Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread
Print Thread
Go To
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
M
Apprentice
OP Offline
Apprentice
M
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
Hey Everyone.
I'm relatively new to the BiaB world, but I have been running into a problem:
I'm working on a song that is 132BPM. Nothing too complex, however at that tempo, it has a chord change on the 4 of a few measures. Here's my hiccup...
I would like it to have a dark, half-time ballad kind of vibe. There is a perfect style for what I want (BALBMS2.STY for those who might have it) but it has a 65BPM reading. But at 66BPM, I can no longer get that transition chord in there (I don't think you can do a chord on the 'and' of 4 and have another chord on the 1 of the following measure.) So my question is:
How can I utilize a half-time style at a regular tempo? This would be more than ideal, since there are several ballad styles I'd like to use, but I need the faster tempo markings for chord changes.
Or are there any really killer half-time feeling styles out there that I just haven't found yet?
Any help would be awesome. Thank you.

Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Welcome to the forum. Do you play horns (or maybe accordion or organ)?

Not at my BIAB computer now, but when choosing individual RealTracks, there is an option (I think it's near the right-hand side of the dialog box) to have the RealTrack play at normal or half-time speed.

To the best of my knowledge, the same adjustment cannot be made on RealDrums, so you will have to find one that sounds right at your tempo with no such setting adjustment.

If notation is not important to you, don't overlook the choice in the Edit menu to Expand the song to twice length, and experiment with the tempo. While it sometimes takes effort to find what you want, BIAB can be more flexible than it sometimes appears at first. That's the only way BIAB can give you a chord on the and and another chord directly on the following beat, becuase Pushes only go 'backwards'. Notes Norton (nortonmusic.com) is a third party provider of styles and has made what he calls Expanded Styles to accomplish getting around this limitation also.

I write lots of sambas that BIAB wants to see at tempos of 200 to 220 or so, but I would rather write at cut time of 100 to 120. The program can automatically adjust the feel as you make large tempo adjustments. Sometimes you get what you are looking for, so experiment.


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
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
M
Apprentice
OP Offline
Apprentice
M
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
Thanks Matt.
No. I'm actually a drummer/bassist/vocalist. Moving Air is the name of my recording studio. When trying to come up with a name, I just thought, "what is sound?" And that was that.
I tried the half-time setting, and it does shift it to be usable, but it still dpesn't dp the change on the 4, so I'm still in the same boat. It either misses it completely, or it comes in on the 3. Any other suggestions?

I would love for BiaB to come out with some deep groove, half-time RealTracks. I've had more than a few times where that would have been amazingly useful.

Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Let's back up and take nothing for granted here. Do you know to enter a comma between a chord on beat three and beat four? Or just a comma followed by a chord?

Let's say you want Em7 on beat one, and A7 on beat four. Type em7 [Enter] , A7 [Enter]


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
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
M
Apprentice
OP Offline
Apprentice
M
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
I did not know that. However, I have just been right-clicking in the measure and using the "Chord Settings..." menu selection. There I assign what chord goes to what beat, if any particular beat gets a 'push,' etc.
It works like a champ when the chord structure is used in "normal time." However, when I switched the instruments to "half time," then it no longer followed on beat four.

Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Yes, that's a good way to enter chords. I learned the method to type with commas decades ago so I still use primarily that. I think it's probably a lot faster once you know how. A caret character ^ preceding a chord causes a 1/8 push. Details in Help, Pushes Shots and Holds.

Your last statement is something I do not understand, and I need to do some tests to see what you see. Can you describe precisely how you "switched the instruments to half time" and what exactly you mean by "no longer followed"? Give me step by step, and tell me what you see and what you expected to see. Maybe add some screen prints?

We'll get there.

Oh, and Moving Air is a fine user name, considering the physics of musical sound.


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
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
M
Apprentice
OP Offline
Apprentice
M
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
Remember when you told me how to change the RealTracks from 'normal' to 'half time' in an earlier post? That's what I was referring to.

As for the "not following" part, what I mean is this: if I have a song and say it's at 140BPM, and the measures look like this (Cm / / / | / / G Bb | Cm...) [slashed are just empty beat spacers] and I set the RealTracks to 'half time', the tracks will not get the Bb on beat four of the second measure. So half time settings do not catch changes like that.

That's the problem I'm having. With as popular as songs with half time feels are, I'm a little surprised that BiaB doesn't have a lot to offer in that regard.

Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Hmm. I'll give this a try.

Did some testing. Moving_Air, I may have given you the right idea but in the wrong direction.

Try setting your RealTrack instrument(s) to Double-time instead of Normal or Half-time. This can sometimes work when you have a tempo much slower than the style is usually written for.

In my tests in a samba at quarter=120, I was able to duplicate that Half-time left off all but the chord on beat one. Also, Normal played four chords per bar but sounded choppy. Try Double-time.


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
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
M
Apprentice
OP Offline
Apprentice
M
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
if I'm understanding you correctly, I don't think the double time thing would apply. Here's the problem with it:
I'm doing a song at 132 BPM. It has a half time feel. However, at 132 BPM, it has that progression of cord changes on 3 and 4. Anything I apply at 132 absolutely does the 3 and 4 change, but it's completely the wrong feel. So if I set things to half time, I get the proper feel, however then it does not catch the chord changes.
I would reprogram the entire song at 66 BPM if I could, but then it becomes chord changes on 4 +, and then back to root on 1. And there's no way to program that, that I am aware of.
This is my half time dilemma.

Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 9,326
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 9,326
Perhaps....


Maybe you can do this using a DAW. It would take planning and forethought....

Render the parts in BB and export tracks. You would need to make 2 versions of the song. One in one tempo and the other in a doubled multiple or halving of the original tempo. Add the needed measures.... the faster one would need to have exactly twice the number of measures as the slower one....

Choose the tracks you need to make the end product. You could even splice a part.... drums for example.... from both tracks so the fills are correct.

I have contemplated something like this but have never felt the need to actually spend the time to try it. I normally take a different path like changing the song or putting it into the ash heap.


You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
OK. I understand the problem and was able to duplicate it using the Half-time setting. I'm going to pass this along to Support to see if they have a suggestion, now that you have confirmed this is the 'feel' you want.


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
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Correction. Rethinking. I finally had time to enter your exact song.

I'm now using the style you indicated, BALBMS2.STY, which is all RealTracks, at tempo = 132 (even though that's way above the recommended tempo range). Checking, all RealTracks are set to Normal.

I hear a nice change with all three chords in bars 2 & 3: Gm,Bb then Cm

I understand if I change, say, the organ to Half-time, then it misses the Bb chord.

But can you explain in more detail what is wrong with the sound (you called it 'the feel') with the default, Normal version for each RealTrack? It sounded pretty good to me.


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
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
M
Apprentice
OP Offline
Apprentice
M
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 107
Yes, the normal version sounds fine, but when you have a song at 132, and you want it to feel like it's at 66, there's no good way to do it and keep the chord changes in there.
I'm trying to come up with a "Midnight in Montgomery" (Alan Jackson) kind of vibe. I just don't see it being currently possible with BiaB.

Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 25,883
Unless someone else can help here, I suggest you make a post in the Styles Wishlist forum. You have info specific enough for a clear request. A link to a music example such as on YouTube would help those of us not familiar with this genre.


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
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Go To

Link Copied to Clipboard
ChatPG

Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.

ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.

PG Music News
User Video: Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box®

The Bob Doyle Media YouTube channel is known for demonstrating how you can creatively incorporate AI into your projects - from your song projects to avatar building to face swapping, and more!

His latest video, Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box, he explains in detail how you can use the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box with ACE Studio. Follow along as he goes from "nothing" to "something" with his Band-in-a-Box MIDI Melodist track, using ACE Studio to turn it into a vocal track (or tracks, you'll see) by adding lyrics for those notes that will trigger some amazing AI vocals!

Watch: Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box


Band-in-a-Box® 2024 German for Windows is Here!

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 für Windows Deutsch ist verfügbar!

Wir waren fleißig und haben über 50 neue Funktionen und eine erstaunliche Sammlung neuer Inhalte hinzugefügt, darunter 222 RealTracks, neue RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, "Songs with Vocals" Artist Performance Sets, abspielbare RealTracks Set 3, abspielbare RealDrums Set 2, zwei neue Sets von "RealDrums Stems", XPro Styles PAK 6, Xtra Styles PAK 17 und mehr!

Paket | Was ist Neu

Update Your PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 Today!

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!

Learn more about this free update for PowerTracks Pro Audio & download it at www.pgmusic.com/support_windows_pt.htm#2024_5

The Newest RealBand 2024 Update is Here!

The newest RealBand 2024 Build 5 update is now available!

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.

This free update is available to all RealBand 2024 users. To learn more about this update and download it, head to www.pgmusic.com/support.realband.htm#20245

The Band-in-a-Box® Flash Drive Backup Option

Today (April 5) is National Flash Drive Day!

Did you know... not only can you download your Band-in-a-Box® Pro, MegaPAK, or PlusPAK purchase - you can also choose to add a flash drive backup copy with the installation files for only $15? It even comes with a Band-in-a-Box® keychain!

For the larger Band-in-a-Box® packages (UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition), the hard drive backup copy is available for only $25. This will include a preinstalled and ready to use program, along with your installation files.

Backup copies are offered during the checkout process on our website.

Already purchased your e-delivery version, and now you wish you had a backup copy? It's not too late! If your purchase was for the current version of Band-in-a-Box®, you can still reach out to our team directly to place your backup copy order!

Note: the Band-in-a-Box® keychain is only included with flash drive backup copies, and cannot be purchased separately.

Handy flash drive tip: Always try plugging in a USB device the wrong way first? If your flash drive (or other USB plug) doesn't have a symbol to indicate which way is up, look for the side with a seam on the metal connector (it only has a line across one side) - that's the side that either faces down or to the left, depending on your port placement.

Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!

Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!

With this update, there's more control when saving images from the Print Preview window, we've added defaults to the MultiPicker for sorting and font size, updated printing options, updated RealTracks and other content, and addressed user-reported issues with the StylePicker, MIDI Soloists, key signature changes, and more!

Learn more about this free update for Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm#1111

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 Review: 4.75 out of 5 Stars!

If you're looking for a in-depth review of the newest Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows version, you'll definitely find it with Sound-Guy's latest review, Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows Review: Incredible new capabilities to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs.

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."

Forum Statistics
Forums66
Topics81,664
Posts735,579
Members38,532
Most Online2,537
Jan 19th, 2020
Newest Members
Jeffrey thomas, skyanderson3, akbrpra, Benfil77, William L
38,532 Registered Users
Top Posters(30 Days)
MarioD 162
DC Ron 103
dcuny 85
rsdean 77
WaoBand 74
Today's Birthdays
jazzkeith, Mavrick20002, Pain-Driven, rolfie, Roycol
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5