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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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I have both BIAB 2010 and Real Band. To me I see NO DIFFERENCE. So why have TWO midi music programs?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Mar 2006
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Expert
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Hi rd151,
I asked a question similar to this last week.....I wanted to know why people were using Real Band instead of BIAB. Mac wrote a very good post about how he uses them together, and I have also done much research this week about the additional abilities of RB.
In a nutshell, RB enables you to have extra parts, both midi and Audio. It is more like a "DAW" (Sonar, Pro Tools, Cubase, etc) than Band in a Box.
I have just started using RB after using BIAB for many years. I am already finding many cool features I didn't know about. I would recommend you use it, you will be impressed!
Ed
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
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Quote:
I have both BIAB 2010 and Real Band. To me I see NO DIFFERENCE. So why have TWO midi music programs?
Hey, rd no need for the caps for emphasis, makes you look foolish. If you don't see any difference then you truly know nothing about Real Band.
1. RB has 48 tracks, how many does Biab have?
2. RB has 32 midi output ports, how many does Biab have?
3. RB lets you mix and match a different style for each track if you want vs how many styles can you use at one time in Biab?
4. RB lets you use all 48 tracks for drums/percussion if you want both midi and Real Drums and even a live recorded drummer with multiple mics, how many drum tracks can you have in Biab?
5. RB lets you load in a midi file and then add as many tracks as you want to it using Biab generated parts with different styles and instruments. Can you do that in Biab?
6. You can live record all 48 tracks in RB at one time if you have a big enough mixing board and a powerfull enough computer, how many audio tracks can you record in Biab?
This is just for openers. Read the manual and this forum then get some experience...
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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And going the other way: 1. BIAB gives you MIDI soloists. RB doesn't. 2. BIAB gives you MIDI harmonies. RB doesn't. 3. BIAB gives you a conductor feature that lets you jump to specific parts of the song. RB doesn't. 4. BIAB lets you preview styles very quickly and easily. RB doesn't. 5. BIAB gives you a song list of all your BIAB files. RB doesn't. And to quote Bob: Quote:
This is just for openers. Read the manual and this forum then get some experience...
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Ronald, your first posts were respectful questions. Your recent posts, and multiple posts at that, seem to show you are becoming more frustrated. We would like to help. Have you looked at the videos, used the Help files, and looked at the FAQ? These programs do require an investment of effort to learn. Otherwise, I'm sure you will get tired of reading answers that effectively say, 'please read the manual'.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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Hello Bob, the know it all Caloifornia boy of Real Band
You know Bobby boy I have had BIAB for some ten years and yeah it's a poor boys edition of a home spun garage band for a solo guitar player, but hey I don't have all this expensive crap like you do like expensive Korg keyboards and live singing microphones on stands. I make do with what I can afford dude. All I said was RB is a clone to BIAB and that ticked you off and so you got personel and slammed me. Well, Bobby boy you know where you can shove that expensive keyboard when your done playing it on RB
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
Hello Bob, the know it all Caloifornia boy of Real Band
You know Bobby boy I have had BIAB for some ten years and yeah it's a poor boys edition of a home spun garage band for a solo guitar player, but hey I don't have all this expensive crap like you do like expensive Korg keyboards and live singing microphones on stands. I make do with what I can afford dude. All I said was RB is a clone to BIAB and that ticked you off and so you got personel and slammed me. Well, Bobby boy you know where you can shove that expensive keyboard when your done playing it on RB
Wow, sensitive aren't we? Is there anything I said that was a personal attack or untrue?
"All I said was RB is a clone to BIAB..." right, and all I said was this is not true and it shows you know nothing about Real Band and I still stand by that, you don't. No way is it a clone of Biab. Try answering the questions I posed to you and since you have all this experience with Biab, you should know that stuff right off the top of your head.
How about this from your other thread: "its a BUG!!" As if you had a clue which you don't. No, it wasn't a bug but that didn't stop you from yelling at the forum about a so called bug did it?
Oh yeah, I'm not sure what a live singing microphone is but I don't sing. Maybe I should pick up one of those, does it dance too?
Bobby boy
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Wow.
I'm looking at how big that Bose thing in the basement is and wondering...about shoving it. NOOOOOOOOOOOO.....
But I found out with an Audix mic and the Bose I can sing. But I'm Canadian and I got rich investing in oil companies that sell to the USA.
In my feeble mind I'm rich.
Ok, my friends and family make me rich.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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California Bob
You can place your Real Band CD under your pillow at night or use it for a frisbee.I could care less. More people feel more comfortable with BIAB than RB, which is
really just a jazzed up clone.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 137
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rd151,
rb is not a clone of biab, in fact I wish it had more features of biab.
If you don't understand the purpose of rb than I am sorry that you had to invest all that money but don't want to learn.
Attacking people on here is not the way to go. You will find that people on here are the most helpful people that you could find on any forum on the internet, and will help you all the way if you ask nicely, if you don't then you will just pi** people off and they will just consider you a troll.
stand back and take a deep breath then create another user name and start over again.
Paddy
Paddy McGurk,
Liverpool,
Don't mention the Beatles!!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
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rd151,
I think you had better become real familiar with the manual, which I'm afraid is not totally up to date, as with this sort of attitude you'll probably not get much help.
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Sorry guys, I have to jump in here. Apologies in advance if I offend anyone but rd151 deserves a fair go and not everyone in this thread is giving him that. I'm sure rd151 doesn't need me to stick up for him, but I can't stop myself. I'm of the opinion that too many people in the world turn the proverbial "blind eye" these days to far too many things. I don't want to be one of those people. rd151 asked an honest question in his post and Edward Buckley gave a great answer. Then jazzmammal jumped in and, after reading jazzmammal's posts, I can completely understand why rd151 was offended. I would have been offended if I was inexperienced in the forums. It always seems to come back to the fact that it's impossible to read tone correctly in posts. The corollary of this that it's very easy to misread tone in posts - especially when the very first line says "no need for caps, makes you look foolish". Then in a subsequent post when it says "Wow. Sensitive aren't we.", it's like a red flag to a bull. rd151 has only made 50 posts in the forums. Even though he joined in 2008, 50 posts suggests that he is not a forum regular. When you've been actively involved in the forums for a few months, you develop a "feel" for people's personalities. When I read jazzmammal's posts, I know (from my experience) that he is being helpful in his usual style but to someone who is not actively involved in the forums, I imagine that his posts in this particular thread come across as being arrogant and inconsiderate. rd151: If you want to get a bit of a feel for what Realband can do, have a quick look at the tutorial video at http://www.pgmusic.com/realbandvideos.htm. The link is under "Introduction to Realband (Streaming WMV)". With your 10 years of experience, you'd easily be able to gauge the differences between RB and BIAB. Regards, Noel
Last edited by Noel96; 03/16/10 04:36 AM.
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
I have both BIAB 2010 and Real Band. To me I see NO DIFFERENCE. So why have TWO midi music programs?
Then don't use it.
The RB package comes bundled with BiaB and is really like a "freebie" program if you look at it that way. The real cost now is in the RealTracks anyway.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Noel,
I do agree them some of us are so familiar with each other that we forget what it's like for a new-be however it does get a little irritating when blatant attacks are made about the program when it's obvious that the basics have not even been explored via the manual. rd151 owes us an apology.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
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In a nutshell BiaB is for writing songs
Realband is for recording.
Realband started out as Powertracks. It is a 48 track recording software at its core.
If you had a 6 piece band, say a couple guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and vocalist, and wanted to record them.
I suppose you could try to use a mixer and get the tracks mixed to one stereo input and record them in BiaB.
But if you wanted to record each of those players to their own track Realband is the better choice.
You could even record the each of the acoustic drums to their own track. Then go back and let one of the guitar players record a solo, and then let the vocalist record some harmonies.. etc.
They recently added the BiaB features to Powertracks and called it Realband.
So if the band showed up and the drummer couldn't make it; no problem.
You can generate a Realdrum track for them to play along with. Then go back later (when that lazy drummer shows up) and have him record his drum part.
If you think of it in terms of audio, Realband, with its mixer and multiple audio tracks is much different than BiaB.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
In a nutshell BiaB is for writing songs. Realband is for recording.
That's a really excellent way to put it, rharv. That is EXACTLY how I use the two programs. That's why I'm embarrassed to admit that I have never thought about the differences in this way before. I'll be quoting you in future for sure 
Noel
Last edited by Noel96; 03/16/10 04:51 AM.
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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BiaB is also my personal choice out of the two for:
*Practicing
*Experimenting with chord changes, accompaniments, songwriting, etc. -- often working with smaller pieces such as 8 or 16 bar phrases rather than an entire fully fleshed out song.
*Teaching -- creating customized drills, practice regimens with accompaniment, etc. for students is a breeze with BiaB. I generally then make an mp3 plus a music sheet printout to hand to the student rather than having them mess with BiaB -- because I'd rather they spent that time practicing the Drill of the Month, as it were.
*Arranging -- The BiaB Harmonizer is still one of my favorite "gotos" for rapidly fleshing out a section part from a single line.
*Live Performance Accompaniment -- This one depends upon what you are after in your Performance, but I still greatly prefer the slightly different accompaniment generations BB offers over the static playback of the same lines every time.
*Ear Trainer -- Use it. Here is the one place where I encourage students to also open and use their copy of BiaB -- daily. Ten minutes a day with the Interval Trainer is the fastest way I've found to take someone from zero to "big ears" in the shortest amount of man-days.
Just a short list of uses for BiaB other than making a recording, which is what many seem to *only* view this wonderful program as being about.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I thought the same thing when I got this program in December. I now know differently. They both do things that the other doesn't. I find th BIAB is perfect for fleshing out the structure and chords and such. I then use RB to fine tune things and add audio tracks and such. I then take those files and put them in my DAW and work the final mix ( which to me is the hardest part) The reason is that each program that I use, just like each keyboard that I use has its own strengths and weaknesses. Do some exploration of RB and you will learn those strengths. In my opinion while this program isn't perfect it is pretty darn good and the responsiveness of the company that makes it is exceptional.
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Yes, BiaB does do many many things that RB doesn't, I was just trying to simplify the difference.
It seemed to me the original poster knew what BiaB did, but thought RB was the same; it isn't.
I admit to using my programs mostly for recording, it is where the demand has been lately. I can't take guys that walk in and tell them they should go practice with BiaB for a little longer (although at times I might feel like I should do this)! But I can tell them I can generate a drum track for them to work with (etc).
They are two very different programs even if at first they do not appear so.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
Yes, BiaB does do many many things that RB doesn't, I was just trying to simplify the difference.
It seemed to me the original poster knew what BiaB did, but thought RB was the same; it isn't.
I too figured the original poster knew what BIAB did, but since he asked, Bob (Jazzmammal) pointed out some things that RealBand does that BIAB doesn't. My response was to just point out some things that BIAB does that RealBand doesn't (which highlights the differences between the two).
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
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You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
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