I get really confused with this 2 bar offset and 2 bar ending stuff. What do I have to select or deselect to have my song start at bar 1 and end when I end it? And that default of 32 bar song length? WHAT song is 32 bars long?? When I open up a chord chart I see measures -1 and 0. And if I make any changes suddenly my song starts at 3, or sometimes even 5. I can enter blank space manually if I want it and add my own click track for pickup. What's the deal with that 2 bar ending? Does that mean Real Band is going to create an ending that it thinks I want? I just lost a whole bunch of work because suddenly bars 3 and 4 that show nothing in the chord sheet have music playing. The part markers then become wrong and I have no way to change that. If I try to delete blank measures it moves everything back and the blank measures still play. This makes editing impossible because if I want to make a change to bar 17 I have to make the change to bar 19 or 15, depending on what kind of mood the software is that day.
Also when entering chords, it sometimes jumps the cursor to some random place on the page. For example, I inserted 8 bars into a song at bar 17. When I went to enter chords into those 8 bars, every time I hit enter the cursor went to a different place on the grid so I had to hunt and find where it went to and undo what I did in what I thought was the next input point (but it wasn't the next measure because the cursor jumped so I messed up THAT measure), click back where I wanted it to be... That is a royal PITA. All I want it to do is follow along and do what I tell it to do. Not jump from bar 19 to bar 67 because "If you don't know why I'm mad at you I'm certainly not going to tell you!"
Anybody else deal with this?
EDIT: and this thought.
If I have a song in SEQ format, and I write another section to merge into that song, it seems like there should be a way to open another SEQ file without closing the one that is open. I have tried that many times and it just isn't possible. So if I write a bridge and want to insert it, I can't do that without opening the song, inserting blank measures, recoding all the chord entry, generating, which will not be the one I wrote in another window.... At the very least allow simultaneous sessions so I can open that new bridge is session 2, copy it and paste it into the original song in the appropriate place, and not disturb what was there at all. Rendering it into a WAV and importing works to a degree but I don't want to insert compiled files. I want tracks so I can add effects and gain changes track by track.
Optimally I would like to see "insert SEQ file" so I could add blank measures, click the curser at the insert point, and open that second SEQ file there. That doesn't really seem like a difficult bit of coding as good as these guys are.
Why can't you render a track to wav and compile with other wav's you've rendered and add effects and gain changes?
Well, yeah, I have had to resort to that. What a PAIN to have to save every track to an individual WAV, import them back in, line everything back up (because everything imports at the very start of the grid, not where you set the cursor), save it back out so the song becomes a SEQ file again..... That's a part time job!
The reason I believe it should be possible to merge SEQ files is not just for me, but that I can't be the only one who has every wished it would be so. If not, okay, I'll just have to do it the long way 'round.
I'm not following. You should be able to import any audio file to any place in your song you want. Using the Audio Tool bar, import WAV\WMA..... and a small window directory appears for you to select an audio file, select and hit Open; another window opens where you designate the bar/beat/tick which defaults to the current time where the curser is or you can set this to anywhere in the song. Be sure you have the track you want to import to selected before importing.
I'm not following. You should be able to import any audio file to any place in your song you want. Using the Audio Tool bar, import WAV\WMA..... and a small window directory appears for you to select an audio file, select and hit Open; another window opens where you designate the bar/beat/tick which defaults to the current time where the curser is or you can set this to anywhere in the song. Be sure you have the track you want to import to selected before importing.
Is that how you import audio?
Y9u are one of the OGs here. You are probably talking about BIAB. I use RB. All I know how to do is hit FILE then IMPORT and import the file I want. And no matter where my cursor is it brings it in to beat 1 measure 1.
Even that isn't completely what I want to be able to do. Say I am working on a song. I want to put in a bridge at bar 39. I want to be able to say "Okay Real Band. Put in 8 blank bars at measure 39. In those 8 mars let me enter chords in the chord window. Then let me generate those 8 bars and JUST those 8 bars. I have tried that maybe 2 dozen times and I simply can't figure out how to do it. I find that as soon as you start editing, moving measures around, etc... the software fall apart. Then if you try to move a part marker so the drum fills are in the right place, which calls for regeneration... you may as well just start over with a blank canvas. I lived this very thing TODAY!. I ended up just throwing the song away and when I get over the bad mood I am toward Real Band right now I may go back to it. If not, oh well. It's just another mediocre song nobody but me cares about. I can write another mediocre song nobody cares about any time.
<< You are probably talking about BIAB. >> Nope. Talking about RB. And yes, I tested the way you import the file you want by selecting FILE then IMPORT and when the selected file imports, it always imports to beat 1 of measure 1 for me too.
Now I ask that you try the way I import a WAV file. Use the import WAV option in the Audio Tool Bar on the Tracks screen. You can place the audio anywhere you designate and it defaults to the curser placement. You do have to watch carefully because the track selection will jump to Track 1 on occasion.
<< If I have a song in SEQ format, and I write another section to merge into that song, it seems like there should be a way to open another SEQ file without closing the one that is open. >> This is possible using the Scrap option from the File Menu. You select a scrap by copy/paste command and then choose the scrap save command and it saves that clipboard audio or midi as a Seq file that can be selected and placed in different projects. It's a bit tricky that you also have to be sure the Track you want to load a scrap onto is set to the same media as the scrap. ie: stereo or mono or midi. You would add your bridge blank measures first and then load the scrap to the bridge bar 1, beat 1.
<< What's the deal with that 2 bar ending? Does that mean Real Band is going to create an ending that it thinks I want? >> Yes. Exactly what it means. Don't want it - Uncheck the box...
The 2 bar offset is required if you use BIAB generated tracks. RB uses BIAB generated tracks.
<< I want to put in a bridge at bar 39. I want to be able to say "Okay Real Band. Put in 8 blank bars at measure 39. In those 8 mars let me enter chords in the chord window. Then let me generate those 8 bars and JUST those 8 bars. >> I think RB will do this but let me test it... I'll get back to this. If you import audio using scrap to the bridge, enter the scrap audio chord progression in the bridge, you should be able to multi riff or regenerate only the bridge region if it's highlighted and selected. I don't know if that's correct or not at the moment.
<< I want to put in a bridge at bar 39. I want to be able to say "Okay Real Band. Put in 8 blank bars at measure 39. In those 8 mars let me enter chords in the chord window. Then let me generate those 8 bars and JUST those 8 bars. >>
I created a 12 bar chord chart and generated the tracks. I inserted markers for count in, V1, Chorus and Tag I inserted 8 blank measures for an 8 bar bridge at the end of V1 Between V1 and the Chorus I selected and highlighted the 8 bar bridge using the 'Snap to grid' button and F7 for beat 1, bar 9 and F8 for beat 1, bar 17 (bars can also be highlighted from the Chord Sheet with the curser and mouse click) I edited the markers to name the blank measures Bridge and moved the Chorus and Tag to the new measure numbers. (now 17 and 20) From the Chord Sheet I entered chords into the Bridge measures. From the Generate Button I selected the 2nd option from the top - Generate BB (Selected Region) (Selected Tracks)
RB generated the 8 Bar Bridge only, leaving the original generated tracks intact. I got the same result by generating the very bottom selection on the Generate Menu - Generate All (Selected Region) (Selected Tracks)
To Import another SEQ file into an existing one is easy, once you know where to find it. I kind of get why they named it what they did, but it is NOT intuitive.
Use File - Scrap - Load Scrap; select the desired SEQ file. Be aware this only loads it to the clipboard.. I know; weird ..
So then go to the track and location you want to paste it and use Paste. It will use your selected track and the next available blank track(s) to load the desired seq file.
Most users are not intuitively going to know they then have to go paste it after using a function called 'Load Scrap'. Not pretty, but it's there!
Last edited by rharv; 10/29/2001:35 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
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Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
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Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
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And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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