Hi, I would like to learn how to change time signature on BIAB. I don't read music but I need to make backing tracks and am struggling to get the right feel on some songs, one of them is "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen.
I think it changes from 4/4 to 6/4 and back. Tried to change the number of beats in a bar in the bar setting but it won't let me.
This is what I am using:
****** Song Summary ************* Title: 09 Crazy Little Thing Called Love File:09 Crazy Little Thing Called Love.SGU Key=D , Tempo 155, Length (m:s)=2:48 No intro. 107 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 107. Repeat x1 chorus Fadeout ending bars =12. No Melody No Soloist track. Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0, Song is saved with bar changes for Tempo,Volume Changes, Style is _BOOG40S.STY (40s Boogie Piano Swing)
RealTracks in style: ~540:Bass, Electric, Pop Sw 165 RealTracks in style: 1990:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm 40s Boogie Sw 160 RealTracks in song: ~373:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Hank Sw 165 RealDrums [in style:NashvilleShuffle^13-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride
*******************
I am using this song for learning BIAB, so, until I learn how to use a mix of time signatures I cannot progress any further. My aim is to create backing tracks for my band.
Pressing F5 will bring up a menu for changing the time signature, tempo and other things. But for 6/4 time signature you will have to either change it to 3/4, that is 3/4 for two measure to match one measure of 6/4, or 6/8 and change the tempo to match the 6/4 tempo. Note that the song will stay with the assigned time signature until you change it again.
But your biggest problem would be in finding two styles that match. Many 4/4 styles do not sound good in 3/4 or 6/8. I am talking about RTs as MIDI can be edited very easily to match them.
Personally I think you might want to start with a simpler song to learn BiaB. Things like changing styles, tempos etc in a single time signature can be a very valuable learning experience. As you just found out BiaB does not do all time signatures and you may find out that it also doesn't do all the chords you want either.
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64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
Thank you for explaining this MarioD. I will try your suggestion. I must say... it is hard going. Now I have explored Realband and this software is wasting my time too... the pianoroll midi editing is not functioning for me, the help file mention that clicking on a piano key (on the left side), it should select all the notes of that pitch... It doesn't. Oh Dear...
I've just had a look at the sheet music for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".
The time signature throughout the song is in 4/4 at all times. The section that I suspect sounds like it might be 6/4 to you are two 1/4 note triplets.
A triplet is three notes played in the speed of two. So these three quarter note triplets are played in half a bar of 4/4 (i.e. the time it takes for two ordinary 1/4 notes).
In total, the two groups of 1/4 note triplets back to back means that six evenly spaced notes are played in the time that it takes 4 beats to play.
It's what musicians often call a 3 against 2 rhythm. The image below shows how the four beats line up with six triplet notes.
Notice how the second beat in 4/4 come midway between the second and third note of the triplet. This also happens with fourth beat of 4/4 coming between the second and third notes of the second triplet.
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