PG Music Home Forums PG Music Wishlists Band-in-a-Box Wishlist Isn't it about time after all these years you made the notation useable?

Across countless versions,many years and many different machines your weird notation features prduce garbage like this. Why don't you actually fix it?

[img]https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ai7g90pI7-tKgpECsCFxzotty8Gq3w[/img]

It does appear problematic.
What version are you using?

VT: Its never been right, across many versions and many monitors, the programming is rubbish that's why, that's the real reason. Watching notation ' live' also does not work as the notation does not catch up properly, the staves break up. They have had enopugh time to fix it but haven't

ZZ:

You didn't answer the question.
What version are you using? If it's the current version and the current "build" then there is definitely a problem.
However, since you've had problems for some time, it's surprising that you haven't just found another program to do your notation.

BIAB has never touted itself as being a notation program, that's just a bonus feature included for general use and simple arrangements. For that it works quite well and meets the needs of many users.

Let us know if you'd like some help trying to sort out your problem, or if you just needed to "vent".
LLOYD S

ZZ:

Here's an example of a BIAB demo song in Eb, saved as a MIDI file and opened in Musescore (free notation program).

I think it does a fairly decent job of making a usable notation file.
LLOYD S

The point is that PG should have fixed this years ago. If it's a "feature" it should work, we pay enough. No such things as "bonus" features that don't guaruntee to work. I am fed up with excuses. I reported this a decade ago.

ZZ, Still not telling us the version?

Also, we are only end-users, just like you, and just trying to help with suggestions.

This is SONAR redux. Same argument for the better part of two decades. Should the program have notation, when many (most?) don't use it? Or, if it's in the advertised features, should it be developed so it works correctly? And if the latter, what do you do when the code is too old to modify?

All I can say is that there are positive and negative ways to motivate change.

Yes, Musescore is the way to go if you want good notation at a very reasonable price, i.e free! You don't even need to notate the entire score as all you have to do is to save a track as MIDI and have Musescore score it. Easy Peasy!

"
"What do you do if the code is to old?

You rewrite it thats what you do. Every year we pay a lot of money for this.

The reason "most people don't use the notation feature" is likely because it does not work reliably its clunky and unreliable.

BIAB is the most bug ridden program I own and there are several hundred music apps on my system.

You are 100% correct! But after 10 years they obviously have no intention of fixing this.

I LOVE BIAB but I have learned to just avoid most "features" and enjoy the RealTracks it generates.

ZeroZero,

Every song I write, I use BIAB notation editor to notate the melody. I have never had a problem with it. I love the ease of using it and entering notes.

I haven't written anything recently, though, so I don't know what's happening with the latest of the builds. The key signature problem that you mentioned in another thread is definitely indicative of a bug.

Regards,
Noel

I've been printing lead sheets for over 20 years using BIAB. No problems, except those caused by myself. Have you contacted PG yourself and told them your problem? Has anyone else on the forum experienced this? You might want to check the split point in notation mode - clef point.

ZeroZero,

Since my above post, I've played around with creating songs in different keys, changing keys in the middle of the song and loading songs that I've written using multiple sharps and flats. I cannot reproduce your problem.

Can you please provide some background about what you did prior to the problem's appearing.

Regards,
Noel

I have reported several notation problems to PGMusic, and always seem to get the same answer "We've reported all three issues to the developers for their consideration."

Here are my issues
Section Text using the “T” button on the notation screen
Text above / below the staff can be entered correctly including tick based horizontal and vertical positioning, but when printed in Fakesheet mode the
text designated for the first beat of a bar is printed hard left rather than horizontally shifted as required. If printing in ‘non-fakesheet’ positions
the text in the correct place.
This worked in the past - I have song printouts for the same song from 2014 which prints correctly

Part Marker on 2 bar ending
A part marker is now automatically created when using a 2 bar ending which starts early.
You are able to cycle through the 3 parts (A, B or no part marker) but it does not ‘stick and reverts to A marker as soon as you leave the notation page.
This auto part marker also creates a double bar line which is unnecessary and confusing. Problem exist in both Fake and non-fake printing.
It is fairly new, as I have prints from 2014 which do not show double barline

DS al Coda ‘missing’ after repeat.
The sign, the end DS phrase, and the start of the coda are present. The actual DS al coda designation is lost under the repeat sign.
This problem has existed from the first implementation of fake sheet. Combination of repeats and DS are used when you only want a short piece of the verse
repeated as an ending, for instance

Lyric Shifting
Note lyrics on the first beat of a bar are shifted hard left which often makes the lyric text unprintable / unreadable on the first bar of a staff.
I suspect this began with the introduction of bar based lyric and the quick entry feature and is related to the text entry problem

I have had some strange responses from PGMusic for the reasons for these bugs but "Repeats, codas, and endings have always been a difficult feature to program in Band-in-a-Box due to the algorithms used to generate the RealTracks" seems to be a stretch. They seem to be blaming code that has never worked on Real Tracks, even before real tracks existed.

I have developed some work arounds, but they should be not be required.