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#479332 06/25/18 04:19 PM
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I know this is 2018 and all.
I know BIAB should be able to print scores...

But I have memories of pulling my hair out each time I wanted to print something over the years.

I'm using BIAB 2017.

I just put in a repeat in my song and deleted bars that were part of the repeat so they wouldn't show.

I tried to print now and got a total mess.
No repeat just the full song which I don't want.

If you recommend to abandon this right now I will and I'll move to another program to print.

What say you?
Is it worth fighting with BIAB?


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You can try export to MusicXML, open in Reaper and select the notation editor in the piano roll as it has some good editing features and pdf export, or musescore 2

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I gave up with the BIAB repeats and just pen them in myself.


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Originally Posted By: Pipeline
You can try export to MusicXML, open in Reaper and select the notation editor in the piano roll as it has some good editing features and pdf export, or musescore 2


Thanks Pipeline.
I've made a note of this.

I use Reaper and also have Musescore 2.

My starting point is usually BIAB and from there I move to Reaper.
But I try to save time since I've already entered the chords.


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Originally Posted By: raymb1
I gave up with the BIAB repeats and just pen them in myself.


Thanks Ray.

Yes I remember the nightmares with printing BIAB repeats from years ago.

I tricked BIAB this time! YES!!!!

First I got it to put in a simple repeat for AA.
Then I deleted one A from the screen.
Kept B.
And deleted the last A.

I wasn't going to fight it with the DC al fine.
It just wasn't working, because it didn't like that I wanted my fine to be at the end of the repeat!!!

So I left out the fine, knowing it's best to do it by hand later.

But the problem was the greyed out bars and last bar of the song.
I was telling BIAB that 54 was the last bar.
The print preview was showing 52 as the last bar!!

So I tricked BIAB!

I told it that 56 was my last bar!
Sure enough, it put in my bars 53 and 54 now. smile

Printed. YES!!!







Last edited by BIABman; 06/25/18 05:50 PM.

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This script will import BB's musicxml chords into Reaper also.

Biab RB MusicXML to Reaper Notation & Chords

You can also save it to midi in BB, in the midi options save Part Markers to the midi file, when dragged into Reaper after you have the Chords from BB's musicxml, it will give you the Part Markers as midi markers in Reaper.

Musescore will also import SGU/MGU


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For the most part, I have had no problems with the print function in BIAB. It's not wonderful by any means, but it does work.

This is my workflow. I typically have a 32 bar song which repeats 3 times, almost always with just one set of lyrics, but sometimes with 2 or 3 different verses.

I always start by creating a "linear" version - that is 96 bars with a 4 bar intro. There are no repeats. I get this working first. You can add lyrics as you go, or wait till it's all finished. I use note-based lyrics, but it's probably not relevant.

Once this is all done, it's time to start on the print layout. I use Fake Sheet with 1st, 2nd and 3rd endings, usually 4 bars long. This makes for easy viewing if you are careful. I occasionally use repeats and DS al coda. But they are just print functions.

The repeat dialogue is pretty straight forward. Where does the first pass start, where does the first ending start and how long is it. You also define the length of each ending - the can be different. Repeats are much the same, and DS needs to have the jump from, jump to, and destination.

save the song regularly, but remember you have changed the original music, so you can go back. There are lots of other tricks to pretty up the final print such as number of bars per line, height adjustment for lyrics and chords, but the key is to develop the song in a linear fashion first. The rest is just decoration.


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Originally Posted By: Pipeline
This script will import BB's musicxml chords into Reaper also.

...You can also save it to midi in BB, in the midi options save Part Markers to the midi file, when dragged into Reaper after you have the Chords from BB's musicxml, it will give you the Part Markers as midi markers in Reaper.


Thanks Pipeline, I've made a note of these also!


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Originally Posted By: Dave
For the most part, I have had no problems with the print function in BIAB. It's not wonderful by any means, but it does work.

This is my workflow. I typically have a 32 bar song which repeats 3 times, almost always with just one set of lyrics, but sometimes with 2 or 3 different verses.

I always start by creating a "linear" version - that is 96 bars with a 4 bar intro. There are no repeats. I get this working first. You can add lyrics as you go, or wait till it's all finished. I use note-based lyrics, but it's probably not relevant.

... There are lots of other tricks to pretty up the final print such as number of bars per line, height adjustment for lyrics and chords, but the key is to develop the song in a linear fashion first. The rest is just decoration.


You make it all sound so simple Dave. smile

I think the key is what you mentioned.
Start with a linear song not putting in any repeats at all.
Just get it to sound right. Save song and get your .wav/midi files exported.

Then rename song to maybe 'Song-Print' and start messing around with repeats.
As mentioned, BIAB balked at a DC al Fine just because the Fine happened to be at the same place a repeat was!

So don't count on getting all of the repeats or DC's to work properly.
Better to print it out, pencil in the signs that BIAB won't cooperate with and let it be.

Unless you've got a few spare hours with nothing better to do. smile


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When entering a repeat using BIAB's "Repeat/Coda etc" function, don't delete any bars.

Under Fakesheet mode (#1 on image below), just active "Display chordsheet in fakesheet mode". You many need to use CTRL+T to switch to standard view so that Fakesheet mode is visible.

Repeated bars are grayed out (#2) with chord symbols present. When "Display chordsheet in fakesheet mode" is activated, the grayed out bars are then 'folded' back into the chordsheet. They never disappear, though, they are always part of the song structure.

Under Fakesheet (#1), there's an option to automatically detect repetition. I find that this works well.

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