Hi,

Pardon the dissertation, but I’d like to explain what I believe is a major flaw in trying to either extend or reduce the # of choruses in a song. I’d like to be able to do that right on the gig. There’s no way, at present. I have hundreds of jazz standards, w/ something important in the soloist track, which I put there by hand, and which is intimately tied to the rhythm section, which is type A for the 1st and last chorus, and type B (faster) for the middle choruses. Almost all jazz standards follow that format, and yes, I know how to tell BIAB to just use the same rhythm (type A or B) for every chorus, but that would destroy a majority of the tunes I play. I happen to put bass lines in the soloist track (and mute BIAB’s bass track), but the case I am about to make exists if one puts clarinet or trombone solos or any other instrument in the soloist track. The same case I’ll make applies to the melody track also, especially when that track is used for something OTHER than straight melody.

First you have to buy into the fact that that bass lines or soloist lines, when played by a real musician, are tied to the rhythm. Imagine the last chorus being played, where the rhythm slows down to type A, and the bass lines (or clarinet soloist) are still playing double time. It sounds ridiculous, and that is exactly what you get if you extend the # of choruses by simply clicking on the current #, and typing in a bigger #, and allowing BIAB to extend the soloist and melody tracks.

Here’s an example of the problem. Suppose I have 5 choruses of a jazz standard. Let me represent that as: 1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5A where the A and B are the rhythm types.

BAD -- Here’s what BIAB does if I extend it to 9 choruses: 1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5A, 5A, 5A, 5A, 5A

Now, the 1st 4 5As have slower soloist and melody tracks, since they came from the last track. Since BIAB regenerates the drums track, the 1st 4 5As will have the normal B-type rhythm, as they should. So for the 1st 4 5As, BIAB is matching a fast rhythm w/ slow soloist and melody tracks. Not good. Here’s what BIAB should do –

GOOD – 1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 2B, 5A

You don’t want to simply repeat 4B multiple times (1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 4B, 4B, 4B, 4B, 5A ) until you get the desired # of choruses, because you’d be hearing the same old soloist licks (4B) over and over again. Just use the middle choruses, in the same order as the original, over and over, if necessary, until you get the desired # of choruses. I.e., use 2B, 3B, 4B, 2B, 3B, 4B, etc., as your extension material, and add as many as you need, to the middle choruses, leaving the last chorus untouched.

To summarize – to extend a tune,
1. Shift the old last chorus to the new last chorus, leaving a hole to be filled in.
2. Fill in the hole by repeating the old middle choruses, starting from chorus #2.
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What about reducing the # of choruses, like when I need to play solo instead of my normal gig, which is with a duo?

Take the same tune to start with: 1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5A

To cut it down to 4 choruses, here’s what BIAB does:

BAD -- 1A, 2B, 3B, 4B

So even though BIAB will regenerate the rhythm so the last chorus is type A (slow), it pairs that with the fast soloist and melody tracks (4B). Not good.

Here’s what it SHOULD do:

GOOD – 1A, 2B, 3B, 5A

Now the slow rhythm of the last chorus is matched w/ a slow soloist and melody track.

To summarize – to reduce a tune, leave the last chorus alone and delete the 2nd chorus from the last, repeatedly until you get the desired # of choruses.

If you follow this procedure, I believe you will greatly enhance your product, and this will still work for tunes that only use one type (A or B) of rhythm.

PLEASE, consider doing this.