I wrote a chord progression using ezkey in STUDIO ONE. Then I saved the MIDI file as EZkeys Track 1CH1.midi I opened the EZkeys Track 1CH1.midi file using BIAB and found that the chords were missing and the chord rhythm was wrong.
The chords were missing and I could add them again by myself. But the chord rhythm was wrong and I didn't know what to do. Has anyone encountered this problem? download midi file(EZkeys Track 1CH1.midi)
I can't open the file. It gets blocked by the firewall.
But if I enter the same chords and rhythm as shown for the first 5 bars and export the midi from EZK2, and then open it as special midi file in BIAB I also get the chords aligned up wrongly and the interpretation of the chord names are wrong in BIAB.
Looking in the tracks view on the melody track the midi seems to have been read in correctly it seems to be the chord table that is not aligned and populated correctly.
It seems that BIAB have problems aligning up the chords to "dotted quarter notes" it all alignes to the start or the middle of the bar for this example midi file.
And when playing the file it plays as a mix of the "imported midi in the melody track" and the "generated chord track from the chord table" and it becomes messy.
It is easy to check the midi file just open it in some other software (Musescore, GP8, Studio One etc).
Look very closly at your bar markers in EZKeys. You have chord changes on the upbeats in your 4/4 timing. Essentially on the "and" or 1/8 notes. I would suspect BIAB will not like this.
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Look very closly at your bar markers in EZKeys. You have chord changes on the upbeats in your 4/4 timing. Essentially on the "and" or 1/8 notes. I would suspect BIAB will not like this.
Exactly. I have run into the same problem. EZKeys is light-years ahead of BiaB when it comes to the positioning of chords. When importing a MIDI file BiaB currently only allows chords to be put on the beat. It has been suggested that BiaB change the chord sheet from up to four chords to up to eight or sixteen chords. That would solve the problem.
The workaround is to use microchords. That may get the chord positioning correct.
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The workaround is to use microchords. That may get the chord positioning correct.
As I learn more about music, I find that the beats of many good songs are not in the positions of 1, 2, 3, and 4. They are closer to the front or the back.
I also tried micro chords, but it was not perfect.
So, the conclusion is that BIAB is not suitable for such songs?
Have you tried using EZKeys as a plugin in Band-in-a-Box? Using EZKeys as a plugin in Band-in-a-Box would eliminate the possibility of Studio One altering the midi BEFORE the midi goes into Band-in-a-Box.
I think EZKeys might work as a plugin in the Melody and Soloist tracks since both tracks can handle external midi..
I wanted to help cause I think your midi file has a problem, but...
Can't you access something more legit, like dropbox or Google doc?
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You may have better luck using the MIDI Chord Wizard, which you can access from File > Import > Import Chords From MIDI File (MIDI Chord Wizard), or press Ctrl-Alt-I. The "Pop (w/7ths)" preset seemed to be the most accurate, though it's detecting the 9 chords as 7 chords. Chord detection will only write chords on the quarter notes, however it will still detect chords that are not played on the quarter notes (as long as the notes are held over the quarter beat).
As well, you can enter those chords into BB like this, without having to use Microchords:
Preceding a chord with a caret ^ will push the chord an 8th note early, and two carets ^^ will push it a 16th early. This automatically takes into account whether the style is swing or even.
If you prefer to use Microchords, this is how one bar would be entered:
You will get different results with Microchords or with the main chordsheet. I suggest trying both and seeing which sounds better to you.
Preceding a chord with a caret ^ will push the chord an 8th note early, and two carets ^^ will push it a 16th early. This automatically takes into account whether the style is swing or even.
Adding the "^" symbol would make it more similar. But it's not the best solution. Also, I find the drums are sometimes messy. So, can I assume that BIAB is more suitable for music that is played at 1, 2, 3, 4? So, you designed the bar to only accept 4 chords? Instead of 8 or 16 divisions?
Not only does bar not support it. Even realtrack doesn't support it? But now many popular songs, a lot of popular songs, don't have 1, 2, 3, 4 beats.
This is actually a good question that some experienced musician should be able to answer. It has me thinking a lot but not yet ready to jump in. But I suspect the answer is a bit more simple than that.
Rhythm instrument need to support the beat (time signature) and the tempo. But of course the chords don't need to be fully quantized and can play ahead and behind the beat (push and pull), a bit at times. But a little of that goes a long way and too much just sounds sloppy. Amd of couse we have swing and straight which counts the beats differently. I actually tried to simulate this in EZKey2 and had a lot of trouble accomplishing that. If I move the chord too far off the tempo gird is simply would not write midi for it. Experiment failed for me.
Melody and improvised solos can of couse take huge liberties with the beat subdividing into subbeats whole notes, 1/4 or 1/8 or 1/16 notes between the beats of the measure.
I would hate to think the basis for this question is simply a midi file which was not properly synched to the beat. What I saw in the picutures of the chord tracks looked like it was the problem. Out of synch.
Interested in what others think....
Last edited by DrDan; 03/05/2507:49 PM.
BIAB – 2025, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud (Tip: No need to create a SC account to hear music - just hit ESC ).
Adding the "^" symbol would make it more similar. But it's not the best solution. Also, I find the drums are sometimes messy. So, can I assume that BIAB is more suitable for music that is played at 1, 2, 3, 4? So, you designed the bar to only accept 4 chords? Instead of 8 or 16 divisions?
Not only does the bar not support it. Even realtrack doesn't support it? But now many popular songs, a lot of popular songs, don't have 1, 2, 3, 4 beats.
The large majority of music ever written, from classical through to pop (and everything in between) will always have a regularly regularly repeating number of beats per bar. The most common number of beats per bar is 4. This is the regular recurring rhythmic pulse that it easy to count when one listens to music. I'll call this "Rhythmic Layer 1" (RL1). It is the foundation building block of music.
Sitting on top of RL1, stylistic rhythmic patterns are then overlayed. For example a bossanova rhythmic style might overlay RL1. I'll call this additional Rhythmic Layer RL2. This could be something like a piano, guitar, drums, etc. In the image, it's easy to see that the piano does not always play on the 1, 2, 3 and 4 beats (even though the chords were entered onto the main beats).
The bass then introduces an additional Rhythmic Layer (RL3). This might be independent of RL2 or it might work in partnership with RL2 to create and overall rhythmic texture. Melody can then be used to introduce yet another rhythmic layer. I'll call this RL4.
Whatever rhythmic overlays are added to RL1, the basic number of counts to the bar is the foundation of everything. This regularly recurring pattern doesn't change.
The attached image shows what these rhythmic overlays look like for the demo song for _BSGARYD.STY.
If you play the demo for _BSGARYD.STY and listen carefully to it, you will be able to isolate the steady 4 beat pulse that underlies everything. What sits on top of this steady pulse is what makes the rhythm a bossanova (as opposed to rock rhythm, or rhumba rhythm, or reggae rhythm, etc.).
Dan, there may be a couple of things in play here:
1-What was the tempo in EZKeys2? Remember BiaB only does integer time signatures so if the EZKeys time signature was 95.497 BPM the in BiaB it would be 95 BPM and that could mess things up.
2-What was the MIDI resolution in EZKeys2 verses BiaB? I could be wrong here but I think BiaB's MIDI resolution is 120 but can export MIDI at 960 or higher.
All of this could come into play in the OP's message as they started in Studio One Pro, went to EZKeys2, and then into BiaB. There could have been a lot of number rounding/changing between those three programs.
PS - I know that when I bring a MIDI file in BiaB from EZKeys2 I know that I will be doing a lot of editing. EZKeys2 is far ahead of BiaB when it comes to the number of chords per measure, i.e. melodic rhythm.
I got banned from Weight Watchers for dropping a bag of M&Ms on the floor. It was the best game of Hungry Hippos I've ever seen!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
So, you designed the bar to only accept 4 chords? Instead of 8 or 16 divisions?
Originally, yes, however RealTracks usually play more than just quarter notes. Microchords gives you 16 divisions.
To add to what DrDan and Noel96 are saying is that - yes, music is often more complicated than 4 single quarter notes per bar, but how often do you have more than 4 chord changes per bar? Entering a chord in BB doesn't tell it to play that one chord and wait for the next - it instructs BB to switch to that chord then play it repeatedly until the next chord change. That's exactly how you'd expect a musician to react to a chordsheet. Pushes are handy to shift a chord change by an 8th or 16th note, while Microchords are great for fast moving songs or accents.
And I think it's important to note that many pop songs change chord only once per bar!
I've been learning music by copying other people's songs. I found that the details of music are very important. In some songs, the chords don't change, but the rhythm does. I used EZKEY in STUDIO ONE and found that it was completely competent. After I found the chords, I also wanted to try it in BIAB, but it didn't work. Because BIAB has some limitations and is much less flexible. I reported the problems I encountered in the BIAB forum, which is what I can do.
I know that BIAB is currently working hard to revise and upgrade its version. I hope my post can help.
As I understand music, I think the most important thing about music accompaniment is the change of details. This change occurs in chords, rhythms, instruments, etc.
BIAB should improve the control of details. You need to pay attention to details when making REALTRACK. At present, all sounds come together, and the sound control is turned on by turning off the sound roughly.
It is natural to equate one bar of a Band-in-a-Box chord sheet to one measure of music on a page of sheet music. But it doesn't have to be that way. In Band-in-a-Box double the tempo and two bars of a Band-in-a-Box chord sheet can equal one measure of music on a page of sheet music! Now there are 8 chords per bar.
Of course double the tempo of the chord sheet and RealTracks play twice as fast. Try changing the RealTrack Timebase to Half-Time or Double-Time to get the RealTrack to play correct.
You need to pay attention to details when making REALTRACK.
We do. The issue is that you're experiencing is one that is very difficult to overcome within the scope of automatic music generation software.
The problem with rhythm is that RealTracks are recordings of live human musicians. When we have a musician in the studio, we generally get them to record as many rhythmic variations as we can, however there are many limitations. Firstly, it would cause the size of BIAB to balloon exponentially - and we already include over 4500 hours of audio content. And secondly (and most importantly), it is not physically possible for any musician to record literally every possible rhythmic variation within a single lifetime.
Now, once we start recording unalive human musicians (such as a guitarist who is also a vampire) or perhaps if our time machine gets off the ground, we'll simply need to secure a few yottabytes of cloud storage...
If BIAB were my company. I will do two things seriously.
Firstly, I will make the chord input table finer and the timeline finer. Make inputting chords more convenient.
Secondly, I will create RealTrack content based on the type of music. I will find others to do corresponding RealTrack expansion content based on different music genres.
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