when you say you have an arrangement in the works, are you using Band in a Box exclusively to "drive" the sounds, and/or another DAW, and/or NI's hardware?
I am willing to go overboard and get the whole Collector's Edition at $899 (50%) off, but am wondering if I can then simply use the sounds within BinABox (part of my workflow also includes the DAW, Mixcraft).
I am also considering getting the hardware bundle that they are offering, but rarely compose on a music keyboard.
Tom Marvan Dunbar7376 San Diego, CA
Band in A Box Audiophile 2025
MSI GE66 10SFS 15.6" Laptop (Model GE66048) Intel Core i7 10th Gen i7-10750H 2.6ghz 32GB DDR4 RAM 2666mhz 8GB GDDR6 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 1920x1080 Full HD LED 2x1TB NVMe SSD PCI
when you say you have an arrangement in the works, are you using Band in a Box exclusively to "drive" the sounds, and/or another DAW, and/or NI's hardware?
I am willing to go overboard and get the whole Collector's Edition at $899 (50%) off, but am wondering if I can then simply use the sounds within BinABox (part of my workflow also includes the DAW, Mixcraft).
I am also considering getting the hardware bundle that they are offering, but rarely compose on a music keyboard.
Hello Tom, Thanks for asking. My current project is EZKeys2,EZBass,EXDrum3, Session Guitars Mint and me on my Strat. So no BIAB in this arrangement (so far). But BIAB is not far from all my work since even if it is not present, it is likely that it provided some spark of inspiration along the way.
I can tell you that Kontakt VI's works in BIAB. So yes, you will likely be able to use the "sounds" in BIAB. However, IMO, BIAB lacks the features to do final arranging, mixing and mastering needed for final production. So while I may start in BIAB, I always end up in Reaper.
I have worked hard over the past years to increase my composing on a keyboard. I can tell you the NI hardware keyboards can be a great investment in your long term music plans. So even if you are not a pianoist, playing chords/pads or driving a synth or kontakt instrument engine has permitted more of me in my music.
And finally, although you did not ask... while I have no problem recommending the Collectors Edition, I can't help but think that is a crazy amount of new-software to buy at one time. The way NI sells these packages makes it no more costly to buy-up over time instead of all at once. So unless you have your eyes on something specific, may be best to slow down a bit. The Stand and Ultimate Editions are a life time of sounds. But if you have more money then you know what to do with it.... have fun.
When I write a song, I usually do so on my guitar, but will occasionally compose on my Yamaha keyboard to work out sax and piano solos, that sort of thing. I'll then plug in a chord progression in BandInABox and choose a style, bring in the instruments, and do 80% of the arrangements in there.
The 2023 version of BinB is amazing in its ability to edit and regenerate audio. I may also add some sparse effects, but generally I then import the whole thing into Mixcraft 9 Pro, a very handy little DAW. From there I add my vocals and guitar(s), additional effects, production and mix.
I am contemplating where to insert the Native Instruments part in my workflow. My initial thought was to replace some of the string sounds in particular that Band In a Box offers, even some of the MIDI, with the NI sounds once I bring it into my DAW. Of course, the NI sounds would offer a lot more in terms of variety, not just of straings.
While the current sale offers a discount on the NI software and hardware each separately, there is an additional compounded discount when you get both, as the hardware comes with a lesser tier of software, and so adding the Collector's Edition in my case is now considered an upgarde rather than a brand new full software purchase.
I do not have money to burn, but with the discounts, I am lucky to be in a position to afford it, and I don't think any piecemeal pricing down the road will beat it. Finally, sometimes I just like to derive inspiration by experimenting with sounds, so it would be nice to have the whole NI palette without restrictions.
Thank you again for your input. I would love to hear some of your tunes when they are ready.
Last edited by dunbar7376; 06/05/2309:13 AM.
Tom Marvan Dunbar7376 San Diego, CA
Band in A Box Audiophile 2025
MSI GE66 10SFS 15.6" Laptop (Model GE66048) Intel Core i7 10th Gen i7-10750H 2.6ghz 32GB DDR4 RAM 2666mhz 8GB GDDR6 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 1920x1080 Full HD LED 2x1TB NVMe SSD PCI
Only one problem neither Band in the Box nor Realband are compatible with Kontakt 7 .dll given that it is VST3. So, what really new cannot be used on my favorite DAW, just the stuff I had before investing in Complete Collectors Editions.
Only one problem neither Band in the Box nor Realband are compatible with Kontakt 7 .dll given that it is VST3. So, what really new cannot be used on my favorite DAW, just the stuff I had before investing in Complete Collectors Editions.
I think you are correct! Kontakt 7 will not load in BIAB. I didn't even notice since I have Kontakt 6 on my machine which still loads. I am not aware of any new Komplete stuff which actually needs Kontakt 7 since I see my new stuff in Kontakt 6.
But this whole VST3 thing in BIAB needs to be addressed.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
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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)
Android Band-in-a-Box® App (included)
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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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