Jim Fogle

Here is one more laptop power management tip for your consideration. Many Microsoft Windows updates reset some of your laptop configuration settings. All power management settings (USB controller, Power & Battery, etc.) seem to be the worst offenders with onboard audio bit depth and sample rate settings a close second.

I'd say The Ventures were the premier pop instrumental group in the US. Many baby boomers were inspired to learn how to play guitar, bass or drums by The Ventures. As stated in the first video there arrangements were sparse enough that you could clearly hear each instrument. The Ventures continued to be popular in Japan long after their fame dimmed in the US. While somewhat popular in Europe I don't think they were as popular in Europe as the British instrumental group, The Shadows. In one of the videos above I'm surprised to learn The Shadows did not record "Walk, Don't Run" until 1977.

@msmcleod, Thank you for the response. That is a nice little piece of information to know. I didn't know it before but now I do. I didn't even know BitBridge had an icon!

Steve, Please explain where you see SD2 is loaded in BitBridge. I'm using the screen shot and your response as a way to better understand what is displayed in the screen shot and I'm not seeing the BitBridge connection you see.

I'm going to answer your question in reverse order. Remember what follows is my opinion. I'm assuming you are updating from a 2022 or earlier Ultra or Audiophile PAK. The 2023 Bonus 49 PAK is a must have add-on. If you have an Ultra or Audiophile package you value content. The 2023 Bonus 49PAK includes unreleased RealTracks, RealDrum Stems set #3, a couple of MIDI SuperTrack sets and an Artist Performance with vocals set. All of this content will likely be available in the future but you can have it to use now. It's a lot of useful content for what I consider is a reasonable price. If you currently have a Pro or Mega package it is even more valuable to you because you have a limited amount of content to use. The Artist Performance with vocals set gives you fully finished songs with vocals to play with and learn The XPro and Extra style PAKs depends. Some users are inspired by PG Music styles and some people seldom use the factory styles. The majority seem to start a song project using a factory style but modify the chosen factory style to better match a song project. I value the factory styles almost as much as I value the RealTracks and MIDI SuperTracks content. I find styles are a great how-to-use the program educational tool. Each style has a demo song, chords that I'd never think to use, different arrangement than I'd think of and some tone settings. Looking at the styles and demo songs are a great way to learn how the program works and what the new features do. If you currently have a XPro or MegaPAK the XPro PAK is worth having. Not only do you get the styles but, because some of the styles use RealTracks not included in a Xpro or Mega PAK, and you get those RealTracks you would normally would not have. However, if you have the UltraPAK or Audiophile then you already have the included RealTracks. The Xtra Style PAKs do not have any additional RealTracks or MIDISuperTracks content, there are only additional styles. The styles expect that you already have the UltraPAK or Audiophile so you will have the content the styles require. So in summary, I think everyone that uses Band-in-a-Box should get the 2023 Bonus 49 PAK. If you presently use the Pro or Mega PAKs the XPro Style PAKs will provide you with additional content and styles while the Xtra Style PAKs are additional styles. I like using factory styles so the XPro and Xtra Style PAKs are worth having to me.

Spotify, released an open source utility that provides automatic polyphonic audio to midi transcription. The utility is called Basic Pitch. Basic Pitch is a python script so it will work in your browser. The white paper was presented at an October, 2022 conference. The utility has been improved since the white paper release --- Basic Pitch ---

@msmcleod, Thanks for listing the limitations. If someone does not have Melodyne beforehand, does the current Cakewalk by Bandlab installer offer the Melodyne 4 trial or the Melodyne 5 trial?

@AdK Studios, Great to see you posting Cakewalk tutorials again. You present a LOT of information in this 24 minute video. Excellent tutorial.

#1 I don't know about but 2, 3, 4 & 5 are nice ideas I like and support.

@lawajava, The two bootcamp videos, Part 1 - one hour and Part 2 - forty minutes, give good examples as to how most of the new features can be used in a practical manner. I'm very happy to see real time audio monitoring is added. I never understood how PG Music expected anyone to record in Band-in-a-Box without hearing a sub mix of your audio input and the audio output of Band-in-a-Box.

@Grem, I've contacted her on your behalf. Here is her website's contact page if you'd like to ask her the same question.

❤ Love Love Love ❤ ❤ Love is all you need! ❤ Press the Windows key and the period key at the same time to bring up a Windows emoji window.

@Leok85, Check local and online music stores. The introductory packages, ProPAK and MegoPAK, can be delivered either via download link or physical hard copy. Many stores with physical copies sell last year's product at a discount. That was how my wife found my first copy to give to me as a present. PG Music does not offer a simple way to transfer ownership from one person to another. Part of the reason is because the first time you purchase Band-in-a-Box you are a new customer. Once your customer account is active you become a returning customer and qualify for upgrade pricing.

@Leak85 don't know of any coupon codes but this South African Band-in-a-Box distributor's website is showing some nice prices.

@abacab, If you are interested in purchasing the 2023 PlusPAK you might want to contact PG Music Sales by telephone or online chat. My GUESS is they are afraid that if you buy that you will believe you have all available package content. Perhaps if you make them aware you know your collection will be missing the 2022 content that will understand you know what you are purchasing. It can't hurt. While I've purchased PG Music products the yearly $99 PlusPAK package update provides all the content added to the UltraPAK each year . Prior year PlusPAK have never been offered that I'm aware of. Once you miss an update the most economical way to get your package content in sync is to purchase the current years UltraPAK

@Yan Filiatrault, @Reid Rosefelt, +++ HERE +++ is a webpage link with both audio and video links for the 2023 Bonus PAKs.

@abacab, I agree 100 percent. Removing redundant commands and minimizing windows with radio buttons are just two tasks I think would help to both stabilize the program and make it more user friendly.

@abacab I know what you mean. In both GUIs the colors used look pretty old when compared against the GUI of almost any DAW. I think the colors are what really turn people off. Over the years a few users have created dark themed skins and such but you don't see them mentioned much anymore. One nice feature of the "minimal" GUI is the index tabs at the top of the audio mixer. The Files, View, Tools, Tracks and Misc. index tabs show the same icons used in the tool bars of the classic view. You can copy whatever icons you want on the Custom index tab so all the icons you use are in one view while icons you don't use don't clutter up the screen. Meanwhile the Mixer index tab opens or closes the Audio Mixer window.

@abacab try using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T. That toggles between the normal (what I would call the classic) GUI and the minimal (modern or new?) GUI

@abacab Yes, all your content from the 2021 UltraPAK+ will work with 2023. Just like Cakewalk, older Band-in-a-Box files can be used in the newer editions. I believe you will be disappointed with the 2023 ProPAK as you already have the overwhelming majority of the content in your 2021 UltraPlusPAK+. Your 2021 UltraPAK+ should include all the package RealTrack sets up to set 375 as well as most of the MIDI styles, MIDI SuperTracks and so on. The + is the Songs and Lessons PAK.. Your 2021 UltraPAK+ and the 2023 PlusPAK will provide you with ALL package content except for content issued in 2022. RealTrack sets 376 - 400 were issued in 2022. If you can scrape together the extra $30 over the cost of the 2023 ProPAK, the PlusPAK includes the RealTrack sets 401 - 429, the bonus 0 PAK I mentioned above and the latest version of Band-in-a-Box, RealBand and the plugin.

@Byron Dickens. I agree time signatures can be a real issue sometimes. Alternate time signature RealTracks improved things a little bit since the audio recording is of a musician playing a time signature other than 4/4 & 3/4. But there are not many alternate time signature RealTracks to choose from. All in all, alternate time signatures has been a thorn in PG Music's side for a long time.

@Reid Rosefelt, I have the 2023 49 PAK. I copy the textbox information that appears in the beginning of most PG Music install files. The text file I attached lists everything (including the RealTrack names) included in the 49 PAK. There is also a 0 PAK included with any package purchased during the sale. It includes some MIDI SuperTracks and some styles that feature SynthMaster sounds. 2023_49pak.txt 2023_0pak.txt

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@sjoens Microsoft indicated Windows 10 is supported until October 14, 2025. So for2 1/2 years that's likely your best option.

MT POWER Drumkit 2 is a free virtual instrument drumkit. I've attached the MT POWER Drumkit 2 zip file for Cakewalk by Bandlab from the MT POWER Drumkit 2 website. The zip file includes 3 map files, one for VST2, one for VST3 and one by itself. As far as I can tell they are all the same. The website includes the zip file, installation and use instructions +++ HERE +++ MT-PowerDrumKit_2_Drum_Map_for_Cakewalk.zip