My first computer was a TI-99/4a. The OS was on a chip, but anything else ran on a cartridge t hat went into a slot that lasted about 2 years before it wore out and the contacts were worn out. There was also a slot for a 4 inch wide plug end that was connected to a cable we all called "the firehose" though it was a flat cable. That went to an expansion box where you could add more memory and other IDE slot based cards. Everybody and their uncle told me that the TI would NEVER run floppy discs. I experimented with controller cards, burning 2 of them out in the process before finding the right combination of connections that allow it to work with the TI. Then there was figuring out the right parsing to access the floppies. I had 2 DS/DD drives and I was the KING of the TI world. Of course the whole community was like "Can you make me one like that?" I declined. Let them learn on their own!
Remember in the early days of hard drives when we would get a 40 meg drive and say "I'll NEVER fill this drive up!" Now we have 128 GB in our cell phones.
I went to an NT seminar and they gave out copies of Windows NT v.99, one before 1.0!! It came on like 37 3.5" floppies. And in true Micro$oft fashion, disc 29 had a bad byte and you couldn't install it because of that. It took many phone calls but they finally had enough complaints that they made a good copy of disc 29 and sent them out upon request.
What's a good model Mac to look at used? I can't really afford a new one. Also one caveat is if it is going to be my main computer it has to support 3 monitors. Here in the Casa del Eastside control room I run 3 monitors.
According to its press, MSFT is phasing out MS Paint in favor of next-to-useless Paint 3D. I use Paint a lot for a number of things, including sheet music. I'll write a lead sheet in NCH Crescendo, export it to .jpg and from there on out, it's Paint. Once you get used to it, you can even change the notes on the staffs with copy/paste. Nothing open-source really compares. Just my luck -- about the only use I have for MSFT is Paint and they quit it. Maybe the kids are making too many politically incorrect Memes for FB. Spot the tweaks: https://www.webdirectory21.com/hymn/its_good_to_be_home.htm
Ed, if I were in your shoes I would purchase an inexpensive refurbished computer from TigerDirect, put Win 10 on it, then keep it off line. That way you could continue to use Paint. This of course assumes that MS does discontinue Paint.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
Me too Ed. I like it's simplicity for grabbing and getting screenshots but M$FT has done this with other light utilities in the past. I had used Microsoft Photo Editor a lot before they wiped that one too.
P.S. - Backup C:\Windows\System32\mspaint.exe to a personal storage folder so you can just run off the executable when they do destroy it. Just did so on my machine.
Ed Shaw, "discontinuing" means they won't support it. I doubt seriously they will forceably erase it from your computer. Windows 10 has both versions NOW. You may want to copy it and rename the to anything but "paint" so if they DO try to remove it there will be no program called paint for them to remove. Make it "Monet" or something you will remember. It MIGHTH take some registry editing as long as real mspaint is there.
Steve, my first DOS based computer was an IBM, model number I don't remember, but it was numbers, like 5150 or something. I paid almost 4 grand for a computer that compared to computers of 2021 was a real pile of manure. Slow, heavy... Ran Microsoft Basic that was on a ROM chip. Picture trying to run on wet Georgia red clay in your bare feet. That's how it ran. Launch a program and 45 seconds later it started populating the screen. Horrible. BUT, at the time, it was THE thing! That was like 1982 or so. 40 years of technology advancement later I am sitting in a room with a computer running an i5, with 3 27 inch monitors, and a 200 mbps internet connection, watching TV, playing music, WRITING music...
I truly love this stuff.
(And getting close to ready for an overnight road trip to somewhere near St Louis. I have to pick something up over that way.)
Mario. i agree 100 percent. i love refurbished pc's. if i can use an analogy. a new camry is 35k plus BUT a camry with only 70k on the clock ranges around 17k or so at some dealers with warranty. no brainer. still a new vehicle.
you can buy refurb i5/4570 or i7 systems now with one year warranties and win included (some with win 7) for coupla hundred buks. eat paint like no tomorrow and many other apps. OR if you want the basis for a great daw that will eat traks and plug ins (unless your running a zillion) with loads of ports that you can stuff ssd's in and loads of memory i love the off lease refurb hp z and lenovo desktop workstations that oroginally cost thousands and can be picked up for 600 buckies or so. (god how i miss "get fuzzy bucky" lol. reminded me of my bossy cat lol.) they come with dual xeons/ssd's/loads of ram/usb ports/internal expansion slots/win etc etc. and warranties. those workstations are beasts. i highly recommend testing one out.
refurbs forever ! lol.
oldmuso miss my old atari for midi ? lol nah !
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 06/16/2105:48 AM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
<RANT>I think one reason I've had no issues with Win OSs is that since Windows NT/2000, I've put in my 40 hours a week in IT working in them. Most companies you work for in IT have their company standard OS which these days is usually the most recent Win version. So you don't have much choice other than to learn and work in the OS. With all those hours spent you definitely learn to get around the deficiencies to the point you no longer see them. That's why typically when M$FT releases a new Windows version, I jump on it right away for my home machines. I get excited to get those hours in and get sh%& figured out. Just another perspective.</RANT>
I hear you - I'm always eager to try out the new versions of Windows or macOS - although I never put them onto a production machine unless I need to! My studio computer is still running macOS High Sierra for that exact reason - if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Originally Posted By: eddie1261
What's a good model Mac to look at used? I can't really afford a new one. Also one caveat is if it is going to be my main computer it has to support 3 monitors. Here in the Casa del Eastside control room I run 3 monitors.
The 2009-2012 Mac Pro is probably your best bet. With the right video cards, you can have 16 monitors!
Originally Posted By: edshaw
According to its press, MSFT is phasing out MS Paint in favor of next-to-useless Paint 3D.
Dang! I use Paint for creating a lot of screenshots for tutorials or tech support here, it does exactly what I need it to do.
Originally Posted By: sslechta
Originally Posted By: eddie1261
My first computer was a TI-99/4a.
Sweet Eddie! My first one was in a similar vein in the same time period......
Adjusted for inflation, that's just under $300. We've beaten that price point today with the Raspberry Pi, Android tablets, and Chromebooks/Chromeboxes - what an age we live in!
I think one reason I've had no issues with Win OSs is that since Windows NT/2000, I've put in my 40 hours a week in IT working in them. Most companies you work for in IT have their company standard OS which these days is usually the most recent Win version. So you don't have much choice other than to learn and work in the OS. With all those hours spent you definitely learn to get around the deficiencies to the point you no longer see them. That's why typically when M$FT releases a new Windows version, I jump on it right away for my home machines. I get excited to get those hours in and get sh%& figured out. Just another perspective.
I used to complain about that, but looking back, I made a BOATLOAD of money setting up "OS Next" on their computers. That early look at the "next" helped me get a head start. I did NOT appreciate that in the Windows 8 era they set the screen up so the pc, laptop, tablet and Windows phone all had the same user interface. THAT is what the "Take over the world" pic was about. I used to make house calls JUST to make Windows look like Windows and not a phone. I get the business model that if someone has that interface on their computer they might be motivated to buy a Windows phone. I just didn't appreciate it.
I was THRILLED about the Y2K hysteria!! I worked contracts for as high as $28 an hour doing data backups, imaging new computers with NT, and pulling the data back down. My pal Jason and I did a rollout at the battery place with the bunny and we built a little impromptu server farm to dump user data to. 4 PCs, named Dump1 2,3, and 4. I used 1 and 2, he used 3 and 4. We wrote batch files to scan the user's PC and find doc, jpg, gif, etc.. and dumped them to a dump server. Then when that finished we imaged the computer from the department specific CDs we made with images on them. We had the system down so well we each did 4 at a time in the morning and 4 at a time in the afternoon, so we did 80 PCs a week. The prep took all the time. Tweaking those images for the red hallway, the green hallway, etc... And the engineers... oy! Some of the software was not compatible with NT (one was called Manugistics) so we had to battle with the OEMs to get a patch ready, because everybody using Manugistics was going to have the problem.
28 bucks an hour and that lasted 9 months. (We stayed around 6 weeks after 2000 began to make sure everything was okay, catch the stragglers who may have been traveling and such.)
Good times. Retirement is better though. By a large margin.
Cool, I worked at their HQ in St. Louis briefly in 2004.
I talked to the IT god there every Friday with the weekly tally. She LOVED us. Other than Manugistics that was one of the smoothest rollouts I ever did. Jason and I worked well together. Sat down over wings on day 1 and came up with the plan, presented it the morning of day 2, and the person we reported to said "Just do it." We always planned to start the afternoon backups at 11:30, JUST before lunch, so we could take 90 minutes for lunch. I still talk to that dude about once a month, 22 years later.
I asked him once "Did you ever marry that girl who would call you with every little bit of minutia in her life? Like calling YOU in tears because she didn't like her haircut? And you were like 'What do you want ME to do about it'?" He said "Yeah. Briefly." That was WAY too many levels of crazy for me!
FWIW there are plenty of free replacements for Paint that are better (IMHO).
Photofiltre (spelling intended) is free for home use Paint.NET (weird name and can take a bit of avoiding the ads to get to the actual free product, but is wonderful for the price). Supports Layers, Transparencies, etc.
One of our programmers showed me that one a while back. I kissed Paint goodbye years ago.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
Remember, if this doesn't work, it's YOUR fault...
Is there a place to find the download in, you know, English? Mine is en Francais...
I MAY be able to live with paint.net but at first blush those toolbars are like how the cavemen did it. I wanted to put in a white text box and I had to literally eye-dropper a piece of white to do it. And there is no cursor control that makes sense. If I type "hey rharv" and then want to change the color I can't select it with the mouse. How old is that program anyway
I'm not saying they are the latest/greatest, but I doubt generic Paint could do any better. That was my simple point. There are alternatives for no cost; losing 'Paint' really doesn't mean much to me. I use Photofiltre most commonly (quick simple efficient). I don't remember the last time I opened Windows Paint. To each his own.
You can get Photofiltre in a version that runs off USB .. put a thumb drive in any computer and run it without needing to install. I think its a pretty cool freebie.
As far as a white box for text, yeah, most decent imaging software will try to overlay text with a clear background as default. Logos, sliders on websites, etc. Many times a white box is not preferable. At least in my experience.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
IrfanView is a fast, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. It is designed to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals. From the feature description:
Quote:
Paint option - to draw lines, circles, arrows, straighten image etc.
I've used this free program even longer than I've been a Band-in-a-Box user. It's that good.
This looks more "paint like" with the fill tool right on a toolbar and such. With the exception of Pro Tools, I don't want any software I have to go back to school to learn. (Which I did for Pro Tools.)
IrfanView is a fast, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. It is designed to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals. From the feature description:
Quote:
Paint option - to draw lines, circles, arrows, straighten image etc.
I've used this free program even longer than I've been a Band-in-a-Box user. It's that good.
I am also a long time user of Irfanview. I only used it for audio and never messed with the picture side. You need to DL all of the Plug-ins to get to the photo side of Irfanview. HoweverIrfanview will not work with print screen. You must save the print screen to a picture prior to using it in Irfanview.
Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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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!
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Today's the Last Day of the Band-in-a-Box 2026® for Mac Special!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac - Special Offers End at 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th, 2026!
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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.
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.
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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
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)
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