I shared some of my thoughts in another post, but thought I would paraphrase them here for those they might help. Here is the original post for those interested:
I don't use BB / RB to create songs, but rather to study music. Music has brought such joy and fascinated me, and I was never really able to hear and reproduce what I heard on the record onto my guitar. Nor was I able to find transcriptions of recordings that would play back for me slowly and with notation. BB / RB was the first program that did this, not only for the guitar but for an entire band. It continues to provide a vast library of recorded music of the best studio musicians of our time that dwarfs anything else available in other programs.
If you study music, one extremely important thing to have is digitized musical examples of the greatest musicians in the world to study within the genre of your interest. BB / RB has provided thousands of these - again, with notation and playback that can be slowed to the point where it can be understood, no matter how slow you have to go. It can change the key with perfect fidelity to be more accessible to your voice or instrument of choice. So in addition to the program features, the critically important thing is the centralization and easy access to recordings by the best studio musicians in the world. If you happen to especially love good music and songs in all kinds of styles, the program has you covered. You can hear, appreciate, and learn how and why a multitude of genres create such beautiful music - from rock to jazz to bluegrass to classical, to celtic, to world, to Latin - and many more.
In a nutshell, there never has been nor is there currently available a program that comes remotely close to providing such a vast library of digitized music created by the best musicians in the world along with the tools to study it.
All that said - I have not even touched on the capability to compose music, which is a major selling point of the software. Though not my personal interest, I have equally high praise for the songwriting aspects of the program.
..something people may not be aware of is...and ive used it at various times in rb in the past is there is avery usefull click/noise tool free from pg...a dx plugin. ..i love the graphics when i'm recording a audio track. eg my vocs. ..bars view for moving chunks of midi around.
lots to discover.
happiness.
om
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.)
I have used BIAB since the DOS days and Power Tracks was my first Windows sequencer ($29). When RealBand was introduced with the ability to open BIAB files, it addressed most of the limitations I had using BIAB. One of the uses I have for RealBand is to create video soundtracks. Here is a video soundtrack created using BIAB and RealBand. I auditioned tracks and loops in BIAB, but almost all of the generating and work was done in RealBand. RealBand allows for syncing individual music clips with specific sections of the video.
First the video was imported into RealBand and then the tracks and loops were generated as required for sections of the video.
The first 1:30 minutes contain the following RealTracks and loops:
RealBass 2749 Bass, electric, Rock Shuffle HardDoug sw 120 Real Drums – Rock Shuiffle ^ 1- HiHat, Ride Real Piano 2728 Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Blues Shuffle/Mike Sw 130 RealGuitar 1584 Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Texas Blues Rock Shuffle Brent sw 130
Various other synth sounds were played in with MIDI.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
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.
Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®
With your version 2026 for Windows Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
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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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