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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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I'm asking because I'm looking into assembling a new rig, and would ideally like to have a 240 SSD for my main operations, and a separate 1TB HD for all the space-intensive stuff such as RDs, RTs, MIDI instrument samples, etc.
I also noticed that there are many more installation paths with the BiaB VST (which, TBH, I have not even bothered with yet but probably will want to in the future when all the kinks are ironed out), and I'm worried that if everything is not installed in the exact same drive, there will be more opportunities for BiaB, which is already a notoriously fickle and buggy beast, to fail/crash/ect,.
In that vein, comments on my the proposed specs are very much welcome :-)
Motherboard: Intel B360, DDR4
CPU: i5-9600K
Memory: 1x16 G DDR4 2400Mhz (btw, I've seen comments on other music production forums claiming that 2X8 is better than 1x16 because of multi/hyper threading reasons which is then vigorously negated in other comments. Thoughts?).
Storage: 1 240 Gb SSD SATA III + 1 Tb HDD @ 7200 RPM
GPU: Stock/Internal
Thanks in advance!
Deacon
Band-in-a-Box 2024. Custom Build Desktop PC W/ Windows 10 Home 64-bit. CPU: Intel Core i5-9600k @ 3.7GHz (6 core x 6 threads) RAM: 16GB DDR4. Storage 238GB SSD + 2.7 TB HDD. GPU: ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Deacon, I've had 2018 BIAB and prior versions run in this manner of hard drives. My SSD is the C:\ and the HDD is the D:\ drive. All RTs and drums are located on D:\BB and the program is on C:\BB. No issues at all with latency on the real tracks being on a slower disk.
In general I keep all my Win10 software and other apps on C:\ and all data files on D:\ since it's a much larger disk.
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Thanks sslechta,
And do you currently use the BiaB VST as well?
Band-in-a-Box 2024. Custom Build Desktop PC W/ Windows 10 Home 64-bit. CPU: Intel Core i5-9600k @ 3.7GHz (6 core x 6 threads) RAM: 16GB DDR4. Storage 238GB SSD + 2.7 TB HDD. GPU: ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Yes. I have two small SSDs. One is my boot drive; the other has the BIAB program. My RealTracks and RealDrums are on a separate Western Digital Black hard drive that runs at 10,000 rpm.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Yes. I have two small SSDs. One is my boot drive; the other has the BIAB program. My RealTracks and RealDrums are on a separate Western Digital Black hard drive that runs at 10,000 rpm. Thanks Matt, Is there an appreciable difference between 7200 and 10,000 RPM?
Band-in-a-Box 2024. Custom Build Desktop PC W/ Windows 10 Home 64-bit. CPU: Intel Core i5-9600k @ 3.7GHz (6 core x 6 threads) RAM: 16GB DDR4. Storage 238GB SSD + 2.7 TB HDD. GPU: ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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I would say yes. But I don't see too many hard drives anymore that are available at that speed. Mine is almost five years old.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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And do you currently use the BiaB VST as well? I do not. I tend to send the MIDI in BIAB over to the AirXpand!2 Virtual Synth that comes with Pro Tools (My main DAW).
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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I haven’t tried the VST Plugin since early testing. It does look like it’s getting pretty close to being solid, thanks to the hard work of many.
I doubt the VST will perform differently from the main program with respect to what kind of drive you use.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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ON my DESKTOP both BB and RTs are are SAME non-boot, 6TB WD Black, 7200 RPM drive, and it's plenty fast enough. My DESKTOP has a 2TB SDD boot drive but I DO NOT install DAW's or any other "music apps" there (unless you count ilok and small overhead utilities like)
MY LAPTOP on the other hand only has a one 2TB NVMe SDD drive, so it's both Windows OS/Boot and by "unconscious design" is where everything else, including BB is installed.
However, interesting part, I keep RT's on a 256GB microSD card (a Samsung Evo that was on sale, still is, for around $45 at Amazon). The SD card interface sits on the motherboards USB 2 bus, not the much faster USB 3.1 bus. So the SD card interface is about as slow as you can go. Even with that, I can load up a song, full of RT's, hit play [first time] and it will be playing in a "few" seconds. Few is relative, to me a "few" (in this context) is less than 5-10 seconds - on average I'd say more like things get playing in under 5'ish seconds.
EDIT
ALMOST Forgot: load times are ALSO "fast" enough.
End EDIT
"Lighting fast" (milliseconds) RT loads are NOT required by be me - of course neither is a 64-bit BB.
Point is, any combo will work, as a matter of fact before switching to SD card on my laptop I had keep RT's on a 2TB Seagate external USB3 HDD.
Good Luck
Larry
Last edited by Larry Kehl; 02/13/19 12:20 PM.
Win10Pro,i9,64GB,2TBSSD+20TBHDDs,1080TI,BIAB'24,Scarlett18i8,Montage7,Fusion 8HD,QS8,Integra7,XV5080,QSR,SC-8850,SPLAT,FL21&others,Komp.14,IK suite&others, just a guitar player-AXE FX III &FM9T, FishmanTP, MIDIGuitar2, GK2/3'sw/GI20
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Mar 2017
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Joined: Mar 2017
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ON my DESKTOP both BB and RTs are are SAME non-boot, 6TB WD Black, 7200 RPM drive, and it's plenty fast enough. My DESKTOP has a 2TB SDD boot drive but I DO NOT install DAW's or any other "music apps" there (unless you count ilok and small overhead utilities like)
MY LAPTOP on the other hand only has a one 2TB NVMe SDD drive, so it's both Windows OS/Boot and by "unconscious design" is where everything else, including BB is installed.
However, interesting part, I keep RT's on a 256GB microSD card (a Samsung Evo that was on sale, still is, for around $45 at Amazon). The SD card interface sits on the motherboards USB 2 bus, not the much faster USB 3.1 bus. So the SD card interface is about as slow as you can go. Even with that, I can load up a song, full of RT's, hit play [first time] and it will be playing in a "few" seconds. Few is relative, to me a "few" (in this context) is less than 5-10 seconds - on average I'd say more like things get playing in under 5'ish seconds.
EDIT
ALMOST Forgot: load times are ALSO "fast" enough.
End EDIT
"Lighting fast" (milliseconds) RT loads are NOT required by be me - of course neither is a 64-bit BB.
Point is, any combo will work, as a matter of fact before switching to SD card on my laptop I had keep RT's on a 2TB Seagate external USB3 HDD.
Good Luck
Larry Thanks Larry, this was very informative and helpful.
Band-in-a-Box 2024. Custom Build Desktop PC W/ Windows 10 Home 64-bit. CPU: Intel Core i5-9600k @ 3.7GHz (6 core x 6 threads) RAM: 16GB DDR4. Storage 238GB SSD + 2.7 TB HDD. GPU: ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Deacon, if you can, avoid spinners  They are outgoing technology (time to go after 60+ years!) unless you need a LOT of space and money is tight. If you only need 1TB, I would suggest getting a fast SSD. Price difference is not that astronomical. Misha.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Dec 2016
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I have an SSD Drive as my C Drive which is where the BB folder lives. RealTracks, RealDrums live on a partition on an HD. I store my song files on a different partition (makes backing up easier I think.)
Seems easy with no issues. Just tell BB where things are and all’s fine.
Tony
HP i7-4770 16GB 1TB SSD, Win 10 Home,
Focusrite 2i2 3rd Gen, Launchkey 61, Maton CW80, Telecaster, Ovation Elite TX, Yamaha Pacifica 612
BB 2022(912) RB 2022(2), CakeWalk, Reaper 6, Audacity, Melodyne 5 Editor, Izotope Music Production Suite 4.1
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Mar 2017
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Deacon, if you can, avoid spinners They are outgoing technology (time to go after 60+ years!) unless you need a LOT of space and money is tight. If you only need 1TB, I would suggest getting a fast SSD. Price difference is not that astronomical. Misha. Thanks Misha, While I agree with you in theory, I happen to live in Israel where tech products, as with many other things, there are HUGE (and often seemingly arbitrary) price differentials between various types of products as compared to the US. For example, I can get a 1tb HD here for pretty much the same price as you can get it in the US, but SSDs are crazy overpriced in comparison. And in case you're asking why I don't purchase it off Newegg, Amazon, Ebay, or etc, the thing is that every once in a while customs will pull some package out and demand an exorbitant fee. While that doesn't happen very often, it happens, and I've never trusted my luck :-(
Band-in-a-Box 2024. Custom Build Desktop PC W/ Windows 10 Home 64-bit. CPU: Intel Core i5-9600k @ 3.7GHz (6 core x 6 threads) RAM: 16GB DDR4. Storage 238GB SSD + 2.7 TB HDD. GPU: ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Two samsung SSD 850 pros, 258 GB (2x Windows 10 boot stuff only) and 1 TB (PRG files and DAW storage stuff). All PG stuff runs from an internal 2TB SATA drive, gets a little crowded now there, have to upgrade is maybe. Or dunk all those old files i never use any more LoL.
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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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Introducing XPro Styles PAK 11 – Now Available for Windows Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
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Introducing XPro Styles PAK 11 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
XPro Styles PAK 11 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 (and higher) is here with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 31 RealTracks/RealDrums!
Guess who’s back again? That’s right! It’s our XPro Styles PAK’s triumphant return with the 11th edition in this series! 100 new styles are coming your way spread across the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres. And this edition's wildcard genre explores the immense and far-reaching catalogue of electronic music! The included 31 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1-11 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
Video: XPro Styles PAK 11 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2026 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Introducing Xtra Styles PAK 22 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2026 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
It’s time to celebrate! Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Band-in-a-Box® is here, and we've got 200 brand-new styles coming your way!
No Xtra Styles PAK is complete without the classic rock & pop, jazz, and country volumes you know and love, and we’ve got plenty to share, with 150 styles spread across too many genres to list! Of course, it also wouldn’t be complete with our special wildcard volume to add a little spice and pizzazz to the mix. This year, because we loved it so much the first time, we’ve decided to make the second iteration of our SynthMaster volume, full of new sounds, interesting genres, and 50 engaging styles, all making use of the diverse SynthMaster plugin! Here you can find genres such as airy yacht rock, sultry electrotango, and even some synth soca funk. Don’t wait, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 22 today!
In this PAK you can find: dulcet folk ballads, funky gospel country, Brazilian jazz fusion, upbeat 1980s pop, classic Americana, a plethora of breezy bossa novas, indie singer-songwriter, scintillating synthwave, exuberant electronica, and many, many more!
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1-22 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 22 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of the Xtra Styles PAK 22.
Video: Xtra Styles PAK 22 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 22 requires the 2026 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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