So far I've had great luck with the new VST plugin version with Cakewalk Sonar; it's worked like a charm until today. I've got a new song in BIAB that started with a style that had midi tracks for bass, acoustic and electric guitars. I switched those out for Real Tracks and saved the finished song with its appropriate title name.

When I opened this song in the BIAB VST plugin in Sonar, the original midi tracks appeared that I had changed out but not the new Real Tracks that replaced the midi tracks. I tried this several times with the same result. I downloaded the last update again - no change, same result. I looked through this forum but couldn't find anyone getting this result.

I set up a new Sonar project and downloaded the previous song that I had used the VST plugin on, and it downloaded perfectly. I know there must be a simple solution, but I just can't see it.

Thanks for any suggestions the BIAB community might send my way.
Regards,

That is a bit weird. Having said that, I think that sometimes we get the purpose for the plugin mixed up. It was designed to work inside a DAW of choice not act as pass thru for BIAB songs. BIAB also has a plugin mode where tracks can be dropped over to a DAW and that was implemented to make songs build in BIAB easy to use. The plugin was built to add tracks to a current DAW project already in the DAW.

Well said.

The lack of 100% compatibility between the song file created in BIAB and the song file created in the VST was one of the biggest stumbling blocks for me in adapting this new feature to my workflow.

Thanks Robh for your reply. I see that I was taking a limited view of the VST Plugin based on the ease I had experienced since the update in moving my BIAB-generated songs from that app to Sonar using the VST plugin. The work-around is to make a note of the tracks in the original BIAB arrangement and download them into the VST and then drop them into my DAW (Sonar, in this case).

So I downloaded the new song to the VST and then downloaded the correct Real Tracks that had been missing before by selecting each one individually. When I eventually listened to the song arrangement in Sonar the song didn't sound the same - the arrangement was missing some of the original chords. I tried to copy and paste the original arrangement into the VST but it won't accept a paste.

I take your point about the original intention of the plugin. I thought it was the midi instruments that had been replaced with real tracks that had messed things up, but there's more to it than that. Maybe I just got lucky with the other songs I've successfully transferred from BIAB to Sonar via the plugin.

I guess I'll go back to last year's method of working on my new song.

Thanks again.

Hi Dan,
Thanks for your comment. I have to agree with you. Maybe the programmers will be able to make changes/improvements to give us 100% compatibility. That's on my wish list.

Regards,

That is pretty much what I did when I discovered the limitations of the plugin. HOWEVER, one excellent use for it is to generate multiple riffs for your songs. So, the way I use it is,

- generate tracks in BIAB just like always
- save those tracks as WAVs just like always
- open my song in the standalone plugin
- generate multiriffs for my solo parts and save those out as WAVs
- bring all the WAVs into a proper DAW and mix it up

I see the standalone plugin as being a tremendous advance for that single feature!

Sonny Ray,

First verify you are using a V1.14.2 plugin. You can do that by selecting "File" > "Preferences" > "About".

When you exit from the "About" screen, verify the folder settings in the "Preferences" screen. You may have an issue with the RealTracks setting.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your help. Everything in my Preferences and the plugin version match yours. I'll try another arrangement without any original midi instruments in the style and a very simple harmony and see what happens then.

Regards,

Hi John,
Thanks for sharing your working process. I do the same thing more-or-less. I haven't used the multi-riff feature yet but I plan to. And believe it or not, I haven't used the add-loops function either - I'm probably behind the times there. The VST-Sonar tutorial made the use of add-loops seem easy, and I thought the instance where the loops were added to the song sounded effective to my ears. BIAB offers so many possibilities for crafting songs, it's hard for me to keep up.

Regards

Update:
I arranged a simple blues shuffle style in BIAB, then I opened a new project in Sonar, opened the BIAB VST plugin and selected the blues shuffle song arrangement with File. I had replaced the original Resophonic guitar track in the style arrangement with a Baritone guitar. The VST listed the original/deleted Resophonic guitar but not the Baritone. I added the Baritone to the VST file and then transferred all the instruments to the Sonar project. Although the Resophonic was listed as a track in the VST it did not transfer. The 12-bar arrangement in C reproduced correctly in the VST screen unlike the last song I tried to transfer via VST.

The conclusions I'm drawing from this week's work with BIAB & the VST Plugin are that (1) each song project may or may not work/transfer from BIAB using the VST in the same way it did the last time I used it - vigilance is important - always check you work; (2) the VST is a work-in-progress; (3) that although the VST plugin may not have been designed to transfer a perfect copy of a BIAB arrangement/song to a DAW, it does a pretty good job for a brand new BIAB app; (4) veteran BIAB users and Forum members are a helpful lot, thanks again, I'm glad you're here.

Regards,

See I would suggest creating a song in BiaB and then inside BiaB using the DAW plugin mode and move the song to Sonar that way. Directly from BiaB to Sonar.

Then while mixing the song I decide that I need another track or instrument, then rather than go back to BiaB, I would open the VSTi to add tracks quickly or riffs.

I think the plugin needs to be a simple as possible for new DAW only users that would not or could not normally use Biab app due to the steep learning curve.
If you need to have all the million and one functions and features that the Biab app has in the plugin it would be better having ReWire.
ReWire was close to working using the ReWireVST it was just the audio was scratchy coming from the DAW. It worked fine in RealBand.
ReWire would be ideal to keep the Biab made song the same with all the F5 settings, changing instruments at different bars, it would play along in sync with the DAW, if they implement the MultiRiffs in Biab the easy way I posted as it works the same way it works in the plugin (see below), then when you have the MultiRiff that fits best just drag it into the DAW, and you wouldn't need the audio track in BB as it would be playing the tracks in your DAW along with the soloed MultiRiff.
I think the plugin is more to add extra instruments to an existing DAW session the same way as EZKeys, EZDrummer or MusicLab RealGuitars do.

I agree with your description completely. By the way good to see you back at it Mr. pipeline!