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#524296 02/13/19 06:58 AM
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Hi Just don't get how note entering works, does anyone have a simple example I could follow. I am used to just entering the notes individually as in musescore.

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Welcome to the forum!

I think BIAB has THE best notation entry method in the business, and I’ve used all the major music software programs. I enter notes using a mouse. You can also enter them using a MIDI keyboard. You can even use your computer keyboard to enter notes in the correct rhythm and adjust pitches later.

Find the Help menu and look up how to enter the Editable Notation Mode.

So we can help you better, can you tell us what you are doing now, whether that’s working as you would like, and what problems you are encountering? Or are you just stumped on how to begin?

I’m sure we can help. There are some excellent videos as well, if you like learning that way.

Tell us more.


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Welcome also.

There is a video in the beginners section that describes the steps. It's done with an older version of BiaB but the concept and functionality is the same.



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If you have BIAB 2018 or 2019, the appearance of the screen may be different from the video. If you press Ctrl+T, you can toggle to an appearance that looks more like the video.


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Hi there!

At risk of being controversial(!) I have to hold my hands up and say that, despite a few months of trying, I've just not got on with notation in BIAB. Maybe it's just the way I'm used to doing it, but I find notation programs like MuseScore/Sibelius much easier to work with in that respect, so what I do is write my notation in one of those programs and then import that to BIAB as a MIDI and then do any tweaking that might be necessary.

Just thought I'd offer that as my solution if you also have trouble getting to grips with BIAB notation - but do give BIAB a go first because obviously if you can learn to work within BIAB then that's great and will probably save you some time!

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Mike, that's not controversial at all; it's a good tip. Music notation software is all about being comfortable with the workflow the way the software gives it to you. My preferred method is exactly the opposite of yours. Who is right? We both are. You gave the reason: it's what you are used to. I learned BIAB and a notation software at about the same time, in the early 1990s.

By the way, you might try exporting from your music notation software as Music XML instead of MIDI, if you also write chords and text; Music XML can import chord info into BIAB whereas MIDI cannot (directly).


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Ah, thanks for the tip Matt. I'll try that out!

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I'm a newbie and was wondering about entering notation as well. I've been given a three page score with a treble clef melody line (Flute solo) and then below each melody line is Treble and Bass clef piano score. I'm not sure how to input all this into BIB so I can work with it. I've noticed that several other music composing/editing software programs allow the user to scan sheet music and import the PDF. That's exactly what I need to do but I don't find that functionality in BIB. Perhaps I've purchased the wrong software. Any ideas? Thanks for any help.

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While BiaB has notation embedded it’s primary purpose is auto accompaniment it builds song bed tracks. The notation features won’t be as deep or rich as a dedicated notation software program. I never hurts to have one of those as well for stuff like this. There are a few one I believe has a free version do a little digging and see what works best for you. As mentioned above then you can import into BiaB for adding cool tracks.


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Also, you will find that while dedicated notation programs sometimes come with scanning capability, results can vary widely depending on the quality and source of the original score.


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Yes, as mentioned, the quality of the sheet music makes a huge difference in success. I use one stand-alone program that is expensive but it will only attempt to work on published music. The scanning programs I have used all require some manual correction after scanning and converting. Also, the score must be computer-printed; hand-written music rarely scans correctly.

Some of the dedicated notation programs include a scanning function, so you could take the MIDI or Music XML from that into BIAB.

BIAB does not include a scanning function but will import MIDI or Music XML. Once you have it into BIAB, use the SEQ button to break apart the channels. Then you can add other instruments as backing tracks such as percussion or strings. Or, you can change the tempo and/or the key very easily.


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I guess I have been doing this the hard way. I had no idea that files could be imported from MuseScore. How do you do that?

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Export the file from MuseScore as Music XML.


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Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

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