Thanks for the advice, jazzmandan and Jeff! To be more specific about my usage, my only piece of MIDI equipment is a keyboard, and it's not anything that I'm pulling sounds from-just a controller. I plan to use BIAB/RealBand for three things:

1) To develop ideas for "serious" instrumental composition
2) To improve the sound of MIDI outputs from my notation software by using higher quality patches and editing in RB
3) To put together backing tracks for my trumpet playing (mostly jazz/pop stuff, in this case) for recording and live shows

jazzmandan: We're both in Chicago (I'm a freelancer/teacher in town)! Thanks for the info. on Coyote Forte. I checked out your website and you're doing basically what I plan to do on the trumpet side of things. What's your setup? I see that you're using an M-Audio Audiophile 192. Do you recommend it?

Jeff: What are your thoughts based on my needs

As a sidenote, I ordered the basic BIAB/RB 2014. Now I'm wondering if I should go straight for the UltraPlus Pak 2014, or stick with the Pro/basic and see how things go?

Thanks for your help!

Mark