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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2013
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OP
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Posts: 40 |
Newbie here, although I am an experienced Sonar user.
I've imported a .wav file into a BB project, and would like to have BB play along with the .wav file...play the chords I've entered, in the style I've designated. But all I hear is the .wav file.
What do I have to do to make BB play along?
Thank you.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2013
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OP
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Another issue is that the .wav file starts playing from bar 3 of the .wav rather than bar 1.
???
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hi HDC, Welcome to the forums  Please excuse me if I sound blunt, but from what I read, it seems like you're thinking of BIAB as a DAW; something like Sonar. If that's the case, I can relate to it because that's how I thought of BIAB when I first started using it. BIAB can do what you want but it's not easy to achieve because it's not how BIAB was designed to be primarily used. The easiest solution to being able to do what you want is to use Realband. This combines all the functionality of BIAB in a DAW wrapping. What I'd do is ... 1. Enter the chord chart in BIAB. 2. Set up the song with the Style that you'd like it to play. 3. Make sure the tempo of the song matches the tempo of the wav file. (Note: depending on how the wav file was recorded, it might not be easy to match the two tempos because the wav might vary slightly whereas BIAB is exactly on the beat all the time.) 4. Save the song to an SGU file. 5. Start Realband and then open up the SGU file created by BIAB. It will take a little while for Realband to generate the accompaniment (probably 60 secs). 6. Import the wav file into one of the tracks of Realband. 7. Move the wav file along to match its start with the appropriate place in the generated accompaniment tracks. Alternatively ... Repeats steps 1, 2, and 3 above. This time, however, once the the backing has been set, get BIAB to generate either individual backing tracks or a single backing track. Import those tracks into Sonar and match your wav file with the imported tracks. Hope this helps, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 40
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OP
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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 40 |
I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds like just what I needed to know. I hope everyone will be as "blunt" as you.
Thanks.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2001
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HangdogCat:
Noel has 2 great suggestions.
However, there IS a way to keep the whole project in BIAB, depending on which version you are running.
Any of the newer versions that has the ACW will work, and Version 2013 with its "Performance Track" is especially suited for this.
I recently went through a similar project and it worked out great.
The gist of it is this, you use the ACW to load the .wav file to BIAB. That .wav file then becomes a "Performance Track" and is filed in the same folder as your BIAB song, and with the same name, with a suffix added.
You can then play the .wav file along with any BIAB style.
Let us know what version you're using and perhaps we can step you through it, providing you still want to do it all in BIAB. Otherwise, just use Noel's suggestions.
Good Luck!
LLOYD S
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
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Band in a Box has the ACW - the Auto Chord Wizard function, that can be used to import a digital audio file such as .wav, .mp3 or .wma audio into a BB songfile.
The BB FAQs have some good info on how to use the ACW and pgmusic also has published tutporial and videos on the subject.
The ACW does a lot more than "just" try to identify the chords to a song, once it is understood how to show BB where the first bar of the song is, also tapping a key along with playback in the ACW in order to define the first beat of every bar, "sending" the audio to BB from there, you may have to manually clean up the chord entries automatically entered, but you will have the full song layout automatically done, and the audio will play back along with whatever style you select, as well.
Takes a bit of practicing with the thing, learning curve, but powerful stuff once that is over.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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It should also be noted that the 2013 versions of both Band In A Box and RealBand can use the Auto Chord Wizard (ACW).
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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After you import the wave, if you let BB use it's auto chord wizard, it will attempt to diagnose the correct chords and the tempo to match the song.
Depending on the complexity of the music..... BB ACW can either nail this amazingly well or not at all. I've had it go both ways in the past. In several songs ACW got the chords and tempo really close..... and on others I had to take the time to reconstruct the song because ACW was totally thrown by the chords and rhythm.
It is necessary to tell BB where the song starts. It will take a few tries normally to get it right.
I've had people send me tracks asking for a fiddle or a sax or some other instrument in a song they are working on. Using BB and ACW is how I accommodate them. Since they almost never have BB or send midi tracks, I need to be able to diagnose the audio tracks and ACW is the first choice in tools to do that job.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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