Hi I am a BIAB newbie so forgive me if this is a dumb question! I am using an MGU file I found for the Jazz Standard 'Misty'.
I am using the Real Tracks style _SLOWBAL.STY which generally sounds great. However, there is a track called Strings which plays the Melody AND String pads. Not sure how/why it has 2 things on the same track. Anyway, the issue is that the melody part of this track is way too loud. I can reduce the volume of the track in the mixer but that pulls down the strings volume as well, which is fine without being reduced. Is there some way of separating the Melody part (Played with a synth sound) from the Strings part so I can control them independently? Hope that makes sense! Cheers Mark
If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all... BIAB 2019 Mac on a MacBook Pro. All paks & Styles.
The _SLOWBAL style only consists of Bass, Piano and Drums. What you have on the Melody track seems to be suggesting that you've either created a melody or you've loaded in a midi file. Is this correct?
Hi Noel Thanks for the quick reply. The MGU came off the Net. To be honest I have been trawling around all over the place looking for a set of Jazz standards to match up with what we are working on (Me Guitar, Wife singing). So it could have been from anywhere But the arrangement seems quite good, just the problem with this track
So you may well be right that the person that uploaded the file had dropped in some other stuff for the melody line and strings
Is there any way to extract them separately or is it now like salt in the water
If not, any suggestion on alternative BIAB files for Misty with Melody?
Thanks very much Mark
If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all... BIAB 2019 Mac on a MacBook Pro. All paks & Styles.
Thanks for the file. It made finding a solution much easier.
As it turns out, the harmony is easily removed in this instance. The person who created the file has used BIAB created harmony that's found under the "Harmony" menu item. Fortunately, they had not written it to the Melody track.
My solution...
The information that I give below is from BIAB (Windows). It will be similar for BIAB (Mac).
When I clicked on the "Harmony" menu and selected "Melody Harmony"...
... I could see that Harmony #151 had been selected.
All that I needed to do was to scroll to the top of the harmony selection window and select "<no harmony>".
After that, I simply changed the midi sound (patch) on the Melody track to piano and all was fine.
NOTE: I didn't pick it up from the image in your original post (I was slow!), but if you look at the mixer window, it's possible to see all this information on the Melody track. (20/20 hindsight, I guess!)
Thanks noel96, I too was having the same problem with one song for years and would mute the thru channel each time the song played. Even BIAB support couldn't help me, or possibly I did not understand the help they gave me.
Thanks so much for doing that Noel, sounds much better now.
Just wondered also if it is possible to somehow retain the strings as well (maybe on a separate track?) as they sound quite nice in the arrangement. Just need to be able to control the volume of them and the melody line piano individually.
If not, no worries, this is great now, Thank you!
Mark
Last edited by mark.ogier; 09/06/1610:22 PM.
If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all... BIAB 2019 Mac on a MacBook Pro. All paks & Styles.
Glad I could help. I don't have the answer for this at the moment because I haven't used BIAB harmony very often over the years. I need to play around with the program for a bit and see if I can accomplish what you're after.
The first thing that needs to be done is to copy the Melody track to the Soloist track.
This is done via the Melody menu as shown below using a blue rectangle.
Now set the MIDI patch on the Soloist track to Piano.
The MIDI patch on the Melody track should be set to Strings. If there are existing patch changes on the Melody track, go to 'Bar Settings' and select the "Reset all bars" option. Then reload the strings patch.
Just followed your excellent instructions in my BIAB and perfect!
Thank you so much for all your help! You should write a book 'The BIAB Real Book'
Maybe you could point me in the direction for some help with another thing (not wanting to mix up the thread too much).
It is my hope that I can use my BK7M sound module to play general MIDI files. Is there a decent step-by-step guide to exporting a song (i.e. this Misty song) as General Midi so I can load it up in the BK7M and play using that. Bottom line is, I don't want to take a Laptop and all the gear it entails, to a gig, just a hardware sound box and a USB stick full of midi files.
Thanks again, Mark
If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all... BIAB 2019 Mac on a MacBook Pro. All paks & Styles.
To do this, click on the .MID button on the toolbar (or File - Save Special - Save Song as MIDI File), then in the window that appears, click on "File on Disk".
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XPro Styles PAK 11 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 (and higher) is here with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 31 RealTracks/RealDrums!
Guess who’s back again? That’s right! It’s our XPro Styles PAK’s triumphant return with the 11th edition in this series! 100 new styles are coming your way spread across the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres. And this edition's wildcard genre explores the immense and far-reaching catalogue of electronic music! The included 31 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
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XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2026 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
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In this PAK you can find: dulcet folk ballads, funky gospel country, Brazilian jazz fusion, upbeat 1980s pop, classic Americana, a plethora of breezy bossa novas, indie singer-songwriter, scintillating synthwave, exuberant electronica, and many, many more!
Special offers available until August 31st, 2026!
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Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 22 requires the 2026 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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