PG Music Home Forums PG Music Wishlists Band-in-a-Box Wishlist freeze part of a real track

<<Thanks for the video demo!! >>

You're welcome.

<< So you take a few steps to convert a track to audio and then mix and match bars from each track to comp a final track. Does it only work for two tracks or can you have several tracks to comp from?>>

You can have as many tracks as you want. If you want to edit a single RealTrack, for instance, if you had a stray or bad note you wanted to delete, use the Artist Performance Track save selection to save the RealTrack to audio, import that audio onto the Audio Channel and edit the file. It's good to do this in the BIAB Audio Editor because you can set the bars exactly with the BIAB Chord Chart using the Snap To Button. When I edit a RT, after editing, I move the Audio to the track the original RT resided on and replace the original with the edited audio file as an Artist Performance Track.

Alternately, assume you've used all seven BIAB Mixer Channels putting together a RealStyle and several other RealTracks you really like. However, suppose there are more instruments you want to audition and you'd also like to hear how different instruments will sound together. It sounds like this is where you move your project to a DAW and follow the process of your suggested work-around as follows:

1) get your song finalized like you want it, proper key, proper BPM, etc. and then SAVE IT!
2) export all tracks as WAVs to mix in your DAW
3) next replace all tracks with the one RealTrack that you wish to use to comp a final track
4) regenerate and save all generated tracks out as WAVs (repeat 2,3 & 4 for additional tracks)
5) import all tracks into your DAW and do your comping there

Here's a preferable way in my opinion and why it's a better idea to continue on in BIAB rather than opening a DAW.

1) Get your song finalized like you want it, proper key, proper BPM, additional instruments, panning, volume levels, effects and tone controls.
2) Drag the Master to the WAV Quadrant
3) Enter DAW mode to shrink the BIAB Main Page and drag the WAV file to the desktop or folder.
4) Import the WAV file onto the Audio Channel.
5) Move the Audio to the Bass Channel as an Artist Performance Track.

I prefer to do this method rather than move the project to a DAW and it's a better idea because:
. It's faster, it allows you to audition hundreds of other Styles, RealTracks, SuperMidi Tracks, or MIDI tracks playing over the band you created and are satisfied with. All six of the other BIAB Mixer Channels are now available to audition and add new instruments.
. You can use some of BIAB's unique features like changing the key signature and tempo and instantly hear the changes, decide to keep an instrument or track and quickly proceed on.
. Find an instrument track you want to keep for use when you move to your DAW, Right Click and save that track to an Artist Performance Track and the APT also names the audio file. It's ready to move over to a DAW. (An APT Save is approximately 2.5 times faster than an export render. )
. Change your mind, erase the Artist Performance, create a new mix (including chord changes, key change, modulations, tempo change and any other BIAB Chord Chart edit.) and render to WAV.
. Import the new audio file and replace the old Artist Performance Track and continue on with your project.

<<It seems rather complicated to me and I doubt I would remember all of these steps each time. A much better way would be to select bars, freeze them and regenerate. Then, if I like some of the new bars I would freeze them and regenerate. I could continue an unlimited number of times simply repeating the same simple procedure until my entire track is like I want it. >>

Well, this wish list as posted gives you a single regenerated track. The Artist Performance Track does that and a whole lot more. I literally could list a dozen other operations, all done within the BIAB software program with no other outside sources necessary and it will have access to all of BIAB's one of a kind, unduplicatable features, tools and capabilities immediately available. If you create a small chord chart and practice these techniques for an hour, you'll have it down pat and have a much more useful and beneficial process than this wish list request.

Another so far unspoken benefit is that many of these techniques once you've learned them are also applicable to the other more commonly known UserTrack. An Artist Performance Track is just another version of the better known UserTrack.

I hate to be so wordy, but the Artist Performance Track has been a feature of BIAB for six years and there's but a single post about it in the UserTrack and Other Add-ons Forum in all that time. With 32,710 members plus guests, the post only has 415 views and 2 comments. That tells me it's practically unknown but it's clear to me it's the best kept secret in the entire BIAB suite of tools and features. A book could be written about the techniques, processes and benefits I've found using it and applying it to the BIAB Mixer in various ways and I'm sure if others experimented with it, learned how to use it, that as they became familiar, we'd learn that what I know is only the tip of the iceberg to the capabilities of the user APT (Artist Performance Track)