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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2012
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I’ve been using a Microsoft Surface Pro but it sometimes crashes, saying “not enough memory” or something equally crazy. I have to reboot and the problem magically disappears but that's most annoying during a gig. Before I order a new Surface, does anyone have a recommendation for a better tablet? Thanks for your help.
Cheers! -Alastair
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If you have the 2025 version you can use the BB Plugin Standalone C:\bb\BBPlugin\Files\Band-in-a-Box DAW Plugin Standalone.exe You can File > Save State this will save all the tracks to a small SGU and play instantly with "Load State" The Plugin Standalone will use less resources. ![[Linked Image - Only viewable when logged in]](https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=29390&filename=BB25-Plugin-Standalone-Mode.gif)
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The Band-in-a-Box system requirements recommend 2gb of memory - that's about the most I've seen BB use on its own, not including the operating system and other apps. I personally wouldn't buy anything with less than 16gb of RAM though. https://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.requirements.htm
I work here
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Cheers! -Alastair
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I have two or three tablets that I find useful for things other than music.
I see people playing live with tablets and I have often wondered why they like to use a tablet.
Why do you find a tablet to be more suitable/useful than a LapTop? LapTops are super cheap nowadays and are not that much bigger than many tablets.
Toward the end of my live playing, I started using a Windows 10 Pro i5, 16 gigs of Ram, and a small SSD LapTop and found it to be very stable and never crashed. Many things can be controlled with a foot switch for hands-free operation. I have to confess that a touch screen has never appealed to me. The larger screen size was a big deal for me to play from a lead sheet and read the lyrics.
I am not trying to suggest that you switch, just trying to understand why you prefer the tablet.
There is nothing more frustrating than having things fail playing live.
Cheers,
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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Thanks Billy,
I prefer a tablet because it can sit on my music stand and the audience can’t see it. 🙂
Cheers! -Alastair
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I see people playing live with tablets and I have often wondered why they like to use a tablet. I use one most of the time. As I've gotten older, the screen has had to become bigger. I use it only for sheet music when gigging, not for backing, but I do use iRealPro backing for practice, though the lack of a melody and other soloists is significant. I have all my music in MobileSheetsPro. Other band members use other Apps. It allows me to keep scores all together, has an index and a search. It allows me to group into 'collections'(*), e.g. for my jazz group, for the ukulele jam group, for learning focus, for my wife's singing songs. It allows me to set up set lists, but also allows me to find a song quickly if it's called unexpectedly. iRealPro is just chord sheets, no dots, but I have a larger number of songs on it and can often enter then new in a couple or so minutes for some song I don't have. Being a tablet, it's lit up, so is easily visible in a dark-ish room. It's heavy enough to not need clips/pegs to keep it on the music stand if there's a breeze, but is not so visible in bright light, especially if I'm wearing sunglasses. I usually print paper for expected sunny events. iRealPro's accompaniment is OK, not great. It sounds better than typical low-end MIDI, quite a long way short of RealTracks. It has a limited style repertoire, but it mostly does me for practice. Around here at least, tablets are definitely more common than paper for the scores. I'm not sure who, if any, of my friends use them for backing. Buskers certainly sometimes do. (*) Edit: A tip from a friend is to have a collection named something like needs attention, so one can quickly find sheets that need fixing or imnproving.
Last edited by Gordon Scott; 12/17/24 11:38 AM.
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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Is it a newer model or an older one?
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LOL...bigger screens, ain't that the truth...lol
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Is it a newer model or an older one? 2024 I’ve reinstalled BIAB to see if that helps.
Cheers! -Alastair
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Is it a newer model or an older one? 2024 I’ve reinstalled BIAB to see if that helps. Is it the one with the Intel CPU or the Snapdragon? If it's the Snapdragon that could be part of the problem - those are an ARM cpu, while Windows devices are typically x86 (Intel/AMD). Windows on ARM is still in its infancy, and often has trouble with application compatibility.
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It’s an Intel 12th Gen i7.
Cheers! -Alastair
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It’s an Intel 12th Gen i7. Hmm, that should be fine then. Can you watch BB in the Task Manager and see how much memory it's using? It's a good idea to watch other processes, as it might be something else causing the problem too. Here's a tutorial showing you how to use the Task Manager, in case you need it: https://www.howtogeek.com/405806/windows-task-manager-the-complete-guide/
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People are telling you that you need more RAM — and they are right. Everything from web pages, browsers, apps, plug-ins and more are prone to memory leaks. It's loikre whack-a-mole, developers quash a few to find that there are more.
Rebooting clears the RAM cache—that's why the problem disappears. If you do not reboot daily, get in the habit of doing so.
If doing music, I would not buy a PC with less than 32GB onboard—64 is better. Integrated RAM in Apple Silicon is more efficient—you can get by on 16GB but 32 or 64 is better.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia/Tahoe, M1 & M5 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture
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If doing music, I would not buy a PC with less than 32GB onboard—64 is better. Integrated RAM in Apple Silicon is more efficient—you can get by on 16GB but 32 or 64 is better. I don't think they make any tablets that have more than 32gb of RAM, which is what Alastair has. You're correct that Apple Silicon is more efficient, but that goes for ARM in general - the newest ARM Surfaces would theoretically have that same benefit (assuming apps are compiled for ARM and not just x86). I personally have an M1 with 16gb and don't feel much need to upgrade, however macOS has much better support for ARM than Windows does.
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Does anyone know if BIAB runs better on an AMD vs. an Intel chip? I know AMD is more for multi procces stuff so I was considering going that route when I upgrade my pc.
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Sax...ive run on both. currently i'm on amd. but never had a prob on intel. NOTE...i urge you to... 1..read this re acquiring a new pc thread... https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=795663#Post7956632..dont just buy any old pc. this is a mistake many people make...then often they try to load up tracks and resource heavy plugins on a underpowered processor, 3..ensure any pc you get can be returned within 30 days in case its not fit for purpose. to save me pages of retyping read the above link and get back to me with any questions you have. happiness. om
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 01/04/25 06:45 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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Thanks Muso. Much appreciated.
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XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
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Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
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Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Wishing you an egg-cellent weekend!
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Update to Build 10 of RealBand® 2026 for Windows®!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® users: Build 1237 is now available!
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