Any BIAB pros out there?

[wizard3739]

Hey, all you BIAB guys,

I have an older version of BIAB (2007.5) and am considering upgrading to the 2010 160 GB version that includes all of the styles,real tracks, real drums and other new features. My question is: what is the best way to accomplish this, the "2010 ultrapak+" or would an upgrade to my existing 2007.5 system do the same thing at a much better price? Any comments or advice will be sincerely appreciated.

wiz

[joey45]

Howdy, Howie...
I don't know if I'm a pro or not, but I can give you some advice on this one.
1. It's probably a good deal if your hardware (computer, memory and peripheral) is up to the task.
2. Call pgmusic on the phone...toll free call. And get the Ultrapak Plus if you intend to do anything you need to sound better than straight MIDI.
3. If you buy the one I suggested, make sure you get the one that comes pre-loaded on a 160GB USB.

It costs a bit more, but it's worth it with the right hardware.

Joey45

[wizard3739]

Thanks Joey, I went ahead and bought the UltrapaC + back in December and it is an awesome program. The Real Tracks are excellent and in particular, the jazz guitar comping sounds very much like Ed Bickert. This presents an excellent learning opportunity since all of the real tracks accompaniment is available for printout! My wife (jazz vocalist) and I use BIAB for backup on many of our Duo gigs because the small town we live in doesn't have any drummers and I am the only guitar/bass player in town. Needless to say, it is not as good as playing with live musicians but it does come pretty close.

best wishes,
wiz

[wizard3739]

Hi Oilywrag (Tom), I got your PM but for some reason I wasn't able to answer it. BIAB is absolutly perfect for my needs! I've been using it for quite a while to write new songs and rearrange/reharmonize old standards as well as writing arrangements for my jazz trio. The new Real Tracks are amazing and have many uses!

wiz

[skei]

I can only agree,
Biab is perfect - especially for one who - like the here undersigned - don't have a band at all. I love that you can go in there and alter the arrangements, write your own lines for the various instruments in the band, etc. While I don't have the 'real instruments' thing, it sounds like it when I run the midi through garageband, the sequencer enables me to write notation or those square dots, don't know what it's called, but notation works fine for me. I know one can write notation in biab too, but I do it in garageband to get the real instruments sound (very good samples of real instruments in garageband) without buying the new version of biab.

Peace
Skei (the going to nonet concert monday one)

[Ron Vermillion]

Really Glad I found this thread. I had BIAB some years ago and gave up on it because the sound sounded like a WalMart keyboard accompanied by a Kazoo. I don't know anything about getting quality music out of a computer, but I have a USB Music Interface (el cheapo) gizmo that plugs into the laptop and into the PA Head. All the music on YouTube and website's sound sGREAT>

So I just bit the bullet and ordered BIAB 2010 MegaPAK to get the Real Band tracks which I thought would get rid of the Kazoo and make the instruments sound well uh "real".

No dice. I got it loaded up and added the three disks of Real Combo stuff and some of the background music sounds barely passable but still phony and the Soloist is still playing his Kazoo.

Does anyone know what I need to do to make BIAB sound "real". I have a BOSS JamStation JS-5 and it sounds WONDERFUL plugged into the PA. But I wanted the option of writing chords into the chart instead of going through the 24 step JS-5 programming procedure.

Floundering in the dark here with a $200 Kazoo player.

What does the Ultrapak Plus get me - and is it another $200. I 'll go to the PG Music website and take a look.

10 Minutes Later: WOW It's never that easy. I changed the settings for the Audio Driver and now things sound not too bad. The Stevie Ray (Vaughn) guitar sounds like a keyboard trying to emulate a guitar but that I can live with. I think I'm better off now, but will STILL GRATEFULLY ACCEPT any ideas about how to make the sound really sound like a live band, rather than toot tootle tweedie.

Ron Vermillion

[FatJeff]

In the top section of the BiAB user interface there are a bunch of radio buttons for Combo, Bass, Piano, Drums, etc. What color are they? If the instruments that are playing are indicated with Yellow, that means you're still using the old (crappy sounding) MIDI instruments to play that voice back with. You need to turn them green. Right click the instrument you're interested in changing, then select Add/Remove Real Tracks and pick your instrument from the list. The new instrument will be generated and you should be in business.

Let me know if this works for you.

BiAB is a great product, but its user interface is horrible and the help not terribly helpful.

[boo]

Originally Posted by FatJeff

......
BiAB is a great product, but its user interface is horrible and the help not terribly helpful.

I totally agree with that! Many things can be made even worser but in this special case it would be a very hard and nearly impossible job...

[Ron Vermillion]

Thanks guys, I will try that tonight.

I appreciate the help from one and all on this.

Ron

[Ron Vermillion]

It is kinda overwhelming. You see the ads for fast easy etc. and when you open the users manual your first thought is I need to hire a recording engineer to help me set this up.

Thank goodness for the forum and experienced folks who are willing to help.

Ron

[oilywrag]

Hi Ron I got BiaB everything pak about a week ago.If the guys on here can't help then check out PG musics own forum all about BiaB.

Cheers Tom

[Ron Vermillion]

Thanks wrag.

Ron

[wizard3739]

I found the PG Forums to be VERY helpful !!

wiz

[oilywrag]

Hi Ron this is something I did earlier this evening see what it sounds like to youCoolJazz4#C.mp3 This was done in BiaB

Cheers Tom