Tom,

Thanks for the explanation. I appreciate it.

Originally Posted By: Tom Dentist
I am curious, what led you to believe that the faulty "number of repeats" dialog was the problem?

What initially got me thinking was that I saw the "5x" over the top of the second of the pair of repeats in the PG Music example "repeat Tutorial Example 3 -repeats entered.MGU". That got me thinking and doing a bit of research.

I know you're adamant about what repeat means but I looked up some of my old classical theory books and repeat is, more often than not, described as simply "to play more than once".

Then I thought about the volta brackets, what people commonly call the first and second (or more) endings, and I realised that when I play those, I don't think the word "repeat". What I think is, "I play these bars the first time through and then I play those bars the second time through". That was when logic kicked in and I realised that PG Music's terminology might be from the perspective given in my theory books as well as the volta brackets. That is, I needed to specify what "more than once" actually means. I entered "2", I tried it out, and it worked.

Later, when I discovered how to check the settings for repeats, the details entered in "repeat Tutorial Example 3 -repeats entered.MGU" confirmed my thoughts.

Lastly, something else that I picked up from the tutorial and the associated files...

Because BIAB approaches repeats from a performance perspective and not from a sheet music perspective, after generating the backing, the bars that play during the repeat will have a variation of accompaniment (just like a real group/ensemble). I'm yet to confirm this but, at first glance, it also seems as though it's possible to expand the repeat section using the Fakesheet button and to enter slightly different chords in the repeat so that the performance perspective's realism is enhanced.

For example, the image below is taken from page 394 of the 2014 pdf manual. This was the first example I worked on using the tutorial.



As you can see bars 4 and 20 are slightly different but essentially the same from a harmonic progression perspective. (In the tutorial, bars 17 to 24 become condensed into the repetition of bars 1 to 8.) If this ability to vary harmony in a repeated section exists, it's a very powerful feature. I know that it is something that I will be using.

So... at the end of this road, I want to thank you too. If it hadn't been for your question, I would have never discovered any of this. I am grateful for the journey that helping you has taken me on.

All the best to you,
Noel

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