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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 11
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 11
Hi,

It's not intuitive, but I figured out how to enter 8th-note triplets in a straight-time song by right-clicking the time slider area and changing the resolution for a single beat of a measure. But I cannot figure out how to get triplets to display as quarter-note triplets. I've tried manually setting the note durations to 80 ticks, I've added slurs between 8th-note triplets, all to no avail. The issue is that I want the quarter-note triplets to display and print in fake sheet view. This is a pretty common need in latin jazz. Thanks.

Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hi Chris,

I've had a bit of a problem with this, too. One thing that I always keep in mind, though, is that BIAB is not specialized music notation software. It's auto-accompaniment software that has some music notation capabilities. When it comes to notating music, I have found it better to use software specifically designed for that purpose as it offers more flexibility. This is not meant to criticize BIAB because most of the time, BIAB lead sheets suit me fine. When I want a little more, though, I use an old version of Encore that I have. I simply save a MIDI file and read it in to Encore: this gives me the melody line and all I need to do is to "dress it up" a bit. (I also mention that recently Peter Gannon said in these forums that BIAB developers may revisit notation in a future upgrade. So who knows what's around the corner!)

All the above being said, you might try changing the tick offset to zero. Guys in here have recommended that in the past. To get to this, enter "Notation mode" and then select "Opt." over on the left side of the screen just above the top of the staff. The tick offset is located in the middle column and near the bottom.

All the best,
Noel


MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2026
Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hi Chris,

Band in a Box FAQ #25 may answer your question:

Quote:


25. How do I display 'Swing' notation (triplets) and 'Even feel' notation (sixteenths) in the same song? How do I enter quarter note triplets?

You can toggle between Swing and Even feel notation by enabling/disabling 'Triplet Resolution' in the Notation Window Options dialog. Alternatively, you can change the resolution for any beat individually by doing the following:

In the Notation Window, activate 'editable notation mode' by pressing the [N] button once. You should see groups of vertical dashed lines.

Right-click on the time indicator line above the beat that you want to change. This will bring up the Beat Resolution dialog. The time indicator line is the narrow horizontal space above the lyric entry area; it contains a little black cursor that shows the current position of your song.

In the Beat Resolution dialog, set the number of beats to 3 if you are in an even feel style and want triplets, or 4 if you are in a triplet style and want sixteenths.

Assuming that you are in triplet resolution, you can insert an eighth note triplet by placing notes on three consecutive dashed lines. For quarter note triplets, place a note on every second dashed line. Note that while your music will always play the way you input it, you may not always be able to get triplets to display exactly how you want. This a limitation of the Band-in-a-Box notation display.

If you find that a quarter note triplet you have entered does not display with the proper triplet notation (ie 3 quarter notes with a '3' over top of them), note that:

In the Notation Window Options dialog, the "Tick Offset" setting can be used to adjust how the notes are displayed. Try setting this to zero; this may allow your triplet to be displayed properly.

Quarter note triplet display will not work as well if you are using an even feel style and are changing an individual beat to triplet feel. It works better if the overall feel of the style is a triplet feel.

Quarter note triplets will never display properly if they span beats 2 and 3 in any measure.







--Mac

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