I have had this trouble before and given up. When I want ot delete a track it does not work.
I have the following style loaded.
BLZ_MNH.STY Laid Back Blues (65 RS)
In this style there is an harmonica, which i dont care for and want to delete.
If I go to the mixer and delete it does not work the track remains (I delete both the track and the MIDI )
If I try the main window buttons it does not work either.
anyone have a method?
Z
Would replacing it with the "Silence" RT work for you?
BIAB is not a DAW. You can't delete a track. They are always there. The selected style will define whether an instrument is on the track or not. From there, you can substitute instruments or mute instruments. If you remove a RealTracks instrument, I believe you are just going to end up with whatever the underlying MIDI instrument was.
Floyd probably has the best answer; just substitute the silence for the track you wish to, well silence.
Or....
Just use F5 at Bar 1 and set the offending track to "Mute".
You can mute or replace in BB.
You can delete the single audio track that you record but I think that's about the extent of it.
Thank
you Jane, that works.
Muting - is what I normally do, but sometimes I never want the track again...
John - if you cant delete a track "because its not a DAW" then why is the function "erase track" provided?
Good question Z2; I'll look at it this evening and see exactly what it does.
How would anyone know that you have to load silence instead of using erase? Its yet another, another, another, another, counter intuitive weird going on.
I checked the manual and the erase track is not even mentioned, yet you can get it if you right click on the track in the mixer, or in the GUI buttons
This is yet another basic function which is weird and unexplained
REWRITE
Z
The user guide (and I haven't tried this yet) says "Erase Track removes either the MIDI data or RealTracks audio from the track."
So after you do that, do you freeze the track, so that data doesn't get regenerated? Remember, unless frozen, BIAB will regenerate all tracks (except melody and soloist) any time a change is made based on either the underlying style or the overlaid track (such as substituting a RealTrack for style-defined track).
From what I'm reading, erase track just erases the data. The track is still there, it just doesn't have any data on it, but I suspect that the data is getting regenerated from the underlying style. Have you tried freezing it with the data erased?
Well I typed in "Erase Track" into the help index and got no entry for this menu item.
The choosing silence tip works - but is highly counter intuitive. Now I know that it exists, I shall use this. For me this solved the problem in a convoluted way but it is a solution. I just pity a beginner who expects things to work, that's all.
When I try the common sense route - ie. assuming that erase track actually means erase track. I get two pop ups, the first states "OK to erase Real Track?" and the second "OK to erase MIDI?". I click yes to both and nothing happens.
I also notice that if you have not played the song then nothing happens - also counterintuitive
This seems like junk programming to me, I would never have allowed this to go public if I were designing it (and I have designed applications in the past)
IMO
Z
Z
When I try the common sense route - ie. assuming that erase track actually means erase track. I get two pop ups, the first states "OK to erase Real Track?" and the second "OK to erase MIDI?". I click yes to both and nothing happens.
Cannot duplicate -> erases here just as expected ...
Okay, ZeroZero -
I just played with it using "_BLZ_MNH" (the leading underscore is part of the style name, which indicates a RealStyle).
I think I see what you are getting at, but it does work as expected.
If you generate the arrangement using this style, you will hear the harmonica. If you "erase" the track, you aren't actually removing the track, you are just removing the audio and/or MIDI data on the track. If you hit play after doing that (not Regenerate), then the harmonica will be gone.
I suspect the problem you are having is that the track still displays as if the harmonica were there. I'm guessing you want nothing showing in that track and it should turn white (not green). The problem is that the track is defined in the style you selected. All you've done is removed the audio/MIDI data, but the track is still there. And the user manual actually states that's what happens.
If you regenerate the track (either by explicitly regenerating, or by making other changes to your arrangement, such as adding/changing chords, then the harmonica comes back, because that's what's supposed to happen in BIAB, since the harmonica is part of the style definition.
If you don't want the harmonica to sound, then just erase the track as you did and then freeze it. You will get a warning that the track is empty, just go with it. Then when you regenerate, it will not bring back the harmonica because it's frozen.
When you substituted the "silence" RealTrack, that is the same as substituting any RealTrack, and that track regenerated, but since it's silent, you don't hear anything anyway, but the track still gets regenerated.
But yes, you will still see the harmonica listed as an instrument, whether it is playing or not, because that's how BIAB works. You won't hear it, though. That may not be how you want it to work, but it's how it works.
Hello John, here I am hearing the sound, unless I mute it, it also return if I restart.
The function should be called something else if it does not erase the track, hide track, unload or something better than that. Showing track names should only happen if the track is loaded. Imo
Thanks for the input
Zero,
Here's another alternative ...
1. Load the style you want
2. Mute the instrument/track that you don't want.
3. Save the created style as a new style. The muted track will not be saved to the style.
You should then be able to find the style under the category called "Other styles" once the style list has been rebuilt.
I've just test run this with a Realstyle and it seems to work fine.
Regards,
Noel
ZeroZero - if you are hearing the harmonica, then something else is wrong, because it does work as at least two people on this thread have stated.
Noel's solution is probably your best answer, because it removes the harmonica track from the style. I just tested it and it works. After saving it, be sure to reload the style to clear what you currently see on the screen.
Of course, when you load the newly saved style, at the top of the screen you will see the word "Strings" in that slot, but it will be white (just like the "Piano" track already is in this style), but will contain no music data. The instruments shown are based on what is defined in the style. So you will still see the word Piano and Strings in those slots (even though there is no data there).
Hello all, as i stated above I have a solution now, though I think the feature should be revised and improved
Z
Although you have a solution, I would like to offer another alternative.
The ALT F2 feature (or File > Save Song with Patches & Harmony) allows you to turn instruments / tracks "On" or "Off" for each song. If you uncheck the track, the instrument shows up white (rather than green, yellow or blue) in the mixer and is silent.
It's similar using F5 to mute the track but essentially eliminates the track from the song.
I use BIAB 2013 so it may be different in newer releases
Hi Dave,
That's clever! It works with BIAB 2015. I did not realise that it was possible to do this.
Thanks for passing the information along
Regards,
Noel
This is indeed a clever trick that is not readily apparent from the BIAB screen. This fix has also been suggested when someone requested how to preserve the Mixer's Mute status of a track (i.e., you can mute a track, save the song, reload the song, and the track is not muted). For that problem, I generally set the volume to zero, which IS preserved in the save. But the checkbox method accomplishes the same.
I guess an oldie but a goodie.
I have used it for years - originally to mute everything except bass and drums, but more recently to just remove tracks I didn't need. Not sure where I found it - probably not the help file
If a track is present, even if it is muted, it takes time to regenerate.
I've occasionally had this problem, and found that the song has somehow been saved to audio. If that's the case, switching the audio off does the trick.
Well I have the same problem. I imported a soloist MIDI file. It didn't work so I want to get rid of it. Not mute it. Not hide it. DELETE it so that I can choose another MIDI file in the old one's stead.
There should be a way to do this, otherwise you have a permanently damaged file, which doesn't make sense.
Hi,
Did you right-click on the Soloist track in the Mixer and select "Track Actions | Erase Track". (I have BIAB 2021.)
Alternatively, follow the 1 - 4 on the graphic below.
Regards,
Noel
Hi Noel, thank you for the step out!! I needed to erase a guitar part that I brought in on the Soloist track, and this was what I needed to kill it.
I've also discovered that a right click and "Select Real Tracks > Choose No RealTracks" will kill an unfortunate choice.