Lost all sound in RealBand. Help, how do I get sound back?

Options-Preferences-Audio tab - Drivers button (?)

Sounds like a driver issue; do you see signal in the output meters?

Is the file MIDI or Audio (or both)?

no output signal. Midi or audio - not sure. went to Options-Preferences-Audio tab - Drivers button, most everything there is Greek to me.

Actually, on my last attempt it dawned on me that the problem may not be audio at all because I realized that after creating a sample song with chords and then click the PLAY button nothing happens --- the song doesn't play.

A song must be generated prior to playing. Just click on the play+ icon, the song will be generated and then start to play. Let us know if that worked for you.

Note play will just play an already generated song without changing anything. The Play+ icon will regenerated a song every time you click on it, thus giving you a different version of the song.

I have looked thru all the menu options to try to determine why song won't play, but having no luck. HELP!!!

I don't see where you reference which version you are using. Is it 2020 version 3? If not, do an update.

Is it audio or MIDI that is not playing?

Also, was it working correctly before? What's changed?

Are you using a VSTi, an external sound module or the built in default synth?

Click on the MIDI devices icon and tell us which devices are highlighted in blue and any other items that may be checked.

You might want to do a Factory reset. Go to Options, Perferences and click Reset to Default settings.

Jeff

In BIAB there is a "play+ icon", however, in RealBands I find no such icon/button

In RealBand when I click on the green play button absolutely nothing happens (does not play. So disappointing.

Your original post seemed to indicate that RealBand used to play.

I would look at a few things. Does anything else play on your computer (for example, do you get sound when playing a Youtube video)? That at least lets you know your sound card is working.

The next thing is to determine which audio driver you are using. You may have up to three choices, depending upon what is installed on your machine: MME, ASIO, and WASAPI (or just WAS). Be aware that not all sound cards work properly with WAS and ASIO will only be available if you have the driver installed. Not all sound cards come with an ASIO driver, but you can download and install ASIO4ALL, which "wraps" your MME driver and presents it as an ASIO driver (so you get the lower latency ASIO provides).

I would suggest starting with MME. Then loading a RealStyle (they start with an underscore) from the Style Picker (we'll get into MIDI later). Once you have selected a style, you can then select "Generate All BB Tracks (Entire Song)" to generate all the tracks. Once generated, see if they play.

If you want MIDI to sound, you either need to have an external MIDI module connected (perhaps a MIDI arranger keyboard) or use the built in Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth, or select a DXi/VSTi synth (CoyoteWT should have been installed when you installed BIAB/RB). Select it and click on the Re-Route MIDI playback checkbox to test it out.

See if you can play both audio and MIDI tracks using MME. Once you confirm that works, then I would try using either ASIO or WAS to get lower latency and better performance.

Let us know what you find out.

RESPONSE TO JEFF'S POST

Jeff: I don't see where you reference which version you are using. Is it 2020 version 3? If not, do an update.
Gary: RealBand version 2020 {1} I don't see anywhere in the RB to to an update. I did a complete reinstall.

Jeff: Is it audio or MIDI that is not playing?
Gary: both

Jeff: Are you using a VSTi, an external sound module or the built in default synth?
Gary: I don't know what VSTI is, but I think it is the built in default synth.

Jeff: Click on the MIDI devices icon and tell us which devices are highlighted in blue and any other items that may be checked.
Gary: microsoft GS wavetable synth & microsoft midi mapper

Jeff: You might want to do a Factory reset. Go to Options, Perferences and click Reset to Default settings.
Gary: I've tried that numerous times - to no avail.

You can download RealBand 2020 Build 3 +++here+++.

Save the file, then run the installer and make sure you select the correct folders for the installation.

Then try running again.

Tech Support solved my issue:

Ember: Keep in mind that RealBand is intended for editing, mastering,
and mixing your already existing Band-in-a-Box SGU and MGU files.

Gary: I did not know this, so I loaded a BIAB song and sure enough it
worked - play and audio both

Ember: but you can always create songs from scratch by recording
things in to the program.

Gary: I don't know how this works but i'll experiment with this later.

So what is the advantage/benefit of the RB over BIAB?

There are many, but the most 'appreciated' ones are:
- 48 individual tracks.
- Tempo changes can be in fractions, not whole values (e.g. RB allows 125.6, where BiaB will only allow you to select 125 or 126).
- You can generate only selected section of a track (BiaB can now sort of do this but it's a work in progress).
- You can easily put MIDI or Audio on any available track (less limitations to only the Soloist or Melodist tracks).
- More than 255 bars (BiaB is limited to only 255 bars of music).
- More DAW-like operation.

No doubt others will chime in with their favorites.

Well I'll buy that this is one use, but not the primary use.

It is a Digital Audio Workstation that supports BIAB features, but also lets you record audio from multiple sources (limited by your sound card setup), as well as create MIDI parts, assign effects and virtual instruments, , use up to 48 tracks, generate harmonies on separate tracks, and a whole bunch of other features (some of which Trevor - Videotrack - shared above).

For what its worth i've been using BIAB since it was on floppy discs and have always done basic song creation in BIAB and then - originally - finished the song in PowerTracks. Now I use RB but the principle is the same. BIAB seems to me to have got more and more complicated to do the things that a DAW would do but it's much simpler to do them in RB.

BIAB has got more and more complicated to do things it wasn't originally designed to do.

A machine goes through three stages (according to SF writer Robert Heinlein). The first is a version that works but has problems and inefficiencies. The second is a version with bits added on and complicated gubbins added to cure the problems of the first version.

The third stage is a simplified and streamlined version that needs no cumbersome addons and just works the way it should have done in the first place!

I think BIAB will always be at stage 2 if you try to do everything within the program. Use it at it's very simplest and it's stage 3 for basic song production. RB is the complementary program that does all the things BIAB struggles to do.

BIAB and RB are an unbeatable package.

The point to take away is that BiaB does some stuff better and faster, and RB does some stuff better and faster.
Most users of both programs agree;
Tinker with Chord progression, tempo and styles in BiaB until you get something reasonably close. It's much faster at giving you a good representation of the style/chord combination.
Then use RB to hone in and work on each track, or section of a track, to make it better.

Their main screens kind of imply what their forte is.
BiaB main screen is a table with chords in a pattern. Using this you can (very quickly) generate all the tracks in a style and see what it sounds like. Experiment until you get close.

RB main screen is rows of tracks, because it's strength is working on each of the tracks. You can see and easily edit one (or many) track(s) at once. And be much more granular and exacting in what you change.

RB can also start as a totally clean empty slate where you can generate 50 bars of drums in any RealDrum available.
Then create a chord sheet and generate a bass line track in a different style.
Then see what a finger picked acoustic would sound like with these other tracks by generating that on another track.


Simply put RB was originally designed to be a DAW, and still behaves as such. But it still does BiaB stuff.

BiaB does BiaB stuff, but it does it much faster and in a more simplified way (better).
Some people like the simplicity. I do until I don't, so I usually move on to RB pretty quickly once I got an idea of tempo, chords and style.

.. and don't even get me started about time signatures .. RB rules there.
Try to generate something in true 5/4, 7/4, 11/16 etc in BiaB; not possible.
RB does it like it's an every day thing.