Here are some of the things Band-in-a-Box® 2023 users saying: We have received a lot of feedback from Band-in-a-Box® 2023 for Mac program users, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive! You don't use Biab for that kind of thing although you could if you had to but why, that's best with a DAW like Real Band or Sonar. All to lay down an authentic trumpet part rather than having to hire a pro trumpet player. It's just like learning another instrument, you have to first have the right controller and then spend weeks learning how to play it properly. That kind of thing is not GM standard and that's the problem.

Notice the post above talking about how to get the best from Garritan using a controller to map certain CC's. It doesn't exist and probably won't because pros could care less about GM. People have been screaming for years for a killer sounding Biab compatible GM software synth. This is why you only hear of a few that people like to use with Biab, the VSC, Forte, soundfonts or any hardware synth that has a GM soundbank like the SD2 or the Roland Sonic Cell and now the new SD50. If the author of the style thinks the EP sounds better than the acoustic, don't you want to hear that before you change it? This is the same dance for all the big name software synths like SampleTank, Emulator X, Kontact, Halion, Garritan, whatever. Sure, you can set Aria up to only use one piano but then you're negating part of the style. All that has to be set up in Aria before you can hit play. Every style in Biab has somewhat different instruments like an electric piano vs the acoustic or the bright acoustic vs the regular one or all the different basses. This means it will work, it does sound great but, and it's a big but for a lot of people, you have to manually set up each instrument for each song. The difference is that you have to open the ARIA player to change patches and volume. You can use it with the BIAB Bass, Piano, Guitar, Melody and Soloist just like the VSC. None of these big name synths do that unless they specifically talk about being a full GM synth that does automatic patch changes. That means, load it up, go into your song directory and start playing your songs with no further effort, just hit play.

Russell, I obviously only know you from this forum but from reading your posts I think you want a plug and play solution to work with Biab.

Would anyone else care to comment on this? I'm wondering if I can use this for all tracks or just BIAB melody, soloist, thru? If it can't, mine's boxed and ready to go back!

Garritan Jazz and Big Band 3 reviews