Every time I hit "play", the program regenerates the RealTracks ... even if I haven't changed anything. Anyone know why or how to keep this from happening?
I have the UltraPlusPAK Hard Drive "Audiophile" Edition Band-in-a-Box.
Yes, you can Replay instead, which doesn't regenerate. Or just hit the Spacebar, which plays from the current position, without regenerating (assuming Edit-Prefs-Spacebar is set to do that)
Another tip: right click on the Combo button, and if "song has changed, needs regeneration" is checked, you should un-check that, and it will force a replay without regeneration. That would apply if you made a small change in a chord, but didn't want a regeneration of tracks.
Just to add a bit to Peter's answer, Biab regenerates the tracks every time you hit play unless you tell it not to. You're question implies you think this is some kind of problem but it's actually by design. A real band will not play the same tune exactly the same way twice. Similar yes, but not exactly the same. That's one of the neat things about the program, it gives you some variation to play along with just like real band members will.
Bob
For example you start playing and the bass player is still talking up the chick in the torn black leather jacket and straggly hair who hinted she has a bag of BC bud and bought him a Black Jack and coke and the bass part is kinda missing and now he's running and he ...never mind. I couldn't resist...
I use replay when I'm not playing at home contemplating....
Actually I meant to suggest another feature which would be 'GET THIS SONG READY", and it would generate all the tracks and superimpose a big play button that could be sort of activated by hitting any key. Why didn't I think of that..before? Guys are always talking about playing live and if you use all Realtracks and the song generated when chosen from the juke box..well.it would just wait for you, while the windmills of your mind turn...
If that bass player manages to score that bag of BC bud from the chick in the torn black leather jacket, the windmills of his mind will definitely be turning after that Black Jack and Coke!
I like the fact that the tracks get re-generated in a slightly different way each time
Quote:
Actually I meant to suggest another feature which would be 'GET THIS SONG READY", and it would generate all the tracks and superimpose a big play button that could be sort of activated by hitting any key. Why didn't I think of that..before? Guys are always talking about playing live and if you use all Realtracks and the song generated when chosen from the juke box..well.it would just wait for you, while the windmills of your mind turn...
Isn't that already possible using "Pause Play until MIDI received"?
--Mac
Yes, if you have midi routed through the program. Sometimes I don't.
Quote:
Yes, if you have midi routed through the program. Sometimes I don't.
I used to do it from the laptop keyboard by invoking the QWERTY key wizard.
That was quite sone few versions ago, but it should still do that.
--Mac
Quote:
Biab regenerates the tracks every time you hit play unless you tell it not to. You're question implies you think this is some kind of problem but it's actually by design.
No, it is a problem. Or at least an annoyance. The RTs (which is what the O/P was asking about) play the same thing, regardless how many times regenerated.
They do? They are not supposed to. Tsk, tsk! Somebody had better talk to those Real musicians in your band
Perhaps the amount of regeneration depends on the instrument - I have found that RT Country stuff like Pedal Steel, Resonator, Fiddle and other soloists etc tend to regenerate to a degree if you right click on the green name and hit regenerate.
Ian
Yes, the RealTrack chosen, plus the Tempo, plus the chords in the progression, plus the style, all can work together to either regenerate something a little different -- or not.
--Mac
Understand that BIAB does not "keep" the resultant audio files for each song. Think about how much hard drive space you would need then. Instead, it generates the arrangement every time you need it. The replay command works, because that particular song is already in memory and has already been generated. But if you load another song, hitting replay (versus play) is just going to regenerate that new song, because it hadn't been generated in the first place. BIAB basically just stores the instructions for how to create the song, which results in small files, and then generates the songs in real-time (although, you might say "slow-time"). That's how it was designed.
What's going on when you hit play (for the first time) with real tracks, and one of the tracks fails to load and play? That happens to me a lot. The song begins to play with one of the parts missing. I hit play again, wait a few seconds until it's ready, then it usually plays just fine. It's a sporadic kind of thing.
Quote:
What's going on when you hit play (for the first time) with real tracks, and one of the tracks fails to load and play? That happens to me a lot. The song begins to play with one of the parts missing. I hit play again, wait a few seconds until it's ready, then it usually plays just fine. It's a sporadic kind of thing.
You may need to defrag your hard drive. I'm taling the C: drive here, regardless of whether or not the BB program resides there or on a USB drive. The RealTracks/Realdrums load to a Temp directory on C: drive.
Don't accept Windows' report on that, the algo they use was designed around "standard" PC use and not audio streaming. Just go ahead and invoke the Disk Check followed by a Defrag.
With today's large drives, this will take some time, I recommend starting the defrag at night after setting the thing to shut down when done, then go to sleep and let it work for you.
--Mac
Anything that would speed up this real-time work?
I am using a very old CPU Intel Core T8100 produced in 2010 I guess, it takes 6-10s to generate a sample realtrack song(4-5 real tracks), but the CPU usage is only around 50%.
So the time consumed by BIAB loading a song is for what? Seems not only for decoding wma files to wav, otherwise it will take more of CPU usage( maybe upto 100%?).
And it is not consumed by Disk, wma size is so small, it might be the wav file generated in the realtime? But I also tried with SSD as my C drive(since someone mentioned the cache is on C drive), it didn't speed up either.
So, how could I speed up the process
Kevin,
Welcome to the forums.
What version of BIAB are you referring to?
Regards,
Noel
Hi Noel,
2016 version.
By the way, when someone said, there is cache on C drive when generating real tracks, I did not observe any change in number on C drive free space. Could the wav files that have been decoded from realtracks-wma only in RAM(and there is no cache on disk)? Thanks.
Hi MusiKevin. Also welcome to the forums
Many programs don't use 100% CPU to perform tasks, nor all cores of a processor. Some time is spent performing disk I/O, some time may be spent waiting for CPU to become available, some time may be spent collecting information, etc.
How long are the songs you mentioned? 4-5 seconds to completely generate a 32 bar 3-chorus song sounds reasonable.
Also, after you have generated, you can freeze the tracks, and they don't need to be regenerated for future plays. They are then virtually instant.
To freeze tracks, click the asterisk on each track in the mixer. Frozen tracks are blue.
Trevor
Trev,
You're a mind reader!!!! That's what I was going to suggest if Kevin had 2016.... seriously, LOL!
Kevin,
I agree with Trevor, the freeze track option will speed things up.
When you think about the fact that in the space of a handful seconds, an entire backing is created that uses world-class musicians, it's a pretty spectacular accomplishment! It never ceases to amaze me that I can create something that sounds so good by simply clicking on a BIAB button called 'Generate'.
Regards,
Noel
Then I guess it's normal...
It took 8 seconds for a 63 bar song(63 bar totally, 35 bar w/o fake bars).
Thank you guys~
Love this place~
Trev,
You're a mind reader!!!! That's what I was going to suggest if Kevin had 2016.... seriously.
Well, it just goes to show: "Great Minds Think Alike!" Ha ha.
Team Oz
LOL
"in the space of a handful seconds, by simply clicking on a button called 'Generate'".
That makes me laugh in the office.
Yes, since this is so amazing, how could I dare complain it acts like Flash (from Zootopia)?
So, referring to your wording above, you are not just a composer but also a lyrics writer, or that's just a very common expression in English - "in the space of a handful seconds".
Hey Kevin,
LOL.... I write lyrics, too. I didn't realise it until you drew my attention to it but the line "in the space of a handful of seconds" has an excellent rhythm.
wwSwwSwwSw
(w = weak stress, S = strong stress)
The poets would call that
anapestic trimeter... now I just need to try and remember it
Regards,
Noel
Fascinating!!!
Like Waltz.
Peter
I do not see this Combo button you are talking about on my 2016 version of BIAB. I do not have the Audiophile version.
Where exactly is this located.
jcland,
When I checked the date of Peter's post, it was made on November 25, 2009. BIAB has undergone a few changes in the 5.5 years since.
The Combo option used to be what is now the "Master" option (top left of the tracks). The 'Song has changed...' selection is found there.
Regards,
Noel