I am playing with BB 2022 with an M1 Mini. I am noticing that a lot of song/styles, I guess you call them, have a lot of instruments that sound like an old Atari video game. Is this because I don't own all the sound packs needed, or is this just the MIDI engine making up sound for the particular track?

Is this the way the software is designed?

MIDI doesn't make any sound.

Yes, I know, but clarinets and saxophones sound like video games. Do I need the Styles PAKs to fill in the counts that sound like Atari video games.

I don't know anything about the M1 Mini. That said, it could be that the styles or songs you are hearing are MIDI based. Does the M1 Mini play MIDI files? Typcially, the quality of sound for MIDI styles depends on the quality of software used to interpret the MIDI information. With superior software synthesizers, MIDI sounds awesome. The standard computer software it could indeed sound like "an old Atari video game".

BIAB styles that begin with an underscore (e.g. _ACCFOLK) are realtracks and are audio sounds.

Styles that being with an equals sign (e.g. =TEXMETL) are a mixture of realtracks and MIDI.

Styles beginning with M_ (e.g. M_CPLPNO) are a mixture of realtracks and superior MIDI tracks.

Styles that begin with just plain letters (older versions of BIAB... e.g. ZZBOSA) or a hyphen (newer versions of BIAB... e.g. -ZZBOSA) are fully MIDI styles.

Hope this helps.
Noel

That's not up to BIAB or any of the styles. That is up to whatever instrument that BIAB is driving.

Excellent information from Noel96 has been provided.

Are you using the M1 Mini speakers to output the sound, or do you have a MIDI interface that allows you to use an external synth and external speakers?
I am not familiar with the M1 Mini, but if it uses internal speakers, then possibly this will contribute to poor sound quality. You do need to have good sound reproduction capability.
In the Mixer in BiaB, any tracks in Yellow font will be MIDI, any tracks in Green font will be RealTracks.

I looked up the specification for M1 Mini and it simply shows built-in speaker. If so, it's likely to be a very small speaker and this may be the source of the issue.

The software can produce world-class music, it's definitely light-years away from Atari video game sounds. You may just need an external sound-card interface and external speakers to get excellent results.

Another thought: You may wish to inquire in the Mac section of the forums. There will be more users there who are familiar with your configuration.

Hope this helps in some way.

I just answered this same question in another forum.

The user is obviously keen to find out how to resolve.

You can also look at the font colour of the RealTracks in the bottom left of the Style Picker, or in the Mixer window. Green are RealTracks, Yellow are MIDI, and blue are MIDI SuperTracks.

It is likely the MIDI engine for the sounds.
A better sound source equals better sound (especially for any MIDI tracks).
That would be my best guess, as most styles do not use Reatracks for sax/clarinet .. more likely a MIDI based track and the MIDI 'engine' (VSTi) is the source issue. At least in my experience.

Good question and I think you know the source of the problem, just need to decide on a solution
There are many options

Again, the MAC forum would likely offer better help.