Hi Oliver,

Standard midi is polyphonic (multiple notes at once) and is therefore quite capable of representing chords. With BIAB it all depends on which musical instruments are used in the style. The user types the chords into BIAB and the style interprets the chords for the different instruments. (It is a bit different for drums). This is the same way that improvising musicians and composers often formally work.

If for example, one of the instruments in the style is a strummed guitar then the midi track for that guitar will represent chords because that is what the BIAB virtual musician is creating. If the musical instrument is something like a trumpet which only plays one note at a time that is what will be in the midi track. Musical instruments like a piano will often have a combination of chords and individual notes. What you hear is what you get for each instrument on any given midi track. You will only need to import one midi track for the chosen chord generating instrument into Ableton.

If you just wants chords, choose a midi style with say a straight strummed guitar (ACBALLAD.STY is one example). You can look at what BIAB is generating for any instrument using the notation or fake sheet window or the piano roll window.
If you just want one chord per bar you would need to look for a style with an instrument doing just that or you can customise an existing style to give you what you want. In my experience customising a style is a bit of a pain but you would only need to do it once.

You should be able to tighten up the timing of your chords by first selecting options in BIAB such as "Force Song To Simple Arrangement(non embellished) in the Song Setting option screen. In Abelton you should also be able to quantitize the imported midi track to make all the notes in the chord line up neatly. It will still be "music" but it will sound very mechanical.


Regards
Tim






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Midi Chords in BIAB Piano Roll
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Midi chords in BIAB lead sheet mode