If I export midi tracks from Biab, the quantizing is not really great. If there are correct showing notes in Notation view, it should be possible to create exact midi files.

Tried highest PPQ.

Or am I missing something.

I'm not sure if I am completely following, but currently BiaB tempo values are restricted to whole values (123 bpm, 124 bpm etc).

If you imported that into a MIDI song with a different absolute tempo setting (e.g. 123.5 bpm), then you would experience a quantizing issue.

If I create a 120 bpm midi track and export it to my daw at 120 bpm. If I analyze it, none of the notes snap to grid. They are all a little bit late or early, or to short. If I select those notes, I get values like 13/32 or 0.05 length. I do not have any 1/4, 1/8, etc notes.

OK, That sounds familar. Could it be this??
The default here is 40, I always need to set to zero.

Otherwise, depends on how the midi is made. Perhaps this midi is not quantized and is transcribed? or is real midi played by artist? What is the source of the midi (style)?

Just checking, when you say you tried the highest PPQ, you changed from 120 to 960, yes? Actually, I think that would be counter productive here. It doesn't go lower that 120, the default, but does that help or hurt?

In newer versions of BIAB, look at Edit, Slide Tracks. In older versions, it was under the Play menu. Are the checkboxes checked for slides and humanize? Turn those off.

Audiotrack already mentioned, your BIAB tempo is limited to an integer. However, in porting BIAB files to a pro studio, I have found that precision isn't always there. In other words, a rendered file at the tempo of 120 might come into a pro studio at 119.87; something like that. I don't know a workaround for that unless the DAW software has a snap function.

I changed the amount of ticks from 40 to 0. That improved the chord output. Because they were also off. Tried several settings, but the melody is not quantized.

The melody was generated with the Melodist.

Mark, I would not have expected that from MIDI. Did you check the Slide Tracks settings I mentioned?

I have tried the Slide tracks. Doesn't make a difference.

Thanks, Leo. I admit I'm reaching here, but what sound card do you use?

Gigabyte GTX 560

Not sure if this influences midi length, but I can't hear the difference. I am not that good. I can only see it.
Quantize in my daw afterwards is complicated. Some straight songs have triplets. I can choose with option, but not both.

I think this is a build in humanize thing. Because I do believe Biab is not capable of creating 1/4 notes if it is a 1/4 note.

Dr to

Yeah. What you're missing is that real musicians don't snap everything right to the grid.

MIDI is as mechanical as it gets and it should be perfectly aligned unless there is something at work he we do not yet understand. I wonder about this if it is something PG Music should see.

I was under the impression that BIAB aimed at creating more or less realistic parts.

Matt, that is spot on. That is why I started this. Is it an error or is humanize done on purpose.

Byron, Yes, and that’s why it has settings. I have always assumed if you turn off any ‘humanize’ settings, you’ll get mechanical precision. But perhaps that’s wrong.

Leo, there may be settings in the style that cause this, and that would be intentional.

Found more info. I think it is not an error, but humanize is integrated. I had a look at Melody > Edit melody track > Step edit melody. From a song created by the Melodist.

The starting points are on different clicks and the durations also varies. So it is done on purpose and this explains the variations in the midi. Correct me if I am wrong.

Very good. I don’t use the Melodist so I will defer to others.

OK. He said this: "From a song created by the Melodist" so that was the basis for my comment.

i think this video explains why BIAB midi is not exactly quantized. at least it does if the way BIAB styles are created hasn't changed. drums are entered on a grid but at about 12.48 on this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28IjWyLQBgM

you'll see that BIAB midi style parts are played in on a midi keyboard when a style is created. they are not 'humanised' - they are played by a human so naturally 'humanised'. hence they might not exactly quantise as midi parts.

this was a trip down memory lane as i learnt BIAB from floppy discs. do you think i'm right?

Bob, I do agree, and that's why I mentioned the stylemaker.

Leo, unless I've misunderstood, the Gigabyte GTX 560 is a graphics card. Does that mean you do not have a separate sound interface? Regardless of the topic of this thread, you might want to consider that as an area for possible improvement: something like a Focusrite or Presonus unit. I have also read that the MIDI timing of a built-in soundcard can be poor, although I don't that that's what we are seeing here.

My mistake. I was a bit tired. I have a M-Audio Delta 1010LT sound card.

For me, the problem is clear now. Melodist creates humanized tracks and it is not an error. Maybe I shouldn't make a big deal about that. RealTracks and Super tracks have the same, because they are played by humans.

Same for downloading other midi files to my daw. Some are humanized and some are quantized. And not an error in my daw or in a midi file.

Exporting chords from Biab was a different problem. Dan explained this (page 1). Default chord export is 40 ticks early. When I import chords with 40 ticks early, the import results are all 40 ticks early. So This causes a problem if I do not correct this. But this was also not a fault in Biab, but a setting I didn't know.

So I am very happy with the results here and I can move on.

Hi Leo,

If the problem is with MIDI melody that you have entered, then read on. If not, then there is no point reading this post.

In Notation Mode, if you click on "Opt", you will be taken to a set of preferences that affect melodies entered using Notation Mode. In the middle column, you'll see a setting called "Tick Offset". By default BIAB has this set and it changes automatically depending on what style is chosen. This setting causes all melody notes that are entered to be time-shifted by whatever value is shown.

I always disable this. If you have a look at my image below, numbers 3, 4, 5 show my settings. These are the disabled settings.

Hope this helps,
Noel

The problem is with midi, but in PianoRoll, not in Notation. Notes are humanized and this is visible in PianoRoll only. But thanks for the info. Filled in a part of Biab that was unknown for me.

Leo,

I haven't read through all the above posts because I don't have time to spare at the moment. As a consequence, I apologize if you've already answered these questions.

Just to clarify...

Is the MIDI that you are saving from styles using Realtracks or styles using MIDI?

Regards,
Noel

LEOK.
out of curiosity do you have the same problem in realband ? just an idea. run a trak test maybe.

best
om

Hi Noel. It is MIDI, but the key is that his melody originates in The Melodist, which he has discovered does intentionally introduce some human-feel playing apart from the drums. So his problem is explained and basically resolved.

The thread raised lots of questions, but if the answer is very specifically just about The Melodist, then he's OK. My concern is that someone might draw incorrect conclusions about general MIDI use from the thread.

Thanks, Matt.

I needn't try and solve any problem then. There are MIDI quantize facilities available on the different tracks under "Edit MIDI". To get these to work for Realtracks saved as MIDI, I'm guessing that after the MIDI file has been created, it would be necessary to load that MIDI file into BIAB and then run the quantize process.

Thanks again for bringing me up to date.
Noel