A bit of a newbie question here. I searched the BIAB 2014 pdf manual for "half time" and "cut time" but couldn't find any results.

When looking for a style and selecting from "Best RealStyles" for a given song, it's really helpful the way BIAB lays out the various RealStyle options available categorized by even and swing 8ths and 16ths... Does anyone know of a way to see the half-time/cut-time style options, or is there a way to alter a style so that it plays in half time instead of the standard 4/4? A lot of folky/country tunes I play have a feel of 2 beats per bar instead of 4, not 2/4 but 2 half notes.

I've tried using bar settings to set 2 beats per bar in measure 1 but this causes broken-up playback for some reason.

Is there a menu where you can select 2/2 for the time signature. This could be a solution. I just haven't figured out where you can do that.

Thanks in advance for any advice...

I don't use cut time or 2/2 so I'm not 100% sure what to say.

I do know that I am able to go in to a measure and change the beats per measure from 4 to 2. I've done that on a measure by measure basis where needed in a song.

I don't know if there is a global command to apply that to the entire song. I would think there should be.

Hang on, someone else who does know more about this will chime in shortly.

If you use F5 in the first measure to change the number of beats per measure to 2, it will hold until you change it. If you don't change it, it holds for the whole song. But that's 2/4 not 2/2.

That was my inital idea. If you want 2/2, you need to play a 2/4 and adjust the length of the melody notes to fit the new time signature as well as the beats per minute need to be adjusted.

Thanks for your help, guys! I will try that. I'd been thinking that setting the # of beats per bar to 2 would produce more of a faster, more intense, 2-step kind of 2/4 feel rather than the lighter and more sparse 2/2 I was looking for.

I'll play around with some styles and see what kind results this generates.

That's a good approach. I'm not sure you will find one method that always works. Better to experiment and see how each style and/or RealTrack & RealDrum responds. One other variable to play with is in the Edit menu, where you can double or halve the length of the song. I think you'll have more luck with this and tempo changes than with 2 beats per measure.

I appreciate the tips, Matt. Thanks a lot.

edwardjc:

You said "A lot of folky/country tunes I play have a feel of 2 beats per bar".

I've found the same thing.
If you're after something to which you can do the two-step, try these:

C_2STEP
TEX2STEP
-TEX2STP
-TEX2ST2

If you're after something with a "2 beat" feel, try these:

ANCHORS
C_2BT-SW
CASHLUTH
CTRFST16
TRAVEL
TWO_BEAT
BOUZOUK1
ETHFAST
BODID1
CLASHIN
ISRAEL
MISSJH1
POLKA3
RAYCH2
RIDERS
ROK2BEAT
SCAND1
TZENA
C_TEX_SW
BLUEGRAS1

I haven't previewed these for awhile, I just found them on an old list I had of when I was looking for something with a "2" feel. It looks like I probably just typed "2-beat" (without quotes) into the Style Picker filter to get them.

Good luck!
LLOYD S

Thanks so much for those lists, Lloyd! This will be a huge help.