Can someone please point me to instructions on how to define a specific bass line?
Let's take for example a Pink Floyd tune, say "Wish you were here". The bass line (as well as every other instrument) defines this song. A RealBand style would probably come close but for this song close is not good enough. I can think of many other example tunes that you would want to exactly duplicate the bass line.
Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Specific Bass lines are best done on the Melody or Soloist track as MIDI bass patch, either by recording MIDI to the track from a MIDI controller, or note-entry methods.

Sometimes it is easier to just place the specific lines in the bars where needed, depending upon the song, and then use the Auto Bass from the Style file for the rest. Switch between the two using Bar Settings dialog window, muting one and then the other as needed.

In case you are not already aware, attempts to change the actual "Bass" notes in the editor won't work because all instruments other than Melody or Soloist are volatile tracks and will get regenerated by the Style file whenever you hit Play, wiping out your editing.


--Mac

If you just want to make covers and take the time to do it I'd suggest RealBand. Band in a Box is designed to change the bass line every time you press play. It's what it does.

You can freeze it, move it to the Soloist line, mess with it, and use a midi instrument to play it. You cannot get RealTracks to play a line as printed, it does not work that way. (At present).

There are covers out there of almost all the stuff you'd want. If you find the right one and a midi module you'll fool 90 percent of the people. Of course someone in the audience played a zither and they know for maybe that's not really one, but maybe one made by a blind guy in MN. When the dogs fell through the crust on the snow and stuck you in the cabin hard by the Canadian border, the snow is horizontal and your parrot, though stuffed, agrees with your rendition of Bob Marley plays parrothead music. Nice.

thanks Mac!

Thanks John. Wow, is the last part of your last paragraph from Zappa?

Biab is not designed for covers but if you take the time to learn the stylemaker and stick to midi only you can do a lot with styles assuming you have a good quality midi synth. Example, write your own style that uses that bass line. But and it's a big butt if that's what you want to do is to produce covers then imho you're much better off just finding, buying or creating midi files. You would play and edit those in Real Band. There's websites that sell really excellent ones or you can find some good ones floating around the web. The only thing with those is you never know what you're gonna get. They're free, ya know? You can also check out Norton Music, Bob Norton posts here all the time. He's created and sells hundreds (thousands?) of styles that suit a lot of covers.

Bob

You can alter the bass track in BB note for note and listen to it by pressing the replay bottom only!!!! If you press play everything will disappear.
Once you are happy with the results, freeze the bass track.

This is probably too much work in your case, but for smaller alterations this works just fine. Please make a note (like FB) for froozen bass in the name of your file.

Brgds,
Tonnie

John is ,,,, let's say sort of different! But we love him anyway!

not sure i completely understand, i'm trying to create the specific bass line in all blues (6/8 time) how would i input these notes?? thanks

how do you do the note by note input?

William,

Note-by-note input can be accomplished using either (a) Notation Editor mode, (b) Piano Roll mode or (c) Staff Roll mode. If you read music, the easiest would be to use the Notation Editor (which is the one I use).

Also, if you have a midi keyboard attached to your computer, it's possible to play the notes in.

If you go to the link below, there's a 6:17 minute video clip called "Entering notation in Band In A Box" that is worth watching. It's in the "Beginners" section. This clip will help you understand how it's done.

http://www.pgmusic.com/videos.bbwin.htm

Regards,
Noel

so i've entered by notation exactly what i want. i preview it and it sounds perfect, i freeze it and then go and replay it and its GONE. i'm missing something

and i've tried to patch into a melodist track or solist track and the midi patch bass isn't just a bass, it's a muddy piano sound. although it seemed to play the correct notes. still not accomplishing the goal.

William,

To help me appreciate what's happening, I need to know the answers to a few questions.

Which track are you entering the notation onto?

Is it a Realtrack (i.e. track name is in green) or is it a midi track (track name is in yellow)?

When you say "preview it" could you please explain how you do this, what icon/button you press to do the "preview"?

Also, when you say "replay it", can you please tell me which icon/button you press to "replay it"?

"Lastly, are you activating the correct freeze button? Each track has its own freeze. I've written a number melodies, basses, etc, over the years and 'freeze' always works for me. As a check, once a track is frozen, there will be an asterisk beside the name.

I'm not sure if you've done this but after you enter notes manually, immediately save a copy of your file and then save a second copy with a new name. Having a backup file always means you can get back to what you had if things don't go according to plan.

If you could make a copy of your file (after notation has been added) available here on the forum by using Dropbox (or equivalent) it would be very useful. It's quite challenging to solve problems without seeing the song file involved.

Regards,
Noel

• my latest song : At Apollo Bay

My understanding is that you can only enter your own notation into the Melody and Soloist tracks. Anywhere else and it will be overwritten.

Like Noel mentioned, which track(s) did you use?