I am trying to find a way to add some special notes that would appear within the scrolling version of the notation, to indicate who solos in a certain section, like "sax plays here". We use the memo to indicate the overall song form, but would help to see it "real time" in the display. I thought I could use the line-based lyrics or text entry (which seem to be the same thing) as a place to put that kind of thing, but it just seems to copy that text to all choruses, which doesn't help. I could probably solve it by unfolding the song into one big chorus, but that also confuses some of us. Any ideas??
Good question, well stated. To be clear, what mode do you like to use to view the results? Notation? Editable notation? Lead Sheet? Regular chordsheet?
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.
I'll explain our setup... We are a duo, me on guitar and vocals, Norm on alto sax and clarinet. We use BIAB to add bass, drums, sometimes strings for backing. I create PDFs of charts in concert pitch to view on my iPad. Norm watches the scrolling notation in BIAB on laptop, changing transposition for songs as needed for horn selection. Norm is an excellent horn player, but he is getting "up in years", and hints about form of the song, and when to solo, etc. are helpful for him. We keep the memo visible with info on who plays/sings which chorus or section, and he depends on the measure numbers indicating which chorus [like "5a(2)"] to keep track of where we are. So when we have expanded songs to one big chorus, it sometimes gives him problems. Also if we try anything more complicated, like trading fours, he sometimes loses track of things. I thought notes like "HORN HERE", "GUITAR HERE", etc. might help him out. Thanks for any ideas, and thanks for the quick response! BTW, we are on BIAB 2014, so any more recent features wouldn't help us, unless we decide to upgrade. Thanks!
This might turn out to be a Wishlist item if no one else can help, but I have a few thoughts.
In BIAB 2017, I use Bar-based Section Letters to help prompt me, things like I for Intro, A, B, S for Solo etc. but this feature wasn't introduced until (I think) version 2016.
You mention you read charts as PDFs on an iPad. Do you have a bluetooth foot pedal to turn pages? I use an AirTurn by Digit. If so, then unfolding the BIAB song to one long chorus shouldn't be a problem. Then you can write whatever you want as text/lyrics wherever you want. I say this because your real difficulty seems to be that you are trying to avoid unfolding. Do I have this correct?
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.
In addition to Matt's thoughts, this might be useful too.
To add performance notes, try switching to Notation Mode. In that mode, it's possible to add 'Section Text' (right-click on the staff and select from the menu or click on the "T" I've labelled #1 on the upper image). I checked and, according to the manual, this is available in BIAB 2014.
The vertical position of the note is controlled by the settings I've labelled #2 and the horizontal position can be adjusted by changing the settings labelled #3.
The 'Section Text' then shows in Leadsheet mode (see the lower image). This can also be printed.
Woo-hoo! Noel's suggestion works! I had looked at that, but for some reason thought it would just copy the text to all choruses. But since it uses absolute measure numbers, instead of relative to the chorus, it works fine. Will put labels like HORN, GUITAR, VOCAL just below the unused bass staff, so won't get in the way of measure numbers, lyrics, etc. Thanks!
Matt, not sure how the replies work in here, so not sure if you saw my reply to Noel. Works fine to use Section Text Events. For viewing my PDFs, I use an app called SetListMaker. Pretty cool, if you haven't seen it. It has a feature to set auto-scrolling to start a certain time after the chart comes up and go at a certain speed. Works okay unless you fool around too long to start playing, and it starts to scroll too soon! I thought about getting a foot pedal but haven't done it yet. Thanks again for your help.
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
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Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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