Hi tomohawk,
Quote:

Can I assume that a "song" is a chord progression of some sort with a style applied?


Yes. That will work. From BIAB's perspective, a song is the harmony backing that would accompany the melody (whether this melody is sung, played, etc.). This harmony backing consists of all the chords needed to provide the harmonic texture and the style needed to set the rhythmic texture.

Once you have a chord progression laid out, you then set the tempo and key and choose a style that suits some concept that you have in mind as to how the song will sound. For example, is it going to be a rock ballad, a bluegrass song, a swing-beat style or even-beat style, etc. You can then plug in some values into the "Filter" to narrow down your choices that fit the scope of what you want.

Personally, I don't use the Filter at all. I prefer to see all available styles and I then use the EV or SW (even beat or swing beat), 16 or 8 (16 beat notes per bar or 8 beat notes per bar), and the tempo to select styles that might suit.

What I suggest you do is to find the chord progressions to some songs that you know and like. Type those progressions into BIAB, set the tempo and then try out different styles until you get one that you feel suits the song. Once you've found that style, click on the Filter and then choose Show styles by feel and tempo | If feel and tempo match prototype. This will then list other styles that could comfortably fit the song and keep a similar feel to what is set.

NOTE: Don't forget to reset the filter to Show all style rhythms when you are finished because next time you load a song, this filter may still be active and your style choices will be limited as a consequence.

Hope this helps,
Noel

Last edited by Noel96; 01/26/11 11:37 AM.
MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2025