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bowlesj Offline OP
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Hi,

I did a lot of searches and could not find this. Is there a way to play a melody only once. In other words, if I have the song set up with the "loop entire song" checked and I have the chorus repeating 3 times I want the melody to only play during 1 chorus.

Thanks,
John

Last edited by bowlesj; 04/13/13 06:58 AM.
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You could try pressing F5 on the last measure and Mute the Melody track.


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bowlesj Offline OP
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Hi Matt,

I will give it a try now.

Thanks
John


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If the melody has to sound until the very end of the song, add a one beat measure and do as above.


BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Thanks Matt,

It is interesting. I have a BIAB song I added a melody to after I put the chords in and it does this (melody only the first time through) automatically. When I press F5 I get a page that has a lot of properties but nothing I can see to restrict it to once through. It also has "play it on all choruses" set. The other thing is to mute the melody I usually right click on the melody menu item that shows all the time then click mute at the very top. F5 gives me a totally different menu than this right click. Neither menu has any mention of playing the melody one time (the closest is that "chorus" drop down I mentioned. In total I have 2 songs that play the melody only once and one song that plays the melody all the time. It seems like a mystery.

I the end I think I should just forget it and mute the melody all the time and use the printout of the melody (the one created by BIAB) to play it. I am finding it better anyway since I find trying to read the melody and listen to it at the same time screws up my sight reading anyway (very recent realization).

So I guess I solved it by changing strategy. Still it is an interesting issue.

I wish there was a way to default this forum to always send an email when someone replies. I almost forget to check back and I would not have seen your second response. I am in the habit of going to email but not to all the forums I at times go to.

John


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John, try, clicking on 'melody', top line of your screen. from the menu select 'edit menu 'from the list select 'kill melody chorus' option are 1st, middle and last. You might have to do this twice, Once for each chorus..

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John,

Matt was absolutely correct in referring you to F5. This is the solution to your issue. Go back and look at the options in the menu again. The asnwer is there. F5 tells who to play, what to play and when to play for each instrument track throughout the entire song.

There are videos available in the Help section on how to use F5. It is one of the most powerful features of BIAB for arranging.


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For the F5 Mute options, I'm assuming a fairly recent version of BIAB here, since we don't know what version you have, John.

As far as the melody competing with you, just lower its volume substantially. Then you can use it as a prompt, not competition. I do this when I prepare play-along backing for performance. I can hear an entrance, even if the audience cannot quite pick it up, and then my playing covers it.


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Hi guys,

I got it to mute on the 2nd and 3rd chorus using both methods actually. For the F5 method I went to Instrument changes and went down to the Melody and selected Mute (while it said 2nd chorus at the top). Of interest I tried resetting it to normal after the F5 method and it does not come back properly. I reset it and it lost the first two bars of melody so maybe that is a bug. I had not saved the song so it is not a problem.

In the songs I mentioned above in the first post, I was wrong about the melody playing only on the first chorus of the first repeat. I went back and checked and it turns out that it plays on the first chorus of all repeats exactly matching what you guys have indicated.

So I guess it is solved.

As far as my finally realizing I prefer to play the melody from the printed lead sheet without the melody playing it BIAB at the same time, there are two reasons. 1/ I find it plays it a bit different in a few spots and 2/ I will be live jamming soon (using BIAB to prepare) so I may as well get use to reading the printed sheet now rather than having to deal with that when we jam. I have decided I am better off not memorizing the songs. I seem to be pretty good at keeping my eyes on the sheet and doing all the parts (melody, comping, rhythm and improvising). Maybe that is because I have been using lead sheets since age 13 when I first started playing the guitar and it seems much like walking to me.

Thanks again,
John


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