PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic What production software do you use with BIAB? Toontracks/Studio One/BIAB Demo

Hi Guys and girls,

This is a "EuroDance" style directly from BIAB. No mixing has been done. This is a demo of some new Toontracks EZKeys instruments and Synths from Studio One 5.

This is not a style of music I have usually tried to create.

If you would like, I could substitute the Bass track with EZBass or Trillian.
I can also post a link to all the separate midi tracks if you would like to try this process with your software.

The one-minute track. All midi from BIAB except for BIAB Real Drums. All the sounds came from the following software.

https://soundcloud.com/planobilly/dance5-toontracks-experment?si=b8e2fe46b2774cdfac722ccc21e7f743&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

This is a new instrument from Toontracks called Synthwave.


Under each heading to the right there are about 30 pre sets.


This is a Synth called Presence that comes with Studio One


This is Kontakt


This is a shot of the vocal software.


A short vocal part was inserted.
https://soundcloud.com/planobilly/dance5-toontrack-with-short-vox

I would like to know what music production software you use in conjunction with BIAB and perhaps an audio sample of what you do with it in any style you like.

Billy

Me:

• BiaB
• EZkeys Dream Machine
• EZkeys Cinematic Pads
• Heavier7Strings
• FL Studio
• FL Studio FLEX Collection
• FL Studio Synth Collection
• FL Studio Instrument Collection

Audio Sample: 「May I Kiss Your Feet」

Hi MusicVillian,

Cool song. I think Rustyspoon ordered the Toontracks Dream Machine recently. This is the first time I have listened to an example. It would also be interesting to hear just the track done with Dream Machine and Cinematic Pads.

I assume you played the guitar part live.

FL Studio looks like it has a lot of software that came with it.

In the song I posted, I did not play anything live. I wanted to create an example of something anyone could do only using software, including a vocal. What I posted could be done without any knowledge of music theory; just plug and play. This is one of the very cool things about BIAB.

We have highly skilled musicians here that play/sing and post high-quality music. I wanted to demonstrate something that anyone at any skill level could do.

The Euro Dance style perhaps may not be very popular with people on this site. I may post something more mainstream using BIAB and other software. Having said that, there is a much greater interest on Soundcloud for software-generated music I have posted. Most of it gets reposted.

There has been a lot of Toontracks post going on in regard to the upcoming EZKeys2 release.

I hope Dan and others will jump in here. I think Mario has an interest in all this also. Perhaps he will post something.

Everyone is welcome to post something in this thread. You don't need to create highly polished or finished music. This is about software and how it gets used.

Thanks for posting your song. It was fun to listen to.

Bill

Howdy Plano....

I use Cakewalk Sonar X3 Producer.
I stopped there as they went to the 'subscription' model which doesn't work for me.
Now, it's free from "Bandlab"
I grew up with Cakewalk 3.0 back in '94 so I'm quite comfortable with it.

I still employ some flat black boxes but I haven't done much midi since getting BIAB:
Roland MVS-1 (Vintage Synth)
Roland MBD-1 (Bass/Drums)
E-Mu Proteus FX (4 banks of patches)
Roland XV-5080 (about 8 banks of patches including drums)

Back to it....

If you have not "upgraded" to the Bandlab version you should. You can use everything you had in X3 producer with the "free" version from Bandlab. They have provided regular updates and patches since taking over the software and have made many improvements. All you old Cakewalk stuff works in the new version.

So all the bells and whistles you paid for in the producer version are still there and good. So you end up with a better product than those just now coming to Cakewalk, since you can't get some of that stuff anymore.

I was the same and have since moved over to the bandlab version and glad that I did. The improvements and such have been great. It works quite well and is very stable.

Howdy Joe....

I do have Bandlab downloaded on my laptop.
I just haven't yet migrated it over to my DAW....yet.
Wonder what my hesitation(s) could be?

It's a great program IMO.

Back to it....

Hello Joe,

I was amazed to find all the Cakewalk Sonar files still on the Cakewalk site. They did not work on Win 11 properly. They did work without issue on Win 10.

When Sonar first collapsed, I jumped ship and went to Studio One. I kept Sonar on the machine for a while but liked Studio One better. I played around with Bandlab a time or two, and I found that for a free program, it was great, but why use two DAWs?

Around the same time, I was also using Reaper and Pro Tools only because of collaboration with other people who used those two programs.

There are many things to like in all the different DAWs I have tried.

If cost is any concern, Cakewalk from Bandlab is king. To me, Reaper is the most complete low-cost DAW at $60 but a lot less intuitive than Cakewalk; just my opinion.

I have a new Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd Gen USB Audio Interface
USB 2.0 Audio Interface, 18-in/20-out, 24-bit/192kHz, with 8 Mic/Line Inputs; 2 Instrument Inputs, 2 x ADAT I/O, MIDI and S/PDIF I/O, Dual Headphone Buses, Talkback, and Bundled Software - Mac/Win that should arrive today.

It comes with Ableton Lite, which may be fun to see what it has to offer. Of popular DAWs, I have not tried Ableton or Cubase.

The doorbell just rang, and the new interface is here.

The new report is forthcoming...lol

Billy

I use 4 software tools in my studio most.

MIDI Sequencer (Master Tracks Pro)
DAW (Power Tracks Pro Audio or Audacity)
Band-in-a-Box
Notation (Encore)

Plus MIDI controllers, instruments, and synth modules.

Notes ♫

I do composer's demos for jazz big band, small jazz combo, arrangements for folk singers who want a jazz horn touch, chamber orchestra, and symphony orchestra.

I normally mainly use:

• Presonus Notion for notation
• BIAB for rhythm section backgrounds and harmonization suggestions
• Presonus Studio One 6 as a DAW to assemble things
• Various plugins like Ozone, Melodyne, Pure Limit, SWAM horns, and others
• Adobe Audition to edit the stereo master Presonus Notion for notation

Along the way I might use ScanScore 3 Pro, Tap Tempo by AnalogX, and/or Transcribe! as needed.

My main tools are:
BIAB
Cakewalk
Halion/Sonic which is GM compatible synth with very deep features and good size sound bank
Kontakt for Guitars and keys and MIDI based drums
vArranger for some of MIDI "bones"
Korg Triton Extreme VST (They made 1:1 software version of the classic)
Cognitone Sparks for chord and scale exploration.
and now playing around with my new toy EZKeys.

example... well don't judge hard, I am not a pro by any means. Here is one of the latest:
https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=758650#Post758650

Thanks, Matt and Bob, for your comments.

Just a short update on the new Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 interface. It was straightforward to use and set up. It does what I need it to do and has good sound quality.

A good bit of the promotional software that came with the interface I already had. I loaded Ableton Lite and played around with it for a bit. Nothing struck me as something I could not live without.

I made the mistake of loading the 400 Plugin Alliance VSTs, which I need to delete. The LX480 reverb sounds like it will be a good addition.

Focusrite is advertising factory refurbished interfaces at a good discount. That could be a good option.

The Scarlett 18i20 3rd Gen for $359 I payed $600 at Sweetwater for a new one.

Clarett 8Pre USB $699 $929 NEW

Unit may have minimal signs of use/wear
All accessories are included
All included Software available upon registration
3 Year Warranty Included
Packaging may show some signs of wear or the unit may have been repackaged in generic packaging

I think this is a good interface for me which will most likely be around for a good while. The Clarett is a better interface sound wise but it would not change much for what I do in the home studio situation.

I will say the Toontracks software is getting out of hand cost wise. I don't even want to know how much I have spent...lol

Billy

Hi Misha,

Very artistic song. The lyrics are excellent. You must have put a ton of work into that song. I thought the bass line was really well done.

I know you like to work in BIAB until you get more or less a finished product. Hats off to the skill you have.

The vocals had a very ethereal sound, good stuff.

Billy

Billy, I have often wondered how much difference in audio quality there is between these audio interfaces like the Scarlett line verses a Clarett. How many people out there could tell the difference? The mic pre in even the cheapest two-channel Scarlett is quite good. Once you boost a signal to line level, there’s not much you can do to it other than ‘color’ it, which I don’t think relates to discussions about quality. If my preamp gives me 124 db dynamic range and yours is 130, who can hear the difference?

Hi Matt,

For me, and I assume for you also, there is a limit to what is logical in a home studio.

If I have a serious project to produce, it will certainly not be me on the other side of the glass in the control room. I am going to a professional studio with professional engineers and the best studio musicians I can afford.

Home studio equipment is just fun stuff for me to mess around with. It is advantageous to generate new ideas. There are a thousand good reasons to own it. But spending two times the money to get .003 as opposed to .004 THD is not logical to me in a home studio.

I can see no possible use for even a new Neumann U47 vocal mic which costs around $4500, must less a vintage one at $30,000 for a home studio. Yet, people buy this stuff every day.

I do have a couple of high-quality guitars. Both cost less than 5K, which is expensive to me, but nothing compared to the cost of many guitars.

I guess all this depends on what you like to do and what you can afford.

I would prefer to be a super-talented horn player than a super-talented studio engineer. Those two people may work together but live in very separate worlds.

Billy

You’ve got it. My home studio is ‘good enough’. My instruments are better than that.

I guess I'm lucky to be predominantly a live, gigging musician.

My studio needs are just enough to make backing tracks for my duo and aftermarket styles for Band-in-a-Box.

For live performance, pristine sound is not necessary. It's a noisy environment, no one is wearing headphones, and the rooms are not acoustically correct (often, just the opposite).

What is important is to get the timing and the mix of the backing tracks right. Other duos use karaoke tracks, but I don't.

I find that doing my own tracks allow for a better live mix: Exaggerated groove if necessary, more bass and backbeat, and nobody on the track playing the solos. Leave the solos to the solo hog (that would be me).

Also, I can put the songs in our key and rearrange them to be longer, get to the hook quicker, or whatever experience and instincts decide would work better.

All the studio work I have done has been as a 'sax for hire' person. I'm at home on the other side of the glass.

Even though I'm a musician, I don't really listen to the nuts and bolts of the recording. If something is excessively off, I'll notice it, but I really want to hear the music.

I want to hear the performance of the vocalist and other musicians, I want to hear how the parts they play interact with each other, I want to hear what they are playing that I agree with, and I want to hear what they are playing that I disagree with (so that I don't do the same thing). Most of all I want to hear the music move me.

I've heard the music on technically poor recordings by today's standards that I love, and I've heard the music on pristine recordings that have bored me.

Sorry to go off on the tangent. I'll get to the point.

With everything, there is a point of diminishing returns.

When you buy something, if you look at beginners gear and better gear. X amount of dollars gives you a giant gain. Then as you go to even better gear, the same X amount of dollars gives you a noticeable gain, but less than the first one.

This goes on and on, and each identical X amount of dollars gives you less and less gain as you go more upscale.

I've got a Parker guitar. I could have spent $1,000.00 more to get a fancy finish, gold hardware and other bling, but the basic guitar, tuners, frets, and pickups would be exactly the same. That's where the point of diminishing returns was for me.

But for each person, and each purchase, the point of diminishing returns is different.

That's what you have to evaluate for yourself. What is the point where X amount of dollars doesn't buy you what you find important.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Of all who replied so far, I think I may have the skinnyest toolset of all.

1. BiaB
2. Studio One (ver 5)

And although not software tools
3. My Fender Bass Guitar
4. My Korg Keyboard

I'm considering a VST or 2 but (right now anyway) I consider any tool that takes my fingers away from my physical instruments a musical net loss, with the exception of BiaB.

To be sure, I'm not certain I even know what a VST is, and there is much for me to learn but from what I've seen so far, for me, pressing a physical key or fretting a physical string is more gratifying that moving rectangles around on a screen even if my final output is unpolished and down right rough around the edges

Every hour you spend messing around with software is one hour you did not spend with your instrument in your hand. I think several of us are more interested in playing music than recording music. We record it because we need to, not because we like to.

The issue is more complex than it may appear on the surface. We live in a much more isolated world for many reasons. Covid, being just the latest. We tend more and more to live our lives vicariously through TV and computers. There is a tendency to make friends that you never meet in person. So, people get replaced with software.

There is an altogether different experience posting something on a forum than playing with a few people live.

This new world of software gives people with no musical background or no ability to play any instrument a way to create music. In some cases, the music that gets created is excellent. In all too many cases, it is illogical and disorganized noise at best.

You would probably be surprised what does not get posted on forums. Many musicians are prevented from posting their creations due to copyright issues and restrictions placed on them by their record companies. This also happens live. Their management often dictates where and what they can play live.

So...software is excellent to have and use, but it can also become an impediment and a hindrance to creating music.

Billy

+1
If you're North of 50 you realize we all have too little of a major entity; that entity is time.

And if you choose/try to learn some music theory (like me), that's another consumer of your limited and precious time.

This is all a personal thing for each of us.
So for me the question is how do I get maximum bang (maximum improvement and maximum fun) with each hour invested.
I may have one answer this year and a slightly different one next year . . .

Everything used with the objective of getting more of me in my music.

Primary Tools
- BIAB
- Reaper
- Scaler 2

All thing from Toontracks
- EZKeys
- EZBass
- EZDrummer3

Guitar (Although in recent years I tend to have forgotten that I am a guitarist)
- Guitar Rig 6
- BIAS FX2

Keys and Midi Control
- Pianoteq Stage
- NI Kontakt (More libraries than I know...)
- Spitfire (More libraries than I know...)
- Misc (More libraries than I know...)