• There now is a "Plug-in" mode for your favorite sequencer (RealBand, Sonar, Reaper, ProTools, FL-Studio, Nuendo and more). With the new plug-in mode, BB is open as a small always-on-top window, and acts as a plug-in for your favorite DAW/sequencer, so that you can Drag-n-Drop MIDI and audio (WAV) tracks from BB to your favorite sequencer. Work in your favorite sequencer, type a progression in Band-in-a-Box, and then simply drag the track from Band-in-a-Box to your sequencer's track at the desired track and bar location.
• No more long waits for RealTracks to generate! RealTracks generate much faster, 3X faster on average. A typical song with RealTracks that took 20 seconds to generate will generate now in about 6 seconds. And if you freeze some or all tracks in the song (see below), playback of RealTracks is almost instantaneous.
• Freezing (locking) MIDI or RealTracks/RealDrums. Any track can now be frozen (MIDI, RealTracks, or RealDrums). When frozen, it won't get changed or re-generated. This saves time when replaying previous songs, and allows you to freeze an arrangement that you like. If you freeze the whole song, you don't have to wait at all for the song to regenerate. Next time you play, it is ready to go. (note: this new freeze feature is different than the previous limited freeze feature that renders the whole arrangement to the audio track)
• Soloist generated RealTracks are now saved with the song, so you will hear the RealTracks play the same solo when you reload the song.
• RealTracks now support new features, including Shots, Holds, and Pushes. Simply type in the chords as you normally would, adding periods (…) for shots and holds, and the RealTracks will play them.
• RealTracks endings have been enhanced, and are now 4 bar endings instead of 2 bar, allowing time for a natural decay of the instruments.
• Multiple Undo support. Up to 999 levels of undo (configurable).

• Band-in-a-Box 2010 requirements

  • Windows® 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / XP / Vista / 7
  • Memory (RAM): Minimum 128MB.
  • Hard Disk space: Minimum 400 MB. More space is required for RealDrums, about 100 MB per set and RealTracks require about 800 MB per set.
  • PC Sound Card or MIDI module.
  Always Save all song settings. Now all settings are saved with songs, including patches, reverbs, volume etc., so that the song will play the same way each time, without having to set this in the Save With Patches dialog.
• Reverb control added for individual tracks with RealTracks or RealDrums, so you can easily add reverb (0 to 127) for any RealTrack. Reverb type also settable, and saved with the song.
• Bass/Treble Tone Control added for individual tracks with RealTracks or RealDrums, so you can easily adjust the bass/treble EQ for any RealTrack. Settings save with the song.
• Band-in-a-Box window is now sizable, when size changes, chord sheet, notation, and other windows redraw in proportion to the new size. This allows you to have BB open as a small window on screen with other programs, and you still see a full chord sheet. The screen size is remembered between sessions.
• New favorite songs/styles dialog, with separate lists of ‘recently played’ and favorite songs or styles. The previous ‘favorite’ songs/styles dialog was a list of recently used songs/styles. Now there are 2 tabs in this dialog, showing you both recently used songs/styles, and a new list of ‘favorites’ that you select as a favorite songs or styles. Favorite Song/Style lists can be edited, sorted, saved/loaded, and used with the jukebox. You can add an unlimited # of favorites. Also, a Sort button has been added to Favorite/Recent songs/styles dialog.
• Double time and half-time support for RealTracks added. Now you can play any RealTracks at half-time or double time. This allows you to, for example, in a ballad at tempo of 70, to add a RealTracks Sax solo with tempo of 140, and play it as a double time, which will match the ballad tempo of 70. So now all of your existing RealTracks can be used at 3 different tempos. (normal, half-time, double time)
• Automatic Tempo swapping of similar RealTracks. If you have similar RealTracks available at different tempos, BB will automatically choose the best one to use. For example, if you have a ballad loaded, with an Acoustic Bass RealTracks at tempo of 60, and you speed up the tempo to 140, and press play, BB will automatically choose an Acoustic Bass RealTracks closer to tempo of 140, if it is the same genre and feel. This means you can use a simple Jazz style, and play it at various tempos, without having to set the best RealTracks based on tempos.
• Rendering now has a Normalize option, to normalize individual tracks or the complete arrangement. Normalizing boosts the volume to a maximum level without distortion. Most professional music tracks are normalized.
• RealDrums picker dialog has been enhanced, with information about Artist name, Artist bio, and RealDrums Set number.
• Songs ‘Saved-As” a different name now have the new name added to the Recently used song dialog.
• Support enhanced for non-concert instruments (Bb/Eb sax, trumpet etc.). Now when chord sheet is transposed, you can type in chords in the transposed key, and they will show up as you have entered them, instead of requiring you to enter the chords in the concert key.
• Rendering songs to audio is now much faster for songs with no MIDI, such as RealStyles.
• Rendering RealTracks no longer require you to have a DXi or VST in use.
• Lyrics enhanced.
• Undo added for entry of individual lyrics
• ‘Enter’ and ‘Close’ button added to lyric entry
• Lyrics toggle to editable notation view if lyric mode is entered in note roll mode, so that lyrics are visible.
• More Soloists are now available, up to 2000.
• RealTracks Picker dialog enhanced :
  - opens up faster.
  - New Columns added (tempo swappable, holds type)
  - Columns are now sizable, and remember the sizes
• Rendering WAV dialog enhanced. It has a simpler layout. The Render wav file doesn't need to be in same folder – it can be in any folder/drive.
• StylePicker is enhanced. Favorites and Recent styles now appear in this dialog as separate lists. It now has the ability to add/remove styles as favorites. A Favorite Style indication (F) shows up for each style. You can filter any list by only showing favorite styles. Over time, you can build up a list of favorite styles, and only show them when needed.
• Many messages changed to “yellow alerts” at top right of screen, so that you don’t have to respond to the message, interrupting work flow.
• And many more!

Band-in-a-Box 2009.5 for MacIntel is here! This exciting new version of Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh is designed for MacIntel, and boasts major new features like RealDrums, RealTracks and the Audio Chord Wizard! Learn More...

There are over 20 new features in 2009.5 for Macintosh

• Audio Chord Wizard Enhancements.  The Audio Chord Wizard is the amazing feature that automatically figures out the chords from MP3 files (or other audio files like WAV, WMA, and audio CD etc.).  Using the Audio Chord Wizard is a great way to learn and practice popular songs, as you play along and see the chords.
• We’ve added a Lead Sheet window that shows the chords for the whole song on a single screen.
• This allows you to click on a bar on the lead sheet to jump to that area of the song.
• And you can mark sections of the song using part markers, and the sections begin on a new line with a line space between, so are clearly seen.  So you can then also learn the form of the song, as you can see the various intro/verse/chorus/break sections at a glance, or quickly jump to the break simply by double clicking on that part of the lead sheet.
• Other improvements include chord editing, and more.
• Classic RealStyles styles made. This is a new category in the StylePicker, and it contains new styles that are intended to be commonly used RealTracks. They are divided into genres. So you can go to Classic RealStyles – Jazz to easily find RealStyles for Jazz Swing, Bossa etc.
• Guitar RealCharts have been improved. The new guitar RealTracks have more accurate guitar display/tab/notation for the corresponding RealTracks.
• RealTracks are enhanced. These features are present in the new RealTracks that are released with 2009.5:
  • Smoother playing of piano parts over slash chords.
  • Support for some more complex slash chords like C7/E played by piano.
  • RealTracks feature to only play certain riffs in certain keys. This feature happens automatically on certain RealTracks, no settings are needed.
• Any missing RealTracks/RealDrums are listed. When a song is loaded, played or saved, a yellow hint message will appear if any RealTracks or RealDrums are missing, listing the files that are missing.
• Chord Options dialog now has a “Clear All” button that erases all Rests/Shots/Pushes/Pedal Bass from a song.
• Audible 'Audio Glitches' in some RealTracks were removed.
• Added Songs with RealTracks on Drums (and no drum part) get a drum count-in. For example, _BG_BAND.STY
• If a ChordSheet/ notation transpose is in effect, a Transpose ‘yellow hint’ message will appear on boot up as a reminder.
• Option added for Melody -Guitar rechannel, to include events already on guitar channel.
• Message added when no style demo found in RealTracks dialog
• Many more demos are shown in RealTracks dialog.
• And more…

Note: Band-in-a-Box 12 for PowerPC Users is available here..

• RealTracks Sets for Band-in-a-Box and RealBand
• RealDrums Sets for Band-in-a-Box and RealBand
• Essential Phrases and Riffs for Band-in-a-Box
• Styles Sets for Band-in-a-Box and RealBand
• Artist Soloist Series for Band-in-a-Box
• Soloist Sets for Band-in-a-Box
• Master Swingin' Jazz Piano Solos for Band-in-a-Box
• Melodist Sets for Band-in-a-Box
• MIDI Fakebooks for Band-in-a-Box
• Video Tutorial PAK for Band-in-a-Box