One thing I would like to see would be the ability to add harmony to the soloist (or other channel) based on the current melody contents, but leave the melody line out of the harmony. This would be really nice for live playing. For example, I'm a sax player, and it would be nice to be able to play the melody line live with biab providing backup and harmony but no melody (i.e. biab melody channel muted). If there's already a way to do this I'd like to know.
There are a few harmonies that are designed with no melody. In my system, for instance, harmonies 51 and 52 are "ThreeP -NoMel" and there may be others. Using that on your melody track will create a 3 part harmony from your melody but won't delete it.
If you want, you can then convert the harmony to the soloist track. Since the harmony has no melody, you just get the harmony notes. Now set the melody harmony back to zero (no harmnony) and play on. I had some trouble assigning midi instruments but I am sure it is just something I am not doing correctly.
So you can put a melody harmony on the soloist track. If you change the melody line, don't forget to repeat the harmonization as the melody and the harmony / soloist are no longer linked
BIAB for Windows Version 2019 (643) Windows 10 (1909)
Thanks Dave, I'll see if I have similar styles on my system. But that's the basic idea.
Now that you mention it, I'm wondering if there's a way to edit/create harmony files similar to how styles can be created/edited and use that feature to create harmonies with the melody line omitted from pre-existing harmony files.
there is a video at the bottom of the "Archive" section called "Band In A Box 7: Harmonies". I just had a look at it and it is worth watching. It covers the Harmonies Editor as well as preset harmonies. Even though it uses an older version of BIAB, the principle is still the same.
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."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
"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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Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!
We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!
Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.
You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.
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