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Hi all,

My name is Roy. This is my first post. I've been thinking about getting one of the lower priced versions of the 2010.5 packages. I had a fine chat with one of the Salespersons earlier today and have listened to several demos. I also understand that there is a rather large user community and have seen at least one site with tons of free (please donate) files. These are of file types that I cannot open, so I'm not 100% sure of what is out there.

So, what to get is the big question. Here's how I normally do things and how I would like to do some things. first off, I am strictly a hobbyist with too many toys. I may decide some day down the road to do live music with a band or something, but I think that it would be un-likely.

I have both a digital "rig" and an analog rig. My digital rig is in my home office. I play guitars through a Boss GT-10 and can hear it through my PC monitor speakers (a decent set) or a guitar amp. I record using Reaper, but am quite novice in that arena as well. I'm looking for a software solution that will enhance my playing experience in a few ways. In no order:

A: I've downloaded a good number of backing tracks. Some of these are of well known old Classic Rock and Pop songs. Some are canned 12-bar Blues types of things or other common & basic generic genre offerings, ie, Jazz or Country.

B: I find great joy in reverse engineering popular songs. My favorite backing tracks for artist's songs have a maximum of percussion, bass and piano. I import this track into Reaper and record my guitar tracks, both rhythm and lead, and vocals....which should be punishable by firing squad.

C: Other things I like to do are to just plain "jam" to music as I've outlined in item A. I might select an MP3 found online called something like "Slow Blues in D" and have at it for an hour or so.

D: And finally, I sometimes will just play and sing some gingle guitar arrangements of songs I enjoy listening too. Generally speaking, these are not fit for human consumption.

So, what I am wondering is how much, if anything, a software solution like Band In A Box or it's sister applications will help in all of the areas. In particular, the importing of MP3 songs and playing to them. (Item B) I've seen some Vox JamVox demos and have not been impressed.

Perhaps the answers lie in the files that I can't open.

I've also got Guitar Pro 6 with it's realistic sound engine sound samplings and user community generated scores and have been able to create some fairly decent backing tracks from them. The biggest problem with that is either bad scores or songs that no-one have done anything with.

So, if anyone has got this far and has opinion(s) on whether or not I'd be satisfied with the PG suite (let's say the $269 mega pak), I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance,

Roy

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Quote:

Hi all,

My name is Roy. This is my first post.

So, if anyone has got this far and has opinion(s) on whether or not I'd be satisfied with the PG suite (let's say the $269 mega pak), I'd love to hear them.






Thats quite a long intro, but welcome to the forum. To answer simply, Yes you will be satisfied. especially since PGMusic offers a 100% money back no questions asked quarentee. Go over to the users song forum and listen to what others are doing with the program. this is the swiss-arm knife of musical apps.


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As for your hobby of reverse engineering songs; I think that is one area that PGMusic products will excel at for you.
In Realband (the sister product) you can import an mp3 (or CD track for that matter), have it analyze the chords for you, and even analyze the tempo map.

You can then use the chords and map to generate other tracks to see how they sound.
For instance, that "Slow Blues in D" can be analyzed, then you can have a different drum part and bass and rhythm guitar (or whatever) generated for those chords and have a whole new "Slow Blues in D" to jam with. And then generate a different genre of backing instruments and have yet another version of "Slow Blues in D".
Then transpose the chords, regenerate and have a "Slow Blues in G". I think you would have a lot of fun with it.


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I do covers songs from midi files and i find both BiaB and RB invaluable. I have both Reaper and several other DAW softwares. RB is fast becoming my go to for the process i am using currently.


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Alrighty guys, that's about all I needed to hear. downloads are happening as we speak. Thanks for taking the time to read the rather lengthy post and for replying. I've heard a few similar comments from others as well. It's a big time investment to learn something so massive and did not want that time to be wasted. You can replace a couple hundred bucks. Hours learning a faulty product cannot be replaced. I feel pretty good about this app now.

I can't wait to dig into it tomorrow. Thanks again, everyone,

Roy

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Welcome to the forum. What you described in your post fits everybody here. Lots of home hobbyists along with pros who use these products in live performance or in recording studios. There's at least one who uses Biab to create backing tracks in a big time commercial studio to make a demo for a single artist who can't afford to bring in a whole band. There's a good friend of mine who owns 3 music schools who uses Biab for teaching. Many music schools around the world use it. I remember years ago someone at a gig would mention Biab and I thought it sounded like a toy because of the name. I wasn't computer literate back then and just didn't know.
This will be somewhat daunting at first, these programs are not simple but we are probably the best group of forum regulars out there. If you need a particular song and can't find it, just post here. I've got thousands of songs both Biab and midi and so does everybody else. You mentioned jazz, Real Book 1 has been compiled on the web with all Biab files, several of us have it. Even if you want to create your own version of something, it's usually faster to start with someone else's arrangement and then modify it rather than starting from scratch.
Since you're brand new with these products I strongly urge you to learn and work with both Biab and Real Band at the same time. A lot of people just focus on Biab and leave RB alone and that's a big mistake. I won't go into it now but RB is a killer program.
You will have fun, I promise!

Bob


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jazzmetal, you mentioned that people leave RB alone and that it's a big mistake. How so?

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I would also like to welcome you to the PG forums. You look like you will be a great addition to the community.

Without having a great deal of experience with Real Band (I own v. 2009 and have poked a stick at it from time to time), I am going to jump in and say that there is a misperception of RB as 'just' a sequencer or low-end DAW.

If you are just working with straight audio or MIDI there are any number of sequencers that are as good or better. However, RB integrates with BIAB and has unique abilities to work with Real Tracks. I think you will begin to appreciate this if you even casually fool around with RB and Real Tracks.

I wish you well. Keep asking your thought-provoking questions.

Richard


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Well, I did download the apps and big sets of files last night, and got everything pretty much set. I am digging the enter chords, select a style and there you have it type of ease. I was far less thrilled with the importer and the subsequent analysis of the song & loading of the chord page. I gave it a few tests.

I was able to create and do things as advertised the web-site and hinted at around these forums. Alas, I don't think it's all that me. I would much rather play guitar even without a backing rack than to fiddle with software. Don't get me wrong, the software pieces all work, and there are gobs of songs in a very brief search conducted this afternoon available. I just don't really enjoy this like I thought I would.

So, invoked the money back offer and blew away the software as promised. Thanks everyone for your tips and time. I really wish I enjoyed this. Pretty powerful software.

Take care,

Roy

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One day!? Dude, they gave you 30 to work with. It took us experienced users weeks to come to grips with all the new features that came in the last few years and to get them working to their full potential. What is it you're looking for, give us some examples. This program is so deep that most of us wind up focusing on only the part of it we really need and ignore the rest. Long time users post all the time about something they just "discovered" that's so cool that others have been doing for years. I don't care if you're a genius at figuring stuff like this out, at this point you know squat about how it all works. Sure, it's possible that after a month and you've learned the program pretty good it's not for you. Fair enough but you can't know that in one day unless you simply didn't know what the term "backing tracks" means.
Real Band is a hybrid of Biab backing tracks and a midi file, your own parts, combining parts from a CD with midi tracks and generated Biab tracks, all kinds of neat stuff. It gives you 48 tracks to play with.

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Bob, thanks for the reply and concern. You're right. I slept on it and think I got burned out on it yesterday. I'm going to get ahold of them to put a hold on my cancellation.

I only had one bit of failure yesterday. The rest of it all worked as advertised. The initial tutorials do a good job getting you up and running.

I am a little unsure about what I did get for my money with regards to the real-tracks. Part of my not liking the product is the tone of most styles. Anything with all real tracks is pretty good, though. Sometimes I can open a song and a real drum is auto generated and old drum track muted. I like that. It leads me to believe that I may have under-purchased by just getting the mega-pak. We'll see. Mostly it was something I went to bed not wanting to do, but woke up this morning ready to do a track or two. Strange.

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Quote:

One day!? Dude, they gave you 30 to work with. It took us experienced users weeks to come to grips with all the new features that came in the last few years and to get them working to their full potential. What is it you're looking for, give us some examples. This program is so deep that most of us wind up focusing on only the part of it we really need and ignore the rest. Long time users post all the time about something they just "discovered" that's so cool that others have been doing for years. I don't care if you're a genius at figuring stuff like this out, at this point you know squat about how it all works. Sure, it's possible that after a month and you've learned the program pretty good it's not for you. Fair enough but you can't know that in one day unless you simply didn't know what the term "backing tracks" means.
Real Band is a hybrid of Biab backing tracks and a midi file, your own parts, combining parts from a CD with midi tracks and generated Biab tracks, all kinds of neat stuff. It gives you 48 tracks to play with.

Bob




Ditto Bob. If you're not totally blown away with it your first day you probably never will. You'd rather play guitar then fiddle with software? Not gonna happen. You must fiddle sorry to say. It's like saying you'd rather fly model airplanes instead of fly an F18.
I have over 200 songs done in Real Band. I play out live with it by myself and make money. I've been playing 45 years and no band has ever given me the total satisfaction i get from Real band.
Here's a link to a couple of songs. Might not be your style but take a listen.
Silvertones Demo


John
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Roy,

I'm just adding my voice to the above. BIAB has a pretty steep initial learning curve. In my opinion, one day is not nearly enough to appreciate the software fully. As Bob said, you've been given 30 days. You've got nothing to lose if you take advantage of all of them.

When I first got BIAB, I stumbled regularly and got quite frustrated just "trying to work it out". Like you, I also found the video tutorials very useful. After about a week of playing around, I started to feel a bit more comfortable began to appreciate the possibilities.

Good luck,
Noel


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Quote:

Part of my not liking the product is the tone of most styles. Anything with all real tracks is pretty good, though.




Not trying to be a salesman here, this still may not be for you but for now lets get specific. This quote implies you don't like the sound of the non Real Tracks parts. That's midi. Understand Biab has no sounds of it's own. None. The quality of the midi tracks is dependent on the quality of the midi synth you're using. If all you're using is your built in sound chip on your PC, of course that is not going to sound even close to the $400 Ketron or a big name software package like Sampletank that can also cost several hundred. Before we start recommending software midi solutions, please describe in detail your computer system and what you're using for sound both internal midi and for monitoring. Also, give us the name of one song you particularly like that doesn't sound good with Biab and we'll come up with some suggestions or comments.
You mentioned some styles don't sound too good. True, a lot of them don't but understand you're not limited by the style when it comes to using RT/ RD's. John's demos sound great and show what can be done and here's another example of an instrumental by forum member Carlos Latin Cowboy What's really cool about this putting his good playing aside, is he explained exactly how he did this. John has done the same thing in a lot of his posts. Note Carlos used different RT/RD's that were not part of the original style. RT/RD's are audio files, you can plug them in with anything. Carlos used a bluegrass fiddle for a soloist in a latin style. He also used a Nashville 8 Real Drum track. Biab doesn't care what the style is when using RT/RD's, it's just a starting point. You can do the same thing in Real Band except there you can use multiple synths, you have 48 tracks and way more control over editing, mastering, plugins etc. John and Carlos are both pros, you could work with this stuff for the next year and maybe you can't do something as good as they did but it certainly shows the possibilities if you know your way around a home studio. Since we know nothing about your abilities, maybe once you get used to this stuff you will post something like this as well. Get cracking...

Bob

Last edited by jazzmammal; 10/01/10 09:02 AM.

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Don't give up to quickly. I at first was a little disapointed with the sound of the tracks, they all sounded sort of cheap and video gamish. That is because BiaB tends to use quick easy GM based synths to reproduce the sounds, and while convienent and quick, they are not the best sounds.

What i find very effective is to build the tracks in BiaB, and then save and reopen in RealBand and use the abilty to use more variety of synths there and mix and match until i get a real solid sound from the tracks.

This software can sound as real and good as you choose it to be. It takes hard work, and some learning. I also love to play far more then fiddle with software, but striking a balance can produce some very fine results.

I do not have 200 songs like JohnSilvertones, but i am on 45 and counting i spend about 4 hours per week building tracks, and about 4 hours playing them right now due to schedule issues. But it is starting to come together, and sound very nice. I thank PG for this cause before it was a bigger process.


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Hi all,

First off, thanks again to all those who've responded and offered up your opinions, tips and other thoughts. I think I've got a pretty good understanding.

My salesman this morning gave me links to check out some of what's coming in the mail on Monday. The Real Tracks have the sound I'm wanting. I did a basic I-IV-V 12-bar with a few copy & pastes in a Real Band chord Window. I selected one of the new styles that has the Real Tracks set I downloaded, adjusted the bpm and generated the song. It sounded great. This validated in my mind that I do indeed like the Real Tracks sound.

The other part, which I didn't know about until jazzmammal and others mentioned and my Salesman re-affirmed was that my stock MIDI device is pretty poor. He suggested one that he had on his site. I'll need to look it up again as I closed the browser on that PC, but it was called something like "coyote"? It costs $40. current set up below.

(My PC's current device is the Microsoft GS Wavetable stock. currently running windows 7 on a fairly new Asus machine, intel proc, 4gb ram, a massive hard drive, stock realtek sound card, but pretty good PC speakers w/sub. also have Reaper running against the ASIO4ALL driver and it all gets along fine with my Boss GT-10 Guitar Processor and blue Yeti USB mic)

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There are two versions of coyote.
A free one that comes with the program and will sound like your current MIDI sounds, and a $40 one that will indeed be an improvement.

I believe your purchase will include a 30 day free trial of the Coyote Forte (the $40 version) so you can check it out.

It is also available on this site - http://www.pgmusic.com/fortedxi.htm


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Yup, that's it! thanks for the link.

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It's all been said . . . I'll just add my welcome aboard to the BIAB family.

Later,

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Yep, it's all pretty much been covered, but I thought I'd throw in a tidbit of info regarding midi sound. I use the $40 Forte as my normal composing synth, but when I get close to a finished product, I am now using the sound card in my Yamaha PSR 2000. I get much more realistic sound, and can convert that midi to audio and add effects that usually give me close to what I'm trying to acheive. With midi, sound source is critical, then what you do with it after that comes with trial and error and experience.

The newer keyboards have even better sound engines, so if you don't like the DXi format, find a decent price keyboard which can also double as a controller for you, and will help add certain parts if you know your way around a keyboard.

Good luck

Rob

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Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
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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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