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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Here is a table that I put together showing how the world listens to music these days. It compares what is available in BIAB standard and audiophile versions to how the world listens. Because the quality of the music cannot be artificially increased from its source but can be compressed from a source with minimal artifacts, it opens the question of whether the standard offering of BIAB can or should increase its compressed bit rate to better match where the majority of the world is listing to music. Of course, there are many tradeoffs in this discussion such as size of the files, hard drives that they have to ship to you versus the current 128K bit rate of the .wma file. If the standard version is increased to at least 160 kbps to 256 kbps it would put it in the ballpark of where the majority of the world listens to music. ` Yes, there are many codecs and lossless discussions, but even MS wma 8-10 offers all the way up to a professional quality sound so it's just a matter of what is the best right size for PGM and the current majority of the music listening. Your thoughts? ![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/50pb5cvx/Music-Bitrates.png)
Studio One (latest version), Win 11 23H2 , i9 -10940X 3.3 GHz, 32GB Mem, a 4K 40" monitor, PreSonus Studio Live III Console as interface/controller. secondarily test on Reaper, Cakewalk, and S1 on Surface Pro 3 Win 10 (latest versions).
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hmm ... potential audio war  FWIW, here are my thoughts; I'm sure others will differ. Background: I'm not absolutely certain when I did this, but 2009 looks likely when I was mid-fifties so my hearing would already have been fading. I compared MP3, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC, the first two at several bit rates, looking for the "indistinguishable from the CD". 128kbps didn't do it. 160kbps on MP3 seemed marginal ... mostly OK with a few "Oh" moments. 160kbps on Ogg was better. Faster bit rates were fine for me. With my codec, decompressed FLAC was binary identical to the source. If I did that again, I'd now use FLAC or similar, but I'm not sure how that would fit with PGM's marketing. Back then I settled on Ogg Vorbis 44.1k and 160kbps. I think there are good arguments for going to 48k sampling as I think resampling down should be better then resampling up. Once inside the software itself, there's then the tradeoff between sample-rate plus sample depth and the amount of CPU time needed to process the data. My temptation in that case is to say stick with 48k sampling and 32-bit floating point and don't get carried away with more, because that will just hit the number of tracks and number of plug-ins. Using graphics cards as the engine might recalibrate that. All caveats apply, YMMV. Edit .. Just an FYI aside: The reason I compared only MP3, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC, not WMA, is that as a Linux user there was no WMA. There are also, of course, more formats available today than there were 15 years ago.
Last edited by Gordon Scott; 03/23/24 02:34 PM. Reason: FYI addendum.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I’m glad you brought this up. We have had lots of discussions about this but not in a while.
Nice chart. I question one thing in your chart. In my opinion, a rate of 128 kbps is not the same audio quality in an MP3 as it is in a WMA. As I wrote many years ago in the first sticky post in the Tips & Tricks Forum, the BIAB WMA files at 128 sound to me like an MP3 running at 160 to 192. I would have placed the ‘Standard’ entry in the BIAB column at the 160 row. Plus, some of the BIAB sounds are mono, which I think reduces the artifacts a bit.
You are correct about file sizes being bigger the better the quality gets. The discussions we’ve had on possibly downloading the audiophile version always include the suggestion to use lossless compression. I only use 320 for an MP3, and I switched to FLAC for most uses a few years back.
Avoiding yet another hard drive each year would be nice, especially for the folks in Europe paying the VAT. And if the audiophile version with compression still couldn’t be made small enough for most to download, perhaps it could ship just the updated or new files on some form of flash drive. Whatever applies to the discussion of making the audiophile size smaller should be useful for the regular version at some improved higher rate.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Get rid of wma and have a crossplatform compressed format.
For Audiophile I showed wavpack to be an alternative to give 24bit 48khz at a lot smaller size than wav/aiff but no quality loss and allows multichannel encoding.
This is all from years n years ago, 24/48 it's a no brainer for higher quality, but it's an old argument like not needing 64bit because we have JBridge.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Matt, the wma files in BIAB show as 128 kbps.
I was generally cataloging it to make the point. I only mentioned MP3 to remind people of what was used in the 90s.
I have read that AAC codec produce a better quality than MP3 codecs for the same bit rate but have not seen the same for wma vs mp3. At that bit rate they would be approximately the same.
The real point of this thread is there a desire to get the minimal quality up to the current streaming quality on the Internet? This can be done with many different codecs today.
Musocity
You're driving a different point and I think most would agree that there are more modern ways to get at least CD quality for the audio file version and this would allow PGM to release on a high quality on smaller drives.
P.S. I was surprises to find out the world is listening to something less than CD quality of the 80s.
Studio One (latest version), Win 11 23H2 , i9 -10940X 3.3 GHz, 32GB Mem, a 4K 40" monitor, PreSonus Studio Live III Console as interface/controller. secondarily test on Reaper, Cakewalk, and S1 on Surface Pro 3 Win 10 (latest versions).
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I could spend time researching this but it’s no point because I completely agree with you that the audio quality for the regular version of BIAB (for Windows), wherever you chart it, should be improved.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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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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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.
Watch the video.
You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®
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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
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- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
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Learn more about the Bonus PAKs for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
Video: New User Interface (GUI)
Join Tobin as he takes you on a tour of the new user interface in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®! This modern GUI redesign offers a sleek new look with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, and a smoother workflow. The brand-new side toolbar puts track selection, the MultiPicker Library, and other essential tools right at your fingertips. Plus, our upgraded Multi-View lets you layer multiple windows without overlap, giving you a highly flexible workspace. Many windows—including Tracks, Piano Roll, and more—have been redesigned for improved usability and a cleaner, more intuitive interface, and more!
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You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
Introducing XPro Styles PAK 10 – Now Available for Windows Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 10 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 28 RealTracks and RealDrums!
Few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and a brand spankin’ new XPro Styles PAK! In this, the 10th edition of our XPro Styles PAK series, we’ve got 100 styles coming your way! We have the classic 25 styles each from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, and rounding out this volume's wildcard slot is 25 styles in the Praise & Worship genre! A wide spanning genre, you can find everything from rock, folk, country, and more underneath its umbrella. The included 28 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
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XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
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Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest Xtra Styles PAK installment—the all new Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher)!
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Special offers until December 31st, 2025!
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Video: Xtra Styles PAK 21 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 21 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Introducing XPro Styles PAK 10 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 10 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 28 RealTracks and RealDrums!
Few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and a brand spankin’ new XPro Styles PAK! In this, the 10th edition of our XPro Styles PAK series, we’ve got 100 styles coming your way! We have the classic 25 styles each from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, and rounding out this volume's wildcard slot is 25 styles in the Praise & Worship genre! A wide spanning genre, you can find everything from rock, folk, country, and more underneath its umbrella. The included 28 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Here’s just a small sampling of what you can look forward to in XPro Styles PAK 10: Soft indie folk worship songs, bumpin’ country boogies, gospel praise breaks, hard rockin’ pop, funky disco grooves, smooth Latin jazz pop, bossa nova fusion, western swing, alternative hip-hop, cool country funk, and much more!
Special offers until December 31st, 2025!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 10 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
Video: XPro Styles PAK 10 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Introducing Xtra Styles PAK 21 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher!
Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest Xtra Styles PAK installment—the all new Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher)!
Rejoice, one and all, for Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Band-in-a-Box® is here! We’re serving up 200 brand spankin’ new styles to delight your musical taste buds! The first three courses are the classics you’ve come to know and love, including offerings from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, but, not to be outdone, this year’s fourth course is bro country! A wide ranging genre, you can find everything from hip-hop, uptempo outlaw country, hard hitting rock, funk, and even electronica, all with that familiar bro country flair. The dinner bell has been rung, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 21 today!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Energetic folk rock, raucous train beats, fast country boogies, acid jazz grooves, laid-back funky jams, a bevy of breezy jazz waltzes, calm electro funk, indie synth pop, industrial synth metal, and more bro country than could possibly fit in the back of a pickup truck!
Special offers until December 31st, 2025!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 21 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 21 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of the Xtra Styles PAK 21.
Video: Xtra Styles PAK 21 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 21 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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