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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 105
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 105 |
Hi, everyone. I bought a book of pop sheet music and I want to convert it to leadsheets so I don't have to worry about turning pages. What's the best workflow for this? I was thinking:
Enter chords in Biab.
Play single line melody in Biab in real time (and try not to screw it up).
Export everything to Sibelius to clean up the mistakes.
Enter lyrics.
Does that sound efficient? I've tried using my trial version of Sibelius to enter music as I play but I think their software/step time recording for this isn't nearly as good as Biab because there were mistakes everywhere.
Does anyone have suggestions?
Cheers,
Doug
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,473
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,473 |
I enter single line melodies into BIAB using a mouse even if BIAB will not be used further, because I also love the input method. Sometimes I use the keyboard, and for really difficult rhythm patterns, I'll use the BIAB qwerty keyboard entry on one pitch and adjust pitches later.
Couple of things to consider when using the keyboard as you describe:
You can quantize the melody after entering, which can adjust and 'tighten' the timings. Or, there is even the reverse, a function called humanize in some software including BIAB.
You can always slow down the tempo when entering, to increase the odds of playing it correctly. I do this. If you heard me try to play keyboard, you would know why.
Are you using a click track when recording in Sibelius?
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 105
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 105 |
Thanks for the quick reply. The suggestion about doing a single pitch and then adjusting them with a mouse later is brilliant, I hadn't thought of that.
To be honest, I've never done this before and I'm considering my options. I have BB, but I don't have a midi controller by my laptop so I'd have to get one. I don't have Sibelius either, so I'm looking at like $200 before I input my first note.
Are there video tutorials on how to input notes with a laptop? This might be the easiest way, to be honest.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,473
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,473 |
I'll bet you could get a very inexpensive MIDI controller for under $50. I picked up an Akai Mini for $20 just recently.
As for videos, I am not a good source of info. I learned all this stuff decades ago, before there even were any videos. Someone who has come aboard more recently should be able to help identify a good choice.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 824
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 824 |
I'm with Matt and the use of the mouse for entering the melody line. Band-in-a-Box is by far the fastest method of entering notation and producing lead sheets, mainly because you do not have to select the correct length note from a menu.
All the Band-in-a-Box users I know are in the business of producing lead sheets. I do it for all the musicians in my jazz group because it is so easy to change the key and clef for each instrument. Our whole book of arrangements is produced with Band-in-a-Box.
Just one small note of criticism is that the emphasis of programming for new versions has changed in recent times. We now have concentration on chord sheets with lyrics for strummers, which has actually caused problems with my normal production of lead sheets. Also those great improvements to the subtleties of notation such as tag endings, section letters and section text etc., which were started, now seem to have lost their importance.
As just one illustration of areas that need improvement, I would mention that some notation features do not transfer with reasonable workflow from a treble clef to bass clef. Slurs for instance.
Band-in-a-Box IS the quickest entry method for the chords and notes using a keyboard and mouse, but the rest of the notation still needs some work to match the other superb features.
Grah Jive Talk
"Don't worry baby, they'll swing their arses off."
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 7,954
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 7,954 |
"I bought a book of pop sheet music" Search for Music OCR here's a free Jave one https://audiveris.kenai.com/index.htmlYou can download the pop music midi files and import into Biab, RealBand or MuseScore. MuseScore will import midi, BIAB files etc. https://musescore.org/en/downloadMuseScore File formats MuseScore native format MuseScore format (*.mscz) Uncompressed MuseScore format (*.mscx) MuseScore backup file (.*.mscz,) or (.*.mscx,) Graphics—view and print (export only) PDF (*.pdf) PNG (*.png) SVG (*.svg) Audio—listen (export only) WAV audio (*.wav) FLAC audio (*.flac) Ogg Vorbis (*.ogg) MP3 (*.mp3) Share with other music software MusicXML (*.xml) Compressed MusicXML (*.mxl) MIDI (*.mid, *.midi, *.kar) MuseData (*.md) (import only) Capella (*.cap, *.capx) (import only) Bagpipe Music Writer (*.bww) (import only) BB (*.mgu, *.MGU, *.sgu, *.SGU) (import only) Overture (*.ove) (import only) Guitar Pro (*.GTP, *.GP3, *.GP4, *.GP5, *.GPX) (import only)
Last edited by Pipeline; 10/23/16 10:50 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697 |
Export everything to Sibelius to clean up the mistakes. Most of the time you don't need this step. Using your mouse to input the melody notes works great and like Matt said, slow it down enough so you can be accurate. You can always go in and edit anything because it's midi but if you get right the first time it saves a step. I've done this sort of thing lots of times. Since you have the music already, just copy the chords into Biab. The exact style isn't that important just grab one that has the correct time sig and tempo. Even though I say that I get so enthralled by how the different styles sound I'll wind up spending a half hour trying out different ones anyway. As for vids, all the PG vids plus tons of user ones are on YouTube. Just type in the search box what you're trying to do. For example for leadsheets look for 1st/2nd endings. All you do is type in Band in a Box 1st and 2nd endings and it will pop right up along with a whole list of other Biab vids on the right side. Same with all the Codas, Tag endings, all that stuff. Then type in Band in a Box Notation and you'll learn all about that including what we're talking about here. I know there's one about the keyboard wizard. That's about using your QWERTY keyboard to input notation. There are lots of workarounds for stuff depending on how picky you are. Sometimes I don't like the way the chords crowd the coda sign or the first ending number. What you can do in input the chords only as to how you want them to LOOK, not play but look. Print that out and handwrite in the repeats, the coda sign and the rest of it. That can save a lot of wasted time trying to get the fakebook print function to make everything look right. Oh, one last thing. Do a google search for a specific song as a Biab file or post a list here. Many times you get lucky and someone has already created some of those songs you want. They may or may not be accurate but at least you have something to work with. Many times I've found an existing Biab file with a decent melody but the chords are off. Just having the basic song structure and melody is well worth it, editing the chords is no big deal. Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
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Happy New Year!
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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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- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
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