This sounds fairly casual. I don't know that you need to be worried that the song structure and especially the endings are perfect. It a jam session, you know? You could create 10 minute (or longer) wav files of each song and you wouldn't need Biab live. Just play the file using any one of a bunch of available media players, have people jam along and just stop it when everybody's had their turn. Also, most media players have an automatic repeat function so if the file reaches the end it immediately jumps to the beginning with basically no dead time. If you create a multitrack file with an external mixer you can turn off any track if someone wants to play that part.
But, if you have singers and need to change the key suddenly on the fly that's a different thing but if you know about it in advance then a prerecorded wav file could still work.
I'm not trying to tell you how to run the show, just throwing out some suggestions. If you want it live I'm sure we can figure it out.
Hi Bob, Your idea "If you create a multitrack file with an external mixer you can turn off any track if someone wants to play that part." is interesting. If BIAB aborts during a song this may be a way around it. I have never used real band at this point. I take it real band could feed this external mixer you mentioned.
Getting back to the original topic, support must have followed up on my suggestion that they follow this thread and I have good news. They sent me a message and it turns out there is a way to send an error/crash report with a method to enter what we are doing just before the crash. I guess no one who responded to this thread knew it so I am glad I asked PG music support to tune in to this thread. Here is their response.
Quote:
The new versions of Band-in-a-Box actually do have an error/crash report feature. When the program crashes it gives a window with options to send a crash report, save the report for later or move on without a crash report. Choosing to send the report will open an email with a form for the customer to fill out detailing what they were doing when the crash took place. The report also includes what processes were active, system information and various technical information that our tech department can use to figure out most issues. Sometimes the program can crash without this window opening, in which case Windows will generally say the program has stopped working and the program screen goes white. We can't get any technical info for those but typically those issues are straightforward to fix. In the case where no crash report is generated if you could send us a quick email detailing what you were doing we can usually fix the issues fairly quickly.
Following up on Bob's thought, until you get comfortable with RealBand you could use open source, multi-track digital recording software that typically have less features. One software many people use is ++ Audacity ++ . Audacity works on Windows, Mac or Linux platforms.
Thanks Jim. I have Audacity but an older version. I will have to upgrade and check into it. John
In the meantime I still think it is good to get BIAB to run crash free so it is good to start sending in those dumps at every chance we get. When I get another crash I am going to capture the screen images and create a thread describing how to send the crash report. The MultiCharts program has the user entry text box right on the first popup making it a bit more obvious they want the information on as many dumps as the can get their hands on. This makes sense since it serves as a way to prioritize their work (if one feature is getting 1,000 dumps per week and another feature is getting 1 per week they know what to work on first). It is important to realize they can write a program to analyse these crash reports when they come in and group them and count the areas of the program needing the most immediate work so it is not as if our sending them in is inconvenient for them.
John, Real Band is an amazing and often completely overlooked program. If you look at the Product Forums you'll see Power Tracks. PT has been around for a long time. Years ago PG did something very cool that caught everybody by total and complete surprise. They somehow grafted Biab into a completely separate DAW program called Power Tracks and renamed it Real Band.
What you have in RB is what appears to be a standard linear DAW with 48 tracks. When you look at Track View you see a pretty standard DAW layout, the track name and audio/midi info on the left and the track itself taking up the rest of your screen going to the right. Depending on your screen resolution you can see 8-12 tracks at a time. Here's the fun part:
1. RB can open and play Biab songfiles. RB also has full access to all of your styles and RT/RD's. 2. You can start with any kind of audio or midi file and then add Biab style tracks to it. I've taken a commercial CD and added some Biab stuff just for fun. 3. You have 48 tracks, Biab only has 7. 4. You can highlight parts of a track by swiping your mouse and only generate the highlight section with a Biab style part. This can be audio RT's or midi. 5. When you hit Play Biab regenerates the entire song unless you've frozen some tracks you want to keep as is but RB is a DAW. You pick what track or part of a track you want to generate, the rest of your work is unchanged just like any other DAW.
Here's really, really way cool part:
You can have multiple tracks of the same category of instrument like you picked a guitar strumming RT but decide you want to try out another one. No problem, highlight the next empty track, pick a style that can be completely different from the other track....oh, didn't I mention that already? Each and every time you generate any one track or part of a track you can not only pick a different style, you can change the chord grid too. Oh yes, Real Band uses the same chord grid Biab does.
You might have an idea in your head for a song using 5 instruments. With RB you can generate up to 48 tracks and out of that huge conglomeration pick and chose which 5 instrument parts you want to keep and it's not necessarily one instrument on an entire track. You're completely free to put several instruments on different sections of the same track. Each section can be not only a different instrument but the style too.
Do the math and you could conceivably have hundreds of different parts spread out over 48 tracks. Good luck mixing all that down but hey, it's possible.
Down to the real world you would never do that but what you might do is have 3 or 4 different Real Drum tracks and cut and paste them to make one good track along with another 3 or 4 percussion tracks. Drum tracks tend to be the single most important thing of any tune. Biab only has one drum track. Extremely limiting imho.
I could go on and on, suffice it to say RB is my goto program not Biab. If I were you I would start spending some time on the RB forum. I use Biab for quick song sketches to create charts or something basic like that. Biab is quick and simple, nothing wrong with that. Oh, RB has full notation too just like Biab.
Just keep in mind these programs are completely separate, afaik they did not spring from the same mother. One is Biab and the other is a pure DAW that got transformed into a hybrid.
You mentioned using a multitrack interface to control RB tracks going to your PA. I have not actually done that but some here have. Something like this should work:
Hi Bob, that is quite the plug for real band. Thanks so much. I sent your post to a friend who knows real band (probably not as well as you do but a lot better than I do). I think he will appreciate your post better than I can with my limited knowledge. He and I will be getting together next week and I will bring up the topic and hopefully have a chance to learn a bit about Real band during our meetings. I created a reminder to consider real band over other softwares should I become aware I need a multi-track program (the reminder has a link back to this thread so I can be made aware in the future to go back and reread your post). I like that mixer you provided the link for. I am thinking of upgrading my mixer I will be using for the rusty jams (jazz karaoke jams) and that might be a great mixer.
Cool. One correction, I mentioned you can highlight part of a track and generate a Biab part, audio or midi. A whole track can be either audio OR midi but not both so if it's an audio track you can highlight several different sections and generate different RT's because they're audio. Same with a midi track.
As a DAW RB has DAW specific features Biab doesn't have like a full on screen mixer, ability to create sub mixes, much better audio and midi editing capabilities and the like. But the single biggest thing to me is the ability to simply see your tracks laid out in front of you. You generate a midi guitar part you see all the midi notes right there, same with audio waveforms.
RB has a killer editing function called the Bars Window. When you open that you see your whole song as rows and columns with little squares representing bars. Simply put your mouse cursor in the top row at whatever section you want to copy or delete and swipe down and to the right until you get to the last row and bar you're working with. You could highlight a 12 bar solo section and hit copy. Then put the cursor on whatever bar square you want to insert that and hit paste. Presto chango, you just rearranged the song. It copies and pastes audio and midi together.
Now, I will say this. RB is still a fairly basic DAW. It does not have all the very cool things a $700 program like Sonar or Cubase has. After all RB is free with Biab or it costs $49 by itself I think. But none of those can work with Biab files or do all the other things I mentioned.
People here have posted very pro sounding mixes done with RB so don't discount it as some simple toy. True, it doesn't have unlimited numbers of tracks, comp tracks, the ability to collapse folders and full automation but as far as sound quality, the ability to work with VST plugins including full mastering suites, it's very capable.
At present I am too busy with this jamming project to learn real band. After that I think it would be worth learning it. My use would be recording the jams in such a way that I could mix the parts later for creating a demo. I am just wondering how this mixer you suggested and real band program can be connected such that I can get a mix out of all instruments for the P.A. and also get the live instruments back into real band for recording and later mixing after the jam is over.
I am thinking maybe this is the way to do it.
BIAB drums, computer headphone out, mixer input 1, (mixer Output 2 to audience amp, mixer Output 3 to musician amp)
BIAB bass, computer headphone out, mixer input 1, (mixer Output 2 to audience amp, mixer Output 3 to musician amp)
Guitarist, mixer input 2, Mixer output 1 USB output to recording with Real band record, computer headphone out, mixer input 1, (mixer Output 2 to audience amp, mixer Output 3 to musician amp)
Pianist, mixer input 3, Mixer output 1 USB output to recording with Real band record, computer headphone out, mixer input 1, (mixer Output 2 to audience amp, mixer Output 3 to musician amp)
Sax mic, mixer input 4, Mixer output 1 USB output to recording with Real band record, computer headphone out, mixer input 1, (mixer output 2 to audience amp, mixer Output 3 to musician amp)
I finally got an abort while using BIAB so I can provide an example of the popup. The method of reporting what you were doing to support (mentioned in detail above) is done by clicking the 2nd button from the top. In this case it was occurring during the install of a patch and the popup below was active so I could not actually send the crash report. I had clicked yes to close all applications but after I did that it aborted. I will send this to support by regular email.
User Video: Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box®
The Bob Doyle Media YouTube channel is known for demonstrating how you can creatively incorporate AI into your projects - from your song projects to avatar building to face swapping, and more!
His latest video, Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box, he explains in detail how you can use the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box with ACE Studio. Follow along as he goes from "nothing" to "something" with his Band-in-a-Box MIDI Melodist track, using ACE Studio to turn it into a vocal track (or tracks, you'll see) by adding lyrics for those notes that will trigger some amazing AI vocals!
Wir waren fleißig und haben über 50 neue Funktionen und eine erstaunliche Sammlung neuer Inhalte hinzugefügt, darunter 222 RealTracks, neue RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, "Songs with Vocals" Artist Performance Sets, abspielbare RealTracks Set 3, abspielbare RealDrums Set 2, zwei neue Sets von "RealDrums Stems", XPro Styles PAK 6, Xtra Styles PAK 17 und mehr!
Add updated printing options, enhanced tracks settings, smoother use of MGU and SGU (BB files) within PowerTracks, and more with the latest PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 update!
Download and install this to your RealBand 2024 for updated print options, streamlined loading and saving of .SGU & MGU (BB) files, and to add a number of program adjustments that address user-reported bugs and concerns.
Did you know... not only can you download your Band-in-a-Box® Pro, MegaPAK, or PlusPAK purchase - you can also choose to add a flash drive backup copy with the installation files for only $15? It even comes with a Band-in-a-Box® keychain!
For the larger Band-in-a-Box® packages (UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition), the hard drive backup copy is available for only $25. This will include a preinstalled and ready to use program, along with your installation files.
Backup copies are offered during the checkout process on our website.
Already purchased your e-delivery version, and now you wish you had a backup copy? It's not too late! If your purchase was for the current version of Band-in-a-Box®, you can still reach out to our team directly to place your backup copy order!
Note: the Band-in-a-Box® keychain is only included with flash drive backup copies, and cannot be purchased separately.
Handy flash drive tip: Always try plugging in a USB device the wrong way first? If your flash drive (or other USB plug) doesn't have a symbol to indicate which way is up, look for the side with a seam on the metal connector (it only has a line across one side) - that's the side that either faces down or to the left, depending on your port placement.
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
With this update, there's more control when saving images from the Print Preview window, we've added defaults to the MultiPicker for sorting and font size, updated printing options, updated RealTracks and other content, and addressed user-reported issues with the StylePicker, MIDI Soloists, key signature changes, and more!
A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."
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