https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
I'm generally a Roland guy Far as I know the Roland GO:KEYS 3 is their version now, and is extremely affordable.
I haven't played with it much. My Juno-G kinda has the chord feature but is discontinued and not recommended unless the screen replacement has already been done (factory installed screens failed after a number of years but were replaced under warranty with a better one if done within a certain time frame)
Last edited by rharv; 10/10/2502:46 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
Made it thru half of Rharv's demo. In the opening comments the claim is "...it is so cheap if you don't like it send it back and we will give you something else".. REALLY.
Now I assume both Rharv and Bass Thumber are not punkin me, so this must just be something I don't understand. Maybe its the live playing - I don't do that. I compose and arrange so chord sequences and sound are critical to me. I need a workstation to create, not a portable keyboard with midi sounds (which by the way - do those really sound good to you? So I don't really have any more to say on this topic other than at $385 this may acutally be cheap enough for you to try it out.
Dan, I kinda agree with you which is why I started with
Quote
I'm generally a Roland guy Far as I know the Roland GO:KEYS 3 is their version now, and is extremely affordable. I haven't played with it much.
I don't have that need much anymore, with computers able to handle it, but that wasn't the question as I understand it. Like I also said, I have no experience with the product because I have no need. You and I can play keys. BassThumper plays bass .. so, ya know, just trying be to be helpful
/thanks for changing your avatar, the previous one felt weird
Last edited by rharv; 10/10/2509:21 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
I watched the demo you posted - wow that is fantastic - If it was 1985!
Dan, I don't understand the reference to 1985. Are you saying that this keyboard is 1985 technology? I also can't interpret the facial expressions you included.
PS> You're looking quite young and dapper, by chance are you taking a new multi-vitamin these days?
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
I'm generally a Roland guy Far as I know the Roland GO:KEYS 3 is their version now, and is extremely affordable.
Yes, the price point for this instrument is quite affordable. As a two finger piano player I'm mainly interested in the chord sequencer feature where I can add a melody on top. And thanks for sharing the video, kind of makes me want to take piano lessons . . . on 2nd thought, I'm having too much fun on my bass these days
I'm also somewhat of a Roland guy. I'm happy with their SPD drum pad which is a ton of fun to jam to my favorite songs, it's also a good tool to improve/maintain my sense of rhythm which pays dividends on my bass . . . . all good stuff!
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Ha, back in the day we beat the crap out of a TR626 My Juno-DS has a drum pad on it, which is still kinda fun sometimes.
I would note that Dan's image shows that the audio has been muted to avoid a loopback issue. Sometimes tech does more to complicate things than it solves when you just want to play.
As for being a 2 finger keyboard player; that's the beauty of this keyboard. Record on a loop and play one finger at a time if you have to.
Last edited by rharv; 10/11/2506:09 AM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
First - the Avatar - I tried for days to change it, but it just would not. Apparently, Chrome does not work with this feature on this website. Prompted by the comments here I opened EDGE and --- Ya, that's the new me. The prior Avitar was a sculpture entitle "Grief". Today is my 50th Wedding Anniversary, October 11, 1975. With that, combined with the 1-year anniversary of my wife's passing, made me feel it was time to move forward. I will likely try some more updated photos in the near future.
BT - Regarding the Roland, I am sure my initial dispersions were due to the fact that I don't play keys LIVE. Which is way this product looked so odd to me at first. But I do maintain that the controlling interface and the sound I was hearing in the demo is old tech indeed. Maybe not '85, but certainly prior to 2000. Certainly, if you want to play live - I would hope there is better sounds available today. And I use the faces available in the forum pretty much totally random and arbitrary - so no deep meaning.
Rharv, you are absolutely correct regarding "...tech making things complicated". Scaler 3 is a perfect example. The company has struggled with this newest release. But this for me is the price I am willing to pay to get the features and sound quality I am looking for. I am afraid if you took away the modern day computer my music would cease to be. I would go totally silent except for what would sound like moaning and groaning coming from my voice.
By the way, for what its worth, here is how I work up chord sequences for my music. and by the way, the SL88i can be found for under $500.
Thanks for the info. If I'm not mistaken, the SL88i appears to be a MIDI controller? If so, I'm not interested in MIDI at this point on my journey. I require a portable, self-contained keyboard that can jam with others; a replacement for my Korg Krome. And now that I see keyboards available with onboard chord sequencing, that is a must-have.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Yeah, a controller more expensive than what you are actually looking for just seems like a dumb point to make. Every keyboard can be a controller if it has MIDI. Especially if keyboard is not your main thing. Even that 'Go' I was surprised to see how cheap it was. $359 for something that does what I literally spent thousands for years ago seems inviting. And complaining about the sound of it on a YouTube video for a $359 keyboard .. priceless. I'm actually thinking it might be a Christmas list item. Last year I got a golf membership, I'd prefer another keyboard. I played golf about 6 times this year, it was a waste of a lot of money.
Last edited by rharv; 10/11/2510:03 AM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
Now I assume both Rharv and Bass Thumber are not punkin me, so this must just be something I don't understand. Maybe its the live playing - I don't do that. I compose and arrange so chord sequences and sound are critical to me. I need a workstation to create, not a portable keyboard with midi sounds (which by the way - do those really sound good to you? So I don't really have any more to say on this topic other than at $385 this may acutally be cheap enough for you to try it out.
No "punkin" here, assuming I know what that means:) As for live playing, yeah, that's what I do mainly these days, sometimes with friends and mostly just in my studio for fun and recording. For me the thrill of music is jamming along to my favorite songs/playlists or Pandora. Fingers on strings (bass), fingers on keys (keyboard) and hands on sticks (drum pad). I've never tried mouth on trumpet or sax but I'm sure that's fun as well.
I'm somewhere in Quadrant 1.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Yeah, a controller more expensive than what you are actually looking for just seems like a dumb point to make.
And complaining about the sound of it on a YouTube video for a $359 keyboard .. priceless.
Hey Rharv, play nice or I woun't play. I have enough grief in my life.
OK, I apologize. I know you had a rough road lately and if that happened to me, I'd be bitter too. But read the room, man. I'm not usually like that. You know that. Maybe something you said triggered it (?) I admired you for a long while, but as of late you haven't been quite the same.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
Well here's a preliminary summary table, putting this together was no small task and I need to confirm some of this info. But so far it's looking like Roland has cornered the market for reasonably priced portable keyboards with hands-free chord sequencing.
That said, any of these boards can be described as a software product with a user-interface consisting of knobs, dials, buttons and 61 keys. And when AI becomes included in these instruments the capabilities will surely skyrocket.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Most AI is cloud based because there are zillions of elements that are processed.
.... consuming many megaWatts of power to do so.
There's an awful lot of marketing hype out there. Everything now has to be "A.I. powered" or "A.I. ready"
My old TV was "Ultra HD ready", thought it only ever did 720p.
I could certainly see machine learning doing things like recognising the style of what one's playing and matching, e.g., accompaniment style and swing to it, but I could also see many people turning that off. I don't think one really needs A.I. to do that, though.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
I certainly don't mean to derail the thread, but A.I. this, A.I. that, A.I. ready? Wouldn't it be better if we could just think for ourselves? I don't really know where all of this A.I. dependency is leading, but long term I don't think it can be good.
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.
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 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 process 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, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PST on January 15th, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® today! Check out the Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all the purchase options available.
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!
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)
Android Band-in-a-Box® App (included)
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)
Join Tobin as he takes you on a tour of the new user interface in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®! This modern GUI redesign offers a sleek new look with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, and a smoother workflow. The brand-new side toolbar puts track selection, the MultiPicker Library, and other essential tools right at your fingertips. Plus, our upgraded Multi-View lets you layer multiple windows without overlap, giving you a highly flexible workspace. Many windows—including Tracks, Piano Roll, and more—have been redesigned for improved usability and a cleaner, more intuitive interface, and more!
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.