I'm attempting to make backings to practice to. I build in a "break" chorus where I let Hal take a quick solo, usually about a chorus. When I set the solo track to mute at bar 1, chorus 1, BIAB ignores me and solos throughout. I gave up fighting it, and just mixed all the tracks separately and altered them in the recording software to fit what I needed, but today, I tried to get the program to do what it is supposed to do, and it won't. I'm just annoyed enough to post about it hoping there's some simple fix. It's frustrating how much time I waste trying to get this program to do the things it's *supposed* to do.

I'm on a Mac. Running version 2020 (423) on IOS 10.15.6
This computer is a studio appliance, meaning the OS does not get updated (as advised by Sweetwater when I purchased my interface).

Welcome to the forum. I don’t use a Mac but one thing you could try is, instead of using F5 to Mute a track, use it to change the volume of that track as needed, including making it zero.

Also, I’m not clear if your reference to the BIAB solo in the first bar is for the first chorus, or a middle one (after the melody played in the first chorus). If it’s not the first chorus, you could experiment with Edit, Song Form and select make the song one long chorus.

So, when I go to mix my individual tracks in the recording software, this is what happens. Solo track is unmuted throughout, but drum track is muted. I go back and check my settings, drums are untouched, only solo track and piano track have altered settings, but BIAB has a mind of its own.

About ready to walk away, here.

Is this question about using the BIAB Plug-in?

I'm not using F5 (as function keys seem different on Mac) but actually going into the menus (and the shortcut is F5, so still the same effect). So, I right-click on the measure, chose "bar settings", then mute the track from there (choosing the instrument track, in this case, soloist). By muting at Measure 1, that should mute it throughout until I unmute it.



I'm muting the solo from the outset (first bar of the melody), then unmuting it at the start of the 5th chorus. Also, if you check my follow-up post, the program is doing wonky things beyond just not doing what I'm asking it to. I never muted the drum track -- never touched it, but BIAB decides to mute it and play the solo track throughout.

I don't understand the question. My question is why the program is ignoring my settings and doing its own thing. I went back and set everything to normal (3 dots) throughout -- no changes. BIAB combined the soloist track with the piano comping track. (Again, when I generated the soloist track, I did so under that tab, as it's own track, and didn't modify the piano track, except to mute the comping behind the piano solo; I had reset that to just play through, figuring the less the computer had to 'think' about, the better chance of getting what I need and fixing in the mix. Instead, BIAB completely scrapped the comping track. So, I've gone back, reset everything, and started over, generating separate tracks to be mixed in the recording software. Maybe it's because it's the Mac version, but this is CERTAINLY a bug in the program.

ARRRRRGH!!!

Mixing the latest edition, there is now MIDI_VoiceOohs track (which I DID NOT CHOOSE).
But no solo track. That midi track is incomplete and the piano track is still muting the chorus that I set back to normal.

Matt's question is whether you are using BIAB to create your backing track or using the BIAB plugin to work in your DAW. Can you create a simple BIAB project that works properly? If you do that in BIAB using the main program does it behave as you would expect ?
Rather than using several choruses can you unfold the song and work in a linear way? You say'recording software' that's what's confusing me at least. I'm also not sure what you mean by three dots. Isn't that the command after a chord for a hold?

I see. No, I create the backings in BIAB, export them as either AIFF or MP3 (if I'm doing individual tracks -- the mix-to-MP3 option does not work on the Mac, for some reason for a single render file). All the backings are created within BIAB, externally from the DAW -- I'm a dinosaur and that's the path of least resistance.




Not quite sure what you're saying in the first sentence, but if I follow, you're saying to basically spell out every measure of the song within BIAB. Aside from the fact that the software should do what it's supposed to, I'm not sure this would change anything -- you'd still be turning a track on-or-off at a specific point, and that's what the software is not doing. I mean, it's doing it, just not where I've set it to do so -- ghost in the machine?

Recording software: I'm using Garageband simply because it does what I need without asking me to get to specific. If I'm recording, I load the backing track(s) into a project, set a live track to record, and go. That's all I need it to do, and it does it well. I don't want to confuse things by trying to incorporate a plugin from an already-finicky software.

If you go into the bar settings to make a track active or inactive at a particular point, any tracks that remain status quo show up with three dots (see below).

there is a command that 'unfolds' the choruses to one long file so no need to 'spell out', and often its easier to put the changes in where you can see them rather than mess around with bar numbers and chorus numbers which I find leads me to confusion.

when you create the backing in BIAB does the file play correctly before you export? knowing that would help work out where the error is occurring.

if it plays fine in BIAB the problem is happening when you export. sadly with the Mac version you don't get RealBand which opens BIAB files and is dead easy to record in - just as easy as Garageband.

first of all, please let us know if the BIAB track plays perfectly before you start any exports

if it does play properly, maybe taking this thread to the BIAB Mac forum might help you with replies from other Mac users who use Garageband and export BIAB files to that program.

You could also ask whether 'the mix-to-MP3 option does not work on the Mac' is true for other Mac users or just something affecting you.