From PG Music website XPro Styles PAK 4 Includes 30 RealTracks new to Pro users and 100 new RealStyles: 25 rock/pop styles, 25 jazz/funk styles, 25 country/bluegrass styles, and 25 styles that focus on the cajon as well as drums played with mallets.
"Includes 30 RealTracks new to Pro users"
but maybe not necessarily new to Ultra Pac Users...
I know that as a BiaB 2023 Ultra Pac user, I have several Cajon RTs without ever downloading XPro 4.
You are quite right - what really counts is New Real Tracks and NOT New Styles.
To confirm my thinking - it appears that the 4 products that contain new Real Tracks are: - BIAB 2023 - Bonus 49 Pack (2023 version) - XProPak 3 (2023 version) - XProPak 4 (2023 version)
Is that correct?
Best Regards Nigel
Nigel Spiers Christchurch, New Zealand info@nzacoustics.com
I usually get stumped on these issues as I'm not really interested in styles. Many styles are very, very approximate groupings of RTs and often have little resemblance to what they're based on. I'm interested in more RTs, more Real Drum "stems" and more RT videos. I've used the videos thrice now and they are quite good fun in a video of a song - particularly when visual FX are used. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of drums "stems" in the new offering and no RT videos. The new partial regenerations seems great but I'm not sold on 23 beyond that.
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
It would be nice if PGMusic clarified this issue. Do the XProPaks include RTs that are not included in the Ultra / Audiophile editions? And, if so, which ones? thanks!
It would be nice to have some insight and transparency into what constitutes "new" RTs and where to find those in those additional packages. Just thinking out loud.
Cheers, Mike
My Music * Asus ROG Strix G15CF 32 GB DDR4 4TB HDD + 1 TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB Win 11 AKAI EIE PRO Sound Interface. BIAB/RB 2024 UltraPak Build - Latest
That's exactly my point. Listening to the new realtracks i found nothing that tickles my fancy & as such worthwhile buying audiophile again. Xtra PRO 2 and 4 had some nice styles regarding folky acoustic stuff, but probably use RTs i already have. Now WHICH ones are they anyway. I really get fed up with the misty information on all this 2023 upping stuff, seems almost a downer.
PS i listened to a lot again; some xtra styles sound nice, but as with the earlier bought sets i probably will never use them. Besides for now: I got the Plus Pro Ultra Mega Blues, and i don't know what to choose ....
I would be very helpful if PG could publish a complete inventory of all RTs and RDs and in what ordinary product PAKs, annual upgrades and xtra, xtra pro, 0 and 49 and other bonus paks they are available in.
I simple 2 dimension excel matrix would work fine.
This issue is very confusing and probably takes up much time from the users and also may cause users to buy duplicate content because it is impossible to find out how it works.
Actually Matt, in the info page regarding Xpro 4 the following sentence is reported:
"these additional RealTracks and RealDrums are not included in any Pro or MegaPAK package!"
But ... no mention of Ultra and Audiophile. So, should we infer that the RTs and RDs of Xpro4 are, indeed, already included in the Ultra and Audiophile versions already? Or maybe some but not all?
How many hours are spent on this sort of "Pak" confusion yearly? Users + PGteam
There is a menu in BIAB: "What add ons I have",
This should be programmed a bit better, so user has a clear understanding of what they have, what is available and exactly what is included in a particular package that they do not have.
I normally upgrade annually with the Plus-PAK. I have just upgraded to 2023 Plus PAK.
Regarding the posts above what extra RealTracks and RealDrums that comes with XPRO styles PAK 3 and 4 I have just made an inventory of my system.
I used to by the XTR styles and XPRO styles pak as well as the 49 PAK before, but have now stopped. When it comes to the new RTs and RDs i think i will get them anyway in the following year annual PlusPak upgrade.
I have already puchased XPRO3 but I have NOT purchased XPRO4. So i just made an inventory to se what I have in my system after the 2023 annual plus-PAK upgrade.
Checking with the list of new RTs and RDs included in XPRO4 pak I have them all! and I have not purchased XPRO4. So my best guess is that it is included in the following year annual plus-PAK upgrade, and it is probably the same with the 49-PAK. (I don't know how it is with the rest of the material eg RealStyles, I only checked the RealTracks and RealDrums).
So to my understanding when it comes to RTs and RDs if I am purchasing these paks I am probably paying for the content twice it will be the price to have the material available one year in advance of the normal december plus-PAK upgrade. But I might be wrong there is no information available how it works.
Actually Matt, in the info page regarding Xpro 4 the following sentence is reported:
"these additional RealTracks and RealDrums are not included in any Pro or MegaPAK package!"
But ... no mention of Ultra and Audiophile. So, should we infer that the RTs and RDs of Xpro4 are, indeed, already included in the Ultra and Audiophile versions already?
XPro Styles PAK 4 Includes 30 RealTracks "new to Pro users" but are those 30 RealTracks new to Ultra and Audiophile users???
Originally Posted By: Rustyspoon#
How many hours are spent on this sort of "Pak" confusion yearly? Users + PGteam
There is a menu in BIAB: "What add ons I have",
This should be programmed a bit better, so user has a clear understanding of what they have, what is available and exactly what is included in a particular package that they do not have.
Agree +++1 I have not purchased or downloaded XPro Styles PAK 4
I have installed the 2023 Ultra Pack,
What Band-in-a-Box Add-ons do I have? These add-ons are not found... RealTrack Sets (NOT found RealTracks sets in C:\bb\RealTracks\ : You have all of the RealTracks. (unless we've made some new ones)
After checking in details, it seems to me that the RTs included in XproStyles 4 are indeed already included in the Ultra and Audiophile packs. So, mystery solved I guess :-)
It's not the RTs that matter, it's the styles... They can make you great styles with RTs you've had for years. It's the styles you pay for, or not.
I'm just curious: aren't styles just various combinations of RTs? Or is there more to the styles?
I myself now rarely use styles -- I just build the song picking RTs that fit what I'm looking for. I have bought all of the Xtra Styles and XPRo Styles, but given the way I now work, I'm using them less now given the way I work and the fact that I have the ultra pak.
I'm new to BIAB, but it seems to me that RealTracks are the sounds (timbre) that are played and Styles are the rhythms/notes (notation) according to which those sounds are played. RealTracks determine how the instruments sound while Styles determine when each note is played.
I've collected all the RealTracks but I now see that the XtraPak Styles are where those RealTracks are leveraged and made to shine.
DWTrue, your post deserves a new thread... but I will try to answer. RealTracks + RealDrums are a library of performances in audio format, recorded by many talented musicians mainly with real acoustic / electric instruments in many different genres. They are specially constructed to follow notation / chord instructions in BIAB and related PGmusic programs.
Styles are combination of RealTracks and RealDrums (and MIDI+Loops) that sound good together. Style include mixer settings + inserted FX and a basic chord progression demo. Styles are a good starting point or just examples how certain RealTracks can sound in a song.
You can totally create your own styles from RealTracks by choosing up to 24(!) Real tracks that can play simultaneously and writing your own progressions.
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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