I am not sure how many of you have updated to this as of yet, but I am running into a serious problem. When I try to use the harmonizer it is throwing up access violation codes all over the place. I just purchased the Everything pack 2017 and for the life of me the program will not let me use it. Has anyone ran into this problem yet. I called Support and talked to Kent, but he tells me he is not sure why this is happening either, he told me to send the file that I am having trouble with in a zipped file to
support@pgmusic.com
So, I did, and it came back to me UN-deliverable. I am not sure if this is the right e-mail address or what. I am not sure what to do. Monday, I am going to try to contact sales and see if they will either refund my money, or send me a new copy of the hard drive. I paid my hard earned working money for this and I would like to have something that works. Anyhow, if I can get this issue resolved, I will never spend another $215.00 for this product ever again. I am not being and rude, but I just want to get my moneys worth. I paid a lot for this. Please anyone that can help me please help me solve this problem. Thank-you very much in advance.
Last edited by trapper456; 12/23/1610:35 PM.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
Firstly, I just want to point out that I am not PG Music staff. I am simply a user like you.
I hear your frustration. That being said, though, I'm not quite sure why the tone of your post sounds so aggressive. You've been a member of these forums and using PG Music products for quite a while now and long enough to know that the company looks after it's customers incredibly well and that there are also many helpful users in these forums.
The email address that Kent gave you is correct.
How big is the zip file you sent? It sounds like it's bounced simply because it's too big. If that's the case, load the file into Dropbox and then send support@pgmusic.com an email that details the problem and include the Dropbox URL/link for the file so that they can download it.
The above is probably the best approach. You should also cc yourself a copy of that email so that you can double-check that the URL works properly and that the file can be downloaded ok.
A couple of questions...
1. Did the harmoniser work properly with your previous version of BIAB?
2. What harmoniser are you using?
You haven't given any information about the harmoniser and that makes it very difficult for anyone on here to try and help you. It might be that someone on these forums is successfully using the same harmoniser as you and they can can offer some assistance. We need more details, though.
When you go to contact PG Music, keep in mind that they are operating on holiday hours now. The link below outlines those hours.
I don't know about Canada but here in Australia Monday is a holiday so, according to the above hours given by Callie, Support will not be available and Sales will probably not be able to help you this technical stuff.
Lastly, PG Music's 30 day money-back guarantee is very well known and even features in a big and bold graphic on PG Music's homepage (see image below). If you don't want the product because it doesn't do what you want it to do, PG Music will most certainly honour their promise.
You'll have to forgive my tone in my previous post. I am just frustrated after paying that much, and the product not delivering like it is suppose to. And I am very disappointed in this product because of this. I paid a lot of money for this, and as a result I cant create any new songs without having harmony in it. I do have a backup though. I own a TC Helicon harmonizer, but that would mean that I have to transfer the instrumental to my MR8 HD/CD, and I would have to dig this out of the back of an inside storage unit ans see if it still worked, and hook up my mixer, wew, that is a lot of work. But if I need to that is what I can do to get the job done. Now, you ask.
A couple of questions...
1. Did the harmonizer work properly with your previous version of BIAB? Yes, I have 2013 and it worked fine. I just tried this,one on the computer that I used it on before, and I am getting the same problem. Not sure why, but very frustrating.
2. What harmonizer are you using? The one that is built in with Band in a Box. Here is the full message that I sent to Kent. This is the full detailed message that I sent.
Ok, Kent this is the guy from Butte Montana. I bough the Band in a Box 2017. I did a good portion of this song so you can re-create the situation. I again tried to harmonize the choruses 21 to 20 and 47 to 55 and the program would not let me use the harmonizer both times.
Harmonize to chords of the song, 4 in unison. And I set the range at bar 21, set the #bars at 10 for the amount of bars that I wanted it to harmonize, and I did the same for the other chorus bars 47 to 55 with #bars at 10 and it gave me 2 access violation codes again. The violation codes where Access Violation at address 4125CC5A Read of address 4125CC5A at: 4125CC5A. This was the first one.
The Band in a Box Application Error, This was the message that I got. An exception error has occurred. You can continue to use the program, but should likely save your work and reboot program. Access violation at address 4125CC5A. Read of address 4125CC5A.
Then I tried the same with bars 47 - 55 with the #bars set at 10 and part of song, four in unison. Bar 47. first choirs # Bars 10, then it gave me the same access violation code again
Then I tried the same thing again. This time in the 2 blank boxes off to the side I put in the chord range that I wanted 47-54 and it gave me the same access violation code.
You haven't given any information about the harmonizer and that makes it very difficult for anyone on here to try and help you. It might be that someone on these forums is successfully using the same harmonizer as you and they can can offer some assistance. We need more details, though.
When you go to contact PG Music, keep in mind that they are operating on holiday hours now. The link below outlines those hours.
Oh, and I am not going to contact the better business bearu, I am just very frustrated, not knowing if I got a bum copy of this program or what. I starting to think more, and more that the copy I received is a dud.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
I do not even know how to get to their drop box where I can upload this file. Can you give me a link to that Noel? Thanks. Bob....
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
I don't really want to send this version back. But, if I cant learn to work with it, I guess I will just have to dig out my older gear and get harmonies into my songs that way. I can't think of nothing else, so I will just have to take the loss if I can't figure this thing out or if someone can't help me. I really like the program, but if that is the case and I can't get this to work It will probably be the last version that I ever buy. I can work with it no matter how old it gets. I appreciate your support Noel.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
Thanks for all that extra information. It's very useful. I'll have a play around with TC Helicon and see if I find out what the problem might be.
For what it's worth, it's actually much easier to use TC Helicon in Realband. I used to use it in BIAB but these days I use it in Realband.
Back in touch in a bit. I need to try a few things now.
In relation to Dropbox, it's a program that lets users send large files over the internet. Don't worry about that at the moment, though. I'll see what happens here first when I try to use TC Helicon.
Firstly, thank you for being so detailed in your letter to Kent. It really helped me understand your situation. I also appreciated the amount of detail you went into because that allowed me to re-create your situation. This was very valuable.
I have BIAB 2017 and everything seems to be working for me here. I have build 456 installed (this update was only released yesterday). If you haven't installed this patch yet, I suggest that you download it from the below link and manually install it. It could make a difference.
2. What harmonizer are you using? The one that is built in with Band in a Box.
The above harmoniser you mention is TC Helicon software. I've had a play around with it and below is how I went about successfully adding harmony.
1. I loaded a song (108 bars) into BIAB that had an attached audio file.
2. Next, I saved the song with a new name so that I could always get back to the original audio if I needed.
3. I then generated the song and let it play through.
4. After the above, I loaded TC Helicon and set it according to the settings shown in Image 1 (below).
5. I generated the harmony.
6. I next saved the file so that the audio would attach itself to the MGU file. (The one time I tried to continue without saving, I received and error. I wonder if this might have been what happened for you?)
7. After saving the file, I once again entered into TC Helicon and then set it up as shown in Image 2 below.
8. I generated the harmony and then saved the song.
Everything worked fine.
As mentioned in point #6 above, I did get an error once. This arose because I moved on to generating more harmony without saving the file after generating previous harmony.
Let us know how you go.
All the best, Noel
Quote:
SPECIAL NOTE: Because TC Helicon writes to the audio file, make sure that you back up the audio file before adding harmony. The audio will be found in the same directory as the mgu/sgu file and it will have the same name except with a .WAV ending.
For example.... if the song is called MySong.MGU, then the audio will be called MySong.WAV and is found in the same folder as MySong.MGU
EDIT ADDED Matt Finley's thought below about running BIAB in administrator mode is a very good idea and one that didn't occur to me. (I always run BIAB in admin mode and this might be why TC Helicon worked for me.) To start BIAB in this mode, right-click on the shortcut that you use to start the program and select "Run as administrator".
Trapper, I understand your frustration when things don't go as planned, but BiaB has moved forward in leaps and bounds, and if there are teething problems, they'll be sorted out, there's no question about that. It's a given.
Yes, due to the festive season, timing isn't great at the immediate time for contacting support, but they won't leave you hanging out on a limb for long. They don't work like that.
You're currently being looked after by one of the forum's leading experts, so you are in good hands already.
A little patience is probably all that's required. Don't toss in the towel without giving it your best shot first, eh?
BIAB & RB2024 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
1. Where did you install BIAB, and what option did you use? In other words, are you running from the USB drive or did you put it on your hard drive? If it's on your hard drive, did you install to /bb or elsewhere? If elsewhere, is it in the /Program Files folder?
2. Did you try running BIAB as Administrator?
BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors
This was somewhat of the problem. I did as you mentioned about loading an MGU file into BIAB 2017, where the voice was already there. I used the steps above that you showed me on the mgu file and it did let me generate harmonies. So, when I load an SGU file into it is where I am getting the error, but now here is another problem that I just figured out. I did all the chords to this song that I created everything worked fine. Now, however, when I go to re-save the file it will only let me save an SGU file. Is there a setting that I have to set in order to let me save the BIAB file as an MGU file. That is so that it can attach the vocal file to an MGU file? For some reason it will only let me save in SGU, even in the SGU I can hear the my vocal, but then, that is where I run into the problem with doing harmonies in the SGU file. Now that we have established that it will let me do harmonies in the MGU files, but now I just need to know how to adapt the program to let me save MGU files once I have got the vocal in the song. Again Noah thank you for helping me thus far. So if we can figure out this nest problem I will be set.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
I have installed it on my hard drive the location of the program is on my G drive. This is the exact location. G:\Band in a box 2017. With your help and Noah's help this worked. I set my compatibility to administrator just in case.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
Kent is very talented with this stuff. He is a nice guy and right to the point. We are starting to figure out this problem, so lets keep going. That is why I put this post up, because a lot of you guys have used BIAB way more than I have, and some of you guys are experts at it. So any help I can get I will take. I was able to generate harmonies in an MGU file, but however, I can't save my files in the MGU file. It will only let me save in the SGU mode, even after a vocal has been put in the file. I just now need to figure out how to let BIAb let me save a file in the MGU file. Kent is an expert, but there are also a lot of you that are probably experts on this subject. Thanks for all the help in advance.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
Don't worry about the SGU/MGU thing. BIAB Audio can be recorded and harmonised with either an SGU file or an MGU file.
If you recorded audio with an SGU file, it is normal for this file to save as SGU with the audio attached. You should still be able to generate the harmonies using the chords.
The difference between to the two file types is to do with whether or not midi information is present on either the Melody or Soloist track. If midi information is present, the file will automatically save as MGU. If not, then the file will save as SGU.
The bottom line.... if the file you are working on is SGU, when you generate the harmony, simply save it as SGU. It will work fine provided you based your harmony on chords.
(The reason I mentioned MGU in my above post is because I was working with a file that had a midi melody. I'm sorry if my example in the above post gave the impression that the harmony file had to be MGU.)
That is where I am running into the problem. I can't generate harmonies in the SGU file, that is where I get the access violation. for some reason BIAB will generate harmonies with an MGU file, but not an SGU file. The MGU file that I used was from some time ago, I.E. off of my Band in a Box 2013. Another user of this form helped me with the chord structure. I am not sure what version he was using, but the song was made in his BIAB at the time. I loaded it into my 2013 and all worked fine. Then when I loaded that file which was an MGU into BAB 2017, it did let me generate the harmonies. In my thinking now, is there a midi setting that I need to set or something, I.E. harmonies are based on midi?
Last edited by trapper456; 12/25/1606:45 AM.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
Thanks for the extra information. I'll have a play around with an SGU file. I didn't try that.
In the meantime, it's easy enough to make a file into an MGU one. Simply add at least one note to the Melody or the Soloist track. (It's probably best not to have a Realtrack on the track you add the note to.)
How to add a note to the Melody track...
1. Select CTRL+T to return to the older view chordsheet.
2. Click on "Notation" (#1 on image below).
3. Make sure the "M" is selected (#2 on image). (This is the 'second from the right' button.)
4. Click on "Editable Notation" (#3 on image).
5. Click anywhere on the music staff in any of the bars. (I've added a note to beat 2 of bar 1 on the below image.)
6. Turn the volume of the Melody track down to zero. This will stop the added note from making a sound when you play the file.
7. Save the file using a new name so that it's possible to return to the original file if needed.
8. The new 'Save' dialogue box should now default to MGU.
Maybe forcing BIAB to create an MGU file will solve your problem. In the meantime, I'll have a fiddle with SGU files and get back to you in a few hours, later today.
It is now generating harmonies for me. I will have to try this other information to see if I can force an MGU file. I will let you know what happens. Thank you, Noah you are a great help.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
I've been playing around with harmonising audio attached to an SGU file. As a consequence, there are a couple of things that I need to clarify.
1. When TC Helicon is loaded, notice that the label for the window indicates that there is no melody (#1 on below image).
2. The two harmonising options that require melody (#2 on image) are grayed out and are not accessible. This is normal behaviour.
3. Other melody-related options (#3) are also disabled.
4. The ONLY option is to harmonise using the chords. (4 Unison is available for this.)
Quote:
SPECIAL NOTE In my above post, I outline how to force a BIAB file to be an MGU file. If you do this, and then open TC Helicon the options #1, #2, #3 (image below) will all be available.
HOWEVER, the above options will not work properly because the melody that has been entered is not a proper transcription of the audio melody. So trying to force midi harmony, in this case, will cause errors.
TO USE THE MELODY HARMONY OPTIONS, it is necessary that the notated midi melody is an accurate transcription of the audio melody.
OVERALL SUMMARY As you can see by all the above posts, I've really put TC Helicon through its paces in BIAB 2017. The only time I received an error was when I tried to generate a second lot of harmony without saving the file after generating the first section of harmony. After saving the file, there was no issue with generating a second section of harmony.
OK! Noah, thanks so much. OK, here is how yesterday went. I created and independent song, one that I had done before. I did the harmonies in this song and it let me do it. Then however, I pulled up the other song that I had done that was giving me so many errors, and I tried to do some harmonies on that song, still would not let me do it and it was still giving me the same error.
So, here is something that I was still scratching my head at. Well, today I went and thought about this situation and something had occurred to me, that I did not quite catch before. I had thought about what I had done with each individual file by re-creating it and the harmonizer worked very good with it.
Now for anyone who is reading this post that might be having the same problem the answer is here. Me and Noah have been working on this little glitch for the last few days. Refer to my earlier post to find out what the problem was. Now, Noah, what was different in my recreated songs that I had done before was this. I had a tempo map in the file that I was trying to run the harmonizer on, so it had occurred to me to set all marks where the tempo was at back to zero where I would bring up, or lower the tempo. For some reason it confuses "Band in a Box" because of the tempo change.
If you have a tempo map in your song, it will not let you create harmonies, and your timing will surly be off if you try to punch record because of the tempo map. SO, Noah this is what the problem was all along. I had to set all tempos back to zero before it would let me do the harmonies. And I also found out with the tempo map still in the song when you are trying to do punch recording it will have a timing problem with the music.
I am not sure weather any of you that are reading this ran into this problem but if you did here is the solution. "Remove the tempo map completely" and then create your harmonies, and do the punch recording, everything will be in sync.
Now, Noah I tried doing what you had suggested for making BIAB turn your file into a MGU, this did not work for me. I will go back and read your instructions again so see if I did something wrong, but I probably did.
But Noah, if you run into anyone else that is having this problem pass this information on, it will save them a lot of headaches. After I removed the tempo map everything worked just fine. Thank you so much for your help Noah, if it was not for you I would still be scratching my head.
Music is an expression that is a universal language, Never criticize anybody to harshly. They need time to grow but when they do, they do. Always be kind in what you say and do because the man upstairs is watching.
))) But Noah, if you run into anyone else that is having this problem pass this information on, it will save them a lot of headaches. After I removed the tempo map everything worked just fine. Thank you so much for your help Noah, if it was not for you I would still be scratching my head
Thanks for that report. It is helpful to know that tempo changes are causing the issue. It would be helpful to have a copy of the sgu and wav (sent as a Dropbox link) sent to support@pgmusic.com
Bob, it's great to hear that you got it all working. That's really good information about the tempo map. Thanks for passing it on. All the best for 2017!!!
Add updated printing options, enhanced tracks settings, smoother use of MGU and SGU (BB files) within PowerTracks, and more with the latest PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 update!
Download and install this to your RealBand 2024 for updated print options, streamlined loading and saving of .SGU & MGU (BB) files, and to add a number of program adjustments that address user-reported bugs and concerns.
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Backup copies are offered during the checkout process on our website.
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Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
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A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
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"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."
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