Band-in-a-Box 2019 for Mac Released (What Version Poll)

[Jim Fogle]

PG Music released 2019 BiaB for Mac. Mac Packages are about half priced until October 15, 2019.

Major enhancements include: 1) Backward compatibility to Mac OS version 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) 2) Forward compatibility to Mac OS version 10.15 (Catalina) 3) Includes DAW plug-ins (AU, AAX, VST3 & Standalone) 4) True 64 bit program architecture.

Mac Package information below:

https://www.pgmusic.com/bbmac.packages.htm

[Rick Campbell]

Unless they have made major improvements, the Mac version lacks some important (to me anyway) features that the Windows version has. I would like to use it on a Mac, but I tried it a couple of times and always went back to the Windows version.

RC

[Jim Fogle]

Unless they have made major improvements, the Mac version lacks some important (to me anyway) features that the Windows version has. I would like to use it on a Mac, but I tried it a couple of times and always went back to the Windows version.

RC

Agreed the feature set between the Window and Mac versions is different. Most users will agree the Mac version has less features than the Windows version. But for some the simplicity of the Mac program audio and MIDI settings and stability of the Mac software / hardware platform make the Mac version preferable.

Having the same program with two feature sets is difficult to support so PG Music is making an effort toward merging the feature sets of each operating system platform. They are not there yet but the two platforms are closer now than they have ever been.

The plug-in is significant because it can handle more tracks than the program. This means Mac users now have a way to easily obtain variations and multi-riffs without losing complete tracks. Multi-riffs and a 64 bit based program traditionally have been the two most requested features in the Band-in-a-Box for Mac PG Music forum section.

Last year and this year a lot (202 & 212) of new RealTracks were added to the UltraPAK bundle so if it has been some time since you updated you'll be getting a lot of audio material to play with.

[Greg Cutshaw]

I bought the PC Audiophile version a few years ago and it’s totally awesome. .


https://www.midi-store.com/PG-Music-Ban ... 519klk.htm

[Jim Fogle]

I bought the PC Audiophile version a few years ago and it’s totally awesome. .


https://www.midi-store.com/PG-Music-Ban ... 519klk.htm

Greg,

If I was using Band-in-a-Box as a money making tool the Audiophile version makes sense. But, for me music production is a hobby that I enjoy learning and practicing. I haven't actually published any audio material on my website or SoundCloud in a couple of years.

The BiaB for Windows UltraPAK, https://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.packages.ultrapak.htm, more than meets my needs.

Some years I purchase the PlusPAK, https://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.packages.pluspak.htm, which is all the new-to-this-release content.

Every three or four years I'll order a UltraPlus PAK upgrade to obtain all the content on an external hard drive.

[Jim Fogle]

I should point out that the major difference between the top-of-the-line Audiophile package Greg mentions and the UltraPlus package I mentioned is the RealTrack files used to create songs.

A little background. There are two types of files, lossless and lossy.

Lossless files are uncompressed files. Common file formats are WAV in Windows or AIF in Mac. All recorded data gets stored.

Lossy files are compressed to save storage space. Common file formats include MP3, WMA and MP4a. A formula removes some of the recorded data to save space.

When everything works right MOST people can not hear the difference between a 30 MB uncompressed file and a 10 MB compressed file.

The Audiophile package includes both lossless and lossy versions of each RealTrack. All other packages, including the UltraPlus package, have lossy RealTracks.

If you are doing commercial work, lossless files are preferred to provide the best fidelity possible to the customer.