One big difference between Band-in-a-Box and RealBand is how the two programs approach track generation.

Band-in-a-Box generates a few bars of each track then begins audio playback. Band-in-a-Box then continues to play audio while also continuing to generate tracks as a background task. Sometimes the program will stall because audio playback catches up to track generation so there is temporarily nothing to play. If that frequently happensns a user can go to preferences > RealTracks and remove the check mark for, "Speed up generation of RealTracks (disable on slow machines)". When that feature is disabled Band-in-a-Box will completely generate all tracks prior to starting audio playback.

Another way Band-in-a Box works is when the generate button is selected, ALL tracks are generated unless a track is frozen. By-the-way, Band-in-a-Box use to have only a combined play and generate button so every time you clicked play a new arrangement was created.

Finally, when a track is generated all the track is generated.

Now for RealBand. RealBand does partial or complete track generation; it depends on what is highlighted. Nothing is generated until the generate button is pressed. Audio playback does not begin until all track generation is complete.

Jim Fogle - 2025 BiaB (1124) RB (1) Ultra+ PAK
DAWs: Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8
Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD
Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD
Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home