++ Another thread ++ started a nice discussion about how Band-in-a-Box's graphical interface needs improvement. I'm starting this thread so users and prospective customers can provide PG Music with specific suggestions for improvement. I've copied an edited version of Peter Gannon's thoughts below:

"Here's a screenshot of Band-in-a-Box 2015 http://static.emediamusic.com/product_assets/bb/2014-bandboxwin.jpg
And, no, that doesn't look like a cartoon to me. I happen to like that there is text present on most of the buttons and elements in BiaB, unlike the DAW program screen that has just icons with no text for many items.

Now don't get me wrong here- I am all for improving lots of aspects of BiaB GUI, and there's lots to be done there! But only in a way that makes it easier and more intuitive to use. So I'm not about to get rid of text on the buttons for example."

User jford posted some thoughts many users agreed with:

My personal opinion is that I like the retro "look" of BIAB. I don't know that I want BIAB to start looking like every other music app out there and become just a face in the crowd, like so many other music applications today. "It's familiar" (a great Andy Griffith line from "No Time For Sergeants").

That being said, there are a few (I would imagine) fairly simple things that could be done to modernize the user experience. Peter has often said to provide specifics for changes, so here goes.

The main screen has a lot of white, errr, grey space on it. The little chord entry box has been discussed at length recently, but just look at all the unused space surrounding the little box. The white space areas should be able to be used more efficiently, which is where some of the below suggestions come into play.

I think what would go a long way towards modernizing the interface would be to make all the window elements floatable (where you can move it around on the screen and resize it), dockable (you can lock it into place it on the screen at the top-bottom-left-right), visible/invisible (if you don’t want to see it on the screen, then poof, it’s gone, easily brought back), and scalable (which is different resizable – for example the static mixer window elements are of fixed size, which is why there isn’t room to see the Thru or Audio tracks. Resizable usually makes things disappear; scalable changes the size of the fonts and graphics to continue to display the entire element).

Toolbars should be fully customizable – dockable or floating. You should be able to determine whether the buttons have text on them, or are large or small buttons. You should be able to add/remove any buttons, as well as re-order the buttons to suit your own workflow.

While colors currently are user customizable, this should be made as easy as possible, with clear descriptions of what each screen element represents.

The request for improving chord entry in the chord grid has already been made and discussed at length, so I won’t go into here (other than something should be done to improve it).

Right now, for example, you can bring up the floatable mixer, but the static mixer stays on the screen. And they don’t look the same or have the same functionality. And the reason you made it floatable was to reclaim screen space, but that doesn’t happen. There should be ONE mixer window with all the functionality that could either be docked to one of the sides of the screen (PGMusic could figure out how that would work and what would go where when there are multiple elements docked), or it could float and you could move it around as you see fit (and all tracks should be displayed.

Additionally, when you change an instrument on the chord grid (maybe by using the F5 key at a certain bar), the mixer should change to reflect that new instrument, not just keep showing the instrument as originally defined in the style. It’s confusing to see a guitar listed and hear a violin, for example.

The VST/DX screen is in need of rework (this issue affects both BIAB and RealBand). The top part of the window takes up a third to half of the screen, leaving little room for the actual VST (which is what you really want to see in the first place). When I want to just check, for example, if an instrument is playing through the VSTi, I should not have to bring up the windows, move the window to the top of the screen, resize the window so I can adjust the scroll bars, then adjust the scroll bars to see the VST interface. By that time, I’ve forgotten why I clicked on it in the first place. The stuff at the top is important, but ought to be called up only when you need it, not visible on the screen the whole time. Maybe a twisty where it by default displays the current selection only (on a single line), but then you click on the twisty to see the other tracks and selections, and then click the twisty again and it just displays the [possibly new] current selection. That way, there’s plenty of room for the actual DX/VST interface, which s what you wanted in the first place.

Even though there has been some work done here, the menus need to be reworked to remove redundancy.

For example, on the File Menu, how many “Open” commands do I need. I should only need one, and then I can choose what to open once the “Open” window appears (just like other Windows applications do).

Likewise on the Export To and Send To commands. I understand that one is the “last one selected”, but just make the default entry on the “Export To” command be the “last one selected”. The redundancy is not needed.

And you really only need a “Save” and “Save As” command. If something hasn’t been saved previously, then it should invoke the “Save As” command; otherwise, it just saves with whatever options you previously set. And then any options you want to set should be on the “Save As” screen (this is where you would be able to save with patches/harmonies/etc).

The help menu also has a number of (in my opinion) unnecessary redundancies, but all menus should be looked at carefully.

Yes, there is more that can be done (did someone say StylePicker, RealTracksPicker, Songlist, etc?), but as a start these would, in my opinion go a long way towards improving user experience and workflow for creating music. Of course, these are just my opinions and suggestions. Take 'em or leave 'em. I still love BIAB/RealBand and will continue to support it, regardless. Nothing else comes even close to doing what they do.
_________________________
John

And my own contribution:

The ONE idea in the FL Studio video I would like PG Music implement is for the GUI to use vector graphics. BiaB and RB users have a wide variety of displays being driven by a variety of graphic cards or on board motherboard chips. The Fl Studio video demonstrated how vector graphics provides a sharp image on any size display. That's exciting!

I would like to see Band-in-a-Box and RealBand have screen tabs similar to those used in Chrome or Firefox. Each tab would display BiaB or RB from a different perspective. For instance, the default RealBand tabs might follow the progression to create a song with Tab 1 offering a minimal track screen, commands to import a SGU or midi file, chord sheet and load instruments, tab 2 geared to editing, tab 3 mixing and exporting.

While changing to vector graphics may prove a stretch, an effective use of tabs could eliminate a great deal of clutter.


Others suggestions were posted but I was unable to copy all of them.

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