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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 64
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OP
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 64 |
Ok so after a period of time I have accumilated 4 pre 2020 hard drives containing Band in a Box. I'm thinking of chucking them but maybe there might be an alternative use for them. I've tried to open one of the older versions to see if I could delete the BiaB program and use it as a hard drive back up somewhere but that didn't go so well for some reason.
Any Ideas?
BinaB 2026
Apple iMac Tahoe 26.2 M4 Chip 32 gb
Motu M4 interface
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 15,976
PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 15,976 |
They are regular hard drives, nothing special. So it should be fine to delete the files and use it for whatever you want.
Have Fun!
Peter Gannon
PG Music Inc.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Dec 2002
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Reformat is what I do. That cleans them good.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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For my $.02 they are basically worthless.
who really needs another backup drive especially with limited capacity.
I can't even give them to my friends.
I wish PG Music could come up with some alternative product delivery system.
A "smart" download perhaps that only updates what is new on your target drive.
Seems like that could be done.
biab2026(Mac)
Mac Mini M2 pro 32GB Ram
Logic Pro X
Lie Neilsen No.102
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Aug 2018
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You need to find some poorer friends. A 2TB thumb drive is almost 50 dollars on Amazon. I don't know if read/write speeds are faster on old BB USB drives or not, but I use one permanently plugged in. It's larger than either of my internal drives. And I reformatted and gave one away to a local kid (middle-school age) who was very appreciative and likes it because it's harder to lose. Thanks, Peter.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 21,166
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They are definitely not worthless. They can and should be re-purposed for backups, even if it's only to make a copy of the children's photo album. Don't even think of 'chucking them', create backups of all of your critical / treasured files files.
My rule: everyone will suffer a catastrophic disk failure one day. Be prepared.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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If you still plan on chucking them, send them to me  Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 64
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OP
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 64 |
I'll most likely reformat and keep them on hand for a while. I have a bunch of Mac devices and I'm sure that I could use backups for a few of them.
Thanks for the advise.
BinaB 2026
Apple iMac Tahoe 26.2 M4 Chip 32 gb
Motu M4 interface
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: May 2020
Posts: 2,766
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A 2TB thumb drive is almost 50 dollars on Amazon. A 50-dollar 2tb flash drive is likely a fake - scammers modify the drive's table of contents so that it looks bigger than it is, but it won't actually store 2tb of data. "Real" 2tb flash drives cost hundreds if not thousands more. They are definitely not worthless. They can and should be re-purposed for backups, even if it's only to make a copy of the children's photo album. Don't even think of 'chucking them', create backups of all of your critical / treasured files files.
My rule: everyone will suffer a catastrophic disk failure one day. Be prepared. I was taught in college that, as a professional, if you don't have 5 copies of your file you don't have any. Backup backup backup!
I work here
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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I had not thought about reformatting them and using them as backup drives.... I have a bunch of them. I think I just found my new source of free SSD backup drives.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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I had not thought about reformatting them and using them as backup drives.... I have a bunch of them. I think I just found my new source of free SSD backup drives. We don't use SSD's in our drives, so if they came from us they're probably normal 2.5" hard drives. Still useful, of course.
I work here
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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I was taught in college that, as a professional, if you don't have 5 copies of your file you don't have any. Backup backup backup! Not quite in college - that was 50 years ago - but since then I taught my students in college something much the same. As important as how many you make, though, is where they are. Keep a copy off-site. Maybe one in the car etc. And especially not all connected to the same PC at the same time. But you knew that.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-8, 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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I was taught in college that, as a professional, if you don't have 5 copies of your file you don't have any. Backup backup backup! Not quite in college - that was 50 years ago - but since then I taught my students in college something much the same. As important as how many you make, though, is where they are. Keep a copy off-site. Maybe one in the car etc. And especially not all connected to the same PC at the same time. But you knew that. Absolutely! Where they are is probably more important than how many. If your house floods, and your computer and all your backup hard drives are ruined by the water, how many backups do you have left? Scary!
Last edited by Simon - PG Music; 05/21/21 09:48 AM.
I work here
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Jun 2012
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At any one time we are running multi-terrabyte backups to a minimum of 6 separate incremental disks and separately the same number of imaged disks.
At least three of each of them are always stored off site, all in different locations, and all continually updated - with the offsite copies both verified and rotated.
As a programmer and developer with software that has involved more years than I wish to mention, and several millions of lines of code, I can't start again.
Years ago, a friend placed all of the photos of her baby on her computer hard drive - from the time he was born until he was about two years old. 'All the eggs in one basket'. The hard drive had a head-crash and the platters were destroyed and unrecoverable.
Whatever you do, backup, you need to. My motto: 'Be prepared - everyone will have a turn'
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 745
Journeyman
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Journeyman
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Posts: 745 |
A friend of mine had one of those Tascam recorders with the internal hard drive. He used it for years.
A little over a year ago, the hard drive crashed hard.
Not sure if he was able to recover any of the data or not.
...Deb
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Everyone should know this by now.
There are 2 kinds of computer users:
1) Those who have had a hard drive crash
2) Those who haven't had a hard drive crash yet
If you don't want to lose your data, back it up.
Apps can be replaced, data cannot.
Insights and incites by Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Jan 2010
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Like the outdated minimal capacity spinning hard drives many of us longtime BIAB users have stacked in the closet, the backup approaches suggested by some on this thread seem so totally last century.
There is a better way.
First and foremost ditch any spinning drives. They are dinosaurs. Give them to relatives you hate and sell them on your existing backup stratedgerie.
Cloud Backup and perhaps an additional quarterly local snapshot on some SSD gives you all you really need to feel comfortable. Do it more often if you don't trust the cloud. Big brother is really watching, especially if you've given him reason.
Trust, but verify. And do it on SSD.
If you really have TB's worth of you are far from the average user, even a music user.
In which case you need a real backup system and the BIAB drives are pretty much useless.
More likely you probably have a poorly managed file system with your user data strewn over every application folder on the drive. That is your fault and not really corrected by a bunch of tiny hard drives. Clean that mess up and it all fits nicely on an SSD.
I know many of us (Myself included) are aging tech people but there's no reason we need antiquated hardware coupled with outdated methods to preserve our most precious data.
As always do what you want. For now, Its a free country.
biab2026(Mac)
Mac Mini M2 pro 32GB Ram
Logic Pro X
Lie Neilsen No.102
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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I can sort of see some of the point you are making, but this one: In which case you need a real backup system and the BIAB drives are pretty much useless.
There are many disk based backup systems available, but I wonder could you explain why BIAB drives are pretty much useless? Are they not capable of being used for backup purposes? Why would that be?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic)
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 899
Expert
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capacity.
if you need multiple TB you dont get that from a biab drive
biab2026(Mac)
Mac Mini M2 pro 32GB Ram
Logic Pro X
Lie Neilsen No.102
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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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Special Extended Until September 15, 2026! Save over 40 Styles PAKs for Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows!
We've extended our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs sale until September 15th, 2026!
It's the perfect time to expand your Band-in-a-Box® style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs. These additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 offer a wide range of genres designed to work seamlessly with your project. Each style is professionally arranged and mixed, helping enhance your songs while saving you time.
XPro Styles PAKs 1-11 for Windows or for Mac are on special for only $29 each (reg. $49 ea), or get all 11 PAKs for only $149 (reg. $299)!
XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with ANY version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-11 includes 1,100 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs 1-22 for Windows or for Mac are on special for only $29 each (reg. $49 ea), or get all 22 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! .
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (or higher). Xtra Styles PAKs 1-22 includes 3,900 styles (and 35 MIDI styles)!
Note: XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs include additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® that work seamlessly with your project. Xtra Styles PAKs and XPro Styles PAKs are NOT included in any Band-in-a-Box® package!
Supercharge your Band-in-a-Box today with XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAK Sets!
Special Extended Until September 15, 2026! Save over 40% on XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs for Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac!
We've extended our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs sale until September 15th, 2026!
It's the perfect time to expand your Band-in-a-Box® style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs. These additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 offer a wide range of genres designed to work seamlessly with your project. Each style is professionally arranged and mixed, helping enhance your songs while saving you time.
XPro Styles PAKs 1-11 for Mac or for Windows are on special for only $29 each (reg. $49 ea), or get all 11 PAKs for only $149 (reg. $299)!
XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with ANY version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-11 includes 1,100 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs 1-22 for Mac or for Windows are on special for only $29 each (reg. $49 ea), or get all 22 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! .
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (or higher). Xtra Styles PAKs 1-22 includes 3,900 styles (and 35 MIDI styles)!
Note: XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs include additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® that work seamlessly with your project. Xtra Styles PAKs and XPro Styles PAKs are NOT included in any Band-in-a-Box® package!
Supercharge your Band-in-a-Box today with XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAK Sets!
Introducing XPro Styles PAK 11 – Now Available for Windows Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
XPro Styles PAK 11 for Windows & Mac 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 Windows Band-in-a-Box 2026 and Higher!
Xtra Styles PAK 22 for Windows & Mac 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.
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.
Peter Gannon Talks Band-in-a-Box with zplane
zplane recently interviewed Peter Gannon, the founder and creator of Band-in-a-Box, about the software's early days, what sets it apart from AI, how zplane's audio algorithms are used in Band-in-a-Box, and more!
Special thanks to the team at zplane for their continued support.
Check out the full interview here: https://products.zplane.de/blog/peter-gannon-interview-pg-music
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