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#111643 04/14/11 04:52 AM
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Quick question. What's the difference between .MGU and .SGU files?

Thanks in advance. Clive

CliveR #111644 04/14/11 05:05 AM
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MGU have a melody part and SGU does not

Rachael #111645 04/14/11 07:57 AM
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To add what Rachael said, a song starts as an SGU file with just the [up to] five accompaniment tracks (drums, guitar, bass, piano, and strings); however, as soon as you add anything to the soloist or melody track, it will get saved as an MGU.

The "U" is for "User". You may find some files on the internet that end in a number or a different letter than "U". These are in the original file format (still supported), in which the last letter/number indicated which of the BIAB built-in styles was used in the file. The default now is to save everything as either MGU or SGU, but you can still save as MG1 or SG8, depending on the style selected. This applies only to the built-in styles, which start with ZZ in the style name.

There is also an MGX file, which indicates that there is a multichannel MIDI data on either the melody or soloist track. So if you load a MIDI file into BIAB, it will give it an MGX extension.


I hope that made sense.


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jford #111646 04/14/11 08:19 AM
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And here is the full explanation from PG Music, in FAQ #85: http://www.pgmusic.com/techfaq23.htm#85


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.
CliveR #867337 11/07/25 02:33 AM
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just incredible. It's like, here, learn and remember 17 totally unnecessary things. Does anyone REALLY learns all that stuff in the FAQS?

No melody, with melody....just save the damn file the way I left it, whatever that is, and shut up, BB. I am trying to write songs and record music, and have no time for your nonsense smile

Last edited by ghgtu7yrtfg6e67u; 11/07/25 02:39 AM.
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Originally Posted by ghgtu7yrtfg6e67u
just incredible. It's like, here, learn and remember 17 totally unnecessary things. Does anyone REALLY learns all that stuff in the FAQS?

No melody, with melody....just save the damn file the way I left it, whatever that is, and shut up, BB. I am trying to write songs and record music, and have no time for your nonsense smile
Perhaps you want the Freeze function, so that BiaB doesn't regenerate. There's a big Snowflake on the Tracks toolbar to Freeze All, or individual little snowflakes for each track on the mixer panel.


Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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Originally Posted by ghgtu7yrtfg6e67u
just incredible. It's like, here, learn and remember 17 totally unnecessary things. Does anyone REALLY learns all that stuff in the FAQS?

No melody, with melody....just save the damn file the way I left it, whatever that is, and shut up, BB. I am trying to write songs and record music, and have no time for your nonsense smile
There are many users of BIAB. What is nonsense to you may be useful to someone else.

You are perhaps responding to JFord’s explanation of the other possible file extensions, but those haven’t been used in ages. I can see a use for having a song in two forms: with or without the melody. That’s all that anyone needs to remember now.

Oh, and yes, some of us do read all the FAQs.


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.
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