sometimes in the middle of a tune i want to transpose just a section of the chord sequence - would be good if there was a way you could select those chords and transpose them en masse - at the mo i have to go through and re-type them all.. (and i'm too lazy for that malarky!)
I realize that I am responding to a pretty old post, but years later this user still hasn't been able to find an easy way to transpose selected chords in BIAB UltraPAK for Mac 2017 (which I love, overall) without transposing the whole song.
Here's a workaround I use, assuming transposing selected chords still isn't a function native to 2017 BIAB.
With the project I'm working on open and saved (C major), I selected and copied the chord progression I wanted to transpose; next, I opened a new project (it turned out it was in the same style as my original project and in C major -- not sure whether that matters or not); and then, I pasted the selected progression in Bar 1.
After that, I clicked on the "key" button and changed the key from C major to D major, and the chords I pasted were automatically transposed up two semi tones, which is what I wanted.
Finally, I copied and pasted the transposed chords back into to my original project. The whole operation took less than a minute, which was much faster and more accurate than retyping 12 chord symbols in this case.
It would be a great upgrade to be able to select a chord progression and then go to "Selected Chord(s) Transposition" in a menu and type in the number of semitones for the transposition, up or down.
If something like this already exists, I obviously haven't found it and would like to know if it does in fact exist and where to access it.
I'm not aware of a feature to do this for specific chords, but if not there, the idea has merit.
BTW, welcome to the forums.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
Welcome, Forecast. Just to clarify, this function has already exited for years in the PC version. Cerio, above, gave the steps, and it works beautifully.
Are you saying the Mac version does not have this command? If so, then
+1 to make the Mac version match the PC version
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.
Forecast, Cerio's method is even easier if you highlight the measures you want to transpose. This way the transfer from and how many bars windows are already filled in for you.
Good luck.
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Doesn't cut and paste work in Mac? This works for me when I want to copy selected chords.
I tried running 2 instances of MacBB transposed one and copied a section but it would not paste into the other instance like you can with the audio edit window.
Pipeline, I assume you first verified that Transpose From To is not available on the Mac version.
Blue moves, looks like it won’t work on the Mac version of BIAB.
You could consider getting the PC version and a utility to run that on the Mac. It may sound strange but Dr. Peter Gannon (the PG of PG Music) develops the program that way.
In the meantime as Pipeline said, this needs to go in the Mac version Wishlist.
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.
Here's a Mac/Win Menu Comparison, Win users can use it to support Mac users, just pause the videos to read, if you download the video it will play clear:
The three transposition options in the Edit menu (on a Mac) are, as follows: Transpose Down 1 semitone, Transpose UP 1 semitone, and Transpose # of semitones.
Even when four bars of chords have been selected, for example, all of the transposition options above still transpose the entire song/project (instead of just the chords I chose), which is why I went with my workaround.
So, it looks like the Mac version of BIAB doesn't have the command, which you have described.
You already did your part, Forecast. You discovered something you need, and we verified it is (surprisingly) not in the Mac version. We put “+1” on posts like this to indicate to the developers who see these suggestions that we support the request. I’m sorry but we all have to wait for the next version to see if it’s implemented by PG Music.
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.
[quote=Matt Finley] You discovered something you need, and we verified it is (surprisingly) not in the Mac version. We put “+1” on posts like this to indicate to the developers who see these suggestions that we support the request.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
I posted about this in the developers area, but only for PC since I can’t post in the Mac area. One of us will follow through to be sure it is seen by PG Music.
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.
A BIAB technical support technician recently concurred via email that the "Transposition From..To.." command that's already in the PC version also needs to be in the Mac version, and he has made a formal request to developers to bring this about, hopefully in 2018.
A BIAB technical support technician recently concurred via email that the "Transposition From..To.." command that's already in the PC version also needs to be in the Mac version, and he has made a formal request to developers to bring this about, hopefully in 2018.
I think this just reiterates how much it is - high time that PG Music spend some developer resources to finally bite the bullet and consolidate their code-base to be truly cross-platform - due to the many lacking features in the OSX version compared to Windows.
We OSX users are second-rate citizens. And yet the Mac is clearly the preferred operating system and computers used by most pro musicians and producers who use computers as their way of music creation or performance.
There is still some ugly PASCAL based bits of code and GUI going right back to the days of the ATARI ST. PG Music are just too unwilling to commit developer resources to remove it. Which would involve a rewrite of some code in a modern language.
And also the most pain-free, low latency and most supported platform audio-wise. Hence why even now in 2017 it is still a free - independently developed audio driver ASIO - and other bits of middleware that one is forced to use if one wants low latency with ones DAW on Windows - even Windoze 10.
I cannot think of another music software company that has a constant release-version disparity and long lag between the windows and OSX version.
The version numbers get a different release date - and yet EVEN when version numbers match for a few months - say 2017 - it is the case that feature sets don't match.
Shoddy.
Yet PG has been getting away with this for decades.
Last edited by nonchai; 12/19/1707:27 AM.
MacOS Sequoia, M4 Pro Mac Mini , 64GB RAM 512GB SSD , BIAB, Cubase, Ableton, Logic Pro, SCALER 3, GigLad, AnyTune, Synthesizer V Pro,Vienna Ensemble Pro, Audiofuse, Fractal FM3, KOMPLETE 15, StreamDeck, iReal Pro White beard, beer belly, bald patch
A BIAB technical support technician recently concurred via email that the "Transposition From..To.." command that's already in the PC version also needs to be in the Mac version, and he has made a formal request to developers to bring this about, hopefully in 2018.
I think this just reiterates how much it is - high time that PG Music spend some developer resources to finally bite the bullet and consolidate their code-base to be truly cross-platform - due to the many lacking features in the OSX version compared to Windows.
We OSX users are second-rate citizens. And yet the Mac is clearly the preferred operating system and computers used by most pro musicians and producers who use computers as their way of music creation or performance.
There is still some ugly PASCAL based bits of code and GUI going right back to the days of the ATARI ST. PG Music are just too unwilling to commit developer resources to remove it. Which would involve a rewrite of some code in a modern language.
And also the most pain-free, low latency and most supported platform audio-wise. Hence why even now in 2017 it is still a free - independently developed audio driver ASIO - and other bits of middleware that one is forced to use if one wants low latency with ones DAW on Windows - even Windoze 10.
I cannot think of another music software company that has a constant release-version disparity and long lag between the windows and OSX version.
The version numbers get a different release date - and yet EVEN when version numbers match for a few months - say 2017 - it is the case that feature sets don't match.
Shoddy.
Yet PG has been getting away with this for decades.
Amen!
Computer: Macbook Pro, 16 inch 2021 DAWs: Pro Tools, Logic, and Maschine plays drums, percussion, bass, steel pan, keyboard, music producer/engineer
There's a fairly easy work-around until this feature gets implemented, in case anyone's interested.
Highlight the measures you want to transpose using your mouse, then hit Edit - Transpose - Transpose # of Semitones, type in a number, and click Ok. This will transpose the whole song.
Next, hit Command+C to copy the transposed chords, Command+Z to undo the transposition of the song, then Command+V to paste the transposed chords back in. You can hold down the Command key the whole time, and just hit C,Z,V.
Once you get the hang of it, this should only take a few seconds.
Thanks Kent, very useful tip. Those who know the jazz standard "Comrad Conrad" (Bill Evans), would also ask: how to make a change in selected chords no only in terms of transposition but also in rhythmic? Comrad Conrad changes each chorus by transposing in the fifth cycle but also by alternate each chorus 4/4 <-> 3/4, etc. So my question is now: is it possible to make also this kind of change in BiaB, and if yes, how? Thanks, Christophe
Thanks Kent, very useful tip. Those who know the jazz standard "Comrad Conrad" (Bill Evans), would also ask: how to make a change in selected chords no only in terms of transposition but also in rhythmic? Comrad Conrad changes each chorus by transposing in the fifth cycle but also by alternate each chorus 4/4 <-> 3/4, etc. So my question is now: is it possible to make also this kind of change in BiaB, and if yes, how? Thanks, Christophe
Chistophe, Good question. It may be one worth posting separately in the Band-In-A-Box forum rather than in the Wishlist. It might get better identification there.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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