Mac, Noel96,

-- First and foremost, thank you very much for the time you've put into this.

--I (I'm a he, by the way ;-) ) had not set each bar to 3/4 time; rather, this is what BiB sets when I import the midi file for chord recognition purposes. And to my ears anyway, this is correct -- the chords change every three beats. Am I wrong about this? (Could well be, I am not musically schooled.)

-- Noel96, I did not see a pm from you, but I did follow the steps you mentioned re resetting all the bars.

Unfortunately, this did not work -- while it enables the entire realstyle including the pedal steel to play, the result is out of tune and sync with the audio file.

That is the ultimate test, for reasons I'll explain in a moment. For now, just bear in mind that the realstyles except the pedal steel *do* play properly with the audio when you follow the steps described above for Attempt 1. The crux of this matter is to get the pedal steel to do the same.

As for just what the audio file does and does not do in the equation...

The audio file is the track for which I am seeking accompaniment. It is strictly for monitoring; no BiB algorithm references it; it is just playing in the background as I audition styles etc.

It is not causing problems here. But it does detect problems, because if a BiB-generated part is out of time / tune with it, there's a problem with the BiB-generated part.

This is because it is an audio rendering of the underlying 90 bpm, key of Db major midi track (aka File a) or File b); this is the same midi track which I get BiB to detect the chords from). As it is only an audio rendering, it has the same bpm and notes as the midi file, so the two will naturally sync. You can see this if you line the two up in, for example, RB or another DAW, assign the midi version to an instrument (Coyote Forte, Sampletank etc) and play them together.

The reason this audio file is even part of this equation is as follows. Having gotten, outside of BiB, the midi performance in File a) to sound just how I wanted it, I then browsed in my DAW for the best virtual instrument to play it through. I settled on the 3rd party nylon acoustic guitar library you hear in the audio file. This recording will appear in my final version of the song. I will produce the final song in my DAW, using it and exported versions of any BiB elements which I like. So far, until I hit this pedal steel problem, I have successfully exported everything I’d wanted to: three BiB-generated midi tracks, and one RealStyle finger-picked guitar part.

I monitor the audio because this particular guitar performance with the nylon will influence how I audition BiB styles; it is just not the same for me to audition these elements against, say, the midi performance (File a)) playing in BiB through Sampletank or what-not. I prefer my way, because when audioning BiB suggestions against something played through a midi playback instrument which you know will not (or probably not) be the instrument you finally use, you have to imagine how it will sound with the version which is in the recording. I’d prefer to monitor using that version itself.

So I import this audio into BiB, browse styles while listening to both the audio file and the BiB-generated parts playing the which BiB detected from midi File a).

Usually these styles -- whether they are RealStyles, plain vanilla midi styles, or what-not -- play back just fine with the audio (though sometimes I have to tweak volume and pan settings in the mixer.) They are in sync and in tune. But they aren't when I follow the remedial steps I've been advised to take so far.

Next Step: I will open a ticket

I do want to hear that song you created, Noel96, if you could try PMing me again. Maybe what you've done solves this.

If it doesn't, gentlemen, I think the best next step is for me to open a ticket with PG and report back later. I don't want to waste any more of the time you've been very generous with already. I need to establish whether in this case the pedal steel style is truly inaccessible the way I want it within BiB. If it is, then I'll at least to know to look for workarounds, for example, trying this in RealBand as Guitarhacker suggests. (The only reason I haven't yet is that I've still only got maybe only 20 hours of BiB under my belt, and am finding it at times daunting enough without having to get to grips with another new PG program. Maybe it's time.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tDj_VanH3g