One reason that I invested in BIAB was the hope it could give me some
controllable way to generate solos. Say you work on Rhythm Changes -
the tune has two chords to the beat so the simplest way to outline harmony
is to play half note chord tones - one per chord. Not the most exciting solo
but gives you solid connection to how harmony moves, where you are etc.
Then try mixing in quarter-notes. Then eight-notes. I tried to force BIAB
to create such very simple solo "outlines" but no luck.
I would appreciate any pointers on the subject.

Hello woland99,
I do not see a way to force both the soloist and the melodist to create just quarter or half note lines.
The simplest musical figure is two eights notes, so even if you set phrase lenght to 1, force 1 note per beat and pause lenght to 1 beat you will always get phrases of two eigths notes, as the style options just offer 1/8, 1/16 in either swing or even or waltz feeling.

Your proposal would be a great idea for Band in a Box' feature wish list. Such a feature would really increase the value of Band in a Box as a learning tool for many people.

This is actually possible by design if you want to use MIDI instruments by generating phrases to your desired length section by section via the Soloist dialogue (see screenshot), and is also possible to approximate for RTs as well through a slightly more complicated process that I figured out as a sort of 'hack.'

Hello DeaconBlues09,
Have you tried this? Even with the entry "1 note per beat" and a phrase lenghth of 1 the soloist creates phrases of two notes, an eighth and a quarter note. I tried this with a lot of different style settings and did not get any "one note per beat" solos (screenshot is from my localised Band in a Box, so options are labeled in German language). Could it be that it depends on the .ST2 chosen as the "style knowledge base"?

May be this is a question for PGMusics new FAQ or tutorial video forums.

So I've tried it and, while I did manage to get one note per beat, I don't believe that actually addresses OP's issue in retrospect, as one note per beat (4 quarter notes per measure) is actually more notes per beat than I would want in a solo that builds up gradually (in which case a long sustained note here or there could be tastefully played over even a couple of measures.

I also tried messing around with the phrase length setting, but the results were a disaster (although that may just be an issue with me not setting the parameters properly).

BTW, note that there is an option under the preferences settings for RTs to allow solos to crescendo (see screenshot), so make sure you have that checked (I do, and IME, it does not afford the flexibility and scope as envisioned by OP).

It would be great if PG Music could make a video about this by all means!

FWIW, there are amazing things that could be done under the hood in BIAB with RTs. I had my mind absolutely blown out of the water when I managed to generate a medley of RTs jamming out the solo for Hotel California using a saxophone, piano, jazz guitar, fiddle and slide guitar. The RTs I used (and you could listen to the "raw data" for said tracks as they sit in a BB sub-folder) had absolutely no hint of said melody, yet the program put it all together with the right parameters tweaked, which I consider to be the most insanely awesome thing about this program I've ever discovered. The implications and possibilities hinted at here are boundless.

You can hear the track here: https://soundcloud.com/user-423212678/biab-jamming-hotel-california-inspired-solo

I had hoped to get one note per bar by putting different pause values between the phrases. This reduces it to one phrase per bar, but I still always get phrases with two notes.
I will actually put a request in the new video tutorial forum.
What you wrote about the crescendo switch I'm gonna try. Your example sounds really good.

There is an very old video in the tutorial area of PGMusics website. It's funny that this video explains and shows the option "One note per beat" (at about 7:20 min), but the then generated solo still contains complex lines of 16th and 8th notes (at about 7:37 min).

Agree, but drives me nuts, like riding a horse with 12 legs upside-down. The interface's layout is not laid out very user friendly IMO. Probably the results of keeping existing tweakable settings while adding more and more new features. Maybe a general overhaul of the lot is needed, Could be very useful, for me maybe, but especially for the jazzers .... F

Thanks for all the great answers and apologies for not answering all the post individually -
I was away for a while and they accumulated. The tip for selecting max number of notes per
beat is very helpful. With 1 I get mostly quarter notes and 2 mostly eight notes. That makes
big difference. I guess if you use Scales feature along with max notes set to 2 you get to some
degree a logical move - from eight note scales to eight note solos.

Help file does not have a lot of info - mouse-overs actually have more.

What version of BiaB are you using?

Woland99.
how did you get solos with mostly 1 note per beat?
I tried different .ST2 as knowledge base and also many different settings in the solist editor, but never get such simple solos. Almost all generated solis nearly always consist of an eighth note and a quarter note in a row per beat. This is with Band in a Box 2018.

I think I might have exaggerated - maybe not "mostly" - but a lot of
quarter notes. And honestly - those were not very good solos - lotsa
"ketchup over brownies" moments (to borrow from Greg Fishman) like eh
playing Bb on the beat over E7/B (or B over E7/H if you are in Germany).
Stuff that no improviser - even complete beginner would do. I think that
setting 1 note per beat might over-constrain the algorithm. Doing 2 notes
per beat sound a bit smoother. The whole process is tad frustrating - I am
very much NOT a tweaker - no guitar pedals (with small exceptions with more
than three knobs. I like playing music not twisting knobs.

520

520. OK, thanks.