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David, wow, this is REALLY nice! Super write, and the arrangement is perfect. Amazing vocals that remind me of a modern take on David Gates. Very impressive. Those harmonies are sweet as well. Think in the future I'll delay reading your longer narrative until after listening to the song for the first time. I LOVE reading about your process, but I can sense my subsequent listens are somewhat distracted by knowledge of what the Wizard was doing behind the curtain. And you are ONE BUSY WIZARD. But a Wizard indeed.  We're not in Kansas any more...
DC Ron
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David, I completely enjoyed this, both as a passive listener and as an analytic listener. It is so complete, compared to my work where I seem to just get the basic skeletal structure "out there", your work is so thoroughly thought through (th-th-th!), and the result shows. Your mastery of the components is way beyond my comprehension or skill level, and I always take something away. I find your postings are like taking a composition/mixing/production course--much to dig into. I have to say that the one thing that I liked best was the short-stopping of the words "undone", "small", and "sad"--I think no one would have any problem if you drew out these words at the end of lines, but cutting them off as you did is pleasing and attention-grabbing (to my ears). excellence once again! Thanks for sharing your work!
Windows 11, Intel Core i5-8600T 2.3Ghz, 16 gig ram, BIAB 2025 MegaPak, SampleTank 4, Keystation49 Kybd, Neewer NW-800 mic
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The intro has serious classic Glenn Campbell vibes.
Very cool strings.
Nice essay too.
Well done - excellent mix.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Hi, Andrew. I like where the song picks up intensity in the choruses, and to my ears, the peak was in ‘rabbit on the run / life has come undone’ sections - not lyrically (although I didn’t mind the words) but musically. I'm glad that worked for you! I thought I heard a line cliche or two in the song, which always attracts me. Yes, you did. You've got good ears! I didn't mention it in the writeup, because I couldn't remember what they were called.  I've got a "To Do" list of things to try out in songs, and that was on the list. It made sense to use it here, because it works well with ballads. It's something along the lines of G Gmaj7 G6 Gadd2 D Dmaj7 D7. Line cliches work well on the guitar and keyboard, but don't always translate well to BiaB, but I think it worked nicely in this case. Lyrically, I find songs that have a ‘woe is me’ theme to be emotionally tiring - don’t get me wrong - I am not critiquing your lyrics, but my reaction to these types of songs. I think that’s because I have to fight my own negativity and pessimism. It made think … what does his former other think of this situation? Interesting if there was ever a ‘their side of the story’ response song e.g. I had to escape because you were too clingy and stifling. Yeah, I tried to touch on that in the writeup. That's the thought I had when working on the second verse. If someone doesn't want to be around you, it sucks, but as my daughter would say - that's a you problem. I deleted a long anecdote, but the punch line was having to explain to someone that, yes, I understood he missed my wife. But didn't he think that was a weird thing to be telling her husband? And no, she wasn't ever going to talk to him again. Thank you for the write-up of your process - I find it interesting/enlightening to hear of the songs development through arrangement - the ideas that are inspired by the recording and arranging process. I don’t know where you find the patience for it - what seems like a lengthy process. I guess it’s about quality and the learning experience. I figure if I suffered for my art, you need also need to.  I also thought while listening - acknowledging I have listened to very little, and never used, AI vocals - the North American accent and vocal stylings - what it would do to the song with a McCartney-esque or UK styled vocal? First, some clarification on SynthV. A voice provider is basically given a "script" of words to sing at different pitches. English has a lot of phonemes, so there are lots and lots of words to sing. The original version of SynthV didn't use AI at all, it just reassembled the voice similar to how BiaB works. Later, they trained a neural network because it was better at connecting all these phonemes. The accent of the voice provider will come through. Here's an example: https://soundcloud.com/dcuny/ive-been-downAnd yes, there are a number of mis-pronounced words. There's no way to remove that accent from that voice provider. Most of the English voice providers for SynthV have been North American, so there aren't really many UK voices. With some effort, I do some substitutions and edits and try to approximate a Liverpool accent, but it would sound very much like an American trying to do a (poor) British accent. There are other ways to go about this. For example, RVC is the process of training a neural network on a specific voice, so it will take an input voice and replace it with the timbre of another voice. That will get you somewhat in the ballpark, but the original singer should optimally have something close to that accent in the first place. I suspect that eventually there will be more UK-flavored voices for SynthV. I have ACE Studio (but the voices are IMO, not great), and none of the voices sound British to me. I just loaded the MIDI output of this song onto ACE Studio, and verified the voices aren't great. They aren't terrible, they just seem to be missing phonemes and not sound especially realistic. They're pleasant enough to listen to, though. I can't speak to programs like Suno, though. And given your own interest in AI vocals, do you have any views or insights into how a song is changed by the AI vocal selected! I would think a lot if we say that a vocal is an instrument and the effect would be tantamount to change of solo instrument in an instrumental. I very much write songs to a specific voice. And each voice comes with different "modes", like "whisper", "sweet", "chest", and so on. You can easily change singers, but each voice has its own character, so it may not translate well. And you sort of hear an "attitude" that matches the voice, which helps in the songwriting process. Anyhow, a good song and I listened three times. Thanks! Let me know if you've got any other questions.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Hi, Herb. That has a cool Seals & Croft kind of sound. Thanks! Like it or not, I think 70's is my wheelhouse. That is a really cool bass track. Glad you could hear it in the mix. As a basic piano player, so I'll typically look at a chart and see if there's something interesting I can do with the bass line to make it more interesting. That typically means figuring out nice stepwise movement. That carries over to songwriting, since it's an easy way make something sound more interesting without having to work out complicated chords. And the bass player has some nice bits that come through the mix. I was tempted to boost them so the were more obvious, but it wasn't necessary. The vocals could have stood to be a bit more front and center. ( A few dB louder ) I'll give it some thought. I tend to make vocals a bit too hot, so I'm trying to be conservative. I really enjoyed reading your long version explanation of the details. I'm glad you liked it. And yes... Suno as well as others will give a fairly nice cover version as well as the vocal track you give it. I've got mixed feelings about Suno, but there's no denying that the output can be very good. I'm curious how in the world you managed to get Floyd Jane to work on an AI song with you. As badly as he likes to talk s*** about AI and bots, who'd-a-thunk-it! Kudos on however you did it. He might get pulled into the dark side yet. Nahhh, probably not. There's no chance that he'll go to the dark side. You're right - the AI vocals do grate on him. There are little "tells" that once you hear, you can't un-hear. Suno's modern country vocals are starting to effect me that way: overly compressed and glassy with something I can't quite put my finger on. They've very good, but they're so slick that my brain stops listening. The real question is, what will AI eventually do to this forum? Time will tell. Also note that these aren't really "AI" vocals in the sense that most people mean it. It's really a neural network trained on concatenative synthesis data. Suno is a different animal entirely. But it's still hard on floyd jane's ears, so I'm glad he was able to look past it. Good song. And a lot of work. Thanks! I appreciate you stopping to listen and comment!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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David, what an outstanding song. The chord progression and arrangement was brilliant. You made those synth voices sound so real - brilliant work. IMHO this is one of your best.
Loved it.
PS - thanx for the song creation details.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
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Hi, Ron. David, wow, this is REALLY nice! Super write, and the arrangement is perfect. Amazing vocals that remind me of a modern take on David Gates. Very impressive. Those harmonies are sweet as well. Thanks! I remember hearing the demo song for An Xiao and being impressed by the voice. But the cross-synthesis wasn't great, and he had too much of an accent for me to use as a lead voice. They've fixed most of the issues with the latest release, although some of the /d/ sounds are still a bit "thick", and I was pleasantly surprised by his voice. Of course, it helps that I use the voice when working out the melody, which ensures that the vocal range is good and the timbre fits. Gates (and Bread) was a monster on the charts back in the day. And a huge influence. Turns out that he bought a cattle ranch. Who'd have thunk?  Think in the future I'll delay reading your longer narrative until after listening to the song for the first time. I LOVE reading about your process, but I can sense my subsequent listens are somewhat distracted by knowledge of what the Wizard was doing behind the curtain. And you are ONE BUSY WIZARD. But a Wizard indeed. One of the things Sunu showed me was that there are a lot of ways to arrange a song. If it's got a nice melody, it'll be fine no matter what you do. Heck, just vocals and guitar or piano will work. All this is really just window dressing that hopefully stays out of the way of the vocals. Thanks for listening and commenting!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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David, I completely enjoyed this, both as a passive listener and as an analytic listener. It is so complete, compared to my work where I seem to just get the basic skeletal structure "out there", your work is so thoroughly thought through (th-th-th!), and the result shows. I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's what this is all about. Nice alliteration! Your mastery of the components is way beyond my comprehension or skill level, and I always take something away. It's not really mastery - I'm learning like everyone else. For everything that I get right, there are also lots misses. But that's the way we get better, right? I'm glad you can find something useful in all this. I certainly do when listening to other people's songs. I find your postings are like taking a composition/mixing/production course--much to dig into. I have to say that the one thing that I liked best was the short-stopping of the words "undone", "small", and "sad"--I think no one would have any problem if you drew out these words at the end of lines, but cutting them off as you did is pleasing and attention-grabbing (to my ears). excellence once again! Thanks for sharing your work! Thanks for noticing that! I started with a lot less syncopation and staccato, but added it in to give some rhythmic interest (as well as a touch of onomatopoeia), and then dialed it back again. It's super helpful to be able to play with phrasing of lines to see what works. Thanks for listening and your kind words!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Hi, Ray. The intro has serious classic Glenn Campbell vibes. Thanks! You can't get better than that. I think one of the motivations for doing this goes back to all those great songs I heard, and thinking I'd love to do that!George Martin's orchestration for The Beatles and America certainly left a strong impression on me. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Well done - excellent mix. Thanks! I've been going back to prior songs, trying to figure out why some mixes work, and others don't. While it's very tempting to think that it's being able to EQ and the plug-ins, I suspect that it's mostly about having less instruments in the mix, and making sure they respect the other instruments space. Thanks for listening and the positive feedback!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Hi, Mario. David, what an outstanding song. Thanks! The chord progression and arrangement was brilliant. I owe it all to the circle of fifths. You made those synth voices sound so real - brilliant work. I suspect it's mostly a matter of not trying to get them to do things they can't do well. As long as they don't detract from showing off the song, they're working. My sister refuses to listen to my songs because she can't stand the synth vocalists. I can't say I blame her. At some point, I'm going to need to start singing myself. I thought it was going to be this one, which is one of the reasons I kept the vocal range so restrained. But I bailed again. Next time, for sure maybe. IMHO this is one of your best.
Loved it. Thanks!  PS - thanx for the song creation details. Thank you for listening and your comments!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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David,
Really nice song you got going on here!
It has a very '70s type nostalgic fun feel to it.
Sounds like it could be the theme song on a 70 sitcom like WKRP in Cincinnati or something.
I really liked it.
Very soothing.
That song description you have is quite detailed to say the very least my friend.
😂
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Hi, Ron. David, wow, this is REALLY nice! Super write, and the arrangement is perfect. Amazing vocals that remind me of a modern take on David Gates. Very impressive. Those harmonies are sweet as well. Thanks! I remember hearing the demo song for An Xiao and being impressed by the voice. But the cross-synthesis wasn't great, and he had too much of an accent for me to use as a lead voice. They've fixed most of the issues with the latest release, although some of the /d/ sounds are still a bit "thick", and I was pleasantly surprised by his voice. Of course, it helps that I use the voice when working out the melody, which ensures that the vocal range is good and the timbre fits. Gates (and Bread) was a monster on the charts back in the day. And a huge influence. Turns out that he bought a cattle ranch. Who'd have thunk? Think in the future I'll delay reading your longer narrative until after listening to the song for the first time. I LOVE reading about your process, but I can sense my subsequent listens are somewhat distracted by knowledge of what the Wizard was doing behind the curtain. And you are ONE BUSY WIZARD. But a Wizard indeed. One of the things Sunu showed me was that there are a lot of ways to arrange a song. If it's got a nice melody, it'll be fine no matter what you do. Heck, just vocals and guitar or piano will work. All this is really just window dressing that hopefully stays out of the way of the vocals. Thanks for listening and commenting! David, sorry for the second input, BUT... Yeah, I spent WAY too many hours in the upper bunk of my dorm room learning the guitar parts to Best of Bread my freshman year. Should have spent more time on calculus. But then again, I've forgotten all my calculus and I still know Best of Bread inside out. Absolutely agree with your "if it's got a nice melody" approach to songwriting. I'm there 110%. Lastly, reviewing your other replies, I'm SO thankful to know I'm not the only one who can still hear the tells in AI (and most other synthesized) vocals. Know this will change in time as the technology gets better and my listening gets less discerning. But for now, I'm like you in that I focus on other parts of the music once I hear the tells. Don't get me wrong, think non-human vocals of ALL types are about to really take off. Will make me a little sad though, when vocalists better than me (not so hard!) choose to go that way. I'll miss the human aspect of it, even when I can't tell whether it's human. Weird, huh?
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
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ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
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Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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Hi, David. Really nice song you got going on here!
It has a very '70s type nostalgic fun feel to it.
Sounds like it could be the theme song on a 70 sitcom like WKRP in Cincinnati or something. Are you sure you aren't confusing it with this one? Because that's the one I'd submit for a sitcom. Thanks! That song description you have is quite detailed to say the very least my friend. Yeah, I must be compensating for something...  Thanks for the kind words!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Hi, Ron. David, sorry for the second input, BUT... Who says we can't have a conversation? Yeah, I spent WAY too many hours in the upper bunk of my dorm room learning the guitar parts to Best of Bread my freshman year. Should have spent more time on calculus. But then again, I've forgotten all my calculus and I still know Best of Bread inside out. You should have spent more time on calculus because... how many times a day do you encounter a function and think if only I had a well formulated system to approximate the area under this curve, or If only I had some means of a calculating the a vector of my changing velocity. Absolutely agree with your "if it's got a nice melody" approach to songwriting. I'm there 110%. It's easy for me to spend a lot of time dressing something up instead of going back and fixing what needs to be repaired. That's why appreciate feedback. Lastly, reviewing your other replies, I'm SO thankful to know I'm not the only one who can still hear the tells in AI (and most other synthesized) vocals. The genie isn't going back into the bottle, but I won't be surprised if people starting pushing back on this forum about the use of AI in music. We'll see.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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... First, some clarification on SynthV. A voice provider is basically given a "script" of words to sing at different pitches. English has a lot of phonemes, so there are lots and lots of words to sing. The original version of SynthV didn't use AI at all, it just reassembled the voice similar to how BiaB works. Later, they trained a neural network because it was better at connecting all these phonemes. The accent of the voice provider will come through. Here's an example: https://soundcloud.com/dcuny/ive-been-downAnd yes, there are a number of mis-pronounced words. There's no way to remove that accent from that voice provider. Most of the English voice providers for SynthV have been North American, so there aren't really many UK voices. With some effort, I do some substitutions and edits and try to approximate a Liverpool accent, but it would sound very much like an American trying to do a (poor) British accent. There are other ways to go about this. For example, RVC is the process of training a neural network on a specific voice, so it will take an input voice and replace it with the timbre of another voice. That will get you somewhat in the ballpark, but the original singer should optimally have something close to that accent in the first place. I suspect that eventually there will be more UK-flavored voices for SynthV. I have ACE Studio (but the voices are IMO, not great), and none of the voices sound British to me. I just loaded the MIDI output of this song onto ACE Studio, and verified the voices aren't great. They aren't terrible, they just seem to be missing phonemes and not sound especially realistic. They're pleasant enough to listen to, though. Thanks David for all the info on AI vocals and responding to my points. I've never used AI vocals and probably won't at this juncture, but I need to 'do my research'. This has been really interesting. BTW - I LOVE that song 'I've been down' - full of quirky energy! I don't think I detected any maj7 chords though! Andrew
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Super job on the Strings! Lovely opening.
(less movement in the first chorus, maybe??...)
LOVE what you do with the oboe.
The Builds are COOL, cool, cool...
Excellent mix.
(nice stops/holds)
It's great that you think about all aspects of music creation.
And that you put so much of yourself in the mix (pun intended)
fj
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This is great imagery: “the days grow short and i am helpless as a rabbit on the run my world is small and sad i'm the lonely one” The new synth vocals have an excellent blend. The sound reminds Janice of the band Bread especially. And also of some other soft rock bands she listened to in the 70’s. We love the back story! It’s hard to imagine putting that much effort into a production. Bud always says “mixing is never finished … just abandoned.” He also said you might be the exception to that. But the bottom line is it sounds great on the monitors. And one look at the waveform before hitting play told us what we would hear. An open mix with great dynamics setting up a fine soundstage. And it was. Your contemplation and DAW effort assuredly paid off big time Enjoyed it! J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Really nice song David. Some one mentioned Al Stewart-esque, I was getting more of an Andy Gibb vibe, either way it’s a great song.
Regards.
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Excellent song David - jealous of your strings, fabulous mix,
enjoyed it and no 'throw away' song, very nicely done!!
Carl
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Hi, floyd jane. Super job on the Strings! Lovely opening.
(less movement in the first chorus, maybe??...) Thanks! I'm probably too attached to all that staccato cello in the chorus to do it properly, but if I'm tempted to make any more changes to the strings, I'll see if I can hold them back a bit. LOVE what you do with the oboe. Hehehe. You mean the "now with 75% less oboe?" Thanks for the tip. Now I'm listening to the oboe and thinking "maybe I should take out a couple more notes". The Builds are COOL, cool, cool...
Excellent mix.
(nice stops/holds) I'm glad they are finally working. Without the BiaB drum holds, they work a lot better. It's great that you think about all aspects of music creation.
And that you put so much of yourself in the mix (pun intended) I really appreciate all the help with this - to literally get a bit less of me in the final result. Thanks again!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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We've added many major new features and new content in a redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
Version 2026 introduces a modernized GUI redesign across the program, with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, and a new Dark Mode option. There’s also a new side toolbar for quicker access to commonly used windows, and the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, making it easier to customize your workspace.
Another exciting new addition is the amazing new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. View the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to transcribe an entire track or transcribe specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
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, and much more!
Upgrade your Band-in-a-Box for Mac® to save up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade packages!
Plus, when you order your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac upgrade during our special, you'll receive a Free Bonus PAK of exciting new add-ons.
If you need any help deciding which package is the best option for you, just let us know. We are here to help!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Special Offers Extended Until May 31st!
Good news- we've extended our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® special offers until May 31, 2026!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 is packed with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can transcribe an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. 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, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PDT on May 31st, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
Check out the Band-in-a-Box® for Mac packages page to find the best package for you.
Holiday Weekend Hours
It's Victoria Day Long Weekend in Canada. Our Customer Service hours are:
Saturday, May 16: Closed
Sunday, May 17: Closed
Monday, May 18: 8:00am - 4:00pm
Regular hours resume Tuesday, May 19th!
Today's the Last Day of the Band-in-a-Box 2026® for Mac Special!
Order before 11:59pm PDT today (May 15, 2026) to save up to 50% off your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® upgrade and receive a FREE Bonus PAK loaded with great new Add-ons to use with this new version!
Don't wait - order today!
Check out all the new features in the redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac - Special Offers End at 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th, 2026!
Order before 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th and SAVE up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 for Mac Upgrade packages... and that's not all! With your version 2026 for Mac purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks... that's 222 NEW RealTracks available with version Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac!
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® today for as little as $49! Check out the Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all available purchase options.
Learn more about the Free Bonus PAK and 49-PAK here.
If you have any questions about which package is the best option for you, just let us know. We're here to help!
202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!
And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
The 2026 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2026 49-PAK!
2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
With your version 2026 for Mac 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!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
- The 2026 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 25 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
- 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)
- iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
- 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
- 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)
Learn more about the Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
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