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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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My experiences to create BIAB files as directly transposable files which includes scores and chords at my iPad are fabulous. Although a directly musicxml export from BIAB were preferrable, the view steps in between which I do now are a very good and fast alternative. The app which is displayïng the results can be found in the App store as "Avid Scorch" ( only a few bucks). The display results are awesome and the direct transpose function to any key also. As well the XML as the .sib files from Sibelius can directly be imported from e.g. Dropbox or whatever cloud. The .sib file is preferred since it produces an almost identical copy of the original, uses the whole iPad screen and can be set to produce larger font-sizes for chords. Some example results can be found here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17816826/Compare%20BIABpdf2SIB.pdfScrolling down the white page is the original BIAB pdf file followed each time by the "Avid Scorch" iPad (darker background, iPad sized ) results of some abritary examples. An additional example complexer page showing the difference between XML and .sib in "Avid Scorch" import is here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17816826/Days%20Of%20Wine%20and%20Roses%2C%20The%20%28all%29.pdf Scrolling down the first (smaller) file is the original exported BIAB pdf, second the .sib import and thirdly the XML import. (Copy link) The first step is printing your file to pdf. The settings of your printing are important since the XML conversion process should not be disturbed by chords that are cluttering together excisting of large root fonts and small added suffix fonts and/or more (4) chords in a measure. So using a small font setting of say 18 rather then the default 24 is important. The pdf files can be converted by PDFtoMusic Pro. The (free trial) PDFtoMusic 1.4.2d Beta 1 version will convert 1 page at the time, which is for many people already sufficiënt. The new beta version which is capable to transfer all available BIAB chords can be found here for downloading ( copy link): http://www.myriad-online.com/cgi-bin/bbs/YaBB.pl?board=pdftomusic;action=display;num=1389372274 It may be still not perfect but it will become perfect later on. To make it perfect for me (and you) now already I developed a "find and replace" .bat file which is used to correct a few chords, deletes and corrects false interpretations, and sizes the file to exactly fit the iPad. I tried it for the 384 files from Real Book for BIAB which I'm using as a trial. I do it all in a batch process! For printing to pdf, I use "Print multiple songs", for converting to XML I used the Batch-process of PDFtoMusic and ultimately the .bat file does automatically run the whole directory with XML results. Sibelius 7 can be downloaded and used for free for one month to create your .sib files after you must be a bit more creative. ( http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/download/get.pl?com=sh&prod=sibdemo ). The .bat file that does implement all changes can be found here (updates possible): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17816826/P2M-XMLtoSIB-XML.bat.txtThe file runs with fnr.exe see: http://findandreplace.codeplex.comAn example .sib file from Days Of Wine And Roses which directly can be imported in Avid Scorch can be found here (copy link): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17816826/Days%20Of%20Wine%20and%20Roses%2C%20The%20%28P2M-filtered%29.sib If you struggle with the process of importing files into Avid Scorch the sequence shown here might help: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17816826/Import%20and%20Transpose.pdf Have fun.
Last edited by robvh; 02/10/14 01:54 AM. Reason: Some links need to be copied!
Musicians and music publishers are still wasting too much paper...come on men we live in the digitised age...Wake up!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
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Interesting work here. I will look with more depth later.
What's happening in, for example, bar 9 of Family Joy with either doubled enharmonic notes or grace notes - hard to tell what's intended?
And have you experimented with the Music XML produced in BIAB 2014 by Sinsy? It's melody only, no chords either, but perhaps combining this with MuseScore or other might work?
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 71
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OP
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 71 |
Creating a correct XML from a pdf file by analyzing the pdf is a difficult task for any program. Normally a lot of touch-up has to be done afterwards. I'm not familiar with all programs that can do this conversion since it is a hughes task to compare them all. The main issue is that I wanted a program that converts scores and chords as well, and do it without any mistakes of course. I did some work with Fotoscore and MuseScore but I was very quickly convinced they both make such a mess of it and needed so much touch-up afterwards that PDFtoMusic was really heaven compared to that, not to say 10 times better. The only thing is that their chords detection was not complete nor correct but they did listen to me and implemented suggested improvements in the beta version. The goal is to do no touch-up at all because otherwise you soon come to a point that the touch-up work becomes as much work as notating the scores yourself from the beginning. So it is better to use an already very good program, learn what goes wrong and discover why it goes wrong and then try to convince the makers to implement suggested improvements.
So yes you discovered a glitch in Family Joy (I will look into it specificly) and no I don't intend to look to any other program and certainly not if separated tasks are needed for scores and chords. The PDFtoMusic people are willing to implement improvements and the beta version does already a good job. I did specificly test it as batch jobs on a whole list (384) of BIAB files to be able to discover all problems involved. My goal is to end up with nothing else then one reliable conversion from BIAB pdf file into a perfect Avid Scorch copy.
As it is now (with my .bat correction file), I'm so close that I already convert every file I use for Avid Scorch since it is hardly extra work but only a few more clicks on my PC and I'm ready.
Matt I'm looking forward to more comments from you and more people who may start to use it. May be some more explanation is needed around the use of the .bat file. Any help is welcome.
P.S.
I did look into A Family Joy and remembered I was surprised about the complexity of how the song has been written (I am just an amateure musician). The short and bad translation of ties from BIAB mgu to pdf causes ties to be detected as triangles. I did delete those in the .bat file. I also did mess around in the Sibelius result to add ties, but didn't succeed. That's the reason of the odd bar 9. Still not a bad result I think for this file.
(What I really like to know is how can you set a different number of bars for different systems in BIAB as shown in this file?? I like to do that all the time but never succeeded! )
Last edited by robvh; 02/10/14 05:46 AM.
Musicians and music publishers are still wasting too much paper...come on men we live in the digitised age...Wake up!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 71
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 71 |
Interesting work here. I will look with more depth later.
And have you experimented with the Music XML produced in BIAB 2014 by Sinsy? It's melody only, no chords either, but perhaps combining this with MuseScore or other might work? Since I'm curious I downloaded BIAB 2014 and looked into Sinsy. But this is some musicXML just generated for a simple single note melody line for singers which has really nothing to do with reproducing an usefull music piece which is an identical copy of the original pdf file printed by BIAB. The files I open in "Avid Scorch" are identical copies created with very little effort, showing all notes including chords better then MuseScore and fully transposable.
Musicians and music publishers are still wasting too much paper...come on men we live in the digitised age...Wake up!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,582
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Robvh, I just had a chance to experiment with the beta PDF to MusicXML utility.
Wow!
This has a lot of potential and already works great on my own music that was converted to PDF. I'm going to do a lot more experimenting now...
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 71
Enthusiast
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OP
Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 71 |
Matt,
I just can't wait for your comments. Do you have already done some more experiments?
The new option in BIAB 2014 with slashes into empty bars does completely mess up the results. So make sure it's off when printing to pdf.
Rob
Musicians and music publishers are still wasting too much paper...come on men we live in the digitised age...Wake up!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac - Special Offers End at 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th, 2026!
Order before 11:59pm PDT on Friday, May 15th and SAVE up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 for Mac Upgrade packages... and that's not all! With your version 2026 for Mac purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks... that's 222 NEW RealTracks available with version Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac!
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With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
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Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!
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- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
- Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
- Playable RealTracks Set 5
- RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
- SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
- iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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- FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
- MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
- RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
- SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
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XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-10 includes 1,000 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 includes 3,700 styles (and 35 MIDI styles)!
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The XPro Styles PAKs 1-10 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
Whether you're exploring new features, checking out the latest RealTracks or Style PAKs, this is your go-to guide for Band-in-a-Box® 2026.
Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac is Here!
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Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Holiday Weekend Hours
As we hop into the Easter weekend, here are our holiday hours:
April 3 (Good Friday): 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT
April 4 (Saturday): Closed
April 5 (Easter Sunday): Closed
April 6 (Easter Monday): Open regular hours
Wishing you an egg-cellent weekend!
— Team PG
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