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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 40
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I'm always struggling with the solos, which BiaB produces. Mostly they don't fit to the song and the melody at all and they are much to complicated. I would like to have a solo, which is a kind of a variation of the melody. Is it possible?
Last edited by wbe; 10/22/23 06:34 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2006
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This depends on if you mean the soloist or the multiriff feature. Never used the soloist much so I will share my thoughts on Multiriffs.
With the partial regeneration capabilities it has gotten a bit easier. Still I agree. The solo or riffs follow the chord pattern and to me are either too busy, or just a bit off. The best way is to comp them to some degree. I usually will generate riffs on 2 or 3 Utility tracks. For each track I tend to do at least 5 maybe 6 generations so I have options. Usually I get something fairly decent sometimes it nails it. I tend to find that I either don’t like the beginning or the ending. So say one track starts well but the ending is iffy. Then I go to the other tracks and listen to the endings. If I have one I like I will find a good spot to transition by using either volume automation or cut in the audio editor. Sometimes I use pieces of all three. Tracks to get what I want. You can paste them together on one track to eliminate extra tracks.
Another tidbit I have learned is to use the offset start and ending feature on the F8 window to tailor the riff to where I want it to fade out. Or start. This feature is real handy. If you like the riff to trail into the next verse so it doesn’t sound cut off add ticks to the end. 120 ticks seems to equal one beat of the bar. So it runs through the first quarter of a 4/4 time bar. -120 will end it early.
Using the audio edit window, generating extra material, and tailoring the riffs seems to get me there.
I would love to see your suggestion of following a melody track be an upgrade at some point.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,730
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One last thought. Sometimes i get better results when i generate a whole song of a solo or riff and then just delete what i don’t want. Just another option.
I will have to play with MPs suggestion later tonight. The reason i do not use soloist much is i almost never have a melody in my songs. I am learning to use the melodist so some degree. I am not patient enough to write a melody in a notation software!
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2002
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I'm always struggling with the solos, which BiaB produces. Mostly they don't fit to the song and the melody at all and they are much to complicated. I would like to have a solo, which is a kind of a variation of the melody. Is it possible? What an astute observation.  Ask yourself, how can a recording of a pre-record instrumental solo fit your music when the soloist is not listening to your music while they are playing? Fact is, this is simply as good as the technolgy is at this time.
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
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I agree with Dan now but I think we may be getting close to better technology for this. If we could have the Soloist use Playable RealTracks and have better control over Simpler options, maybe it could work. The components exist.
I admit I’m not up to date on trying experiments with this; people hire me to play horn solos on their recordings, so I never spent much time with doing it artificially.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,893
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I'm always struggling with the solos, which BiaB produces. Mostly they don't fit to the song and the melody at all and they are much to complicated. I would like to have a solo, which is a kind of a variation of the melody. Is it possible? What an astute observation. Ask yourself, how can a recording of a pre-record instrumental solo fit your music when the soloist is not listening to your music while they are playing? Fact is, this is simply as good as the technolgy is at this time. Sorry if I am sounding critical, but I have a recent experience which did not go so well. Here is a project I completed using two RT soloists • 3249:Guitar, Electric, Background ModernFunkSingleNotesBob Ev16 110 • 587:Sax, Tenor, 2-Beat Rock Ev 110 https://on.soundcloud.com/48gkkReviews were not good in regards to fitting this guitar and horn into my mix. Not much I could do other than more editing...
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Apr 2016
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I more often struggle to find a tone & style I like...far too much Brent and not enough D.I. to facilitate reamping or amp sims. I usually generate an RT soloist for each instance of a chord progression, (I don't do the "choruses" thing - I use the FORM dialogue to create the full song), then to the regen thing after which I cut n paste from the same chord elsewhere and, finally, if necessary use Melodyne or similar to edit notes to better fit. I definetly used a bar before and at least a bar after the designated "solo" section. That way I can use a couple of pick up notes, have a bit of a run out & often a couple of licks a bar later which to my ears makes it sound like the soloist is playing along. I did this quite successfully with my recent song What Can I Do? Check out from 2.20 Now, getting it to play variations on the melody - that's asking a bit too much. Chose a midi patch and write the solo in.
Last edited by rayc; 10/22/23 08:48 PM.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 40
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Thanks for your answers and all the helpful advices. It seems indeed not quite easy to get a solo with fits the style and the character of a song. And unfortunately it seems to be impossible at the moment that the solos have something to do with the melody because the musicians, who did the solo, didn't know anything about the melody. But I wonder , if this is definitly impossible . Perhaps there could be a kind of inbuild AI in Biab, which analyzes the melody ( like the chords were analyzed) and this knowledge has an influence on the solo. Sorry, just a dream of mine. 🤔
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Why not try this with an online AI machine?
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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So there's a few options....
1. You can play it yourself or get someone who does play that particular instrument to play it for you. This is the easiest way to get a specific melody line in the solo.
2. You can easily open it in Real Band or use the utility tracks in Band in a Box to generate multiple instances of the same exact solo track.... Every time you generate a track it is slightly different. Then , you simply import the tracks into your favorite DAW and use volume envelopes to "comp" the track.... you use the envelopes to play the parts from the various tracks to get the sound of ONE complete track for that solo. I have used this on several songs. The solo's turned out really nice.
3. Use melodyne or some other pitch correction software to change the notes to what you want. You can change the pitch and timing as well as remove extra unwanted notes.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd 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.
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