PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows PC keyboard note entry problem [Resolved]

Windows 11, BIAB 2013 up to date.

I had forgotten about the nifty "tap-the-timing-then-correct-the-pitch" approach to getting melody notes in to the notation. Then whilst refreshing my knowledge of note-entry in general ahead of starting a lengthy piece, I came across Peter Gannon's long-ago pointer ...



... and instantly thought "That's the one for me!"

Well it should be, but I have a problem.

Following these steps produces audible "wrong" notes confirming the keystroke, and also records them to a track (utility 1) however nothing is added in the notation for me then to pitch-correct in to my melody.

Only 2 of the steps have variables, and I tried all!

- "Record-to" options: utility tracks and also "none"; saving and not-saving.

- The other option (sort-of!) is in the interpretation of "wizard". Various operations have wizards available to assist, like vocal wizard, solo wizard, ACW and others. In BIAB 2023 I can't see a literal "checkbox top-right of screen" for one, but the toolbar there has tabs/menus and some include a wizard option appropriate to the tab's function-area.

PGM/Manual resources show the keyboard wizard to be on the MIDI group which is on the MISC tab, and relates also to using the computer keyboard for note entry, so I went with that.

But I get output only as audio confirming the keystroke, and as a playable track of that audio in Utility#1 or whatever. It doesn't however go any further and get put on the Notation, which is a total puzzle now after drowning in endless attempts and re-attempts the past couple of days!

All I can think is that I am now too close to see something blindingly obvious, or that some part of the process has some relevance that I have failed to recognise or has simply gone over my head.

But there's just 3 steps to the process if you don't count hitting the "Stop" button at the end and checking that it worked ok! As long as you have a computer, a computer keyboard, and that they are connected, it really should just work.

So if someone with more expertise in this than I have can see something I have not taken in to considertion perhaps, or has some idea what could be preventing the entered notes making it on to the notation when the notes themselves register and are even present as a BIAB track, I'd greatly appreciate the education!

Thanks (I hope!)

- Under the "Play" menu, make sure "Wizard Playalong feature" has a checkmark beside it.

- If you are in "full-screen mode" with the large chord sheet (ctrl+t to toggle), then the single Record button in the transport area defaults to audio recording. Make sure to switch it to MIDI: In the Record dialog, set Record Audio to "None" and then set Record MIDI to the Melody track or any Utility track.

- As a shortcut, use the Ctrl+R hotkey to default it to recording MIDI, then just take note of which track it's recording to.

- When you're finished "Keep take" it should tell you that X number of notes were recorded. If it says "0 notes" there is a problem, otherwise you just need to find the correct track to view.

- In the Notation window, make sure you are viewing the correct track, where you recorded the MIDI notes. To select the track, either click on the track in the Mixer or use the drop-down just above the notation view.

Thank you Andrew!

That has introduced a thing or two that I wasn't aware of needing to be sure to check/change, and I will certainly take a fresh shot later when back home. Hopefully that should sort it out!

Howard

Andrew:

Just dropping back to say a big, big "thanks!"

Your further pointers got it working for me straight away, and I have now given it a road test on a couple of different things with great results and just one new question to ask.

But first I should comment for anyone bumping in to this at some future point and wonderng if entering melody this way has much benefit, that you should certainly give it a try because for me it simplified an already simple task quite substantially, and was certainly more fun and less chore! In the past I have entered notes singly on quite a few pieces, and whilst not superswift you quickly get the hang of how to use the mouse and you can be going along at a decent pace.

But simply one-key-tapping-along only takes whatever the song/piece lasts for, and then going through to adjust the notes up or down on the staff to the right pitches and make the melody appear is a simple and quick process ... and as a bonus also has a buzz of achievement about it too!


So, to my question ...

... my tapped-in notes always fall on the grid, even when I try to "miss" and introduce that little bit of expression which humanises it just a tad. I have tried with snap off and on in notation view's "options", and with Wizard's "smart notes" selected and deselected, and always with the correct track slelected (either "Melody" or "Utility#1" autoselected in my so-far brief experience) but I just can't play it wrong even if I try!

Again I am possibly missing something obvious, but I can't think of anything else right now than switching snap off on the worked track and even trying to time-in an "alt-click" for the few notes involved.

So maybe snap is always-on for plinking the tempo like this, just to *help* keep things in line?

Or is there a step I haven't taken, and snap can still be switched off?

H.

Hmm, are you sure that the recorded notes are quantized? I would expect the note start times to be exactly as you recorded them. You can see the start time by right-clicking on a note to bring up the Note Edit dialog.

If you are looking in the Editable Notation view, the notes will appear on the closest peg to where they are, but that is only how it is showing them. If you toggle to the 'staff roll' mode, it shows the notes in their exact positions and they can be dragged around.

If you do have a quantized melody for some reason, there are quick ways to "humanize" it. Melody menu | Edit Melody track | Quantize, Adjust times | "Humanize Melody" or "Loosen up start times".

All sorted from that, Andrew.

Again, maybe useful to future-others ...

... It didn't occur to me at all that the basic properties might differ between the notation window options. So I had expected to be able to pull notes off the edit-view's grid, and other-views didn't even enter my mind.

I have just created a few bars of something random to check, and the "off" degree was right there to see and was easily tailored (also the *presence* if useful by adjusting the duration there too, I found.)

Thanks again Andrew.