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#88307 10/16/10 11:08 PM
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NOLAGuy Offline OP
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I haven't seen a post on this, but asking if there is a way when using the StylePicker to preview a style without losing the original style when exiting the StylePicker. The last style previewed replaces the original style.

When I'm looking for the "right" style, I preview several styles using the button at the top to preview/play the style starting at whatever bar was highlighted when I started or the last bar on which the previous preview ended. I'd like to be able to flip back to the original style to compare, but have to remember it or reload the song. Am I previewing incorrectly?

The 2nd question: Is there a way from within the StylePicker to restart the song at Bar 1, so I can preview the selected style from the beginning of the song without exiting Stylepicker, moving the cursor to Bar 1, and reopening the StylePicker after each style previewed?


Cz...
BIAB,Bandlab Cakewalk,Kontakt, Cantabile, SampleTank4,IK BX-3, VB3, iZotope Suite, IK TRacks, Melodyne Studio
Kurzweil PC4SE, AXIOM-61key & IKiRigPro-32key boards, Roland SD-50 MIDI, Behringer 404HD, Maschine MK3,TC Helicon Voiceworks
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What I do to get the original back is to use the Open command to reload the file again. I tell BB not to Save the version that is onscreen and has the unwanted Style selected.

As for your 2nd question, that would be a good feature request for the Wishlist Forum.

Meanwhile, check into the Looping function which allows the looping of a highlighted song area...

In the past, I have found that if I first check the LOOP checkbox to the right of the songtitle, at least the song will repeat again and again while I have the Stylepicker window open and am auditioning styles using doubleclick. If the song has lots of repeats I sometimes temporarily change those to 1 before opening the Stylepicker also.

Sometimes, if I really am concentrating on looking for a certain style in one part or another of a BiaB file, I will Open the whole file and then Edit it down to just the bars I'm interested in, Save that under a new name using SaveAs so I don't overwrite and lose the original file, then use that shortened version for auditioning styles. For example, you could highlight and delete everything but the opening bars, set those to repeat, set Loop to true and then audition styles with only that part playing.


--Mac

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If you are going to wish list question 2 - this might be a good way.

When you are in the chord sheet, you can select a range of measures, hit F10, and it will loop those measures. If, while it is looping, you hit space bar, it will stop. If you then hit F10, it will start the loop again, from the first selected measure. Unfortunately, when in the style picker, this feature is ignored.

So maybe a good wish is for the looping feature (F10 and space bar) be in effect while in the style picker.


kelso

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What I've been doing is noting the original style name so that I can change it back if I don't like the current one. As Mac says, you can use the loop to have it repeat over and over while auditioning styles.

Stan


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For your first question - if you don't normally use the Style Picker's "Favorites" feature, make your current style a favorite when you enter the SP. Then when you want to get back to it, click "Only Show Favorites" and there it is. If, on your journey through styles and you fond others you like, click them a favorite and you will have a nice list of all you candidate styles (but of course, you'll have remember which was the initial style.


kelso

Dell Desktop XPS 8100 W10 HomePrem/64 / Core i5 760 (quad, 2.8GHz) / 8GB DDR3 / 1 TB SATA / ViewSonic VG2428wm / EMU1616 PCI / Event ASP6 Active Monitors / BIAB 2019 64 bit (609) / Cakewalk
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NOLAGuy Offline OP
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Thanks for the tips. I will plan to file a wish list request to enhance the StylePicker.

One other thought is whether we should request PG Music to add more song examples to the styles to help in finding a good sounding style. I am sure that contributors to this forum may be willing to submit song examples as they find styles that work well.

And yes, I realize that styles can be a very personal preference, but at times you just need a hint for a starting style that works with the tune. Just yesterday, I went looking for a style to use with Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road" which is basically a 2/4 feel. Search on the song title or even for Elton John yielded no results, and a search for 2/4 in the text hit on some Norton styles that I have, but none sounded quite right. So I wound up spending about 20 min previewing styles and settled on the "literock2" style just to get on with playing the song for personal enjoyment.

So I am quite sympathetic with other posters that have sought help in finding appropriate styles for songs and enjoying the play-along features of BIAB.


Cz...
BIAB,Bandlab Cakewalk,Kontakt, Cantabile, SampleTank4,IK BX-3, VB3, iZotope Suite, IK TRacks, Melodyne Studio
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Quote:


The 2nd question: Is there a way from within the StylePicker to restart the song at Bar 1?






This has been "wished for" many, many times.

As for your first question, I can tell you what I do.

When trying out Styles, I enter the bare bones of the song ... I don't worry about an exact arrangement yet at this point.

I try a few Styles that I think might work.

When I hit on one that sounds ok (though it might not be perfect) I save it with this file name:

01 "Song Name" [STYLE] 01

Then I go back to the Style picker and select to only list Styles that match the feel and tempo.
That greatly reduces the number to choose from.

Each variation there after would be 02 "Song Name" ..., 03 "Song Name" ... etc.

When I find a Style I really want to use, each song is numbered [STYLE] 02 and so forth.

Also - make sure to keep track in Notes what changes you've made.

Hope that helps.

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