EDIT: Y'all posted to ignore BIAB while I was writing this...… Ignore it if you want but it's a different take on BIAB than most people give. wink




<<< I know that I can't create my grand opus in BiaB. >>>

Actually you can. It's a common understanding that BIAB is limited to only 7 tracks and an audio track for a total of 8 channels. That's true. There are only 8 channels but if you understand the difference between a channel and a track as it applies to a multi track recorder, you'll realize there's only 8 channels but each individual channel can be used multiple times to generate many tracks. In the release of BIAB 2019, PGMusic included several enhancements to features that capitalize the multi track recording attributes of BIAB.

In conjunction with enhancing and making access easier to utilize BIAB as a multi track recorder, PGMusic also highlighted and broadened the feature that each BIAB Channel can have up to 10 instruments on it. These can be selected to play alternately or simultaneously. BIAB handles mixing the various instruments and also if played alternately, generating one instruments ending and playing to the next instrument beginning. For instance the lead guitar will anticipate and adapt to a fiddler taking over the solo at bar 25 if that's where you've programmed that change. The artificial intelligence of the BIAB software makes the transition just as if two live players were doing it.

It's easy, seamless and very quick and efficient. Much, much faster than the same thing can be done in RealBand. It's not very popular at this time for several reasons. They're not well known features and many don't like not having total control the same as you get working in a DAW where you have a visual view of each instrument and each instrument is separated from all the other instruments in the mix and the balance between each of the individual instruments is completely and manually controlled. Another issue is some have a mindset to not liking to commit to sub mixes early in the mix. They've learned working in DAW's that give them individual control of 60-80 or more tracks they can tame by bussing and grouping until they get to their master bus without committing any individual track to a printed track. Nothing wrong with any of this and it's the same mindset they apply to effects. When recording, monitor wet and record dry. Presonus, Mackie, Behringer, Allen & Heath, Yamaha, Peavey and all the other manufacturers are getting rich off that mindset by constantly introducing new products with more and more routing features.

Daily, there are literally hundreds of thousands musicians that will dial in the perfect guitar effect, get a phenomenal drum sound, monitor a killer vocal - and record them dry (without effects) and have to recreate the effect during the mixdown process.

The simple truth about BIAB is one can generate 70 instruments across 30 tracks in just minutes and unless you tell it, no one will know you did it all in BIAB and no other software program or DAW was involved.

It's like using presets (actually, it is using presets, programmed by PGMusic staff) in any other software. But brand it with Waves, Ozone, CLA or EZ Drummer and the mindset is completely different and acceptable of presets.

Like using presets, unless you are experienced and knowledgeable, in most cases, professionally designed presets will yield better results than a hobbyist can turn out from scratch. And that's the end result of using BIAB as a multi track recorder.



Last edited by Charlie Fogle; 06/18/19 08:51 AM.

BIAB 2025:RB 2025, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.