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Nobody KnowsWinter is gone Spring's come along Sunshine follows the rain
Kids mowing lawns Life's moving on But still it all feels the same
Watching the world spin round Counting the hours run down Feeling like one more day is slipping away
Somewhere down the road Somewhere down the line I hope that there's something left to find
In the blink of an eye love can go away No one can say if it will come again
Searching around all over town Lost like a leaf in the wind Once I belonged; now it's all gone I'm back on the outside looking in
Watching my world burn down Seeing it all fall down I couldn't stop you from walking away I'd make a new start But you've taken my heart
Nobody knows why love goes away No one can say if it will come again (No one can say) No one can say when love will come againInstruments3501:Bass, Electric, NashvilleRadioBalladAB Ev16 075 3654:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking IndiePickingBright Ev16 075 3655:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking IndiePickingSoft Ev16 075 624:Fiddle, Soloist George Ev 085 1856:Cello, Background PopCountry Ev 085 3182:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm GrungeUnpluggedQuinn Ev16 090 3656:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm IndieGentlePush Ev16 080 2024:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm CountryJohn Ev 085 ~593:Fiddle, Rhythm Bluegrass Doc Ev 100 RealDrums:AmericanaRoots16th^01-a:Toms, b:Snare SynthesizerV: Qing Su (lead and backing vocals) Effects ChainMix Bus: Sunset Sound Studio (Studio 2), Lurssen Mastering Console (Americana Tight, Less Glue) Main Vocal: Sunset Sound Studio (ISO Room, Studio 3), Sunset Sound Studio (Chamber, Studio 1) Backing Vocal: Finisher Retro (Double Tracker), Greg Wells VoiceCentric (Factory Default), Sunset Sound Studio (Chamber, Studio 2) Drums: Finisher Retro (Too Old Tube), EZMix2 (Drum Enhancer), TrackSpacer, Sunset Sound Studio (Live Room, Studio 3), Izotope Imager, ReaEQ (low end cut) Bass: Neutron Elements (bass) Cello: TrackSpacer, ReaEQ (low end cut) Fiddle: TrackSpacer, LX480 (Small Hall) FP Guitars: EZMix2 (Acoustic Guitar with Reverb) Piano: Finisher Retro (Dreamer) Errata- Boosted the high end on the guitars, as suggested by floyd jane.
- Modified "Watching my world burn down" to get rid of that crunchy minor second in the harmony, as suggested by Mark Hayes. Modified the melody on Seeing it all fall down to make it a bit less dissonant.
- Minor adjustments to plosives and sibilants, suggested by rayc. Lowered drum volume, added TrackSpacer to drums.
Short Blah Blah BlahAll comments welcome! Longer - But Not Necessarily Better - Blah Blah BlahI started out by browsing through the demos, and found _SALLY Demo - Sally Fingerpicking Guitars. I went through it and altered a bunch of chords in an attempt to make it more interesting - IV/V, descending bass lines, that sort of thing. The result was a pretty backing track, but a bit slow. I bumped the tempo up to 85 BPM, but figured in order to have the song fit in less than 3:30, it would need to only repeat once. I exported a backing track and loaded that into SynthesizerV. The melody was pretty easy to write, but the chorus didn't really sound like a strong chorus. Sigh... another one of those "not gonna have a catchy chorus" sorts of songs. The lyrics on this took a stupid long time. Usually I put together some "dummy" lyrics, in hopes that something would click. I got the usual unhelpful "The wind is blowing through the trees" sort of uninteresting lyric drivel that comes out when I lack any sort of inspiration. That continued for about a week. In desperation for some sort of inspiration, I read through The Waste Land - isn't that what everyone turns to for inspiration? - and read the first few lines: April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.Stealing that idea got the first few lines written, up to the pre-chorus. At that point I once again noticed that despite all the syllables being devilishly tricky to fill in, I was starting to run out of room to actually say something. I had no idea what the chorus was going to be, and all I had written was some light "I'm sad" sort of lyrics. Plus, it read a lot like a cliches from a sad teenager's poem. At least I was getting that part right!  I had watched a video on the travails John Fogerty had with his record label. The narrator related that after coming up with a cool guitar lick, John went searching through his notebook of song titles to see if he could find and idea he could build the lyrics around. He ended up choosing the title "Somewhere Down the Road", which became "The Old Man Down the Road". I ended up using that for the pre-chorus, and what I had previously written in the pre-chorus moved to the second verse. In the process of working on the lyrics, I'd changed the voice from Kevin to Qing Su. I'd not actually tried her out in the upper range, where she had a sort of airy Suzanne Vega sound. Yes, she sounds a bit hoarse in places. I'm probably overly fond of this breathy performance style. What's a bit ironic is that I got Qing Su because she's got an impressive "belting" voice. I eventually wrote something for the chorus, and noticed again there was nothing in the first half of the song that remotely looked like a song title. I wouldn't have had this problem if I'd followed John Fogerty's example! Since the song is pretty much symmetric, writing the second half was less time consuming than the first. Once the song was done, I resisted adding a harmony part because I was tired. But I eventually added bits on the end. I had a lot of trouble making it fit, until I got the obvious idea to drop it down an octave. As usual, the harmony added a lot to the song, and I was glad I'd done it. Mixing was the usual process of cutting out parts to so not everything happens at once. TrackSpacer was helpful in keeping the fiddle and cello from getting in the way of the voice. The hardest bit of the vocal was getting the lyric "I'd make a new start" to sound right. Qing Su really didn't want to put the /d/ in "I'd", so I ended up cutting and pasting it from a different word. I cut and pasted the drums as well, mostly to get rid of a lot of cymbal crashes. I was too lazy to remove them all, but I might go back and do that. One of the fingerpicked guitars had a lot of squeaks. I ended up reducing the volume at those parts, and hopefully it doesn't detract too much. My son doesn't get any blame on this one - the mix is all mine.  Next time, I promise... I'll try to write something with a chorus. Since I have a habit of tweaking songs long after they're posting, all suggestions are appreciated! Heck, I just changed the title of the song.
-- 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,
LOVE the BAND! Those drums are SO interesting.
Your singer sounds great! Harmonies are really nice, too.
A good write. "Once I belonged; now it's all gone I'm back on the outside looking in" Nice!!
Cool melody. (at "blink of an eye" it "lost me" for a moment).
I really like what you've done with the piano. I wanted the acoustic guitars to have a bit more high-end EQ to cut through the mix more. (the rest of the mix is good).
Always enjoy reading your writing notes...
Good stuff.
fj
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Man, that singer is the best yet I think, David, although I suspect some of it is because you know how to get the most out of them.
The phrasing used in
"Watching the world spin round Counting the hours run down Feeling like one more day is slipping away"
with the pauses is a good example, very realistic.
Nicely done!
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Things were going along smoothly and pleasantly enough... then came 1:50 *
I'm open to the possibility this is intentional, but would need to hear that from the author. =8^)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
* Disregard, piece has since been changed!
Last edited by Mark Hayes; 04/09/22 09:26 AM.
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Hi David. Amazing synth vocal again. Instrument wise I think the drums maybe a little busy for this lyric.
Vic
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LOVE the BAND! Those drums are SO interesting. There are a lot of songs where, once I actually pay attention to the drums, they're not doing what I expect them to do. I wasn't enamored with the drums, but I figured I'd give them a chance. You might have noticed that there was a lot of processing on them to get them tonally where I wanted them to be. The biggest issue - to me - was how it changed from a cajon to a more full kit. The crash cymbal is an example of that. Plus, the cajon was also lower. I think removing a number of crashes and cutting the low end helped balance the two parts out. Your singer sounds great! Harmonies are really nice, too. Thanks! I was really on the fence about adding harmonies, and this is one of the first songs where I've almost put the harmony softer than the melody.  Thanks! I'm glad that it finally (mostly) came together in them. Cool melody. (at "blink of an eye" it "lost me" for a moment). Was is the dissonance in the melody, or the change in the feel? I know that the "pre-chorus" isn't that strong, so when this part comes in, you're probably expecting a return to the verse, and not a second pre-chorus.  I really like what you've done with the piano. This is one of the few songs where I'm not using an electric piano. It's probably the second-most processed instrument here to help give it a bit more "grit" in the few places where it gets to punch in. I wanted the acoustic guitars to have a bit more high-end EQ to cut through the mix more. Good idea! I mostly did volume changes on the guitars, but the fingerpicking (which is why I chose the style in the first place) is a bit understated and lacks the "sparkle" it should have. Always enjoy reading your writing notes...  Thanks again for your 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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Man, that singer is the best yet I think, David, although I suspect some of it is because you know how to get the most out of them.
Thanks! I suspect you're partly right!  But although they're still robots, I think each release is able to capture more of the singer's actual personality. The phrasing used in
"Watching the world spin round Counting the hours run down Feeling like one more day is slipping away"
with the pauses is a good example, very realistic. And it's also necessary, to avoid the lyric sounding robotic. These are the sorts of decisions a good singer brings to a song that don't make it to the sheet music. Which is fine, until you get a choir director who insists singing what's written and it kills the feel. Ooops, did I get on a soapbox again? Hehehehe. Thanks again. I appreciate you stopping by to 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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Hi, Mark. Things were going along smoothly and pleasantly enough... then came 1:50. There's so many things that could be wrong here, could you be a bit more specific?  I take it you're not a fan of the harmony? That clash on the first note in the melody? Or the breaks between in the phrases? Inquiring minds want to know!
-- 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, Mark. Things were going along smoothly and pleasantly enough... then came 1:50. There's so many things that could be wrong here, could you be a bit more specific?  I take it you're not a fan of the harmony? Or the breaks in the phrases? Inquiring minds want to know! Yes, the vocal harmony at that particular moment, on the word “down”.
Last edited by Mark Hayes; 04/09/22 08:15 AM.
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Yes, the vocal harmony at that particular moment, on the word “down”. Interesting, since "All" is more of a clash - and a mistake, at that!  In any event, I'll work on it and post a corrected version. Funny how, after hearing stuff for so long, you stop hearing things. 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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Hey David, great to hear from you again. I really like the voice you chose for this song...amazing. And the writing throughout is fantastic. I especially loved that line "Lost like a leaf in the wind."
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Instrument wise I think the drums maybe a little busy for this lyric. Hi, Vic. You could easily be right. I suspect that I'm too lazy to make a major change to that track, but I'll keep it in mind in case I ever do. Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate 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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Hey David, great to hear from you again. Hi, Brad! Likewise! I hope you're enjoying the summer-like we're having. I really like the voice you chose for this song...amazing. Yes. She's actually a Chinese voice that's been trained (via a neural network) to sing in English, so it's even a bit more amazing than you might think. And the writing throughout is fantastic. I especially loved that line "Lost like a leaf in the wind." I appreciate you noticing my one use of alliteration in the song! Thanks for stopping by to listen! 
-- 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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A very sweet song, David! And we like this somewhat "breathy" voice. Works fine here. The music suits the springtime very well. Enjoyed.
Rob and Anne-Marie
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For a singer without a soul, this singer sure sounds soulful...
I loved your song and really enjoyed the vocal magic...
Bandcamp Win-11; BiaB-2026 Audiophile (latest version) Cakewalk Sonar; Melodyne-5; Scaler 3; NI Komplete: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
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David, you've always commented on my songs but I haven't heard many of yours until today. I love this, it's mellow, and the vocals are breath taking...
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Nice one...a very cool example of the synth vocal sitting in a good song. There're a few sibilant thngs that could be addressed...most particularly in the 1st Sunshine.
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Very nice. Well done.
The vocals had a really jazzy feel right there in the middle just before the drums kick in.
Wait! The vocals are fake? I tell you, they actually sound more real than some of the auto-tuned vocals from actual humans that I've heard.
Byron Dickens BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency. https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs
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Hi, Rob and Anne-Marie! A very sweet song, David! Thanks!  And we like this somewhat "breathy" voice. Works fine here. The music suits the springtime very well. Enjoyed. Glad you liked the voice. I have a tendency to lean toward "soft" instead of "rock", and this seemed a good match. Thanks for stopping by to 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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For a singer without a soul, this singer sure sounds soulful...
I loved your song and really enjoyed the vocal magic... Thanks for the kind words about the song and vocals! 
-- 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've always commented on my songs but I haven't heard many of yours until today. Hi, Ronnie! Glad you could stop by for a listen! I love this, it's mellow, and the vocals are breath taking... Thanks! Middle of the road seems to be my wheelhouse. I keep telling myself next time I'll do something more rocking, and then get distracted by all the pretty electric pianos and fingerpicked guitars in BiaB and end up writing something like this.  Thanks for listening and 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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Nice one...a very cool example of the synth vocal sitting in a good song. Thanks, ray! There're a few sibilant things that could be addressed...most particularly in the 1st Sunshine. Yeah, I really should go through this and do a bit more cleanup. Part of my motivation is that I wanted to get it out the door (so to speak) and figured it was "good enough". That's not really a good reason, is it?  The other thing is that I'm a bit leery about overdoing the correction of the sibilance and end up with a bunch of lisping vocals. Since the aspiration is on a separate track, I really don't have any excuse not to apply a de-esser. I guess it's time to pull out BlockFish and learn how to use 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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Thanks, Byron. Wait! The vocals are fake? I tell you, they actually sound more real than some of the auto-tuned vocals from actual humans that I've heard. Pretty cool, huh? I used to post a bit more prominently that I was using synthetic voices, but I figured most people had figured it out by now, so it wasn't necessary. As long as they don't distract too much from the song, it's fine for my purposes.
-- 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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Yeah. That's a pretty amazing piece of software. Its not really obvious, but when you listen closely there is something "not quite right" about the vocals. I think it is that they are too pitch perfect and lack the various inflections that real singers have. But I also think that because they are initially generated pitch perfect they also lack some of the weird artifacts that heavily auto-tuned vocals have.
Byron Dickens BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency. https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs
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I think it is that they are too pitch perfect and lack the various inflections that real singers have. But I also think that because they are initially generated pitch perfect they also lack some of the weird artifacts that heavily auto-tuned vocals have. There's actually an option to "auto-tune" the vocals, that does the exact opposite of what you might think. In the Vocaloid and UTAU community (which is where SynthesizerV came out of) the term doesn't refer to pitch correction - the pitch is already "correct", as you hint at. "Tuning" in this context refers to the process of adding the elements of performance such as vibrato, over and undershoot, and the "imperfections" of a real vocal performance. SynthesizerV is trained on example songs in the singer's style, so it's able to apply the performance "tuning" automatically. At least, as far as the pitch is concerned. So the vocal actually does have the imperfect pitches inflections that a real singer has. There are a lot of other factors that you can control in SynthesizerV, such as Loudness, Tension, Breathiness, and so on. But there's no obvious way to observe these features - and thus train a neural network on them - so only Pitch Deviation is the only "automatic" feature in SynthesizerV. The rest would have to be tweaked by hand - which in this case, I didn't do.
-- 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 really don't have any excuse not to apply a de-esser. I guess it's time to pull out BlockFish and learn how to use it. I'd heartily recommend not using a de-esser but using a pre effects volume envelope to reduce the level of the esses. It'll take a little longer BUT the results are better. If your DAW allows spectral representation then it'd be even easier.
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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What a brilliant job of creativity, David. Right from building the band, modifying the changes, picking the singer. Man, I really like the drums you've fashioned here. Terrific strings, too.
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I had as much fun reading your notes in the OP as I did listening to this song. I enjoyed your blow by blow on how you did things, paying attention to the smallest details to get it right. I liked how you copy and pasted the "d" in I'd to have it sound correct. That sounds like one of my editing sessions.... "hey, that kick/drum fill sounds good there.... I'll drop that fill into THIS spot and...waaa laaa, yep, that's so much better!"
So much work went into this. I'm 100% with you on lyric writing.... to me, that's always the hardest part of any song project...so many starts and an almost equal number of dead ends. One never knows where the next flash of divine inspiration will come from.
You have become a master of the synth voice. Unless one listens closely, it is very difficult to tell this is a synth. The amount of learning to get that sounding real, is astounding.
I thought I heard a really clicky sounding drum track.... but I listened on my buds and in the buds, this sounded even better...fuller, with a nice ear candy kind of sound and the clicky drums were not in evidence. So it must have been the crappy computer speakers on this desktop.
Nicely done.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 04/10/22 03:57 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I'd heartily recommend not using a de-esser but using a pre effects volume envelope to reduce the level of the esses. It'll take a little longer BUT the results are better. If your DAW allows spectral representation then it'd be even easier. Hi, Ray. That's what I normally do.  But I figured I'd take this as an opportunity to actually learn how to use the de-esser, even though in the end I'd likely go the route you suggested anyway. Edit: I just watched this video showing that Reaper lets you select a time segment, and use Ctrl+Shift+MouseDrag to quickly build volume envelopes. That's a time saver I wish I knew about that'll make this much easier.  I should spend more time reading the manual, little things like this make a big difference!
-- 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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What a brilliant job of creativity, David. Right from building the band, modifying the changes, picking the singer. Man, I really like the drums you've fashioned here. Terrific strings, too. Hi, Marty. Thanks, I appreciate your positive comments!  I'm still a bit on the fence about the drums, but probably too lazy to change them. After a while, things start to grow on you... even parts of the song you might not have been so keen on from the start.
-- 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 had as much fun reading your notes in the OP as I did listening to this song. I enjoyed your blow by blow on how you did things, paying attention to the smallest details to get it right. Hi, Herb. Actually, there were a number of things that I skipped, like fixing the level of the plosives and sibilants. Gotta go back and do that now. I also didn't do the usual shaping with the other Parameters, because I was happy with the results as they are. I might go back and see if playing with those makes any difference. You know the story - you're never finished with a song, you just run out of time.  I'm 100% with you on lyric writing.... to me, that's always the hardest part of any song project...so many starts and an almost equal number of dead ends. One never knows where the next flash of divine inspiration will come from. I keep promising myself I'll do it the other way round, but I never do. It feels like I don't have a natural-born storyteller bone in my body. Instead, writing is a process of refining via editing, and it takes a while to figure out what a song wants to be. David Snyder kindly gave me a chorus the other month, and I found I couldn't do anything with it. I just haven't figured out how to make my brain work that way. I suspect that a lot of it has to do with my inner editor insisting that I try to write something original, despite the fact that it's all been said before, and said better. I think one of the reason this "backwards" process works with me is that eventually my inner editor to throw his hands up in exasperation and accepts that it's OK to write a simple song.  You have become a master of the synth voice. Unless one listens closely, it is very difficult to tell this is a synth. The amount of learning to get that sounding real, is astounding. I'd like to take some credit here, but a lot of it is the program. Plus, I've heard what others done that just blows me away. It reminds me that there's still a lot that I need to learn! I thought I heard a really clicky sounding drum track.... but I listened on my buds and in the buds, this sounded even better...fuller, with a nice ear candy kind of sound and the clicky drums were not in evidence. So it must have been the crappy computer speakers on this desktop. There's another place where I skimped. I've got a bunch of speaker simulations that let me test the mix under different settings. And I haven't listened to it in my car yet - the most brutal of all test for the mixes! Thanks for your in-depth comments!
-- 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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Hey man. This sounds cool. Loved that style. I will have to try that one out myself. Really nice arrangement here. On the finger squeaks, I mentioned elsewhere that I lucked into an inexpensive version of Rx9 Standard and they "have an app for that." It works really well and is super easy. I will be using it a lot. There was not enough information about your process though. Could you add a few more pages??? 
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Hey man. This sounds cool. Loved that style. I will have to try that one out myself. Hi, David. Glad you could make it by! I have a feeling that your song using this style will be entirely different than anything I could imagine! On the finger squeaks, I mentioned elsewhere that I lucked into an inexpensive version of Rx9 Standard and they "have an app for that." It works really well and is super easy. I will be using it a lot. Way back when, I'd purchased Spectro for doing spectral edits. But it's now built into Reaper, so I could have used that. But why do it the right way when the quick and dirty solution works just as well?  There was not enough information about your process though. Could you add a few more pages??? That's what I'm doing responding to people's comments. Can't you tell?  Thanks for listening and 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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Spring with quite deep melancholy, surprising combination. Not inside looking out, but outside looking in. Interesting chord progression, wasn't sure whether there was a discord, but it works anyway. Nice calm arrangement, I like especially the cello and picking guitars. Qing Su has a nice voice, little bit breathy, but doesn't bother me. And I'll be waiting for your song with a chorus in it  Janne
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Firstly we enjoyed reading the track listing, the fx section and the entire backstory. I wish more folks would include "how it came about" and "what's in it" info.
Janice immediately noted how much she likes the prosody of this ... and all your lyrics.
We like the new singer and, yes, she does have a bit of the Vega vibe ... had to sneak in an alteration.
Nine RT's and a RD and yet the mix sets up an excellent soundstage. That ain't easy to do in our book.
Last but assuredly not least the melody is excellent.
Dunno how you do it but you do it well and we enjoyed the listens.
J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! A few of our videos are here on our website: https://www.janiceandbud.com/our-music.html
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Amazing vocal AI ... I have never heard a AI sound so real. Where do you get this from?
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Hi, Janne. Spring with quite deep melancholy, surprising combination. Not inside looking out, but outside looking in. Well, there's a season of Lent that precedes the Easter that's traditionally a time for introspection and change. So it's sort of baked into my Liturgical calendar, even if I stubbornly refuse to make any progress from year to year.  Interesting chord progression, wasn't sure whether there was a discord, but it works anyway. Good ears! It flirts just a bit with chromaticism and a bit of ambiguity of key in places. Nice calm arrangement, I like especially the cello and picking guitars. Thanks! There are some really pretty sounds in BiaB, and these are some of my favorite. Qing Su has a nice voice, little bit breathy, but doesn't bother me. I'm glad the voice worked for you. And I'll be waiting for your song with a chorus in it  That makes two of us - I'll see what I can do. Thanks for stopping to comment!  Janne [/quote]
-- 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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Chorus? What chorus?
David, amazing write. Neat mix of genres. Very creative stuff. Robo girl stood up well against this non-mainstream tune. Mix is excellent to my ears. Smooth listen. Good one! Thank you for sharing.
Misha.
P.S. I have a non-BIAB musical buddy. He was playing around with vocal synths for BGVs, but when I played your last song for him, he was totally blown away.
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David,
Very sweet song! SynthesizerV: Qing Su is wonderful. And the drum sound is so interesting.
I think that the chord progression is well devised, including the pedal point of the bass. However, since various melody motifs come out, that is, the composition of the song is a little complicated, I am worried that it is difficult to remember all the melodies.
But the whole atmosphere is very nice. It's very comfortable. I also think Qing's voice fits this song very well. Enjoyed my listen a lot.
Best regards.
Shigeki Adachi
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Remarkable quality of the vocal synth, delivering a cleverly rhyming set of lyrics.
Your choice of band members sits perfectly with this song, and the subsequent 'tweaking' has provided a worthwhile result.
Nice job, no question.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Hi, Bud (& Janice!) Firstly we enjoyed reading the track listing, the fx section and the entire backstory. I wish more folks would include "how it came about" and "what's in it" info. I'm sure that for some people, songwriting really is a matter of just sitting down and writing lyrics. But it doesn't seem to work that way for me. Getting my brain to think like a songwriter (instead of self-absorbed and unobservant software developer) is tough Janice immediately noted how much she likes the prosody of this ... and all your lyrics. Thanks! There's something about putting down the rhythm first that points to particular phrasings. It can be infuriating when it doesn't work. It's almost like solving a crossword puzzle. We like the new singer and, yes, she does have a bit of the Vega vibe ... had to sneak in an alteration. Heh. Well played!  Nine RT's and a RD and yet the mix sets up an excellent soundstage. That ain't easy to do in our book. Ironically, I was thinking that I was actually using less tracks than usual.  Mostly, I like to have texture and instrument change between sections, so the guitars are mostly strummed guitars, to give contrast the fingerpicked guitars, or the cello to give some relief from the violin. They're all lovely sounds, but they can wear out their novelty after a bit. That, any way too much time listening to The Alan Parsons Project! Last but assuredly not least the melody is excellent. You're making me blush. Do go on...  Thanks for stopping to listen, and all the nice 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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Amazing vocal AI ... I have never heard a AI sound so real. Where do you get this from? Hi, Elliott. I'm using a program called SynthesizerV. You can find the free "Basic" version of the software here, and the Lite version of Eleanor Forte AI voice here, and the Lite version of the Solaria voice here. The free versions have non-commercial use restrictions, and the Basic Studio lacks some of the more advanced features. There's no current manual, but you can find the video tutorial here. The voice I'm using here is Qing Su, which is a Chinese voicebank. However, some the AI voices use the advanced Studio's "trans-lingual" feature, which allows them to sing in English, Japanese and Chinese. If you've got any questions, you can shoot me a message.
-- 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, Misha. Ha! You're exactly right about that.  David, amazing write. Neat mix of genres. Very creative stuff. Robo girl stood up well against this non-mainstream tune. Mix is excellent to my ears. Smooth listen. Good one! Good to hear, especially from you! P.S. I have a non-BIAB musical buddy. He was playing around with vocal synths for BGVs, but when I played your last song for him, he was totally blown away. Even though I work with these programs regularly, people are posting things that completely fool me. They can only do certain things in narrow constraints - but they're starting to get really good within those bounds. Thanks for stopping to 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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Very sweet song! SynthesizerV: Qing Su is wonderful. And the drum sound is so interesting. Hi, Shigeki. Thanks! I'm still really curious to see if you'll do anything with this program. Of course, you've got excellent singers, so it's entirely unnecessary.  I think that the chord progression is well devised, including the pedal point of the bass. However, since various melody motifs come out, that is, the composition of the song is a little complicated, I am worried that it is difficult to remember all the melodies. I agree - that's one of the problems with the song. I rewrote the melody for the bridge, and then decided to use both versions. I liked how it sounded... but you're right. It's got too much going on, and in a pop song, less really is more. It's asking too much of the listener. But the whole atmosphere is very nice. It's very comfortable. I also think Qing's voice fits this song very well. Thanks again! I really liked the tone of her voice - and her English is a lot better than the male trans-lingual voices. Of course, that may be fixed later. I'm glad my favorite string arranger on the forum was able to stop 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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Remarkable quality of the vocal synth, delivering a cleverly rhyming set of lyrics. Thanks!  Your choice of band members sits perfectly with this song, and the subsequent 'tweaking' has provided a worthwhile result. Good to hear. Sometimes too much tweaking just makes it... much worse. 
-- 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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Amazing work with the robot voice. The phrasing is sounding more and more natural. Again---amazing! Lovely melody. Instrumentation feels seamless.
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David,
You are becoming—scratch that, you have become—a maestro of the vocaloid. It’s moves along so smoothly, mellifluously—and those harmonies are lovely. The arrangement is stellar. Boy, seems I'm late to the party listening to this, but glad I found my way to it. Outstanding!
All my best,
Deej
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Amazing work with the robot voice. The phrasing is sounding more and more natural. Again---amazing! Lovely melody. Instrumentation feels seamless. Thanks! I'm glad it came together! But I think it's synthesis software that's adding to the naturalness - not me. I suspect that they're training it on larger chunks of audio, or something. I'm still a bit on the fence about some of the percussion, but I think I'll leave it alone and come back to it once my ears are rested. I'm glad you could stop by to comment - 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 becoming—scratch that, you have become—a maestro of the vocaloid. It’s moves along so smoothly, mellifluously—and those harmonies are lovely. The arrangement is stellar. Boy, seems I'm late to the party listening to this, but glad I found my way to it. Outstanding! Thanks, Deej! I appreciate you mentioning the arrangement and harmonies! Thanks for the nice 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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Hey David,
I really liked this. The band sounds great and I'm pretty impressed with how good you have that synth voice sounding!
I use a lot of IK Multimedia products myself. I love Sunset Sound Studio (looking forward to adding the Fame Studio down the road), and I use the Lurrsen Mastering Console as well. I also recommend T-Racks 5 for mastering, all the modules work great as DAW plugins as well.
Nice Job!
Greg
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David, I am really impressed with your synth vocal work. You are a master of that technology. You have made me a believer.
Your skills as a musician highlighted the vocal with your outstanding composing, phrasing and mixing skills.
This is your best to date IMHO.
Loved it.
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
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This song just about slipped by me. Lovely song David. I must say your vocaloids are sounding so really. Awesome work. Really well done.
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I really liked this. The band sounds great and I'm pretty impressed with how good you have that synth voice sounding! Hi, Greg. Thanks! I use a lot of IK Multimedia products myself. I love Sunset Sound Studio (looking forward to adding the Fame Studio down the road), and I use the Lurssen Mastering Console as well. I also recommend T-Racks 5 for mastering, all the modules work great as DAW plugins as well. I'm trying to resist diving to deep into IK Multimedia. There are upgrades for Modo Bass and Modo Drums coming out that are threatening to empty my wallet. IK also has a habit of putting out products that includes displays of products that I haven't purchased yet, as if I haven't spent enough money already!  Most of what I need is already in my DAW, so I suspect it's really just a matter of learning to use the tools that I've already got. Thanks for listening and 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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David, I am really impressed with your synth vocal work. You are a master of that technology. You have made me a believer. Hi, Mario. Well, they certainly are useful in helping me put together songs in a house that's entirely unfit for recording in, that's for sure!  Your skills as a musician highlighted the vocal with your outstanding composing, phrasing and mixing skills.
This is your best to date IMHO.
Loved it. Wow! Now I just have to make the next song even better!  Thanks for your detailed comments, I appreciate them!
-- 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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This song just about slipped by me. Lovely song David. I must say your vocaloids are sounding so really. Awesome work. Really well done. Hi, Scott. Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed listening! 
-- 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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Beautiful song, really beautiful lyrics. And the AI voice worked really well, here. Well done!
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Another excellent production. I love how the lyrics fit the vocalist. I just imagine an AI pining for a lost love. Outstanding.
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Hi dcuny,
Very nice composition. I like the lyrics and the vocals. Everything is well done. I appreciated.
Kindly regard Derochette alias JaniJackFlash
Kindly regards Derochette alias JaniJackFlash
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Hi David,
I had a holiday and no contact with the forum. So I'm a bit late to judge your song. But I read a lot of the posts on it, all positive! And that is exactly my feeling too. You made a very nice song, nice melody and the vocals are very, very, very close to real humans. It's getting dangerous now for the humans... I only had some hesitations on 0:58 and 2:17. To my opinion the vocals could use a pitch correctio there. But on the other had, the harmony starting at 1:50 was very good.
Can your vocals sing Dutch too? Then I have a song or two in where they could be used. Especially the vocals used in this song.
So, lots of compliments and you earned them!
Happy Eastern, or take care with eating to much eggs! Hans
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I dropped by for another listen. This time I ignored the source of the voice and just listened to the song. LOVELY!
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Hi, David !
What a wonderful tune and so delicately sung too ! I´m completely awed at what can be done with modern technology !
She sounds just like a real singer !!
WOW !
Cheers Dani
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Beautiful song, really beautiful lyrics. And the AI voice worked really well, here. Well done! Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to listen! 
-- 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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Another excellent production. I love how the lyrics fit the vocalist. I just imagine an AI pining for a lost love. Outstanding. Hi, Sean! Yeah, it's nobody knows how hard it is to be an AI.  But seriously, thanks for listening and 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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Very nice composition. I like the lyrics and the vocals. Everything is well done. I appreciated. Hi, Derochette. Thanks - I'm glad you liked 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 had a holiday and no contact with the forum. So I'm a bit late to judge your song. But I read a lot of the posts on it, all positive! Thanks! I only had some hesitations on 0:58 and 2:17. To my opinion the vocals could use a pitch correction there. But on the other had, the harmony starting at 1:50 was very good. Yeah, it's a bit dissonant. At some point I need to re-mix it, so I'll see how I feel about it then.  Can your vocals sing Dutch too? Then I have a song or two in where they could be used. Especially the vocals used in this song. In case anyone is curious about the answer, I sent Hans a PM.
There are only a handful of phonemes that Dutch has that are lacking in English so it could be done. But Hans suggested that sticking with English - at first, anyway - is the safer approach.
-- 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 dropped by for another listen. This time I ignored the source of the voice and just listened to the song. LOVELY! Thanks, Ray!  I've been busy with other stuff, so I haven't been able to get to the forum in a bit. So imagine my surprise to see the song back on the front page again. I had a listen to the mix in my car, and... well, the car speakers are brutal to mixes. I'll just say it's due for a bit of a re-balancing when I get the time and energy.  Thanks again!
-- 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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What a wonderful tune and so delicately sung too ! I´m completely awed at what can be done with modern technology !
She sounds just like a real singer !!
WOW ! Hi, Dani. I'm glad you liked the song.  Yes - this technology is very cool. Not the same as having a real singer, but a lot better than having none at all. Thanks for stopping and 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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A nice piece! You've come a long way.
moto
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Hi David Sounds fantastic The vocals are absolutely top The song itself is perfectly arranged and has a great melody This is really outstanding David Many greetings Andi ;-)
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Wow David! You put an incredible amount of work into this beautiful song! You really made an extensive use of the BIAB program in this! A total pro job all the way around on this! Thanks, Torrey
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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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Peter Gannon Talks Band-in-a-Box with zplane
zplane recently interviewed Peter Gannon, the founder and creator of Band-in-a-Box, about the software's early days, what sets it apart from AI, how zplane's audio algorithms are used in Band-in-a-Box, and more!
Special thanks to the team at zplane for their continued support.
Check out the full interview here: https://products.zplane.de/blog/peter-gannon-interview-pg-music
Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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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!
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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!
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Today's the Last Day of the Band-in-a-Box 2026® for Mac Special!
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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!
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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!
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