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I'm at a loss here.

I have a song that has a trombone as the melody instrument ... or claims it does. It's in the mixer, it's in the notation. There's no instrument embedded in the MIDI events.

BIAB plays a piano.

I've tried re-entering the trombone, I've tried using the GM2 trombone 2, I've tried removing the MIDI instrument and then setting the trombone, I've tried changing styles.

BIAB still plays piano.

I've tried soloing the track, BIAB plays piano including for the metronome (OK).
If I mute the melody track, the melody no longer plays, as I would expect expect.

I've tried muting some or all of the other tracks.
I've tried a variety of other instruments

BIAB plays piano.

Am I being dumb or is there something very wrong? It should not be this hard to set a melody instrument.


Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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Post the song for us to take a look. But first, try Options, Return to Factory Settings, Most.


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.
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Ya, for sure, what Matt said, post the song so we can ty it. Some midi has embedded code which sets a specific patch (instrument) as the song plays - you therefore have to remove that if you want to set it to something different. Its a midi thing.


BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.

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If the Return to Factory settings does not give you what you want, there probably is a MIDI command on the melody ytrack telling your MIDI sound source to play a piano.

If that's the case, open the song in RealBand, let RealBand fully load. Click on the melody track to highlight it, then click on Event List in the middle of the top line of RealBand. This will open up a listing of all MIDi events in that track including program changes, notes, continuous controls, etc.

At the very top of the Event List look for an event called Program with a number following it...if it's General MIDI it will be Program 1 if its an acoustic grand you're hearing.

Nonetheless, delete that line using the MIDI Event List. Then do a file "Save AS' and save the song as a BIAB file (X.mgu). Then open up the song in BIAB and see if that patch has been deleted.


Jeff


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Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
Post the song for us to take a look. But first, try Options, Return to Factory Settings, Most.


Doing the Factory Reset->Most made no difference.

I guess I send it by email?
I've never done that to PGM, so my apologies in advance if I do it the wrong way. I'll try "email reply" first. If that fails, I'll email support with a note.

Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
Ya, for sure, what Matt said, post the song so we can ty it. Some midi has embedded code which sets a specific patch (instrument) as the song plays - you therefore have to remove that if you want to set it to something different. Its a midi thing.


There's no instrument selection in at least the first few dozens of midi events. I didn't look right through, but can if it may help.


Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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Gordon, you just have to attach it here in the forum via the file manager at the bottom of the Posting.


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Yes, when you hit Reply, you'll see File Manager (Total files 0). It is slightly blue, and it's actually a link. Click on File Manager.


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I have had the same problem - it was due to the midi channel not being selected.

midi channel was set to 0 and my tts1 (edirol hypercanvas)defaulted to piano. maybe the OP has the same problem. it was easy to fix in RB but i'm not sure how to do it in BIAB.

my old thread is here but in the meantime maybe someone could help the OP select a midi channel? mike head posted that this would happen on all GM synths.

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=78794&Number=556521#Post556521

Last edited by Bob Calver; 03/02/21 10:55 PM.
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Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
Gordon, you just have to attach it here in the forum via the file manager at the bottom of the Posting.


Ah, OK.

Apparently that doesn't appear for the Quick Quote that I was using.

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Ya, the midi channels are miss-aligned. Although it all played fine with my VSTSynthfont.

So by default BAIB puts the Melody on channel 4 and Piano on Channel 3. But this song has the Melody on Channel 3. Now VSTSynthfont was smart enough to recognize this and played the Trombone correctly through the whole song. But I suspect the midi synth you are using is sending this to channel 3 with a piano default.

May need a more mididiot to explain this situation. I would say BIAB has mixed channels 3 and 4, but I hate to pull that trigger to fast. Although, I believe this same issue was seen in the recent past and had been fixed. Hard to keep up with the changes. But perhaps others can explain what exactly is going on here.

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Capture.JPG (156.77 KB, 163 downloads)
Last edited by MusicStudent; 03/03/21 03:39 AM.

BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.

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Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
... But this song has the Melody on Channel 3.


I found the above MIDI settings and see the same data (at least at the relevant points), but I'm a little puzzled by your comment above.

If I use Melody->Edit Melody Track->Step edit melody, that appears to show the melody on channel 6, not channel 3. Either way, how best cam one change the melody from wherever it is at present to channel 4, please?

I guess lower-right window in your image, showing channel 3, is the VSTSynthfont plugin.


Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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Originally Posted By: Gordon Scott
Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
... But this song has the Melody on Channel 3.

If I use Melody->Edit Melody Track->Step edit melody, that appears to show the melody on channel 6, not channel 3.
Ya, I see the channel 6 designation in the file, but I have a strings patch in VSTSynthfont on channel 6 and trombone on channel 3 is playing. Confusing??

Originally Posted By: Gordon Scott
Either way, how best can one change the melody from wherever it is at present to channel 4, please?
I wish I could tell you... we need someone to set us both straight. Otherwise, BIAB is messin with us both.

Originally Posted By: Gordon Scott
I guess lower-right window in your image, showing channel 3, is the VSTSynthfont plugin.
Yes.


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Originally Posted By: Gordon Scott

I guess lower-right window in your image, showing channel 3, is the VSTSynthfont plugin.


Ah, yes it is.


Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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Come on Mike H. or Mario or VT or Matt or Noel or some other mididiot. You need to come to our rescue here. grin


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Here is your file in the BIAB-VST. It identifies the Melody track on channel #4 (where it should be) and which I believe is at least part of the problem versus over in BIAB which has it on Channel #3.

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Well, I downloaded the song and it plays fine. The trombone plays the melody, and Channel 4 (Melody) is correctly set to patch 58 for trombone.

[I muted the horn medley, as it just cluttered up things.]

Note that I'm using a hardware MIDI synth, a Roland Integra-7, if that helps.

Gordon, what is playing your MIDI sounds? The Korg? The Kawai? If so, have you found and loaded the correct patch map for it? These are not GM keyboards.


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Thanks Matt, appreciate your input. Issue may be with the patch map as you suggest. My VSTsynthfont player identified the melody on Midi Channel #3, but played the trombone patch on it fine.


BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.

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Hi Dan,

Originally Posted By: Matt Finley

Gordon, what is playing your MIDI sounds?


BIAB's GM instrument on whatever synth it was using(!)

I tried swapping to Sforzando and then the sound changed to the instrument I chose on it. I tried swapping back to GM, but it doesn't swap, it keeps playing Sforzando. I even tried "no midi patch" between choices, but although the L/H tab of the mixer shows these changes, the description continues to show Sforzando and that continues to play.

I guess(!) that BIAB was previously set to CoyoteWT. Changing to that pops up a window that shows a piano default on every channel. I tried changing ch3 to another instrument and ch6 to another instrument, but Sforzando continues to play.

I can patch to the Kawai. The reason I generally don't is that the notepad PC at the Kawai is too fiddly for anything more than minor tweaks. I rarely use the Korg, it's in its bag in the corner.

Last edited by Gordon Scott; 03/03/21 06:46 AM.

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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Originally Posted By: Gordon Scott

I tried swapping to Sforzando and then the sound changed to the instrument I chose on it. I tried swapping back to GM, but it doesn't swap, it keeps playing Sforzando.


Is the way the synth is used different between the Preferences->MIDI_Driver choice and choosing Sforzando (or whatever) from then mixer? I do find BIAB all a bit of a maze.

Last edited by Gordon Scott; 03/03/21 06:52 AM.

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Maybe someone can check if there are any MIDI CC events that are forcing a specific MIDI channel. Sometimes that can cause issues until you remove the particular event.




Steve

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