Ah, Right, so which ever way you cook it, we are "first timers" and have to pay the full hit.
 
I'm currently waiting for my next credit card bill to see how much my latest GAS stint has cost me, so I won't be buying BIAB just yet 

When you decide to buy Band In A Box.... buy as far up the version chain as you can buy. Ultra plus pack as a minimum or the Everything Pack..... Stop short of the Audiophile version. You really don't need that version unless you absolutely have the money and want it.  The Everything pack is exactly what it says.... it's everything. Could be considered a bit pricy BUT..... pay for a good session with some Nashville pickers and you could have bought the Everything pack and had those guys on call for all your music.  Real tracks are recordings of the best of the best studio and working musicians recorded in such a way that the program takes those recordings and somehow.... don't ask me how it does it, shapes that playing into the song YOU are asking it to play..... in the key you chose, at the tempo you selected, and in the style you like.
 
The further up you go, the more stuff you get and that includes ALL of the real tracks.   I use Real Tracks and the Real Drum Tracks exclusively in my musical compositions. 100% audio files. The real tracks are simply amazing.  Compose it in Band in a Box and then render the real tracks in Real Band.   RB is a DAW of sorts but I never use it for that. I simply use it to generate the real track waves.   When done right, the result is breathtaking.
 
 
If you have not done so..... go to my music site below and listen to some of the songs on the first page. Everything there is either 100% BB/RB with the Real Tracks or a combination of RT's and my live guitar playing combined. I mix, produce, edit, and export the finals from SONAR.  Look for a song called The Best Christmas..... this one is a great example of Real Tracks playing a hot country solo. Nothing in that song was played live. It's 100% BB/RB.

They are starting to add dance music and electronic genres and styles to the RT's so there may be some things in there to get you going in that style/genre. Euro-tech, Enya, etc....

It's worth knowing that Donald Fagen - one of the greatest songwriters of all time - uses BIAB these days for composing and arranging and communicating his song structures to band members. That's a pretty solid endorsement.

BIAB is definitely on the radar but not given up on SONAR yet. I rarely make project templates, but finding MV (audio) and TTS-1 (midi) makes a pretty decent sandbox. MidiChords actually does nicely for chord duties with programs set up, and Geist is actually doing much of the MIDI driving ("Cambridge" no-likey Geist in case you missed that post sharke, FYI).

@Guitarhacker, I have listened to your page before and love the work you have done there. A definite endorsement for BIAB. The stuff to be completed on my plate ATM should be simple when I finalize that template (famous last words, I know).

sharke
It's worth knowing that Donald Fagen - one of the greatest songwriters of all time - uses BIAB these days for composing and arranging and communicating his song structures to band members. That's a pretty solid endorsement.

I'd say so.... do you have a link that can back that up at all?
 
That alone would make me revisit BIAB. The last version I owned was back in the late 90's.... it's not very good and actually stifles creativity with bad patterns. (the concept was great though...)

One thing I have learned over the years, is that everything is a sandbox
 
At this time I try to get a thought in my head.... then I load up my DAW and try and find an EZ Drummer pattern and sound that fits. From there I play around until I get something I like. At that point, I will start a new song to try and nail it down. Sometimes I get it in one song.... sometimes it take a few more, which means some of those earlier songs were just "sand boxes"...
 
Mark Knopfler was once asked in a guitar player mag interview if he ever listened to his albums and wished he had done something differently. His response was "everything". Apparently, the "Brothers in Arms" CD was a sand box
 

What's wrong with having more Sonar song files?

I use Save As a lot if I head down a different path or want to save off a branch idea.

I use Save As a lot to save revisions as I move through putting together one song. I never know when I might want to back up a step or more.

I guess we from the UK Sandpit

I guess in the past I've liked to use two separate applications (Audacity). Record a single stereo file with two mic inputs, one for my voice and the other for guitar or piano, and work out some basic concepts there before I start really writing.
 
I also generally do ALL of my "scratch tracking" and idea-generation right in the same file I'll be using for the final product, so there's that. 

OK Guitarhacker, for some reason I said why not and have purchased Band In A Box Everything Pak. The good news is they (PG Music) honor sale prices from valid vendors and sold me the pak for 349 us.  that was a savings from 569. The price I sent a link to for them to honor was download only with no HD. They are sending an HD and download code any way, because they are Canadian and they are all so nice up there.
 
This is all your fault. However it works out.
 
amk