii Kaze's music. I wasn't familiar with his music, but I'd run across an scary-good Synthesizer V cover of Fujii Kaze's Kaerou. Cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDhgbf4LlgUOriginal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfx2EPhb4aoFujii uses jazzy chord progressions with lots of minor 7th and major 7th chords, but the harmony moves more stepwise than along the circle of fifths. So that's what I was going for with this song. But XTC also has a similar jazzy harmonic sensibility, so I hear the similarity. Thanks for stopping by!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Turned out pretty cool. If I was given this in a blind test, I would think that Korean producer is trying to hit western markets Heh! I'll take favorable comparison with K-Pop any time! Funnies aside, excellent and well thought out Pop composition. Unusual twists in phrasing and harmonies. Vocal Synth voices are spooky, but make the point. Interesting listen for sure. Thanks! It's interesting writing songs with the melody first. There's less thought about "Can I sing these notes" and more "Do these notes sound good?". But the voice still has a natural range, and deviating too much from isn't good. Yes, and don't let those "dog people" tell you otherwise!  The problem is, cat's know how cool they are, and have no qualms using it to their advantage.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Hi David.  I don't know where to start! There are so many great things to talk about. With all sincerity, this is such an inspiring composition. - the groove is great
- your chord progression is outstanding
- I love the melody
- the lyrics support the melody well
- I love the arrangement
- the mix is super
- the vocaloid is excellent
It wasn't until near the end of the song that I even realised it was a vocaloid doing the singing. When the singing started, my first thought was "I don't recall David sounding like this." Then I just sat back and listened. Near the end, there was a Cher-like auto-tune effect on a couple of notes that caught my attention. Then I went back and looked at your list of instruments and discovered I'd been listening to a vocaloid! I was very impressed that you'd managed to get it sounding so good! Thank you so much for all your notes. Writing those up would have taken ages! There is a huge wealth of information in them, though, and I know they are going to be very beneficial to my own productions. With your lyrics, you did a great job getting them written. There are a lot of words there and I would have really struggled to come up with anything. Seriously. In case it's useful as "food for thought" for you, below is a lyric-writing strategy of mine. Read at your risk (or ignore it even) One of my strategies is to use dummy word phrases that sit comfortably on the notes of a music phrase. I don't worry if the words don't tell a story. In the early stages, I only look at matching: (a) syllable stresses with musical stresses; (b) musical phrases with word phrases. Then, when I have my starting lyrics in place, I look through them to see if there is an inspiring phrase somewhere amongst the collection. If I find one, I set about creating lyrics that lead-to or lead-from that phrase. When doing this, I'm guided by Andrea Stolpe's concept of Internal(I) and External(E) phrases. This is a bit like "Show" (External) and "tell" (Internal). Here's an example. I'm creating it as I type so I have no idea what it will be about yet. Let's say, when fitting syllables to music, I wrote a phrase on line 10 of my dummy lyrics that said, "My mind spins around and around." Firstly I'd think... OK... this is "Internal" (i.e. an audience cannot see it; it's inside me). So let's try using it as the last line in a 4-line verse. For 4-line verses EEEI (External, External, External, Internal) or EIEI are good lyric patterns for a first verse structure. Next I'd think.... OK... now I need an "E" line 3 to get to line 4. Hmmm.... what about... "Waves roll and lap at my feet". The audience can see this so it's definitely external. That's the last two lines done. Since waves occur at the beach, let's create a beach setting and have two more E phrases for lines 1 and 2. I'll go with a tropical setting. If I use an XAXA rhyme scheme, then line 2 needs to rhyme with "around". (This means my lyric content will follow EEEI and my rhyme scheme will be XAXA) Voila (as the French say)... I'll just pick anything tropical that I think of. Since I'm using two E phrases, they can be independent of one another. Like "Show and tell"... the "tell" depends on what is "shown". With "Show" and "Show", though, that's not a requirement. With a few modifications to the above starting words as I massage my four lines into a structure, my verse could be something like this... - The music of steel drums dances on air
A palm tree sways with a rustling sound
Rippling ocean sloshes over my feet
And my mind spins around and around
Since I seem to be holidaying in the Caribbean in the above lines, I'll create a chorus using that. The phrase "Caribbean Happiness" just came to mind, so I'll use these words for a chorus until something else comes along. So far, after a little more on-the-run massaging, my verse and chorus look like this. I repeated a variation of the last line of the verse because I like the effect it created. - The ringing of steel drums dances on air
A palm tree sways with a rustling sound
Rippling ocean sloshes over my feet
As my mind spins around and around
My mind spins around
Caribbean happiness
This is Caribbean happiness
Complete freedom from worry and care
Caribbean happiness everywhere
Now it's on to verse 2. (Maybe the above turns out to be verse 2. If that's the case, I'll need then to consider how to get to it when writing verse 1.) If you read through the above, I hope I didn't sound patronising. I just wanted to pass on an idea or two because you mentioned my name in the initial post Thanks again all the inspiration that you sent my way with "End Of The Rainbow"! Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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With all sincerity, this is such an inspiring composition. Wow! Thanks! It wasn't until near the end of the song that I even realised it was a vocaloid doing the singing. I'll have to track down that autotune bit! Seriously though, thanks. The real goal here is to present the song, and I'm glad the synthetic voice isn't getting in the way. I can't take that much credit for how successful it is, since the software developer did most the work. It feels a bit like taking credit for a BiaB guitar solo. In case it's useful as "food for thought" for you, below is a lyric-writing strategy of mine. Read at your risk (or ignore it even) Thanks for this! I've read through it a couple of times, and will look at it some more later. Sometimes it simply takes a long time for my brain to shift into "creative" mode, and these are good exercises to follow. I especially like the idea of internal/external. For me (and I suspect many others), songwriting is just hard work. And there's nothing the matter with that, but tools to get out of a non-productive rut are always welcome. But I thought you might be amused to know that at one point, I actually did write a full set stream-of-consciousness of lyrics for this song. It resulted in "gems" such as: the way things you like / are the wrong kind of blueand but the glass clarinet / refuses to / play the right songUsually these sorts of exercises produce something usable. Once that "seed" is found, there's something to build on, no matter how slight. I just knew that everything I was doing was going the wrong direction and, like that ship in the Suez Canal, it took a long time to get turned the right way round. Thanks again for your enthusiastic support!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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The narrative was engaging...I enjoy it from start to finish.
There're still a couple of points that could be de-essed or reduced as plosives but not a big deal...they brought out the sythn nature a little in those points but they were few and far between.
Cool arrangement.
Cool song.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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David,
I really like what you are doing with AI vocals. They truly keep improving with each song - love the way you experiment.
Great stuff!
Bob
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David,
I like the "just another day" lyrics; cute details and a jaunty upbeat synth backtrack makes this feel happy for no particular reason.
Your arrangement sounds just right.
The vocaloid? I admit I would prefer to hear a warm human voice having fun with this, but you do very convincing work with these AI singers!
Robert
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Posts: 8,300
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Joined: Sep 2010
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The narrative was engaging...I enjoy it from start to finish. Hi, Ray. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! There're still a couple of points that could be de-essed or reduced as plosives but not a big deal...they brought out the sythn nature a little in those points but they were few and far between. Interesting. SynthV has on option of splitting the vocal into the voiced and unvoiced portions, so I did that. I then went through the track and manually edited all the plosives and silibants to reduce the attack and energy. I also edited the unvoiced attacks of some of the vowels, since they were a bit rough. (This would be a really cool option for "real" vocals). I didn't want to bring them down too much, for fear the vocal would become a bit too "lisp-y". I'll have another listen, but it may be the nature of the resynthesis. Cool arrangement.
Cool song. Thanks!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PDT today!
We've added many major new features and new content in a redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
Version 2026 introduces a modernized GUI redesign across the program, with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, and a new Dark Mode option. There’s also a new side toolbar for quicker access to commonly used windows, and the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, making it easier to customize your workspace.
Another exciting new addition is the amazing new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. View the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to transcribe an entire track or transcribe specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, and much more!
Upgrade your Band-in-a-Box for Mac® to save up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade packages!
Plus, when you order your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac upgrade during our special, you'll receive a Free Bonus PAK of exciting new add-ons.
If you need any help deciding which package is the best option for you, just let us know. We are here to help!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Special Offers Extended Until May 31st!
Good news- we've extended our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® special offers until May 31, 2026!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 is packed with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can transcribe an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PDT on May 31st, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
Check out the Band-in-a-Box® for Mac packages page to find the best package for you.
Holiday Weekend Hours
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Regular hours resume Tuesday, May 19th!
Today's the Last Day of the Band-in-a-Box 2026® for Mac Special!
Order before 11:59pm PDT today (May 15, 2026) to save up to 50% off your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® upgrade and receive a FREE Bonus PAK loaded with great new Add-ons to use with this new version!
Don't wait - order today!
Check out all the new features in the redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
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):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
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.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
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.
Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!
And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
The 2026 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2026 49-PAK!
2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
With your version 2026 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
- The 2026 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 25 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
- 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
- Playable RealTracks Set 5
- RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
- SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
- iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
- 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
- FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
- MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
- RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
- SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
Learn more about the Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
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