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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 64
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 64 |
I'd like to have my drums not start until a little ways into the song, but I don't want them to just start abruptly at the beginning of the verse - I'd like a lead-in drum fill just before it. Using the bar settings, I'm able to completely mute the drums from the song's start, and then choose "back to normal" at the bar I want the groove to kick in; but I don't see where I can choose to have it unmute just a half a bar (or a quarter bar?) before my actual verse starts, so I can get a little fill there. There's got to be a way(?) Thanks.
- Bobby K.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 12,840
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 12,840 |
The way I do it is to use the "rest" feature of BIAB. You can put a "dot" (period) after a chord to signify a REST and then indicate which instruments it does NOT apply to.
Given that you have:
Drums (d)
Bass (b)
Guitar (g)
Strings (s)
Piano (p)
You can now start off your song playing everything except drums, so the chord would look like:
C.bpgs - which means, rest all instruments except Bass, Piano, Guitar, and Strings (or in other words, just rest the drums).
Then, when you are ready for the drums to come in, just enter a chord normally (so all instruments play). You can put that chord in a couple of beats before the verse starts, and I think that will give you the feel you want. So it might look like:
|| C.bpgs | || F.bpgs | || G.bpgs | || C.bpgs | G || [VERSE STARTS HERE]
The drums will join the rest of the instruments and come in on the last G chord, 2 beats before the verse starts.
I hope that made sense. Look up "Rests, Shots, and Holds" in the help file to get more information on how to use this feature (shots and holds work similarly).
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,323
Expert
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Expert
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,323 |
Bobby, if you want a drums fill only for the two last beats, you will have to enter for this bar /X.bpgs X /, where X denotes your chord name. X is placed on beat# 3 ; for a drum fill on only the last beat, X chords should be placed on the beat#4.
Reach for excellence
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 64
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 64 |
Ah, I see. So if you're needing control over the tracks beyond the bar level (i.e., shorter areas *within* a bar), you should use rests, etc., not "bar settings". Cool. I'll try this out overnight after work. Thanks.
Bobby K.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 64
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 64 |
Wow, it works beautifully. At first I was a little disappointed when I thought I might have to re-type all my intro chords with an added ".bpgs" after each one, but then I discovered the "Edit Chord" thing in the right-click menu. I just typed the add-on once into Notepad, then copy/pasted it to the end of each chord via Edit Chord, and set up the last intro bar as "Em7.bpgs,Em7", and got a lovely little fill to issue in the verse. Awesome.
Can't wait to find some other places to use rests/shots/holds. Thanks guys.
- Bobby K.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 12,840
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 12,840 |
Hi, Bobby -
Also, check out the "Copy Rests" command. If you have a chord progression with no rests, holds, or shots and you want to apply a pattern of rests, holds, or shots to them, just type the rests you want in one place, then just use the "Copy Rests" command to apply to the rest of the chords. The chord letters stay put, but it automatically adds the dots and instrument exclusions.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,323
Expert
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Expert
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,323 |
Bobby,
If you want a high level arrangement for your songs you can add a solo drums intro at the very first bar of your song. So, your song will begin by a drums intro for ex. for a 3 beats duration. For doing that, make a style containing only your drums intro pattern and call for this style at the first bar of your song, and then apply your normal style for the song. Your drums intro will not a bit of drum fill as explained thru the above posts, but a true drums intro as we can get in pro pop songs for example.
Reach for excellence
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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