Hi,
I'm a new forum member, but I've been using Band In A Box (on and off) since the very beginning.
The version I'm using at the moment is the 2008 version.

I am a songwriter,composer and musician (ie. a one man band). I have a home studio which includes a 16-track digital recorder, an 8-track digital recorder, various pianos,synths,guitars,mics and amplifiers.
I'm a professional independent artist who releases my original material on my own record label (CD's and downloads).

I mainly use Band In A Box to test out my compositions using the various styles that are available.
I find it useful to type in the chords to my songs and then sing or play along to the synthesised instruments as the arrangement is played back to me.
It works well as a starting point in developing ideas which I often use when I'm putting together the final track and recording myself playing all of the various instruments.
As I do not play drums (and don't have room for a drum kit in my studio anyway), I tend to build the drum tracks myself using various synths and a sequencer, but I sometimes use a RealDrum track from Band In A Box 2008 if it is suitable, but I've never felt the urge to use any of the Realtracks in my songs as they don't sound natural enough or good enough to me.

I recently saw the PG Music advertisement on Facebook for the 2017 version of Band In A Box, and I'm quite impressed with the quality of the Realtracks and RealDrums which are recordings of real musicians, and I'm thinking that I could even use some of them on my own recordings (especially instruments that I do not play, or play well).

The question is, which specific version best suits my needs ?

Initially I was under the impression that I probably only need the Pro version because it appears to use recordings of the same musicians playing the same instruments as the mega version does.
I'm also not really that interested in most of the other features of the software, which led me to believe that the Pro version is sufficient for my needs.
However, am I correct in thinking that the Mega version has better sounding Realtracks, or does it have a better choice of instruments that I can use in my songs, or is it mainly just more styles that you're paying for ?
I don't really need many styles or extra style packs as my genre is fairly limited to pop/rock ballads. I just need a way to produce my own good quality backing tracks.
I must admit that I'm a little confused.

I've also noticed that the 2017 pro version is available for download on eBay UK for around £75 and the 2017 Mega version for around £150 by a reputable seller with excellent feedback. This appears to be significantly cheaper than downloading it from the PG Music website.
Does anyone know of any serious disadvantages in buying it from a reputable eBay seller ?

Last edited by Andyman; 03/09/17 12:23 PM.
https://linktr.ee/andyshearer