We all know that in BIAB 2017 you can create multi track drums, why not allow all tracks to be multi tracks. We have the one track Real Tracks and we should be able to combine those.
Computer: Macbook Pro, 16 inch 2021 DAWs: Pro Tools, Logic, and Maschine plays drums, percussion, bass, steel pan, keyboard, music producer/engineer
Noel, as a corollary, has anyone ever encountered a problem with computer resources doing this? Of course it is computer-dependent, but I wonder how many RealTracks can practically be used.
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
Noel, as a corollary, has anyone ever encountered a problem with computer resources doing this? Of course it is computer-dependent, but I wonder how many RealTracks can practically be used.
I do this a lot and so far have never encountered an issue. My computer specs are listed in my signature. I've done it on different tracks of the same song for various reasons including smoothing solos and fills and panning instruments during playback.
One of my recent posts, the instrumentation was all created and mixed within the BIAB program using multiple instruments on multiple tracks. For instance, the pedal steel guitar and fiddle shared the same track on multiple tracks of the songs and I used F5 Bar Settings to mute, fade and pan the two instruments throughout the song. You can listen - Here _ My Sad Story
Well that would give you 26 all up. But I think it pre mixes the tracks first to a stereo file for the Drum and for the Medley track so ram shouldn't be an issue. In the MultiDrum window you adjust the volume first, not sure how the Medley would work with "Play All Simultaneously" without a volume offset ?
This works with WinBB Biab Win More Audio & Midi Tracks and gives better mix control with vol/pan/FX for each track, but I haven't found one yet for MacBB.
Matt, with the exception of the drums track, this can be done repeatedly without stressing the computer resources in the following manner.
Assume the 'style' I created above is something I want to retain and build on....
Render and export this mix to a Wav file.
Import the rendered Wav file to the Audio Track.
Move the Audio track to the Bass Track as a Stereo Performance track.
Kill the Audio Track - Mute the Drums Track **
Replace the remaining tracks other than the Drums track with new Medley Files of 6 Instruments
Render and export this mix to a Wav file.
Import the rendered Wav file to the Audio Track.
Move the Audio track to the Piano Track as a Stereo Performance track.
You can keep repeating the process over and over. There is no loss in quality in the renders.
Using the amazing Performance Track/Audio Track feature allows a user to easily increase the 8 track BIAB limit because together, they function a a Bounce feature.... I consider each render a sub mix and you simply have to live with and be satisfied with each sub mix. However, you can tweak and re-render at each stage of the process to get the mix right...
** - I recently attempted to replace the drums with another instrument and in this instance, which is the only time I've tried, the new instrument was merged with the Drums on the Drums Track. So, if that holds true and the merge is a good mix, this track would also be available to generate an additional instrument.
That's amazing. Thank you, Charlie, for exploring this before I could get to my production machine to try it. I'm very impressed, both by the feature and by your thoroughness. Good job.
I've been to jam sessions that degenerated into something that sounded like that...
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
Hi Noel. Treating BIAB as a multitrack recorder has has been quite useful to me and provided processes pulled from my many years of owning hardware 2 track, 4 track, 8 track recorders, etc.
I have maintained some fashion of a Home Recording Studio continously since 1968. I literally started with a one track (mono) reel to reel from Sears and worked my way up to better recorders from there. I've posted a photo of myself with that first recorder at Christmas 1967.
I went a long time using BIAB without understanding the Performance Track feature. The Performance Track feature is a very powerful and useful tool but it is seldom mentioned in Forum posts and possibly not used a lot. My discovery of the Performance Track feature allows me to do many tasks from within BIAB that I previously had to take to another program such as RealBand or my Studio One DAW or even Audacity.
The Performance Track in conjunction with placing multiple instruments on the same track frees up computer resources by printing a rendered track with effects like Dxi, Vst's to an Audio File and moving the track to another track and freeing up the Audio Track for further use.
The Performance Track and Audio Track allows sub mixes rendered to audio and then returned into BIAB as a Performance Track which is the Bounce technique that extends BIAB beyond the limit of 8 tracks.
I use the Performance/Audio tracks to automate panning, gain changes, fade in and fade out's and to alternate multiple instruments for solos and fills.
Clearly, these tasks may be preferred to be moved to a DAW to complete and I don't recommend anyone throw their DAW away. My intent is not to replace a DAW but simply show these tasks can be completed within the BIAB program. I have found that forcing changes between solo instruments within BIAB produces cleaner transitions than I achieve in a DAW cutting and pasting. Doing transitions in BIAB takes advantage of the generating engine reading ahead and smoothing transitions and solo endings very nicely. I enjoy the results I obtain by placing two instruments on the same track, duplicating these instruments on a 2nd track and rendering these to an audio track after i've prepared my panning, fills and solos using the F5 feature. I render this sub mix to audio, import the audio and move it to a track as a performance track and then render the entire song. Easier to do in a DAW? Probably. However, I enjoy having to plan my song in the same manner I've done for many years and which I find quite satisfying and is a more creative process to me.
This was my first "reel-to-reel" tape recorder. My dad brought this Panasonic back for me when he returned from duty in Viet Nam. It was purchased in Hong Kong on an R&R trip he took.
My sister also got a reel-to-reel tape recorder. She got a Craig, which was the same one that used to go up in smoke on the old "Mission: Impossible" TV series.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA
Matt, with the exception of the drums track, this can be done repeatedly without stressing the computer resources in the following manner.
Assume the 'style' I created above is something I want to retain and build on....
Render and export this mix to a Wav file.
Import the rendered Wav file to the Audio Track.
Move the Audio track to the Bass Track as a Stereo Performance track.
Kill the Audio Track - Mute the Drums Track **
Replace the remaining tracks other than the Drums track with new Medley Files of 6 Instruments
Render and export this mix to a Wav file.
Import the rendered Wav file to the Audio Track.
Move the Audio track to the Piano Track as a Stereo Performance track.
You can keep repeating the process over and over. There is no loss in quality in the renders.
Using the amazing Performance Track/Audio Track feature allows a user to easily increase the 8 track BIAB limit because together, they function a a Bounce feature.... I consider each rendered a sub mix and you simply have to live with and be satisfied with each sub mix. However, you can tweak and re-render at each stage of the process to get the mix right...
** - I recently attempted to replace the drums with another instrument and in this instance, which is the only time I've tried, the new instrument was merged with the Drums on the Drums Track. So, if that holds true and the merge is a good mix, this track would also be available to generate an additional instrument.
Charlie
Please make a video of you doing this. I would love to see the workflow.
Computer: Macbook Pro, 16 inch 2021 DAWs: Pro Tools, Logic, and Maschine plays drums, percussion, bass, steel pan, keyboard, music producer/engineer
The medley feature allows about 10 RealTracks per track, so you could have up to 70 RealTracks at once using the 7 tracks. - this wouldn't use that much memory, because the 70 tracks are never in memory at the same time, they just get merged into the 7 tracks. - if there was a bottleneck, it is that playback is started right away and the tracks are being generated in the background. If the song was playing faster than tha background process you would hear dropouts. The solution there is to press song settings and disable fast generation for this song. Doing this it will take longer to generate this song before the music starts but once it starts it's fully generated and will play smoothly.
The medley feature allows about 10 RealTracks per track, so you could have up to 70 RealTracks at once using the 7 tracks. - this wouldn't use that much memory, because the 70 tracks are never in memory at the same time, they just get merged into the 7 tracks. - if there was a bottleneck, it is that playback is started right away and the tracks are being generated in the background. If the song was playing faster than tha background process you would hear dropouts. The solution there is to press song settings and disable fast generation for this song. Doing this it will take longer to generate this song before the music starts but once it starts it's fully generated and will play smoothly.
Another way to avoid memory issues is to render the mix to audio and import that audio and move the audio from the audio track to another track as a Performance Track. A Performance Track does not regenerate so at that point and you can then add an additional 60 RealTracks to the remaining 6 tracks if you desire, repeat the render to audio and again transfer it from audio track to a Performance Track and continue on and on with no loss of quality...
Well, I've played with the program Pipeline suggested and it works great. I can create screen grab gif files. I haven't been able to get them to all show up in a post... Only one screenshot will post and the others show as downloadable links. Not been able to create a workable workflow post yet.
I'll attempt to explain the workflow better.
1. create a song using the first 7 tracks, a style, any RT or midi changes, mix, pan, set volumes and plug ins, etc.
2. Render your mix to audio and note where it saves to.
3. Import the rendered track. It imports to the Audio Track. The default import settings should be correct to import the audio so it syncs with the song.
3. Move the Audio Track to a Performance Track. <Audio/Move Audio to Performance Track> You can choose any track. I usually start at the top with the Bass Track, but any track will do except Drums.
4. At this point I normally mute the Drums track and set the Drums Track volume to 0. The Performance Track does not regenerate so I am free to change Style, Realtracks, midi tracks, the chord chart and other parameters without effecting the Performance Track. So here I will use the remaining six tracks (you can use the Audio Track or Drums Track if needed) and repeat step two. You do not have to mute the Performance Track, but if you don't it is included with the mix you are making at this point. So if this is a far as you need to bounce tracks, include the PT and Render your final mix. If you want to continue to add tracks and instruments, you need to mute the PT.
5. Mix and Render the additional change mix you've created.
5. Import this mix and move it to another Performance Track. You now have two Performance tracks and seven available tracks (less Drums Track but including the Audio Track if you are recording or importing Audio) My Mixer normally shows PT tracks on the Bass and Piano track.
6. If you fill all seven tracks with Performance Track mixes. You can Render this mix to Audio, import it and have 7 tracks to replace existing performance tracks with new RealTracks, Midi or Super Midi and even live or imported audio -
Once you have rendered a mix to audio and then import the audio back into BIAB Audio Track, all of the other mixer tracks are available to have the existing instrument replaced with a new instrument or instruments. Each track can have up to 10 instrument changes so this process allows a mix to contain hundreds of instrument changes, crossfades between instruments on dozens of tracks.
The BIAB Mixer works like the old style 8 track recorders and the bounce technique is old school recording with the benefit of being digital and having digital storage, you have unlimited instruments and track saving capabilities.
While my example takes bouncing to the extreme, that's just for demonstration. You may never want to put 10 instruments on a track but if you put two on a track and then create a 2nd track with the same instruments swapping places, a fiddle and guitar on track one, then, the same instruments place on the 2nd track guitar and fiddle, using panning, volume changes and F5 muting - you can create very interesting and realistic crossfades between the two.
This doesn't replace a DAW but I hope to show that BIAB is much more versitile and a creative tool than some my have been aware of.
I hope this explanation is clearer as a workflow process.
I have included a gif to show how I move my imported audio to a Performance Track. Thanks to Pipeline for the software suggestion.
To get them to show in the post just right click on the link > Copy Link Location/Shortcut > Edit Post > Then click Enter Image button above. you can put that in the spoiler tag so it don't load/show unless you click:
Thanks Noel. Thinking of the past, the tape recorder mic looks like a carbon mic similar to what would be found in an old telephone. The recorder was likely intended and optimized for voice dictation and not music.....
Such tech details would have never crossed my mind back in those days... Apparently, neither would a hair brush!
I've been using BIAB since the 2011 version and have never been aware of this capability. Thanks a bunch, Charlie - gonna have to play around with this as soon as my wife gets well (just came home from the hospital). Appreciate you putting this information out there!
Sorry to hear Ms. Di has been sick. Glad she is home and you are there taking care of her. Sending thoughts and prayers.
When you do get a chance to experiment with multi tracks, you'll hopefully find it as enjoyable as I do. It applies old school multitrack principles to the BIAB program. There are several other recent threads you may enjoy reviewing where I go into more detail of some of the procedures and features to get the most out of the technique. I think most are in the Recording and Beginners Forums.
Look for threads starting with "How many Tracks..."; Tricks of the trade; (Solved) Move Audio....
I've probably been a bit too vocal promoting this feature so I'll leave you to your research and experimenting. If you have any issues, feel free to ask and I'll be happy to reply.
The medley feature allows about 10 RealTracks per track, so you could have up to 70 RealTracks at once using the 7 tracks. - this wouldn't use that much memory, because the 70 tracks are never in memory at the same time, they just get merged into the 7 tracks. - if there was a bottleneck, it is that playback is started right away and the tracks are being generated in the background. If the song was playing faster than tha background process you would hear dropouts. The solution there is to press song settings and disable fast generation for this song. Doing this it will take longer to generate this song before the music starts but once it starts it's fully generated and will play smoothly.
Thank you Peter for your advice. I mainly want to use it switch between different instruments like a funk bass in the verse and then a pop bass in the chorus. I really wish you could do this with the drum track as well and be able to switch to different drum styles rather than different variations of the drum track, like going from a bossa nova drum to a swing jazz drum.
Computer: Macbook Pro, 16 inch 2021 DAWs: Pro Tools, Logic, and Maschine plays drums, percussion, bass, steel pan, keyboard, music producer/engineer
The medley feature allows about 10 RealTracks per track, so you could have up to 70 RealTracks at once using the 7 tracks. - this wouldn't use that much memory, because the 70 tracks are never in memory at the same time, they just get merged into the 7 tracks. - if there was a bottleneck, it is that playback is started right away and the tracks are being generated in the background. If the song was playing faster than tha background process you would hear dropouts. The solution there is to press song settings and disable fast generation for this song. Doing this it will take longer to generate this song before the music starts but once it starts it's fully generated and will play smoothly.
Thank you Peter for your advice. I mainly want to use it switch between different instruments like a funk bass in the verse and then a pop bass in the chorus. I really wish you could do this with the drum track as well and be able to switch to different drum styles rather than different variations of the drum track, like going from a bossa nova drum to a swing jazz drum.
Dr. Gannon's post indicates the medley feature is available in both the PC Version and MAC version of BIAB. If that is the case, and you can create your own RealTrack Medleys in the PC version, so I will assume it is the same for MAC users.
To create a custom RT medley in a PC, open Bar Settings and Select the RealTrack Button to choose any RealTrack to be added or replaced at any bar.
To create a custom Real Drum medley in a PC, open Bar Settings and Select the RealDrum Button to choose any RealDrum kit in any style to be added or replaced at any bar.
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."
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