Jim, I am happy to provide a few thoughts. Thanks for an interesting post.

BIAB is my go-to software for composing, arranging and transcribing, and has been since the early 1990s. The ability to change key, tempo and feel at will is simply amazing.

I've released a CD called Brazilian Wish of all originals that were written in BIAB and then recorded by studio players, and I'm on many other CDs where I did arranging by entering the song into BIAB and working on horn parts, background lines, etc. before going into the studio.

I do a lot of transcription work, both for my own band and for clients (including PG Music!). I enter songs into BIAB because I have found no better software (and I have tried almost all of the music notation programs) for mouse-based data entry.

I play in many big-band jazz ensembles, often as a guest artist on the 2nd trumpet part (the jazz soloist chair). I often key the chord changes of a song into BIAB so I can woodshed a solo. It only takes a few minutes. Doing this helps me learn and practice the song, which gives me more confidence in performance.

As I play most horns but not piano or guitar, BIAB has been a life-changer for me to play the chords. I was always able to hear songs in my head but now, instead of going to a keyboard player or guitarist, I can almost immediately hear played by a band whatever I can imagine. BIAB is simply a phenomenal tool and I owe PG Music all the gratitude I can give for improving my life as a professional musician. If I had only had this tool 60 years ago when I was starting out...


BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors