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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 8,815
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 8,815 |
Jeff, I'll to provide you a bit more information in using the ACW.
Don't be offended if I state some things that are obvious but I'm trying to touch all the bases.
First - I see you are using 2016: If you have upgraded to build 436, there is a minor bug that affects timing and skipping of audio imported into your sgu project from the ACW that must be addressed. This only applies to build 436.
The work around: Open the Audio Editor and select: Permanently apply Bar 1 offset to track by deleting or inserting silence
If this selection is greyed out; Select: Mark this point as Bar 1...
Again, this only applies to build 436.
----
Onto using the ACW.
I use the following procedure -
File: Open Special: Open Audio W/ chords
From the open file window, navigate and select the audio file you want to work with
Your song opens in the Audio Chord Wizard
Use the <Spacebar> to start the ACW. Listen and find the first downbeat of the song. Stop the ACW.
Place the cursor at the first downbeat and hit the F6 Key. This sets the first downbeat for the ACW to reference. Note if there are any various colored bars at the top of the wave file. If you notice the first chord is incorrect, try placing the cursor directly under each of these bars near the first downbeat and that may change the ACW analysis to the correct chord and indicate you are closer to the actual correct downbeat.
Hit the <W> button on your keyboard to return to the beginning of the song. W is a shortcut; you can also use your mouse.
Start the ACW Analysis of the song and using the F8 key, tap the key at each bar. I normally stop the process after the first 8 measures or introduction of the song to review and make note of the tempo map numbers just above the wave file.
Often I note, that I have not accurately counted the initial beats so the map reads out something like the following.
ACW has guessed the average tempo at 90.8654 but:
the first measure reads 54.356 second measure 122.345 third measure is 105.678 and fourth 92.345 fifth sixth 91.7909 and so on as I begin to actually count the measures correctly.
In the above example, I have obviously started off with poor timing. Correct this first if it happens to you.
Music recorded to a click track or metronome, the ACW should track very close after only a few measures.
User Showcase songs are very good practice songs for learning the ACW. Most User Showcase songs provide the tempo, key signature and the ACW accurately tracks them. Not only are they fun songs to listen to, you can see how the ACW analysis works.
If you know the correct tempo of your project song and the average tempo initially determined by the ACW is pretty far off. Right Click on the Average Tempo window and choose the most appropriate selection to lower or raise the tempo to what you know is correct. You can repeat this process until you have the tempo set as close to the known correct tempo as possible.
Be sure you have the correct time signature selected. If you have a song with more than one time signature, run the ACW in stages where you just do selected areas.
When you import the processed audio from the ACW into BIAB, always be sure to select the correct key if necessary and always select to use the tempo map. Using the tempo map aligns the audio with the midi and Realtracks with the audio. This can be beneficial even when working with a commercial recorded audio file that is spot on tempo because it humanizes the BIAB generated tracks (they are effectively not quantized) and gives the performance more of a 'live' feel. If you do not like the feel of the song, you can kill the tempo map by opening File: Open Special: Audio Chord Wizard Utilities...: Kill Tempo Map and set the tempo that you want to use.
Hopefully, this will help you get started. The ACW is a valuable tool for me that I use daily. It's one of my favorite features.
BIAB 2025:RB 2025, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
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Season's Greetings!
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy holiday season—thanks for being part of our community!
The office will be closed for Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) at 6:00am PST.
Team PG
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