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Any one notice a trend going on around here? After the passing of our founder, Dr. Wulf-Dieter Lugert, we took a close look at FORTE — where it stands today, and where it realistically could go in the future.
We decided not to continue it.
Not because FORTE doesn’t work.
It does. Fully. Reliably. As it always has.
But because continuing it would mean half-measures. And that’s not something we believe in.
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Wow, it seem they are falling like flies. Not 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.
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Natural selection...
If I were a betting man, I'd bet that most of the music software providers we know and love today will be either gone or unrecognizable in three years. Maybe less.
Would LOVE to be wrong.
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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Forte hasn't had an update in several years.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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The Hits just keep on coming
/faster and faster
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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It must be really tough for notation programs when programs like BiaB/RB, Fender Studio Pro 8, other DAWs, all have notation. Also the free MuseScore. Or phones and tablets that can show notation, thus eliminating printed scores. I would think that the demand for a full blown notation program would be limited to a small minority, like those printing scores for orchestras and big bands.
Just my two cents.
I arrived early to a restaurant.
The manager asks, "do you mind waiting a bit?"
I said no.
"Good", he said. "Take these drinks to table 3"
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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I used Encore until Windows 11 arrived. It no longer loads.
I mainly use it for 'head charts' and I'm climbing the learning curve with Musescore, although I prefer the simplicity of Encore. I realize Musescore will do more than Encore, but for an occasional head chard for a song we won't play often, and I don't want to memorize, it's an overkill.
But that's the way things go. Carburetors, typewriters, fountain pens, dial telephones, and so many other things have gone from common to either rare or antique artifacts.
I like embracing new things, but I also miss some that are gone. So I adapt. Survival goes to the adaptable.
I suppose someday BiaB will be one of those orphaned apps. But Peter Gannon and crew have done a great job of keeping it relevant, by adding new functions and improving many of the old ones.
Notes ♫
Last edited by Notes Norton; 01/29/26 06:39 AM.
Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Notes, in case you missed this: https://community.adobe.com/questions-729/encore-and-windows-11-1411122https://techdator.net/run-old-programs-with-windows-11-compatibility/The first on got Encore to work in Win 11. The second one is standard Win compatibility stuff but if you scroll down there are other things you can try to get Encore to work. If you already have tried these then just ignore this message.
I arrived early to a restaurant.
The manager asks, "do you mind waiting a bit?"
I said no.
"Good", he said. "Take these drinks to table 3"
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Encore has always worked in Windows 11 for me. I didn’t know there was an issue.
I’m running a version developed by ‘the Skunks’, a group of folks mostly in Europe that formed from the beta test group when they became particularly disgruntled. I didn’t like the vigor with which they were disparaging the company so I left that group. There actually were some improvements while it lasted.
Notes, Mario - what version are you running?
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Hi Matt,
I do not use Encore. I was just trying to help Notes.
Last edited by MarioD; 01/29/26 08:06 AM.
I arrived early to a restaurant.
The manager asks, "do you mind waiting a bit?"
I said no.
"Good", he said. "Take these drinks to table 3"
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Ok. Thanks Mario.
Notes, send me an email if you need help.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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It looked like the demand for it just wasn't there. As they said in their write-up, it was always more of a passion project for the developer, but the company had shifted focus to their music scanning software some time ago.
With no new releases for years, they took advantage of the developer's passing to make it official.
-- 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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Thanks, Mario and Matt
I have Encore 4.5.5, which I believe is the latest edition Gvox released.
Gigs today and tomorrow, I need to do a disk image backup and give it a try.
I made a head chart with MuseScore yesterday, and although MuseScore has tons more features than Encore, the complexity of the app makes just doing a simple head chart time-consuming. I suppose if I wanted to write a score for an orchestra, I'd appreciate all those features.
We have over 600 songs, quite a few of which we don't play often. Some we learn for special audience members or some who hire us for private parties. Many of these songs don't fit a broad audience so we only play them once in a while. So memorization is not practical. A head chart or at least a chord chart can make a big difference.
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Forte Notation seems to have put all their effort into their Scanscore product. In addition to Forte, they released a product called Bandora (which I bought and the later confirmed from the developer was they had obtained rights to the old Jammer Pro program, which if folks remember was similar to the MIDI-only version of Band-in-a-Box), with a fresh new look, but was clearly Jammer (which I had a paid version of also until they stopped supporting it). In fact, Forte includes a Bandora module that allows generating arrangements that then appear as Forte notation (much like BIAB MIDI can do). It looks like bandora.com has also been shut down also.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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I got my old Encore to work, the same trick I used for Master Tracks Pro.
It wouldn't install from the CD at all, so I did this:
1) Copied the installation app to the desktop
2) Ran the installation, it worked, but the app wasn't fully functional
3) Copied the app from an older computer and replaced the one I just installed (They had different MB sizes).
I don't know why that worked. My guess is a couple of paragraphs below.
I tried this on MTPro, which worked on Win11, but I couldn't double-click a file and open it. I'm running it on an old XP computer (IBM built) that still works, but the screen is starting to fail. I noticed the size of the MTP app was different on both computers, so I figured, what do I have to lose? I backed up, replaced the new app with the one from the XP computer, and it worked. So I tried the same thing with Encore.
I heard that Encore made it to version 5, but as I was gigging on the cruise ships then, with no Internet access, I never got the invitation. That's OK, I'm happy with 4.5.5, it makes head charts just fine.
I wonder why the size difference? My first suspicion is that I may have downloaded a bug fix or update on the old apps, and either I didn't archive the update, or it updated directly without the ability to save the update file.
It's sometimes sad to see old apps bite the dust. It's like losing an old, familiar friend. Of course, we can make new app friends, sometimes they are better, sometimes not.
MTPro is like that. Since I do a lot of MIDI work, the global editing filters allow me to do things in less than a minute, that would take dozens of minutes to do a bar at a time. Plus, since it’s MIDI only, there is never a menu>sub menu>sub-sub menu choice. When doing something a lot, that saves time.
It's easier to make a head chart with Encore than MuseScore.
So, now, I'm happy with MTPro, Encore, Band-in-a-Box, Real Band, and Audacity for my music needs. Every other music app I have is nice, but not essential.
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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I've been following your progress as you know, and congratulations on getting it working. The answer to why a file size is different is easy: the two devices are formatted differently. This involves formatting with a choice of sector and cluster sizes. There are other factors, but that one alone would do it. You cannot conclude there is anything wrong just by having two different file sizes of the same file, unless they are on the same device.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Thanks, that's interesting.
I'm not that computer-literate, and I always welcome information I didn't know before.
While I'm a trained musician, everything I know on the computer is self-taught, with the help of books, friends, and videos. I've learned what I need to know, to do the things I need to do, and not much more. While my curiosity is endless, the time I can devote to things is limited. I haven't even watched TV since the first Jay Leno “Tonight” show.
I write and maintain my own websites, originally from a book, (HTML in Plain English), and later from googling, and adapting code from other websites. A computer teacher actually asked permission to use my nortonmusic.com site to teach his class how a simple website could be the best choice for the purpose my site was intended to do. I told him I keep it simple because it's for information, not entertainment.
I remember in the 8 bit days using BASIC, and that was fun. I made a simple game. But when I quit a band and started a duo, making my own backing tracks (then on a Teac A4440 reel-to-reel) there was no time to play with code anymore. BTW, I play sax, flute, wind synth, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and voice in various levels of competency/incompetency.
Instead of learning to be a coder, I learned wind synth, lead guitar, style writing for BiaB, making backing tracks for my duo from scratch, and hardest of all, how to sing with a less than stellar sounding vocal instrument (me). I can hold my own now.
Life is a learning journey. There is so much more to learn, and not nearly enough years in a lifetime to learn it all.
Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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