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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2011
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Hi Everyone,
I'm using BIAB 2014 and trying to use the line based method to enter song lyrics. Perhaps some may wonder why not try note based lyric entry. I seldom use the melody track and never enter a midi melody. As you know note based lyric entry works only if the melody track has a midi based melody. I normally don't enter lyrics at all so this is a learning experience for me.
To summarize my experiment I click on the bar I want to start with (bar 9 in this case), open the notation window, enter the words that will be sung over the four bars, enter the "/" to indicate end of line, down arrow to the next line and repeat the process. Finally I save the song. Note: I've tried using, and not using "/" with no difference.
Use the up arrow to scroll back up and words are gone except for the words for bars 9 to 13 and the first word for each four bar line.
Change from notation to chord window or exit BIAB, reopen and reload song; same thing. Big lyrics window doesn't show any lyrics.
Since I haven't tried using lyrics before everything is pretty much at default for the notation window, all I've changed is to have guitar tab displayed and printed. I haven't made any settings for lyrics.
Last edited by JimFogle; 04/15/14 09:39 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 647
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 647 |
You can 'cheat' the midi with some careful planning.
On the first beat of bar 9, put a note - any note. You can the add any amount of lyrics.
Then delete the note. The lyrics will stay associated with the first 'note' of the bar, even if it's not there.
You can actually edit this midi event. Click the button with the # mark, then click lyrics.
Note lyrics are not really associated with a note but with a midi event / location. There can be several events associated with this location, including notes, lyrics, changes to instruments, and many others.
Often a lyric that is not associated with a note is a problem, but in your case it may be a salvation
BIAB for Windows Version 2019 (643)
Windows 10 (1909)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 6,722
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I hope I live long enough to see an easier way. I.e., open a window type in lyrics and it will scroll for you along with the chord chart.
Fingers crossed, until then it's still the memo window for me.
Just my 2.8 cents, adjusted for inflation.
Later,
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 11,016
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OP
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Dave & Danny,
Thanks for your answers however, based on your responses, I'm starting to believe the line based lyric entry feature may not be as popular a feature with forum members as I thought.
In the past I've placed lyrics in memo but didn't like putting them there because I'd rather use the space to keep track of my revisions or production thoughts.
The workaround of inserting phantom events into the melody track might be an interim solution but I'd prefer the line based entry feature work as documented in the help file.
Here are some follow-up questions. Do any forum members use the line based lyric entry feature? Is it possible the feature worked in past versions of BIAB but is not working now? Should I report my experience with this feature to PG Music support?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 6,722
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 6,722 |
You can 'cheat' the midi with some careful planning.
On the first beat of bar 9, put a note - any note. You can the add any amount of lyrics.
Then delete the note. The lyrics will stay associated with the first 'note' of the bar, even if it's not there.
You can actually edit this midi event. Click the button with the # mark, then click lyrics.
Note lyrics are not really associated with a note but with a midi event / location. There can be several events associated with this location, including notes, lyrics, changes to instruments, and many others.
Often a lyric that is not associated with a note is a problem, but in your case it may be a salvation Not trying to hijack the thread in anyway and thank you for the cheat/workaround suggestion . . . but I am thinking if there is not an easier way yet, it simply means not enough users care about one. I'll just keep dreaming . . . small tear rolling down right cheek. LOL! Later,
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2008
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Hi Jim, Here's a link to a video clip on entering lyrics. It's on the PG Music Youtube site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joU7xrWDXbQI don't know if it will help or not but I suspect it will give some insight. Regards, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Dave, Again thanks for your workaround. I haven't tried it yet but strongly suspect the workaround will work and may end up being the method I use. One reason I did not want to enter any midi into the melody track is because I place a RealTrack in the melody track and do not want to create a conflict between midii and audio.
Danny, I do not think your comments hijacked the thread at all. I agree with your thought that the line based lyric entry feature is little used.
Noel, thanks for the YouTube video link. I had viewed the video and reviewed the help file prior to my first posting. I didn't mention it in my first posting because the video only shows line based lyric entry for one line. The first line I enter displays fine. I loose the display of all but the first character of additional lines.
I appreciate all your comments. I think line based lyric entry is not used very much which I find surprising considering how many threads mention lyrics.
I believe I will contact support about this.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 647
Journeyman
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Journeyman
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Posts: 647 |
No Problem.
Remember you can always use the test to show other information, not just lyrics. I often use text like "next pass instrumental"at the end of a pass to tell the group that the next time through to shut up.
With the edit, you can move it around - just change the Bar / note / tick number.
I suspect that's why line lyric fell out of favour; That and the fact that if you changed the number of bars per staff, or added or deleted a bar, editing the line based lyrics was all but impossible.
BIAB for Windows Version 2019 (643)
Windows 10 (1909)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2008
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Hi Jim, Since reading your email, I've been playing around with line lyrics. I've never used them before and I appreciate your inspiring me to investigate them. When I started reading about them, I noticed that the "/" you refer to is used for note-based entry and not line-based entry. I have BIAB 2014, and how I entered the line lyrics is as follows. 1. I went into Notation Editor. There I clicked on the Notation Editor options (#1) and set the "Bars/Screen" to 4 (#2). This will cause the on-screen display to have four bars. Then I exited.  2. Next, I typed my lyrics in the text line at the top of the notation window.  3. When I had typed the lyrics for the 4 bars that were showing on-screen, I hit the DOWN arrow on the computer keyboard. This moved me to the next block of four bars. I repeated this process of typing four bars worth of lyrics and hitting the down arrow until I'd finished the song. 4. After the lyrics were entered, I then selected "Lyrics" on the top menu (#1) and chose "Copy lyrics to clipboard" (#2) from the dropdown menu.  After that, I went back to the "Lyrics" menu and this time selected "Lyric Document Window" (#3). 5. Once the lyric document window had opened, I clicked on the "Paste from clipboard" icon.  6. This gave me the following ...  Is this the sort of thing that you are after? (Note: the top four bars are blank because that's the introduction.) Regards, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 11,016
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OP
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Noel,
Amazing! Thank you for taking the time to investigate my issue and for detailing so well how to use line based lyric entry. From your explanation I now know the many, many ways I incorrectly tried to use this feature. No wonder I couldn't get it to work! The funny thing is I thought I understood the how to use instructions from the help file.
I didn't do step 1, in fact I've never seen the Notation Editor before your screenshot. Evidently the default is four bars per line since that is what my notation screen opened with. My step 1 was to use the note icon in the views area to open the notation screen.
My steps 2 & 3 and results matched yours.
Step 4 I didn't do. I don't remember save to clipboard being mentioned in the help file. I also did not switch to the Lyric Document screen.
Steps 5 or 6 I did not do. I believed lyrics are automatically saved at the same time a song file is saved. Obviously I was incorrect.
There are more steps and screens involved than I thought.
Once again Noel, thank you for your assistance.
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