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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241
Apprentice
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OP
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Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241 |
Hi all,
I come here again for some insights. I'm considering getting the ULTRAPACK BIAB program which already contains many many real styles. I see there are some Styles Packs from 1 to 8. I've listened to them briefly and don't really see how necessary they could be when one has already all the styles of the Ultrapack.
Can you give me your view about it ?
Are the Ultra pack really necessary ? Do they bring something none of the numerous styles included in the Ultrapack wouldn't ?
Thanks!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 10,128
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Necessary? No. Desirable? Yes.
Xtra Styles use the same RealTracks available to every other style. However, Xtra Styles add unusual effects, use loops and the RealTracks themselves in ways one would not normally expect.
If you are not comfortable with mixing, adding effects or creating styles they are worth having to study and learn. The "sound" is much more modern than anything you'll hear from a traditional Band-in-a-Box style. My guess is the person making the Xtra Styles is a relative new hire brought onboard specifically to modernize the sound of the product.
Jim Fogle - 2024 BiaB (1111) RB (5) Ultra+ PAK DAWs: Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8 Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
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BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241 |
Ah ok, I understand now the concept of Pack styles (it was obscure to me, just seemed like an addition of new RT when it is a mix of them with some effects). Thanks Jim & Matt for your help !
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2012
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Just to emphasize what Jim said...the styles paks do NOT contain any new RealTracks. They simply combine existing RealTracks into new sets or styles.
There are a couple of things to understand here...
1) if you have all of the RealTracks then you could create any of the styles yourself by simply combining RealTracks and saving as a style but it would take a lot of time to do so. in that sense the styles paks represent a huge shortcut to finding great combinations of RealTracks that work together as styles.
2) if you do not have all of the RealTracks you may find that some of the styles in the styles paks do not work for you because they depend on those missing RealTracks!
My opinion? Buy all of the RealTracks and buy all of the Styles paks!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241 |
Just to emphasize what Jim said...the styles paks do NOT contain any new RealTracks. They simply combine existing RealTracks into new sets or styles.
There are a couple of things to understand here...
1) if you have all of the RealTracks then you could create any of the styles yourself by simply combining RealTracks and saving as a style but it would take a lot of time to do so. in that sense the styles paks represent a huge shortcut to finding great combinations of RealTracks that work together as styles.
2) if you do not have all of the RealTracks you may find that some of the styles in the styles paks do not work for you because they depend on those missing RealTracks!
My opinion? Buy all of the RealTracks and buy all of the Styles paks! Thanks, I understand better. I intend to purchase the ULTRAPACK so I guess I will have the max RT available (minus the Xtra pack combos). Question : can I tweek the Xtra Styles editing them by adding or removing stuff or are they "untouchable" ? EDIT : are all the tracks from the Xtra packs RTs ? Some sound MIDIish to me..
Last edited by Angelomusic; 12/22/19 03:24 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Apr 2013
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The Xtra Styles are completely editable. Every Style, MIDI, Supermidi or RealTrack, is completely editable.
Another option you may want to experiment with is to create Medley tracks. Each Legacy Channel (1-7) in the Mixer can have up to 10 different instruments on it. A quick way to audition this feature is to Select Medley Styles from the Stylepicker. These are Medleys created by PG Music staff that are programmed to work seamlessly into the chord chart of your song. These medleys showcase some of the various ways to trigger the instrument changes. They can be programmed to change every two bars, four bars or 8 bars, by part marker and you can manually create your own multiple instrument track to change instruments at any bar. Note that it can be any count of instrument changes from one to 10 and importantly, instruments do not have to be different instruments. Programmed changes can be two instruments switching back and forth multiple times on a track. Do this on two separate channels but using the same two instruments allows for some very complex arrangements to be created within BIAB without ever leaving the program for further processing in a DAW or RealBand.
Bouncing mixes of multi instrument channels to audio and importing them back into your project and placing them onto legacy channels as Performance Tracks develops a BIAB song project of dozens of instruments onto dozens of tracks. Using each of the 7 channels to interchange 10 instruments totals to 70 instrument changes.
An interesting thing I've noticed but am only speculating to how the results come about is the fact that the BIAB generation engine 'reads' ahead and 'sees' the upcoming instrument change and in turn 'selects' more appropriate instrument one ending bar audio and instrument 2 intro bar audio and cross fades wonderfully. You will encounter instrument changes where the audio of the two instruments simultaneously overlap. That requires some manual work to accomplish in any DAW but is done automatically within a BIAB project using the multi instrument feature.
This feature in BIAB 2020 has added features and enhancements from previous years and it's well worth the time to explore.
BIAB Ultra Pak+ 2024:RB 2024, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 10,128
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Veteran
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snip ... (A)re all the tracks from the Xtra packs RTs ? Some sound MIDIish to me.. In another post, which I can't find at this time, a PG Music developer involved in creating the Xtra Styles stated they try to use all the resources Band-in-a-Box offers. My resource list would include as a minimum: loops, multiple drum tracks, multiple instruments on a single track, part markers, midi SuperTracks, mixer settings and effects.
Jim Fogle - 2024 BiaB (1111) RB (5) Ultra+ PAK DAWs: Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8 Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241 |
@Jim : ah ok so that's why sometimes I hear a midi kind of sound. Not a big deal it's not in all of them I can deal with that.
@Charlie : wow! So many things you can do with BIAB. Looks like the one who only use it as a simple backing track machine would miss a lot of all that BIAB has to offer. Sounds exciting because it makes BIAB really a composing tool with endless possibilities. I guess I will have to give it time to process all the features of BIAB.
Last edited by Angelomusic; 12/22/19 01:15 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 241 |
Just curious to those who have the Xtra styles Packs :
1/ How many of those Packs do you have ? Did you just buy 1 or 2 or the whole set of 8 ? 2/ Since they are more modern and fancy, do you use them more than the traditional RTs ?
Thanks!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 734
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 734 |
I have all 8.
When I started I was only playing bluegrass. Because of Band in a box I am now willing to experiment with the different styles.
...Deb
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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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