I'm guessing this count-in is from another RealDrum, some sort of rock drummer playing at 140. The distortion might be that it is intended to be played at 140 but is played at 100.
Normally I would think it's an error in an index for this one style. But you've had this happen on several styles, yet only in BIAB 64-bit. Puzzle. Still, as the video should be helpful, I suggest you send an email with the video and a note about this thread to support@pgmusic.com and make it attn: Kent
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
What I have found is sometimes songs you made with an earlier version will play fine if you use the BIAB 2019 32-bit but will distort when you use the 64-bit edition. I did an experiment where I loaded my song into BIAB 64-bit and copied all the chords for the song. Now close down the song and make a new one. Next paste all the chords you copied from the previous. Now if you play the distortion should be gone. I saved this new version made by the BIAB 64-bit with a new title. So I now have two versions of the song one made earlier and one re-made which is basically the identical song but re-made in the latest 64-bit edition. If I load and play my original song I get distortion but if I load and play the new version there is no distortion.
Like you there was never distortion using the 32-bit BIAB 2019.
Could you try doing what I suggest and see if it makes any difference?
I have another little wrinkle, Matt. I noticed that the count-in was no longer displaying the numbers in the upper corner, so I went in and checked. Sure enough, that option WAS turned on. I tried changing to a different sound, type of lead in, etc. Still distorted.
Then while I was playing the song, I clicked on "mixer"... there was a short delay with NO SOUND. Then I soloed the drums... and THEY SOUNDED DISTORTED, JUST LIKE THE COUNT-IN. What's more, it locked up BIAB so that I could not take it OUT of solo, nor could I exit the program. I had to use Task Manager to quit BIAB and get it to stop drumming!
This all makes me think that maybe I do have a computer memory problem. I have 6 GB of RAM in 64 bit, and 4 GB in 32 bit, but I'm wondering if the processor can't access that memory or if it's corrupted somehow. Too many weird things for it to be software only, I think. I have another computer, but it's an older Win 7 machine and I don't want to use it for my studio work. Otherwise I'd just load it on to that and see what happened.
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
Jim, I don't think it's your computer, and you have enough RAM. At least, enough for all prior versions of BIAB before 64-bit as we have experience with them. Bring up the Windows Task Manager in a small window and see if the CPU or RAM usage pegs the meter for a few seconds in the count-off. If it does, turn off Fast Generation in Options, Preferences, RealTracks and test again. But I really don't think that's what is happening here.
Funkycornwall has distortion with the new 64-bit BIAB, and so do a few others, but I'm not seeing that it's the same as yours, nor that theirs is all the same as each other. Send PG Music the video and let's see what they say. This will all shake out but right now it's puzzling.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
The CPU usage went up to about 50% and memory at 500+ MB when I played the song. But during the count-in they were at about 30% - 40%, and 400 MB. Just continued to rise as the song played, then started to decrease somewhat as it played for a bit. That's with 6 GB RAM available.
The 32 bit version behaved much the same, but with 45-49% CPU and 380 or so MB of possible 4 GB memory used. But no spikes on either of them.
I didn't change any preferences, since we know that doesn't change the symptoms. I guess I'll get that email ready for Kent! Thanks for your help, though.
Jim
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
I actually did what you're suggesting at the beginning of this 64 bit horror story. I input a whole new song and picked a style at random. The count-in and the rest of the song played fine. THEN, I saved it. After saving, the count-in was distorted just like the other songs.
So, I think my problem is a bit different from yours in that the problem persists even with newly input songs... once they are saved.
But thanks for the suggestion, anyway. Somewhere there must be an answer!
Jim
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
One last thing that I can think of to try is under "Song Settings". It's an option that says "This song has playback problems, disable fast generation". Try activating this and see if it makes any difference.
If it doesn't help, it's definitely a job for Kent!
Well, as you both suspected, disabling Fast Generation had no affect. But every idea we try helps to eliminate the things that DON'T work, so it's still worthwhile.
I've already sent the email to Kent, and hope to hear something from him tomorrow. I will, of course, share that with the forum, if and when we have the answer.
Goodnight, and thanks again for your help and encouragement!
Jim
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
Jim What is really weird is that I understand that the count-in is recorded as part of the real-drums audio, so it's difficult to explain the tempo difference, and why only the 64 bit version.
Could you try this (if not already): Temporarily replace the real drums with a MIDI drums track and see if both tempo and audio are correct, or if at least one or the other has changed.
Trev
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
PS: you may need to change the setting to force MIDI drums to get it to work.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
Thanks for the suggestion! I tried it with MIDI drums and the sound and tempo during the count-in are fine. Only when using RealDrums is it distorted.
I also noticed, again, that when I solo RealDrums in the mixer, it locks up BIAB and it will NOT let me get out of the program until I use Task Manager to shut it down. ALSO... while RealDrums is soloed, it is distorted and slow, just like the count-in!
So, it appears the culprit is RealDrums, somehow...
Thanks again,
Jim
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
I think it's beyond the count-in. As I mentioned before, in the mixer, when I solo the drums (during the song, not the count-in), they get distorted and slow and it locks up BIAB. That didn't happen when I tried the MIDI drums, as VideoTrack/Trev suggested.
Why only during the count-in and when soloed? Why does it play fine if you don't touch anything AFTER the counti-in? I'm at a loss. But the more ideas we try, the closer we get.
I sure hope this helps someone else, too.
Thanks,
Jim
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
Press "Ctrl + E" or "Options > Preferences" to open the Preferences window.
Select the "RealDrums" button to open the RealDrums window.
Change the value of "Amount of Reverb to add to Drums (0 - 127)" and the value of "Global Volume Adjust". Update the settings.
Close the RealDrums window and select the "RealTracks" button to open the RealTracks window.
Change the value of "Global Volume Adjust", "Allow soloing to crescendo", "Add Reverb to Realtracks" and "Reduce Volume of RealTracks to match MIDI". Update the settings and close the RealTracks window.
Exit the program. Warm start the computer. Open the program and test.
My theory: All of these selections automatically adjust track volume level in some manner. One of these settings may have a setting misconfigured deep in the program database. Altering the settings updates the database.
I did as you suggested, following your instructions right down the page, but it didn't have any effect on the problem. It might be my imagination, but I think it's getting worse. While I was checking out your settings, I decided to just randomly check some other songs. I had done this at the beginning, but for purposes of comparing apples to apples, I usually loaded the same songs for each of our tests.
Anyway... the song I chose had a totally different feel and style, and when I played it, the count-in didn't sound too bad. But the very first few bars of the song were distorted (the drum track, that is)! First time that's happened! I'm 90% convinced that the problem is with RealDrums, but which part? lol
Haven't heard from PG Music yet, so I don't know if they're working on it or not. I did get an acknowlegement that they received my email... so, just waiting to hear back.
I really appreciate all of you with different ideas and new possibilities to troubleshoot this problem. If I don't hear from PG Music in a week, I'm going to try to re-install the program. Maybe a file got corrupted in the installation process. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened to me.
Thanks again, Jim, and all you other veterans!
Jim
---------------------
Just a quick addition to this post: I tried putting the RealDrums in a different folder, and copied them off the PG Music drive. Made no difference in the distorted count-in, but it did appear to speed up the loading of the song to play.
This was just a thought I had when I saw a reference to putting the RealDrums in a folder other than BB/Drums. My hope was that whatever was causing this problem was a bad file and that I could bypass that file by installing the drums again elsewhere.
So... still no luck.
-----------------
Another addition to this post. Gets more convoluted each time!
I've found that besides the count-in problem in 64 bit, if I click on the mixer (the tab or the actual window, when opened) or the header at the top of the main screen in EITHER 32 bit or 64 bit, the playback will freeze for a second or two, then resume. This means that you can't load the mixer or do anything that causes the mixer to react, if you want to hear unenteruppted music. I've tried to eliminate all other background apps and went offline at the same time, but it still would stop playing for a moment.
I encountered this while trying to find a workaround for the count-in distortion/slower tempo issue. No matter what I do with the 2019 version of BIAB, it will not work properly. Is there still a 30 day money back guarantee? I'm about to that point.
Jim
Last edited by James Francisco; 12/18/1808:40 AM.
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
[For all of you who have been helping me with this issue, here is another update. And Kent, if you're reading these, it's for you as well! :)]
Called PG Music Tech Support this evening because I hadn't heard back yet from the email I sent Sunday. Just happened to get Kent, whom I sent the email to in the first place!
After describing the problem again and a few other things, Kent was certain that the problem was related to the ASIO driver for my Steinberg UR22 interface. He suggested I re-install it.
Well, I did one better than that and found new drivers for the UR22. Installed new drivers and took it for a test drive. But the problem was still there! Crap!
So, still thinking about ASIO drivers and interfaces, I shut it all down and connected my Behringer UMC404HD, a 4 in 4 out unit. Loaded up BIAB 64 bit. Nope. Still distorted!
While messing around, however, I changed the key and tempo on the song I was using for the tests and then saved it. IT PLAYED FINE! So I tried other songs and only had about 50% success, but that was better than 0! The trick (when it worked) was to change the key AND the tempo, then save it before playing it. Somehow that did the magic. If we can only find out how to do that each time, we'll have it fixed!
The only bad thing about this is that most times when I changed the key and tempo back to what it was originally, the problem also came back.
Frustrating, but the first real progress I've seen on this issue since I got the 2019 version on Saturday.
If anything here gives you a clue, please let me know, because I don't have any.
Thanks,
Jim
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
That’s odd, of course, but this is a great report. It should be an important clue. Does Kent know about your findings? Just in case, I’m posting this to the developers.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Thanks for all the reports, and sorry for the trouble you are having with the 64 bit version of Band-in-a-Box. This bug is fixed now, and should be available very soon (tomorrow for the pre-release test at least, which you can get a link to when it is ready).
Out of curiosity, what is the name of your computer's processor? You can find out in Windows > Control Panel > System.
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