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hello again...

I found this Style...(LA_Top 40 Country Ballad)...which was perfect for a new Song I'm working on. Trouble is...the 'Acoustic Guitar' in that Style was right on the money...on the first pass (pattern)...but like an idiot, I hit the Stop button & then the Play button (as opposed to the Pause/Play buttons); & the app regenerated the next incarnation of that style...(which wasn't as good for my tune).

Question 1: How do I reprogram my .SGU file of that Song to get back to the very first playing pattern of that Style (or any Style, for that matter) ???

[also...is hitting the Pause & Play button the correct method for keeping the existing pattern of the selected style ???]. (sometimes we want to ramp thru & see what the next, then next pass sounds like...but are not always happy w/ what we get).

Question 2: I want to take that very 1st pattern on the Acoustic Guitar of that Style (& maybe the Bass)...& start to build a custom Style around it. I'd like to then bring in the Piano, Drums (& other instruments) from other Styles into the newly created custom Style. But 'Stylemaker' is throwing me for a loop; & I'm not sure how this would be accomplished. I looked thru the help files for stylemaker but I guess I'm just drawing a blank. I opened that style in stylemaker, selected 'Guitar', saw that the first Pattern (top, left) was green...hit 'Save As'; & created the new custom Style. But I'm not sure how to add any of the Bass patterns from that Style to my new Style...or how to add patterns from other Styles to it.

any expertise would be appreciated for the above questions.

thanks,


dox

Last edited by doxology; 01/12/10 02:10 PM.
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Quote:

Question 1: How do I reprogram my .SGU file of that Song to get back to the very first playing pattern of that Style (or any Style, for that matter) ???

[also...is hitting the Pause & Play button the correct method for keeping the existing pattern of the selected style ???]. (sometimes we want to ramp thru & see what the next, then next pass sounds like...but are not always happy w/ what we get).




As far as I know you cannot force an BiaB song to a particular arrangement. It's supposed to generate a fresh arrangement each time. However, the possibilities aren't infinite. Keep hitting play an eventually an arrangement you like will come again.

Use Replay if you don't want to regenerate the song. Freeze a track if you hear one you want to keep.

Quote:

Question 2: I want to take that very 1st pattern on the Acoustic Guitar of that Style (& maybe the Bass)...& start to build a custom Style around it. I'd like to then bring in the Piano, Drums (& other instruments) from other Styles into the newly created custom Style.




Check out these pages.

Creating a Hybrid Style

Styles

There may be some useful info there.


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Quote:


Question 1: How do I reprogram my .SGU file of that Song to get back to the very first playing pattern of that Style (or any Style, for that matter) ???




Just hit Play again and regenerate the parts. You may have to do that several times, but I've always gotten it to "come back 'round again". Part of my workflow with BB anymore.

Quote:

[also...is hitting the Pause & Play button the correct method for keeping the existing pattern of the selected style ???]. (sometimes we want to ramp thru & see what the next, then next pass sounds like...but are not always happy w/ what we get).




Do you have BiaB 2010? The newest version? The new Freeze function is for that, and it loads fast. I can now Freeze tracks, save the song that way, then unFreeze a track, regenerate and save it that way, too!

Quote:

Question 2: I want to take that very 1st pattern on the Acoustic Guitar of that Style (& maybe the Bass)...& start to build a custom Style around it. I'd like to then bring in the Piano, Drums (& other instruments) from other Styles into the newly created custom Style. But 'Stylemaker' is throwing me for a loop; & I'm not sure how this would be accomplished. I looked thru the help files for stylemaker but I guess I'm just drawing a blank. I opened that style in stylemaker, selected 'Guitar', saw that the first Pattern (top, left) was green...hit 'Save As'; & created the new custom Style. But I'm not sure how to add any of the Bass patterns from that Style to my new Style...or how to add patterns from other Styles to it.




Check out the Hybrid Style Wizard instead. A quick way to combine, say, the Guitar part from one style with the Bass from another and the Piano from yet another Style and save it as your own Custom style under a new name.



--Mac

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thanks pwarren & Mac...

will give these a try.

also...I'm trying to figure out how to add a Bridge to a Song...a real Bridge...whereby the main body of the Song repeats (how ever many times it's instructed)...& then the Bridge plays...& then the Song returns to the main body.

Is there a way to do this...create a TRUE Bridge ???

thanks again,


dox
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Quote:


also...I'm trying to figure out how to add a Bridge to a Song...a real Bridge...whereby the main body of the Song repeats (how ever many times it's instructed)...& then the Bridge plays...& then the Song returns to the main body.

Is there a way to do this...create a TRUE Bridge ???





I do it all the time, but it isn't labeled, "Bridge".

TAG endings are where its at.

Invoke the TAG Ending via Rightclick, Song Settings and enter the number of bars and palcement for a TAG long enough to include both the Bridge and the repeat of the last Chorus.

--Mac

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Mac...

thanks...that worked...but only sort of.

the main body of the song (Chours) is 28 Bars in length.

the Tag (Bridge) is 14 Bars in length.

so...[1st I had to tell BIAB that the song was 42 Bars in length so as to be able to type in the Chords for the those last 14 Bars.]

then...I went to Song Settings as you said...checked 'Tag Exists ?', set 'Tag Jump After Bar #' to 28, set 'Tag Begins At Bar #' to 29; & set 'Tag Ends After Bar #' to 42.

then...I went back to my Chours settings & re-established the Chours as 28 Bars in length; & set the number of Chourses as '2'.

so...the Chours played twice...(which was correct)...then the Tag played...(which was correct)...but the Song then ended at that point.

I guess I now need to find out how to set it up so that the Chours plays a 3rd time...after the Tag.

(I'm almost there).

thanks again,


dox

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Quote:

so...the Chours played twice...(which was correct)...then the Tag played...(which was correct)...but the Song then ended at that point.

I guess I now need to find out how to set it up so that the Chours plays a 3rd time...after the Tag.




You need to enter the chorus (copy & paste) after the bridge in the Tag Ending. Perhaps a little awkward but that's how Tag Endings work.


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pwarren...

thanks...that worked ! great.

weird thing happened, tho...between Bar 56 & 57...(Bar 56 falling at the end of a line on the page)...there was an empty line generated, with no Chords in it. The Song ignores that line & proceeds uninterupted to Bar 57...so there's no real problem.

but it's like a display glitch, or something...just an empty line on the page.

thanks again,


dox


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...there was an empty line generated, with no Chords in it. The Song ignores that line & proceeds uninterupted to Bar 57...so there's no real problem.

but it's like a display glitch, or something...just an empty line on the page.




Glad it helped.

Go to Prefs|Notation. In the Notation dialog, upper right, there's a dropdown that says 'new line each'. Set it to none. I think that'll clean it up for you. I don't much like it myself so I keep it off.

Edit - Thats for notation view. Sorry about that. Its actually in the Prefs|Display page. There's a check box near the bottom for 'new line at part marker'. I think that'll help you.

Last edited by pwarren; 01/13/10 04:13 PM.

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pwarren...

thanks again, man !...will try that soon as I'm thru w/ this reply.

while I'm thinking about it...on the pattern re-generation thing again for a moment...if I take a Song & select another Style for it...then save it...then close the Song...then reopen the Song...& select the original Style (the one in which I preferred the 1st pattern)...

...will it start that Style off w/ the 1st pattern ???

i.e., every time you select another Style for a Song...does the app start that Style w/ it's very 1st pattern ???

[& if so...wouldn't that be a good way to return the Song to the 1st pattern...without having to ramp thru the entire assortment to get back to the 1st ???]

thanks again,


dox


UPDATE: that wasn't it (on the display problem)...nothing significant really happens there anyway...in the song...no part marker or anything...it's at a random place in the Tag...some sort of display glitch, I guess

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While only the programmers could answer with certainty, I doubt it. This is a common question and nobody has ever suggested this as a solution.


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It is literally the luck of the statistical draw as to which Style patterns get selected at which time and where in a BiaB song.

The patterns are weighted, you can view that in the style editor to see which patterns are weighted such that the probability of the program picking that particular pattern is higher or lower than some of the other patterns.

The Freeze function is very nice in BB2010 now that we have that.

If you hear a version that you like, stop and take the second to SaveAs and give it a songtitle that lets you know what it is.

Mysong01.sgu

Mysong02.sgu

Mysong03.sgu

Frozen, you would have a record of exactly each version you wanted to keep.

And it will load again like lightning.


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thanks fellas...

I guess you're right, Mac...If I like what I hear...it's not that costly in file size to do a quick 'Save As'. Thing is...will that particular pattern load every time I open that song version...probably will, eh?.

another quick question before I finish w/ this thread ('cause I need to start a new one on lyrics, anyway):

w/ my pattern locked in as a saved as version...if I create a MIDI file from that song...will biab write that pattern for the particular instruments ?

thanks again,


dox


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