Your words are strong Rob... thats OK.... but I disagree

A few points: BIAB is now a fully pro accompaniment application the best in the world. We take this as an assumption.

Need for a VST Rack

Yet you can't use a decent piano in it. Very few pianists would use a GM synth. Many would their favorite Piano which they bash to death. Mine is True Piano diamond, but it might be IVORY, EAST WEST gear or domthing else. If you are such a pianist the gm synth is not an option.

My Hammond B3 has drawbars and lots of other features. If I use a GM organ I can use these. There are lots of other instruments out there that simply surpass GM synths - useful though they are.

Using Standalone apps, and sneaking around using WIndows mixers and two drivers is not professional design at its best. These things should be in house. This is a pity as BIAB has so much to commend (and is totally forgiven).


"Asking to change the basic foundation of the app"

I don't agree its changing the foundation, its about rethinking the GUI. Many major apps have upgrades that radically redesign the program. If you just leave the central structure alone and ad bits ad hock then you get a cluttering - like BIAB. Lots of people are saying the GUI is tired - I wont go into this too deeply, but it would be a pity if PG redesigned the BIAB interface and REAL BAND seperately - a lost opportunity in my book. It just takes a little creativity in my book.

Cubase:
Cubase is no longer buggy. Its working like a dream here in a 64 bit WIN 7 Environment. In my view (not yours - granted) , BIAB seeems to me to be like Cubase was before the fundamental rethink that represents the SX series. VST5 as it was called - in the early 90s, was a fantastic program in terms of its power, but it was cluttered and confusing. SX took the bold stewp of clearing the dross and reorganising the interface. Now with Cubase 5 its as slick as it can be and easy to use for its level of sophistication. ALL IMO you understand

"Asio causing unbalancing"
Maybe I did not make myself clear. At present if I use Asio on both my external instruments and BIAB I get no way of controlling the Audio output in BIAB. BIAB presents you with a windows mixer if you hit the speaker icon. Asio bypasses this on my system. I therefore cant set the level.
If BIAB had a mixer of its own then this would not happen. It has VU meters why no mixer. A mixer would also make it easier to see levels of instruments.

I really dont know REALBAND I admit. Like a lot of users I rarely go there. I just dont want to put my head in ANOTHER manual From what I can see Real Band seems neither fish nor fowl, it seems like BIAB ....HALF...... integrated with a sort of a sequencer. You can do things like type in chords - but why deny the user the full features if BIAB?

When a READ the PG descrption of the application. It seeems to me that they are describing BIAB type features. I have never used Power Tracks but its description makes it seem very odd - so it uses some quirky stuff and has anchord wizard thingy - again BIAB. Power Tracks seems dead to me in terms of future. There are freebie ssequencers out there these days - KVR.

SO, why dont I use REAL BAND? The new user, like me is faced with ferreting through the app to see what can and cant be done. I have two leanr two things instead of one. Real Band to me is a nuisance

OK so tell me I should learn it... maybe.

OK so I may be wrong about Real Band integration I still believe it can be done, hey, there are many perspectives of course.

I still think BIAB has need of a proper mixer and also a VST rack which allows you to play your virtual instruments - if nothing else.

Win 11 64, Asus Rog Strix z390 mobo, 64 gig RAM, 8700k