ston

rtucker55
I find the entire upgrade thing totally confusing from their descriptions of what you get.

 
No argument here.  Their upgrade information page is pretty confusing; I decided to upgrade my BIAB 2014 Pro to 2015 MegaPAK, but it's not clear whether or not I need the 2014 MegaPAK to do this or not.  Their support is pretty good though, so I've sent them an email requesting some clarification.
 
As to the s/w, now that I've scratched the surface I've got a better idea on what its capabilities are.  There seems to be a very strong leaning towards C&W and Jazz music.  If you're looking for anything remotely heavy (rock, metal etc.), you're going to be disappointed.  It's a bit buggy, for example I've found one bug which was reported back in 2012 on PG's forums; you can't correctly change a drum kit's style as the previous style keeps playing.  So, somewhat disappointing that they apparently let issues slide for years without addressing them.
 
The realtracks are far superior to MIDI based styles, and unless you buy one of the more expensive, complete packages you are not going to get many of those.
 
However, as a means to quickly generate a backing track to practice along with, in a great many styles and any chord progression you want, it's ideal.  I wouldn't call it a composition tool though.

I agree they lean toward CW & Jazz, especially Jazz, IMO.  I wish they would do some more variation in styles and more in each style.
 
as far as the bug, I'd contact their tech support.  once you do that, you can even point them to the thread in their forum and if it is reproducible on their end, they'll usually get it fixed in the next release.  but reporting it on the forum doesn't necessarily do anything.  just like here... 

off topic..sorry....There was a competitor out there of BIAB software, called "Jammer Pro"...Not sure if they are still out there?...But I found it more rock and blues oriented, when I played with it, way back in time, and was only midi based when I played with it.....Not saying it does the real band mp3 sound libraries, like BIAB does now, as I have not looked into it since early 1990's, I have no clue what Jammer Pro does now.....But it does generate a band for backing tracks.
 
Found this link:
 
http://www.soundtrek.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=6&products_id=17
 
Site is under construction...
 
So there are alternatives that move into other styles other than Jazz, and Country...and Computer generated music.
 
Just thought I'd put that out.
 
Regards.
 

I contacted their online chat, to ask my questions, and in very little time they had me fixed up. I received my link and password immediately and the DL process began. The installs went without issue and I am all setup now.
 
Definitely Great Customer service.
 
 

Does anyone have the audiophile version?
 
Is the extra price justified?    the drums and cymbals (especially) on the compressed version really sound bad to my ears.
 
Does the stretching component work better with the uncompressed files?
 
 

Hi Tom,
I do not have the audiophile version, I just couldn't justify spending that much on it, especially if I'm not using it for final product anyway.  I know there are some sonar users who have it, Matt Finley, comes to mind, but I'm not sure that's his user name on the sonar forums.
 
I'd suggest you ask this question on the pgmusic forums.
http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/

hi Beagle:
 
thanks. I did just that a few years back.
The answers I received from the biab forum is a 'subtle' difference;
 
where biab really loses quality in my opinion is when you 'stretch' the audio.  When you stay close to the beats per minute of each sound, the quality is pretty good.  
 
So, I'm wondering if the audiofile version will stretch the files with less degradation of the original sample.

I agree that it loses quality when you stretch the audio.  but I don't know if the audiophile version has a better "elasticity" than the compressed files or not.