Sparky, good subject for discussion. First of all, from a personnel standpoint I absolutely LOVE my BIAB. It is so far advanced from the modern arranger kb. Yamaha makes a big thing out of there REVO Drums and they should but BIAB has had real drums forever. No one else has come up with Real Tracks yet and they are "real". So, why don't I use it more and still use the kb? Simple. Even though BIAB can make a song file up in 5 minutes, it still takes 5 minutes and in most cases to get it right a lot longer. The kb allows instant gratification. Once I find the proper style and lead voices (I have to do the same with BIAB) I can then play the tune right now. BIAB has a feature called 'conductor' that will allow you to repeat sections of your tune in real time but it is not the easiest feature to learn how to use. The 2019 BIAB manual is 617 pages long! This program is huge and will let you do all kinds of things if you take the time to learn it (I haven't yet, but plan on spending more time with it in the furure).
The truth is although I upgrade every year I don't use any of the new features. I could very easily get by doing what I do with 2012. BUT! Every year the marketeers at PG Music add another 100 of so additional Real Tracks (This year 202). During there annual sale I get the upgrade for $99. I figure that if there is just one additional Real Track that I really want it is worth it to save having to pay a live musician $100 per hour for studio time. And I couldn't find musicians of this caliber anywhere near Mountain Home, Arkansas. It also allows me to play with these guys at 3:00 in the morning if I so desire.
As to the comment about support. I agree that PG Music provides the best service & support of any software I use. Peter Gannon, who is the main dude behind the company shows up often on the BIAB forum to answer questions and help users solve problems. The forum has a huge user base that is very well versed in the program.
As you can probably guess I am a huge fan of BIAB. It is my favorite program to show off to folks just getting interested in computer music and what can be done with this stuff.
Edited by ekurburski (02/21/19 11:27 AM)
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PSR 740,PSR 3000, Mirage, tx7, mp32, Pro Tools 10,11 SONAR, Reaper, BIAB 2020 and a pile of Computer Music mags w/disks
College student was working on Doctoral, Education Now just doing courses to do courses