PG Music Home Forums PG Music Wishlists Band-in-a-Box Wishlist 2025/26 What should be the priority?

There so many great ideas voiced that my head spins. I can only imagine what PGM crew thinks
Realistically speaking, I expect between 20-30% of the items proposed done next year. Which would be great if they are done right. Looking into future, not just something to say: "you asked, we did it".

Besides obvious things like proper wording and sorting of some menus - which is more of text correction and re-organizing rather than something new, there had been a few big items proposed that in my view should be considered first.

#1 Panels. If these will be the building blocks for future tools & actions, very special attention should be given to design. I can't stress enough how important is to make them tabbed, and so these "tabs" could be separated and individual tools used as own entity. Resizable. Ideally "magnetic", so they could be docked left or right and minimized to thin strip. Done right, so there are no regrets down the road. When tools are transplanted they should be visually arranged to conform design, not just cutandpasted from existing pop ups.

#2 Mixer redo. I think this discussion goes back a decade or so back? Many great suggestions had been made. I will only add something that likely wasn't mentioned. If it's in plans, it should be (mainly) vector, so it's not blurry on most of modern screens.

#3 Preference menu. Something inline of what RobertW offered. His mock drawing speaks for itself.

#4 More work completing Track view. Especially simple way for basic audio recording: Source select> Arm>Record no silly additional popups, questions, etc. This will take BIAB to another level, suitable for those who don't want to learn several software titles and would be able to make arrangement and record a few of their own tracks the easy way.

#5 Chord View - Resolution. Microchords just don't work right. Concept has to be reimagined and integrated into Chord View input. I agree with Jeff, that 1/8 chord resolution should be enough. This should satisfy needs of ~ 90%+ of music makers (At least that is what AI says ) and if to narrow down to BIAB world, likely in 95% range.

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It's unlikely somebody will entirely agree with my "priority" list, but I wonder what would be 5 specific things that you think PGM should start with. For example, my #1 is mainly about panel design. There are approximately 12+ Tools and actions that could potentially be used as Panels. I would be perfectly happy if for 2026 they will transfer only 2 to get foot in the door. No matter which ones. This will give general idea of UI/Workflow. How well PGM understood the concept. How users will react.

It looks fine/+1.


(But at some point they also need to fix an efficient search
concept, otherwise I would have nothing to work with in the new GUI/workflows)

Even though it's obvious, that must be in the list, otherwise people focus on the numbers and the obvious loses precedence.

I'd like to see the consistent context-specific right-click menus of every object. Personally I'd put that first or second. YMMV.

OK I'll say it, rewrite the entire program and do it all. Now that that is out of my system I would rank your suggestions in this order:

"Besides obvious things like proper wording and sorting of some menus - which is more of text correction and re-organizing rather than something new, there had been a few big items proposed that in my view should be considered first." I would put this on the top of the list followed by
#1 - Panels - Which goes along with the above
#5 - Chord View
#3 - Preference menu
#4 - Track View
#2 - Mixer

Just my opinions and YMMV

A good summary Misha.

Good List Misha. The editing capability of the Tracks view is my favorite idea. Recording as always seemed ticklish to me in BiaB. making it a bit more intuitive will really help. In line with panels having each scalable and as you mentioned magnetic would make for a more simplified workflow. The mixer has long needed a better setup. All this makes sense, but i still think that one of the most important things is fixing old issues and not getting too far ahead with 50 new things. How about 5 or 6 really cool things like being discussed in this thread and fixing a dozen or so. 255, time signatures, and a few more. Just my thoughts. One thing is that some of the upgrades being discussed here could potentially help some of the odler issues as well.

Side note the microchords to me as mentioned has never quite worked for me. every time i try them in a song project they just do not seem to fit right. (of course that may be me)

My UX/UI list: (from over 250 UX/UI inputs, not a bug, gap or reliability list)

1) Consistency (Cursor behavior, Timeline clicks, Mouse Modifiers, Snap, Loop, Pan, Zoom, Scroll, Menu word choice) across ALL VIEWS.
2) Dock-able Panels, (Replace 90% of Dialog Windows).
3) Chords, Higher resolution in all views. editable Chord Track in Tracks View, consistently loop-able in ALL VIEWS
4) Menus: (Context Menus, pure next steps. Options: standard gear button next to all views, Smart last used, Consistent wording across ENTIRE APP)
5) Vector Graphics (Improved resolution, resizable)

#1 Menu / GUI Reorganization and Simplification
I don't think this is obvious at all. Doing this job well would likely require a complete redesign of the user interface, as well as a serious rethink of how old and new features integrate with each other and can be displayed in a single, cohesive interface. It would also probably mean removing outdated features that no longer make sense in newer versions or simply don't work anymore—something programmers have historically resisted. Additionally, it would involve conducting extensive usability tests with newcomers who have a fresh perspective, rather than relying on feedback from long-time users who have grown accustomed to the program's quirks.

Simply put, the current GUI and menus are so bloated that even the most basic tasks (for example, loading the latest Realtrack you've tried) can become a nightmare if you don't use the program regularly. Try it for yourself!

#2 A Modern and Efficient Search Algorithm

*1.