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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 14
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Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 14 |
I know this might sound like whining, but I need to say it.
Band in a Box is up to 120 gigabytes of sound files for all kinds of styles. But many of the workflow features seem primitive.
I am looking forward to using the VST version, this is a nice advancement in workflow. But way past due.
There remains many seemingly obvious workflow and usability features that are left unchanged for decades.
How about allowing song structure with verse, chorus, bridge, intro and outro, and having two endings to the verse? I have used BiaB since almost the beginning and still I cannot structure a song. How about cleaning up the ending so you have more control over it? Really there is very little control over the song ending. Same with breaks and stops. How about a timer display that looks like it there on purpose? How about the ability to print chord sheets with lyrics in a manner that actually functions, so you can hand out chord sheets to your band? How about an Android playback version for use in live performances? How about adding features I can't even think of and surprise me?
Why does PG Music come so close to these features, like the printing function, and then does not complete the equation? I guess this is my biggest frustration, the opportunity lost when they could do these things but instead spend their resources on more styles in the database. I really wish they would adopt an aggressive and progressive attitude about adding workflow features that really are advanced and cutting edge. It would be great to be pleasantly surprised instead of frustrated when you want to do something like print a song.
When Cakewalk went out of business I was forced to move from Sonar to the newer and more progressive Presonus Studio One. It really opened my eyes on how workflow, usability, "look and feel", and stability have progressed in the world of DAWs. Why not PG Music?
Until lately Band in a Box was the only game in town. But now Ireal Pro is available for 13 bucks and in many ways is more progressive. For instance it has the ability to have ending one and ending two to a verse, and it is not difficult to do. It is my sincere hope that PG changes its outlook and starts surprising us with new workflow and usability features.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Mar 2018
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Greg,
I am not usually the one who defends PGmusic when discussion is about workflow, interface or "innovations", as you mentioned, long passed due.
I strongly support some of ideas you mentioned. Such as having musical segments that are specifically designed for intros, bridges, breaks and interesting endings, without jumping to other styles or some unusually "creative" methods, just to get there. Also some other points you made are very true such as the workflow.
However, I disagree on some things, such as 120GB of content is a lot.... These are live musicians playing! Not arranger midi styles (which I have nothing against too) By today's standards, 120gb is very affordable. You can get 256GB SSD drive for $40-$45 with a 5 year warranty.
I know that some people are not happy with recent 2019 version, but looking at the big picture, we are 64 bit now!!! I believe that is a very good start and a huge step to bring BIAB to place it deserves to be.
I hope that with future upgrades crew focuses more on interface, workflow, generation time improvement and bugs rather than new features.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,426
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Greg,
...I hope that with future upgrades crew focuses more on interface, workflow, generation time improvement and bugs rather than new features.
Totally agree.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,458
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,458 |
Greg,
...I hope that with future upgrades crew focuses more on interface, workflow, generation time improvement and bugs rather than new features.
Totally agree. +1
BIAB 2024, latest build.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 20,816
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Greg,
...I hope that with future upgrades crew focuses more on interface, workflow, generation time improvement and bugs rather than new features.
Totally agree. +1
Me, it's not about how many times you fail, it's about how many times you get back up.
Cop, that's not how field sobriety tests work.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,567
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Joined: Jun 2012
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I know this might sound like whining, but I need to say it.
Band in a Box is up to 120 gigabytes of sound files for all kinds of styles. But many of the workflow features seem primitive.
I am looking forward to using the VST version, this is a nice advancement in workflow. But way past due.
There remains many seemingly obvious workflow and usability features that are left unchanged for decades.
How about allowing song structure with verse, chorus, bridge, intro and outro, and having two endings to the verse? I have used BiaB since almost the beginning and still I cannot structure a song. How about cleaning up the ending so you have more control over it? Really there is very little control over the song ending. Same with breaks and stops. How about a timer display that looks like it there on purpose? How about the ability to print chord sheets with lyrics in a manner that actually functions, so you can hand out chord sheets to your band? How about an Android playback version for use in live performances? How about adding features I can't even think of and surprise me?
Why does PG Music come so close to these features, like the printing function, and then does not complete the equation? I guess this is my biggest frustration, the opportunity lost when they could do these things but instead spend their resources on more styles in the database. I really wish they would adopt an aggressive and progressive attitude about adding workflow features that really are advanced and cutting edge. It would be great to be pleasantly surprised instead of frustrated when you want to do something like print a song.
When Cakewalk went out of business I was forced to move from Sonar to the newer and more progressive Presonus Studio One. It really opened my eyes on how workflow, usability, "look and feel", and stability have progressed in the world of DAWs. Why not PG Music?
Until lately Band in a Box was the only game in town. But now Ireal Pro is available for 13 bucks and in many ways is more progressive. For instance it has the ability to have ending one and ending two to a verse, and it is not difficult to do. It is my sincere hope that PG changes its outlook and starts surprising us with new workflow and usability features. I generally agree with you. Things like track naming was never implemented throughout the program so I just turned it off. I never bothered with UserTracks since there were so many issues and limitations discussed here on the forums. And the VideoTracks idea was a great example of a "feature" with limited to no practical application that certainly consumed lots of dev time and now has apparently (and appropriately ) been dropped. The jury is still out on the new VST but based on what I've seen so far it seems like a lot less than I would have predicted as a cool new feature. I'm not sure they are able to implement these complex feature. With that said, they are incredibly talented at implementing new RealTracks every single upgrade. I am blown away every single time and mostly, the RealTracks are now why I upgrade. So I'll respectfully disagree with your proposal and suggest they continue to focus on a big batch of new RealTracks for every upgrade! If they can split the time between RealTracks and fixing existing features and bugs that would be fantastic. But if a new release comes out without new RealTracks, I for one will definitely not upgrade!
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 12/23/18 11:25 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 18,357
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 18,357 |
I wish that they would look at this wishlist, and see the serious bugs and excellent suggestions for improvements that have been listed. I wish they would visit the 'too hard' basket.
BIAB & RB2024 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 1,143
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 1,143 |
Forever Grateful, BUT, sometimes pissed of.  Trygve "Leo" Larsen BiaB 2020, Windows 8.1, Intel Core i5 CPU, 270GHz, 32 Gb RAM My OLD tracks on Soundcloud; https://soundcloud.com/trygve-larsen My NEW is unpublished The Universe = Uni-verse ie one song.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,323
Expert
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Expert
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,323 |
Reach for excellence
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 399
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 399 |
+1 from me.
But then i'm also of the view that BIAB needs a total overhaul - from switching to and adopting a modern truly CROSS-PLATFORM underlying framework - to reworking the GUI so that all the wonderful mega-kitchen-sink of options can be reworked into a far more logical interface.
For example- in the Mac version of BIAB there is still some ANCIENT GUI code which is a legacy from BIAB's early years on Atari-ST and/or Mac Plus! - written in pascal
Such an overhaul would of course take several years so does raise the thorny question of how to provide income for PG and its staff for the time before the revamped BIAB 2.0 is complete -
and ironically - one way of doing this might be to do the opposite - and just have one or two years where only minor improvements are made to BIAB while at the same time selling basically just new styles and real tracks.
The other option would be to sell PG to a company like Yamaha in order to provide the needed round of investment to support a team of programmers to focus on BIAB 2.0 during the "fallow" period where no income or less income is being made.
Last edited by nonchai; 12/27/18 03:10 AM.
Big Sur, Mac Mini i7 2018, 64GB RAM 2TB SSD
Yamaha PSR SX 900, Cubase, Ableton, UNIFY, OPUS ORCHESTRATOR, MASCHINE, Vienna Ensemble Pro ,Audiofuse, L6 HELI, KOMPLETE, Komplete Kontrol 88
Lockdown beard, podgy face, beer belly, bald patch ... yadda yadda
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Nonchai... you really do not want PG selling out to Yamaha  Yamaha started amazing Mobile Sequencer a few years back (only for IOS) It is/was very flexible, with thousands of styles (and they could have converted many more thousands from their library) And unfortunately, they completely stopped development on that great sequencer arranger. Probably their hopes was that young kids will buy it and they will sell great thousands...Kids these days prefer different approach/sound, than 15-20 years back. You do not want same thing happen to PG PGmusic is built around mature customers as their base. "Selling out" would mean revolt. Nobody wants that. It is very obvious that they do not have proper specialist(s) to bring proper changes. It seems they have good people and good coders that are maintaining program and adding minor changes, but to expect some groundbreaking, they need to hire someone with vision or at least try to partner with already established team. One option is... If it was me, and money was the issue to bring proper upgrades... As a one time thing, raise the cost of upgrading by $15-$30 and use that money to do some major renovations by hiring proper programmer who can lead the team at time of "GREAT CHANGES"... And to those who upgraded with paying higher amount, give a discount coupon for future upgrade.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 14
Newbie
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OP
Newbie
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 14 |
+1 from me.
But then i'm also of the view that BIAB needs a total overhaul - from switching to and adopting a modern truly CROSS-PLATFORM underlying framework - to reworking the GUI so that all the wonderful mega-kitchen-sink of options can be reworked into a far more logical interface.
For example- in the Mac version of BIAB there is still some ANCIENT GUI code which is a legacy from BIAB's early years on Atari-ST and/or Mac Plus! - written in pascal
Such an overhaul would of course take several years so does raise the thorny question of how to provide income for PG and its staff for the time before the revamped BIAB 2.0 is complete -
and ironically - one way of doing this might be to do the opposite - and just have one or two years where only minor improvements are made to BIAB while at the same time selling basically just new styles and real tracks.
The other option would be to sell PG to a company like Yamaha in order to provide the needed round of investment to support a team of programmers to focus on BIAB 2.0 during the "fallow" period where no income or less income is being made. The music buiz is a rough one. I am not the one to try and manage their company from afar. I only posted this post as hopes from an outsider on how to move ahead. Band in a Box has been a huge part of my musical life and I want PG to be hugely successful. I was a Cakewalk user from inception until they went belly up last year. I really did not like the Roland or Tascam years. It seemed like that is when they lost their way. I imagine Yamaha with PG might be like Cake with Roland. Not my first choice. I like the software developed by inspired leaders myself. By the way, I have listened a little bit to the 2019 version and wow I have to say it sounds great!
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 399
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 399 |
Nonchai... you really do not want PG selling out to Yamaha Yamaha started amazing Mobile Sequencer a few years back (only for IOS) It is/was very flexible, with thousands of styles (and they could have converted many more thousands from their library) And unfortunately, they completely stopped development on that great sequencer arranger,,,,,,,,ou do not want same thing happen to PG Yes this phenomenon is sadly very common - but that is in the iOS music-app marketplace where the price of apps is tiny in comparison with traditional desktop music type apps. And as such the situation is not the same as for desktop apps like DAWs or BIAB. Yamaha has successfully ran Steinberg and recently Line6. But products have to have sensible prices and much though the iOS music app marketplace is full of amazing iPad apps - it simply cannot sustain most developers who are usually one-man and many apps just fold. But - again - that is iOS apps. Not applicable here.
Big Sur, Mac Mini i7 2018, 64GB RAM 2TB SSD
Yamaha PSR SX 900, Cubase, Ableton, UNIFY, OPUS ORCHESTRATOR, MASCHINE, Vienna Ensemble Pro ,Audiofuse, L6 HELI, KOMPLETE, Komplete Kontrol 88
Lockdown beard, podgy face, beer belly, bald patch ... yadda yadda
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 5,786
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Of course it is. Yamaha was mismanaged for at least good old decade now. They can re-write the app for desktop in matter of weeks with a few thousand dollars or even at no extra cost, utilizing coders on their payroll. I would be among first ones to buy that sequencer. By the way, it is still available and is a great value for the money.
I honestly believe good things will happen to PG. This year,they showed that they are capable of steering the big ship. As long as I will see genuine progress, they got my support.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 163
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 163 |
Hi Greg,
Whilst I would dearly like to see many of the types of improvements that you are suggesting, I would hate to see these being delivered at the expense of new styles.
For me, the realtracks and realstyles are the life blood of the product and absolutely why I continue to buy every upgrade.
I also don’t really see why one should come at the expense of the other. The two areas require very different skill sets and I imagine are produced by completely different sets of people. The tracks and styles require musicians and studio production staff whereas the program improvements require programmers and designers.
In my experience as a software developer there is only so much change that you can make to a mature piece of software in any 12 month window. Threre are only so many people that you can have digging down the same hole so throwing extra programmers at it probably won’t increase - and may well decrease - productivity.
I suspect that we may well have to live with many of the workflow and usability idiosyncrasies that you are referring to for many years to come (and some possibly for ever). The program just allows me to do such great things that I am going to swallow that and just keep enjoying the fantastic new tracks and styles.
Regards, Aubrey
If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Update Your PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 Today!
The Newest RealBand 2024 Update is Here!
The newest RealBand 2024 Build 5 update is now available!
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.
This free update is available to all RealBand 2024 users. To learn more about this update and download it, head to www.pgmusic.com/support.realband.htm#20245
The Band-in-a-Box® Flash Drive Backup Option
Today (April 5) is National Flash Drive Day!
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!
Learn more about this free update for Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm#1111
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 Review: 4.75 out of 5 Stars!
If you're looking for a in-depth review of the newest Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows version, you'll definitely find it with Sound-Guy's latest review, Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows Review: Incredible new capabilities to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs.
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."
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!
The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!
There are other places you can listen to these songs too! Visit our User Showcase page to sort by genre, artist (forum name), song title, and date - each listing will direct you to the forum post for that song.
If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.
We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!
Congratulations to the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!
We've just announced the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!
There are 45 winners, each receiving a Band-in-a-Box 2024 UltraPAK! Read the official announcement to see if you've won.
Our User Showcase Forum receives more than 50 posts per day, with people sharing their Band-in-a-Box songs and providing feedback for other songs posted.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed!
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