A(blue part marker) and B(green part marker) are called "substyles" and yes, A is typically the verse and B the chorus, because the B substyle is generally 'busier' or more intense.
While the change to a different substyle results in a drum fill, that can now be turned off if you have a recent version of BIAB. Also, the intensity of fills depends greatly on the style selected.
In jazz, a form of Intro, AABA, Tag might be done as B,A,A,B,A,B
There is a possibility of using a style with more than two substyles, called a Multistyle. BIAB introduced some of these quite a few years ago, but if I recall correctly, they were MIDI-oriented. It was possible to click through more than A and B; you could get C, D and more and they used different colors.
I believe if you wish to build and save your own style, it should be possible to combine RealTracks in a way to construct a user style that would allow you to do this. Often just changing the drums used makes a major difference in the feel of a song.
You can read more about this by going to Help, Help Index, Substyles. They discuss pre-verse, interlude, drum fills and more.
Also note, you do not have to change the feel of the song by using substyles. You can press F5 (Bar Settings menu) and change the style at any measure. I suspect this technique is used more often than multistyles.
Let me know if this helped you, and ask your questions.
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
Band In A Box is not designed to follow a pop style song form as in Verse - Prechorus - Chorus - verse - prechorus -chorus - bridge - chorus - etc... It follows a traditional jazz and blues form where a chorus means one time through the entire main section of the song. Then it allows you to add repeats of the chorus, intro, tag, ending and such. Best to expand to one big chorus and ignore BIABs use of the term "chorus". 100 bars is usually enough for a moderate tempo song. But, as you build the song you might find it helpful to keep the bars to a minimum for faster regeneration up to the section you are working on. Set your final last bar when you approach completion. Most of my songs are done this way.
You can use Bar Based Lyrics to designate your form.
Many styles allow you to change the drum pattern and rolls used by right clicking on the A or B part marker.
The A Blue and B Green part change markers are used to change the A - B style for verse and chorus and to force a drum roll just before the part marker.
To create a blank bar or blank beat's in a bar insert a chord with a period and make it a rest. "C." It will rest until your next chord.
Right click on the bar for more on bar settings. right click on the blue or green substyle part marker for more on drum pattern and other choices.
Do most people work with BIAB without using the "a" and "b" markers?
I would really like the option of being able to name and tag a section chorus, or bridge or Intro with a different letter and have BIAB react to that labeled section.
Here's how I look at it. It's simple, but I try to keep things organized in my head at a basic level before expanding.
Any time you put a marker (an A or B change) in the song, the preceding measure will get a drum fill at the end of it (or a 'lead in').
Whether it is two A's in a row or A/B changes or two (or three) B's in a row. In my simple mind, this is how I can force/control a fill. Whether I call them chorus or prechorus or George, I control the drums/fills for a given section with this one simple rule.
There are also actual literal 'Markers' where you can label a section whatever you want, but the above is how I control the drums, which is what I think you were asking.
Make your sound your own! .. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
I'm not using MAC so I don't want to how to label a bar. And, I don't normally label the bars in BIAB. I label them in my DAW, Reaper.
rharv said; "Any time you put a marker (an A or B change) in the song, the preceding measure will get a drum fill at the end of it (or a 'lead in')."
But in BIAB2016 for Windows I can right click on the style change marker or blank space where the style change/part marker would be and in the dialog I can remove the check mark for "Allow Drum fill before this part marker (normal)" and no drum roll/fill when I don't want one. I'm not sure if this is true for all styles but so far so good.
Can someone tell me how to label a bar? I'm using the Mac 2016 version
Not sure about the Mac, in the PC version you can add a letter to a Bar (with or without a part marker). Right-click where the part marker displays, and choose Bar-base Section Letters:
BIAB & RB2024 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
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."
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!
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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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