PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Available chords and automatic chord name substitution in BiaB

Well, I just did another test and got some more strange results. In the intro to my newest song, I entered a series of A chords to see what BiaB would do with them during its importation of the XML file. The chords I entered are as follows:

G, Am, A2, Asus, Asus2, Aadd2, and G

However, when I opened the XML file of this song, the following chords showed up in BiaB:

G, Am, Aadd2, Asus, A2, A, and G.

What this means is that BiaB is making the following chord substitutions:

A2 --> Aadd2
Asus2 --> A2
Aadd2 -- > A

The only two chords that came through without being substituted with other chords are the Am and the Asus.

Next, I added a few more chords to the intro so that the progression was as follows:

G, Am, A2, Aadd2, Asus, Asus2, Asus4, A9, Aadd9, and G

However, when I opened the XML file of this song, the following chords showed up in BiaB:

G, Am, Aadd2, Aadd2, Asus, A2, Asus, A9, Aadd2, and G.

This time, BiaB did not substitute an A chord for the Aadd2 chord but kept the Aadd2 chord intact. The chords it did substitute are as follows:

A2 --> Aadd2
Asus2 --> A2
Asus4 --> Asus
Aadd9 --> Aadd2


BiaB's practice of substituting an A2 chord for an Asus2 chord and of substituting an Aadd2 chord for an A2 chord is very confusing and corresponds to what was said in the following paragraph from the article at the first link in my OP:


"What about the C2 chord?
Finally, we come to the C2 chord. This is the odd one out, all the others follow patterns and rules that we can understand. But, not so with C2. This is the cause of so much confusion.

Usually, C2 is used to indicate a C major with a D added. Yep, you guessed it, it has exactly the same notes as the Cadd9, or the Cadd2. I say “usually”, because I have equally seen it used in place of a Csus2.

So, even though Cadd2 and Cadd9 contain the same notes, C2 and C9 never have the same notes, and that’s just confusing.

Personally, I avoid C2 as a chord name. It just doesn’t fit with the “rules”. I prefer to stick [with] the sus and add systems."


But there's more. BiaB's treatment of an Asus4 as merely an Asus chord creates even more confusion because there's more than one Asus chord, as stated in the following quote of a post on the ibreathemusic.com forum (see the link in my previous post) by a guy named Eric:


"There are two types of "sus", sus2 and sus4. When you say "Csus", which one do you mean ? Csus2 ( C-D-G ) or Csus4 ( CFG )

I didn´t say that the 7th or 9th are suspended, and I have written about sus-chords before, so I am kinda familiar with them and know it´s the third that´s suspended. I was referring to "As you guys say it, there is no difference between Aadd9 and A2"

Aadd9 has A-C#-E-B. The 2 is referred to as the 9.

So what is A2 ? The 2 would imply there´s no third in there, otherwise it would have to be called a 9. Yet, the name doesn´t mention a sus. So it should be Aadd9 ( which I guess is referred to by some people as "A2", which is confusing and technically, incorrect IMO ), according to the 2 being referred to as a 9 as long as the third is in the chord.

I didn´t make those rules, yet I do believe that it would be easier if more people would stick to them.
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Sus means "suspended 3rd", leaving out the third. However, you need to define whether a 2 or 4 is added instead of the third. Otherwise, you get something that technically is a diad or doublestop, not exactly a chord."