Build 386 update patch for Band-in-a-Box 2014 is available.
http://www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm#386

There is a Build 386 update available.

Note: This update patch incorporates the previous 2014 updates. A separate audiophile patch is not required.

Summary of changes for Build 386

• Fixed: RealDrums dialog was showing an error msg in build 385.
  
• Improved: Big Piano Window is now sizeable. Drag the window to the height, width that you want. This can be useful, for example, when recording a youtube video, match the size to the size of the piano to a video of a real piano, so that you set the same # of octaves to display - then match the width. There are also preset buttons for 40,40,75,100% of piano size in the big piano options dialog.
• Fixed: (Japanese and Chinese version only). Entry of title was sometimes opening a text entry IME dialog.
• Updated: RealTracks artist bio information updated (to fix outdated url's etc).

Summary of changes for Build 385

• Fixed: The audio track (if present) was not rendering when drag/drop was used.
• Added: Enhanced support for Fretlight® guitar, including
  • left-handed Fretlight® support.
    
  • option to not auto-open guitar window with playback.
    
  • option to show scales on Fretlight®.
    
  • bend notes now display on Fretlight®
    
  • clickable Frelight® Ready icon to browse to http://www.fretlight.com website.
    
  • These features are accessible from the guitar settings dialog in the guitar window of Band-in-a-Box.
    
  • left-handed Fretlight® support.
• For more details on the Fretlight® features with Band-in-a-Box, see the enhanced documentation in Band-in-a-Box manual, online help file and video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTXfHDYw2sk.
• For more information on obtaining a Fretlight® guitar, visit http://www.fretlight.com

Summary of changes for previous build 384

• Fixed: Guitar glitch when changing fret positions (redraw took a long time).
• Fixed: Guitar fretboard drawing glitch for the open position.
• Changed: Notation, editable notation, when TrackType is Guitar: when entering notes using guitar tab, notes get entered on the last guitar tab string clicked on. Now if you want to stop that mode, actions like changing the track, or the notation mode will reset it so that clicking a note isn't in the guitar tab mode still.

Summary of changes for the previous build 383

• Improved: Guitar Tab notation entry improved. Clicking on tab in editable notation (after setting tracktype to guitar), will then set the next note to be inserted on that string.
• Fixed: Tab font was too big on leadsheet.
• Fixed: && was displaying for some styles with & in the name, such as R&B.sty.
• Fixed: F5 Bar report was missing bar numbers sometimes.
• Fixed: Updating old mixer sliders wasn't updating the new mixer sliders.
• Fixed: RealTracks auditioning issue if your home folder was named with "band" in it.
• Fixed: If usertracks was chosen, loop dialog referred to the usertracks (and vice versa).
• Fixed: Instrument radio button menu showing usertracks was showing for loops.
• Fixed: Acid info file had wrong acid name sometimes.
• Fixed: User Memo in RealTracks picker wasn't allowing spaces in memos.
• Fixed: In notation, sometimes after pressing stop, the up/down arrows were causing notes to change in the notation window.
• Improved: In lyric editing more, going to the next lyric now highlights the text of the lyric.
• Fixed: Audio button on mixer was resulting in wrong notation windows width.
• Improved: Notation window, when note names are displayed, and there are blue lines shown for durations, now more visible note names.
• Improved: For the audition play controls in the RealTracks picker and other dialogs, the play button now stays pressed in.
• Fixed: Chords with 16th note pushes like ^^C weren't showing correctly using BigBand font.
• Fixed: Drums demos with # in the name were not playing from the internet.
• Fixed: Audio play from bar 1 offset fixed, on songs without tempo changes.
• Fixed: Audio track, option in Render dialog to include/exclude audio track in render wasn't working in all cases.
• Fixed: Audio Track volume not being saved with the song.
• Fixed: When the option to show the Channel Numbers for the note names is selected, and you are in Staff Roll notation mode, the channel numbers appear behind the blue lines. This makes it difficult to see the numbers in this format.
• Fixed: If I have all MIDI tracks in the song then changing the "THIS SONG" volume setting works ok within BiaB but makes no difference to the exported ".wav" file. That is you can have it all the way up or down but the exported ".wav" is still the same volume.
• Fixed: Audition file for styles was looking for a RealDrums demo for some songs that already had RealDrums in them.
• Fixed: Mute audio function doesn't cause a glitch now - happens immediately.
• Updated: Full Band-in-a-Box manual.
• Fixed: When adding styles with StylePicker editor, the styles weren't being added to the new categories.

Hi Andrew,
The BIAB 2014 build 385 update notes mention:

"The patch installs some RealTracks updates; make sure to select the correct RealTracks and Drums folders so those files can be updated".

http://www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm


What Realtracks updates are these?


Thanks for providing great music making software!

Good point, there are no new RealTracks updates since the previous patch was released. It's just a generic note for people installing the patch.

Thanks, Andrew.

Hi Andrew, is this update still a beta?

I am guessing that Andrew will tell you that's another generic note. All BIAB updates in the last couple of years have contained that phrase that it is a beta update because it is new.

Thanks Matt

Thanks, Andrew and the crew at BIAB/RB.

Thank you Andrew and rest of the folks.

I noticed the BiaB user manual pdf file was included in the build 385 update. Any changes or additions of interest?

Why has the update been removed from the Support page, Windows Software Updates, Latest updates listing?

>> Why has the update been removed from the Support page, Windows Software Updates, Latest updates listing?

Hi Graham,

It was a beta version, and a bug was found in launching the RealDrums picker, an error msg. appeared, due to some debug code in the beta.
So the update was pulled, and it will be replaced by a fixed version tomorrow.

The beta patches haven't had the same amount of testing, so that's why issues like this come up. If someone's using the 385 beta, you should update to the new one (tomorrow), (or revert to the older one (384) in c:\bb\bb2014_backup folder (file ending in bbw.exe should be renamed bbw.exe and copied to c:\bb\bbw.exe)


Peter

Thanks Peter. I have been checking that page every day since Band-in-a-Box became a way of life and I thought it was funny for something to be removed without a comment - that I could see anyway.

Look forward to the revision although I had not encountered the bug.

Best,

Now that is getting better.

From the latest build instructions (#386), I'm not sure whether RealTracks are included in the 50 MB patch, or just in the full patch for those with an older build. For those with the audiophile version, what do you suggest?

No, a separate audiophile patch is not needed (no audio files were updated).

Thanks!

Hi,

When will you fix the problem that some chords actually are played incorrectly? All maj7 chords are played as maj9 and all 7sus chords are played as 9sus. This was confirmed by support in April this year. Hope this will be fixed soon since it's rather annoying.

/magnus

Magnus,

Have you tried going into Song Settings and activating "Force Simple Arrangement" to see if that makes a difference? This may well stop some of the embellishment you're hearing.

To get into Song Settings, simply right-click on the chord sheet and use the pop-up menu that occurs.



Regards,
Noel

That does nothing. This issue is still there and is very old.

The question is : basically, when we want a Cmaj7 chord, we write a Cmaj7 and we should get Cmaj7 ; when we want a Cmaj9, we write Cmaj9 and we should get Cmaj9. Ok, for the embellishements, but only at the request of the user and not by default.

Yes, John-Luke is right, and it's very easy to see that it's a bug and no configuration issue:

1. Select style PNOSIMP4 (simple chords make it easy to see the problem)
2. Pressing C-E-G-B on your MIDI-keyboard.
3. Pressing ctrl-enter on your computer keyboard.
4. Band-in-a-box interprets this correctly as a Cmaj7-chord.
5. Save it as a MIDI-file and open it in a DAW.

When looking at the tracks in your DAW you can see the following tones in the chord:

C-E-G-B-D

This is actually a Cmaj9.

If you enter a Cmaj9 in Band-in-a-box you can see that it is executed identically. You never get any maj7-chords in any style in Band-in-a-box. The same thing applies for 7sus chords.

It's really a waste. Think about all those (24) maj7 and 7sus chords recorded by talanted musicians for all the RealTracks and they are never played. Nobody can hear them. Instead we hear the maj9 and 9sus chords.

Sorry to hear that this have been known for a long time without being corrected. It should be really easy to fix.

/magnus

Hi Magnus

Thanks for going in to such detail. I wonder if you might consider posting this into the Wish-List forum as a problem that needs solving.

Other readers might find it there too (the ones that matter!)

Regards

Trevor

Hi magnus and John-Luke,

This was not something that I was aware of so I did a little experimenting tonight.

Following magnus' instructions, I loaded in PNOSIMP4.STY, with 4 bars of alternating Cmaj7 and Cmaj9 chords. The following was generated ...



As magnus and John-Luke have said, the maj7 chord was not generated.

Then I tried a different midi style, PNOBAL.STY. This time the maj7 and the maj9 were generated properly.



Venturing onto Realtracks, I tried a reggae one (RT1156). This time, the maj9 did not generate (seen below).



Lastly, I tried RT2196 (electric piano) and both the maj7 and maj9 were present. The image below shows the generation.




Based on very limited information, it would seem that whether or not the maj7 or maj9 is present depends on the style (for midi) and the Realtrack. In relation to midi styles, I don't know enough about them yet to interpret the above results.

With the Realtracks, though, it's a little more understandable. 'Lloyd S' recently posted information received from PG Music that indicated that if a requested chord wasn't present in the original Realtrack recording, a suitable substitute is programmed to be used. (Not all Realtracks have all of the 131 chords - in every key - that PG Music list.)

Regards,
Noel

I looked at the style definition for PNOSIMP4, and the notes used are based on the piano macro feature, rather than a specific chord notes definition. So I wonder if the problem is how the macro feature was implemented, and may explain why other styles worked when this one didn't.

John,

Thanks for that information. I'm going to have a play around and see if I can work out why the PNOSIMP4.STY doesn't distinguish between Cmaj7 and Cmaj9. It's high time I learnt how to tame Stylemaker!

Regards,
Noel