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Soundcloud: Next Station YouTube: Next Station In a rare use of AI, mid-last year I asked Copilot AI to give me several ideas for songs with specific instructions it was NOT to give me any lyrics – just the concept. I selected the idea of a man catching a train and the stations reminding him of his past. The man in this song has caught a train and, in reverse chronological order, each station is a moment of his life that he recalls - some with fondness and some with regret, with his ultimate destination being one of reconciliation, both with himself and those he loves. Sorry about the length - 5:47. DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION Style is _THUMB.STY (Thumb Fingerpicking Indie Folk) RealTracks in style: 5068:Bass, Acoustic, Folk16ths ev16 90 RealTracks in style: 4984:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking ModernFolk16ths ev16 90 RealTracks in style: 4985:Guitar, 6stringBass, Fingerpicking ModernFolk8thsAlternating ev16 90 RealDrums in style:IndieFolkBrushesEv16: a: IndieFolkBrushesEv16b: IndieFolkBrushesEv16 Initially, I was going to use RealTracks 3554:Multi[Thickened=5] String Quartet, Rhythm PopHall Ev 085, but as I’d used that style before on other finger-picking songs, I decided to replace the strings with my own vocal ensemble – feeling this would be more personal. I recorded four part harmony (see notation notes attached) but my top part was 'dodgy' so it became three-part. For the onboard announcer, I used 'English (British) Graceful Lady’ from English voice Graceful Lady . Sound effect of the train is from Pixabay ‘Inside the old train’ by newlocknew (Freesound) Old train FX Mixed and recorded in Reaper. LYRICS I’m being rocked from side to side by the motion of the train It’s been a long time since I’ve travelled this way To tell you the truth, I’m not sure why I’m coming back But I’m lost – I’ve got nowhere else to go This is where my wife and kids lived after they moved out I couldn’t control my anger, learning not to scream and shout I didn’t see Jane grow up or Jack become a man I reached out several times but it didn’t go to plan If only I could let them know it wasn’t the real me But the damage’s done, there’s too much pain – I have to let them be And I lost it all, I’m not talking ‘bout the loan That’s just money - it’s the other things I’d blown How did I go from bad to worse, that wasn’t my intent Turning apologies to something she’d resent This is where Stacey lived when we first met She had a beaming smile that I never could forget I’ve never felt so loved, I told her I loved her as well It wasn’t long and we were walking to those wedding bells Man she was so beautiful in her wedding dress And we set up home and spent our first years in wedded bliss And I had it all, I didn’t realise I was in it And she loved me – every hour, every minute I tried so very hard to be the man that she deserved But I couldn’t say what’s needed, I was too reserved My younger brother Bob and I spent summers at the dam Escaping scorching heatwaves, I became a young man Bob liked to take some risks; he did things I’d never do And as the older brother, I felt responsibility too Bob would disappear alone, we never knew to where And the last I saw him at the dam – his body floating there He was the man that I wanted to be And I loved him – I just wished that it’d been me I tried to be the older brother he’d have looked up to But instead I’m living here missing your half of me There’s our family home – my parents sacrificed so much My life became my own and I didn’t keep in touch Why do I feel ashamed that I didn’t make them proud And I never thanked them – never said it out aloud I know they wouldn’t have cared about the burdens that I hold They’d just want to see me as they grew old Something draws me back to resolve what’s unfinished To put a better gloss on the life that’s been diminished My memories anchor me in place - can’t escape the grief and shame As much as I avoid it, it keeps calling out my name I’ve spent so much time trying to escape these places But here on the platform are the very faces Of Mum and Dad and Bob, my kids and Stacey too This phantom train has brought me here to do what I must do
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Thank you Chay. Pleased you liked it. Btw. The “banjo” is actually an acoustic guitar but I understand your meaning. Vic
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Dan, "File >> Import >> Import chords from MIDI file" seemed to work okay for me. I've got some bars with chords on beat 2 and beat 4 (see the image below). In relation to the option that you have highlighted in your image above, have you tried setting that dropdown menu to 1 beat? At the moment it is set to 4 bars which means that you only want the interpreter to analyze chords every fourth bar. Setting it to "1 Beat" is telling the software that you want the chords analyzed for each beat. --Noel
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This definitely rocks! I love the drive the bass and guitars create. You’ve also got a really good singer here, he’s perfect for the song. Enjoyed the ride! A lot ![[Linked Image]](https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/images/icons/default/thumbs_up.gif) Thanks BD. Glad you liked it
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Good idea! Maybe I can figure out how to make part of the BIAB chord sheet play without taking up the whole screen. I''l play around with the BIAB video render and see if I can get it to do what I have in mind. Hi Patrick! Great idea! You could use ‘Snipping tool’ (on a PC) to create a recording of part of your BIAB screen (with or without audio) then add that as a video stem in your video editor. To get the BIAB chord screen depth with only a couple of chord rows, assuming you’re using BIAB 2026, you could use a split window and just record the chord screen portion - something along those lines. Andrew
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You did right by putting your vocal in this. It fits like a glove (pun intended). I like how the music sounds slightly off-kilter, like a wobbly boxer in the ring.
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Thanks, K-Dub. Unlike Queens, I only recorded/layered each harmony vocal three times instead of dozens of times.
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Hi Mario! Excellent piece, and I felt really immersed in the forest, and pictured the ‘brave’s eyes darting around while playing. Love the drum effect and the pad to build suspense. Very soundtrack worthy! If it had been me in the forest, to scare away the wild animals or spirits, I would have played the recorder or even the banjo. Ha!  Andrew
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Thank you Floyd for your very generous comments - I’m glad you like it! Andrew
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Pioneering or not, it's new to me, and quite addictive - madcap in all the right ways
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Philly. if bb 'chokes'...there could various reasons... just a few... ..underpowered pc for what your trying to do...that ryzen 9 is powerfull high end. so i dont see that as an issue. ..running other programs eg net thus chewing up resources. (my rule is i use a seperate pc for the crazy net.) are you running the net//other apps while doing music production ?? ..resource hungry vst's....seen this many times...which is why use 'lean' low resource plugins. look in win and see what resources the active vst(s) are chewing up. ..useing the same drive for windows and music production. ive seen this cause probs many times. have you searched the net for threads on session horns pro resource useage...?? this is one result i got...might be of interest. https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/950122-session-horns-pro-cpu-hog.html could you run the tests i outline here... https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=795663#Post795663 right now please boot up pg realband...where there is a handy rough indicator of pc capability...i use it on any pc i'm thinking of buying.. should be high given your ry 9. action>>test audio performance. here on a mid range ryzen mini pc i get over 180 tracks. well actually more some days. report back on number of tracks possible reported by rb. your ry 9 should be very high. in addition look up the ry your pc uses on cpubenchmark.net and report back single thread and multithread score. it should be v good. i assume what your trying to do is record tracks with an inline active vst... CORRECT ?? ie live as you say. please clarify....this can cause probs if the pc isnt up to snuff and/or the pc hasnt been optimised for music production which ive seen many times. but i question whether the source of your prob is ry 9. re internal drives...do you have win os on one drive and music production on another ?? OR all same drive ?? there might a bug in bb...but as the saying goes 'eliminate everything and youll be left with the source of the problem'. lol...arent computers grrreat... om
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Andrew, thank you for attention to this matter. 1) Lets clear something fundamental. All programs have a "default" view. That is how programs open, music or non-music. A default, by definition is constant. It doesn't change (unless changed and saved as new default). Having an option to open "last project" layout is great, but should be looked as a convenience feature that could be turned on (or off). Andrew, I believe, users are in agreement that the most balanced approach would be : Having "Don't open song or File" in preferences - BIAB opens with Default view layout. If Preference has "Open Last song" - it opens with the remembered layout when you close the program. This should work for everybody. ---- 2) Yes some people might not want that. However most will probably enjoy that option. In my opinion main idea behind BIAB is creating backing tracks... and much smaller group use it for bulk playback (jukebox?), but I agree, this is more of a request. (unlike #1)
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Hi BD. What a great piece of work. Normally I prefer sad songs but I have to admit I love this fun song. Really well done. Vic Thank you for listening and your nice feedback, Vic. I also usually prefer sad or thought-provoking songs, but every now and then I need a feel-good song to help me break free from the downward spiral of negativity. Music therapy 
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I really love the combination of the visuals and your beautiful guitar playing, the two complement each other perfectly. You can be proud of your granddaughter, and she can be proud of you
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No matter what I expect from your next song, you always surprise me with something different. I'm still not sure whether I really like it or not, but it's wild and very creative, and an Arabic Metal Opera is definitely something I've never heard before. Definitely enjoyed my listen
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That's a pretty good song, I like it, even though I'm not exactly a "Jazz" fan The drums in the intro are way too busy for my taste, I’d either leave them out or use a slower and softer RealDrum, probably one played only with brushes. For the rest of the song (where the other instruments come in), they're perfect. Still, I enjoyed it
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“Paper and pen are therapy….Truth for your soul.” Janice feels that way about writing letters and cards to loved ones. So you have a win-win-win situation with your return to paper and pen. It was good for you, your music and us forumites!😊 You’re turned up to 11 all the way on this song with regard to everything. Your feelings shine through on your vocal, piano and guitar. And it remind us of how much we’ve learned from you about music making. Hardly need to mention it but your mix is sooooo high bar. “Look for a way to find your joy.” Amen brother. Loved it! J&B
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Very cool! BiaB on steroids
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Mario, Thanks so much - that means a lot to us. Bob
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AI lyrics are standout. To me they stand out 😀 as: - Replete with forced rhymes - Notable absence of clever near rhymes - Narratives that use scenarios instead of a cohesive flow to the story - if there is a story - Cliches to the max - Lines that seem too identical in length -- machine like. - And more I make no claim to being a good lyricist but I’ve spent most of my 80 years paying attention to them. There is assuredly ample precedent for me being wrong but I sincerely feel AI writes are typically easy to spot. Caveat: I completely understand that folks often do not use it for an in toto write but rather for ideas that they can expand upon, etc. I'd just prefer beating the old brain for a notion. Bud
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Are you saying that BB lists the bars properly in the song's raw form, but then they disappear because I have too many choruses? Nope, I'm saying that your song actually has 200 bars in total, and the song overview doesn't display them all until you play the song for some unknown reason. So when your song loads, the overview incorrectly shows fewer bars, then it corrects itself when you play the song (according to your screenshots). The bar numbers disappearing for a song overview of 200 bars IS something that is expected for some display resolutions/window sizes, in the current build.
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“But somehow the future catches me blind Or leaves me battling for another time It flashed an image of her face Just to leave a bittersweet taste” Great vivid imagery and your vocals so well captured the emotion. It’s interesting to hear how well the fine lyric works … in both the earlier country version and this one. Nice band and fills by you. It all works for us. I know you had concerns but we don’t, i.e, no nits. We’d rather sit back and listen than to parse it out. That’s our approach when a tune like this grabs us from the get go. Oh, did we say good mix? Well we assuredly implied it! Well done, J&B J&B, thank ya'll so much as always for the kind review. Thanks as well for seeking out and listening to the original, too! I was going to link it, but my vocals pale in comparison to Dusty's, and I didn't want to set the new version up for failure. Ha!
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Samlevy0515, thanks for your support. I’m interested in your recommendations. What genre(s) do you use? I agree turning off Natural Arrangement is probably what I use most frequently, but as a jazz artist I would never use Jazz Down so I have limited experience with it. Do you use that function frequently?
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Catchy Nicely sung Bill’s steel is nice Smooth bass Good mix Love prevails This one really sticks in your head Cool .fj
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PDT today!
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!
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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®.
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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!
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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.
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- 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
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- SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
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- MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
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