Just thinking of purchasing some add ons.
Are the Xpro packs more suited to those who have that particular edition and am I better to continue buying the Xtra packs.
Appreciate your thoughts.

The XPro Paks will work with all versions of BiaB including the Pro (entry level) version. They are really designed for users who only have the Pro version.

The Styles in the Xtra Paks will work with higher level versions (e.g. Ultra Pak) but not necessarily the Pro version, as they need specific Tracks that may not be available in the Pro version.

As you have the Ultra Pak, you can get a benefit of new Styles from both Paks. Each offers their own unique styles, and I don't believe that there is any duplication between the Paks.

I purchased both.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Will work through the options.
Cheers

Any user with the current version of Band-in-a-Box is eligible to purchase the XPro Styles PAKs. They are not just for the Pro users. The Xtra Styles PAKs are only for users with the UltraPAK or higher.

Yep, just like I mentioned:

Though I still find very confusing PGM's this PAK, that PAK, ProPAK, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, PlusPAK EverythingPAK(?), OmniPAK, Audiphile Edition(?), meaning of RealTracks vs RealBand, numerous Add-Ons that my or may not be included in various bundles. That confusion dissuaded me for quite a long time from upgrading.

The fact that so many other music software/media/resource/etc. vendors are just as confusing is no excuse, IMHO.

More than a few times I've just thought "Oh, I just can't be [redacted] with this!"

I doubt it's just me.

It is very confusing. I usually message PGM and ask them to see which add on(s) I do not have. Then of course I buy them all, I can't help it, it's like musical pawn.

I, and I'm sure many others, find the naming terminology confusing.

This is especially so for the 'Pro Pak', which actually has the minimum feature set. The base software is the same for all versions, and the Pak name describes the added features in terms of included RealTracks, RealDrums and available Styles.

The term 'Pro-Pak' signifies that it is the 'Professional' edition, which it certainly isn't.

In my view, it should be named 'Essentials', 'Lite', 'Beginner', 'Entry', 'Starter' or something similar.




Based again on some of the content of this thread, a more realistic naming convention would save a huge amount of ongoing confusion, hesitation, and user frustration.

I also find PGMusic's nomenclature very confusing. Every year there are many questions about that each Pak is and what it includes.

But it goes beyond just the Pak terminology. Micro chords? Micro means extremely small so are micro chords are very small chords. Same with virtual tracks. I could go on and on but you get the picture.

I agree this could be improved and the term Pro is the cause of the most confusion.

But things could be worse: the most creativity in the marketing industry now is the naming of drugs. Where do they get those names!

I think they have a computer randomly select letters and those letters are placed one after another based on when they were selected

Ducking and running for cover!

Thank you all for your input! We do list everything that is included with each Band-in-a-Box package on their respective product pages on our site. If ever there is any confusion, please feel free to reach out to use and we'll be happy to clarify.

Hope this helps!

Under the Help menu in Band-in-a-Box, there is a "What Add-Ons Do I Have" window. For UltraPAK and higher users, this is a great tool for seeing what optional add-ons one doesn't have. There is a spot for things like the XPro and XtraStyles PAKs in there.

I'm fairly sure you do, but navigating it and making sense of it is not so easy as there's duplication, repetition, different names and names that have changed over time.

On that neat versions and upgrades table here (https://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.packages.htm), is lists the numbers of each of the types of content against the version, but find out which of those numbers are in any particular pack is not so easy. I think it's all there, but it's a bit of a hunt and the focus tends to be more on demonstrating them than identifying them. I can understand why that is ... it's a sales pitch ... but it makes hard work. A similar more detailed table that listed the packages and against them listed RealTrack sets and so on by number range would be helpful.

The UltaPAK list them near the bottom of the page (https://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.packages.ultrapak.htm#rtlist)... why not put that list at the top and link each group, including the 1-50 group, to the contents of those groups. Oddly to me, each of those blocks of 50 RealTracks also seem to be on the same page, though something clearly controls the content.

Another example of why it gets confusing is on the Pro page:
https://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.packages.pro.htm

where it says "over 550 RealTrack instruments", but does not list the RealTracks. In addition to that, how can one tell if the 550 refers to "tracks" or "instruments"? I guess 550 instruments is pretty unlikely so it has to be the former.

The MegaPAK is very similar.

The UltraPAK and the UltraPAK+ both list all the RealTracks in the same way ... index blocks right near the bottom after loads of demos. Same arguments. What I really need to know is "all the stuff from the UltraPAK plus the songs and lessons PAK" with a hyper link to that pack.

OmniPAK ... why not in the list of packages. I know it contains stuff other that BiaB, but then so do they all ... RealBand.

Oh, I could go on and on. Enough already.