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Yay. Peter confirmed my guesses.
Bloc-head, thanks for the kind words. It not hard to find my article. It is a sticky in the Tips and Tricks Forum, the second post. Let me know if you find it helpful.
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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Yay. Peter confirmed my guesses.
Bloc-head, thanks for the kind words. It not hard to find my article. It is a sticky in the Tips and Tricks Forum, the second post. Let me know if you find it helpful. I will, Thanks again.
Bandcamp Win-11; BiaB-2026 Audiophile (latest version)
Cakewalk Sonar; Melodyne-5; Scaler 3; NI Komplete:
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
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That statement is incorrect. PG Music have advised that WAV will take precedence over FLAC.
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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So the BB Plugin should be playing wma or FLAC direct from disk same as if I send tracks from the Plugin to Reaper it will play the formats direct and allow full editing of any riff.
The "Save State" of the Plugin Standalone will play direct instantly from any bar with "Load State" without having to load into RAM.
So you can use it for Live Shows.
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Yes, Matt Finley has worked to deliver excellent comparative material on the different audio formats, and I am confident that this document will evolve to embrace further technologies as they are established within the program..
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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Trevor,
Thanks for posting that. And thanks to Matt for preparing that.
Have Fun!
Peter Gannon
PG Music Inc.
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Yay. Peter confirmed my guesses.
Bloc-head, thanks for the kind words. It not hard to find my article. It is a sticky in the Tips and Tricks Forum, the second post. Let me know if you find it helpful. Matt, I found your article helpful, and will be very interested in your observations after our Audiophile SSDs arrive. I'm also curious if there will be any perceivable differences in audio quality or performance, with the use of FLAC files.
Bandcamp Win-11; BiaB-2026 Audiophile (latest version)
Cakewalk Sonar; Melodyne-5; Scaler 3; NI Komplete:
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
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I'm also curious if there will be any perceivable differences in audio quality or performance, with the use of FLAC files. I did some tests years ago on various compression formats. Compressing WAVs to FLACs and then decompressing the FLACs back to a new WAVs resulted in the new WAVs binary identical to the original WAVs. Some people claim that some codecs don't work properly, but I've not personally knowingly seen that.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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I'm also curious if there will be any perceivable differences in audio quality or performance, with the use of FLAC files. I did some tests years ago on various compression formats. Compressing WAVs to FLACs and then decompressing the FLACs back to a new WAVs resulted in the new WAVs binary identical to the original WAVs. Some people claim that some codecs don't work properly, but I've not personally knowingly seen that. What about the time & resources required to de-code the FLACs..?
Bandcamp Win-11; BiaB-2026 Audiophile (latest version)
Cakewalk Sonar; Melodyne-5; Scaler 3; NI Komplete:
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
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BH.
ive lost count how many tracks ive recorded and played back useing a certain well known daw. prolly thousands of tracks....when i was useing it in conjunction with powertracks and then realband/bb to do songs.
plus no stutters or anything.
typically with my audient interface i get around 4 millisecs reported and use asio.
i use it less these days due to recent rb upgrades...but would be ecstatic if rb supported flac.
all i can say is never any lag or other probs at all.
nada...zilch. not one prob ever. and these werent the fastest pc's on the market....often just tarted up cheap refurbs.
ive never had 'flac' from people either....lol.
i'm stoked that pg are starting to embrace flac.
merry xmas.
om
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 12/09/24 12:54 PM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs(90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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What about the time & resources required to de-code the FLACs..? I didn't measure that ... at the time it was of no significance. From an earlier post in trhis thread: Our tests have showed lightning fast decoding of FLAC files, regardless of method use to compress them....
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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I've been asking about that, and you saw the replies. Since they used the heaviest compression level to encode the Flac files, one might suspect a delay in decoding them on our end. Apparently it is not significant, which is great news: we get the smallest files along with solid performance. Before the improvements in handling RealTracks that were made to BIAB 2024 a year ago, this issue might have mattered more. I get my new drive tomorrow and will be able to see for myself.
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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I have been a dedicated user since DOS ver. 1.4. 2025 Audiophile is my LAST purchase. FLAC is nothing more than a tarted up MP3 file. I'm 72, but I still have a good set of ears and IMHO, FLAC just does not stand up to .WAV files. Bottom mids and below sound like mush! This is NOT audiophile! I have lived long enough to see the concept of "new and improved" suck! Frankly a product is either "new" or it is "improved" but, not both. Usually it means the product has been cheapened
We can argue all day long regarding whether or not the average person can hear the difference between a well recorded WAV file at 44.1 kHz or higher resolutions, can be perceived. FLAC files claim to be "lossless". Nothing is said regarding whether or not artifacts are created in this process. That is my issue with FLAC. MP3 files are adequate for quickie conversions to share with someone to give an opinion regarding layout and musical content and construction, but we all know they are not audiophile quality.
Also I have been increasingly disappointed with support. When I call in and an issue is beyond the support person's ability to answer, I can understand the need for research to the problem. I am told that "Someone will get back to me." and that is fine except the last 3 times NO ONE has gotten back to me.
So with the demise of WAV files and 3 times lack of promised support, I bid Goodbye to BIAB.
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"FLAC is nothing more than a tarted up MP3 file".
Mr. Internets generally disagrees with your assessment.
"Nothing is said regarding whether or not artifacts are created in this process."
I am sure that a few of thousands of files would have an artifact or two. Seems that you are very confident. Any RT # you want to share people can test?
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I have been a dedicated user since DOS ver. 1.4. 2025 Audiophile is my LAST purchase. FLAC is nothing more than a tarted up MP3 file. I'm 72, but I still have a good set of ears and IMHO, FLAC just does not stand up to .WAV files. Bottom mids and below sound like mush! This is NOT audiophile! I have lived long enough to see the concept of "new and improved" suck! Frankly a product is either "new" or it is "improved" but, not both. Usually it means the product has been cheapened
We can argue all day long regarding whether or not the average person can hear the difference between a well recorded WAV file at 44.1 kHz or higher resolutions, can be perceived. FLAC files claim to be "lossless". Nothing is said regarding whether or not artifacts are created in this process. That is my issue with FLAC. MP3 files are adequate for quickie conversions to share with someone to give an opinion regarding layout and musical content and construction, but we all know they are not audiophile quality.
Also I have been increasingly disappointed with support. When I call in and an issue is beyond the support person's ability to answer, I can understand the need for research to the problem. I am told that "Someone will get back to me." and that is fine except the last 3 times NO ONE has gotten back to me.
So with the demise of WAV files and 3 times lack of promised support, I bid Goodbye to BIAB. When I tested several compressed formats some years ago, I compressed WAV files to FLAC, decompressed those FLAC files to new WAV files and did a binary comparisons. The original and recreated WAV files were binary identical. I have heard people say that some FLAC codecs are suspect/flawed, but I haven't experienced that myself.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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My experience matches Gordon’s.
I have not encountered a ‘flawed’ Flac encoder because I don’t use anything but some quite good software to make Flac files. I suppose some free converters on the Internet might have problems but that’s just a guess.
DJL, I do not recall seeing any posts here in which you reported a problem. I encourage you to make a separate post for each issue and give us a chance to help. If we are stumped, several of us can send a report directly to the developers.
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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Hi DJL -
In preparing the 2025 Audiophile, we compared all of the decompressed files with the original waves and the audio data in every single one of the ~100K files is identical. Not 'close', but EXACTLY the same, bit for bit.
Andrew
PG Music Inc.
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Wow, that was fast! I just wish that the 3 unanswered problems I had were dealt with that fast! In the demos I pulled up, the bass levels were overpowering. So much so, many of the other instruments couldn't be easily distinguished. In the past, the demo mixes were much more even. Did you use your ears or just look at bit maps? Music is about ears first and foremost isn't it?
I am sad to hear then that the recordings are not up to snuff as the exemplary files the the now dismissed WAV files. In the past, even WAV files were tweaked and improved over time. Having to take most bass from vol. level 90 down to 24 is rather extreme wouldn't you say?
Last edited by DJL; 12/17/24 02:31 PM.
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You didn't see any reported problems here as I didn't post questions in the Forums. I prefer to not type. BTW, typing is NOT "chatting", just as there is no "cloud". I dislike modern changes of word usages and definitions. I called with my problems.
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PG Music Staff
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In the demos I pulled up, the bass levels were overpowering Can you give an example of a demo? If there's poor sounding demo we'd definitely like to fix it.
Andrew
PG Music Inc.
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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® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
If you're already using Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, make sure to grab the latest update! Build 904 is now available for download and includes the newest additions and enhancements from our team.
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® users: Build 1237 is now available!
Already a Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows user? Stay up to date and download the build 1237 to get all the latest additions and enhancements.
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Tablature now includes a “Save bends when saving XML” option for improved compatibility with PG Music tools. Plus, you can instantly match all track heights with a simple Ctrl-release after resizing, and Add2 chords from MGU/SGU files are now fully supported... and more!
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Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
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, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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