In Band-in-a-Box®, F5 or Edit | Settings for Current Bar will open up a new window allowing you to adjust the number of beats per bar, apply tempo changes and patch changes, or apply a different Style, and even choose harmony changes to your Band-in-a-Box® song!
I can not make changes to the melody instrument or solo. Tried everything. Used F5 bar settings but it does not take account of the change of instrument. Tried saving; tried regenerating. Does not work. Please give me step by step instruction. I have prepared melody and chords and played it but when I go to a bar and use F5 it dos not make the change I asked for. Please help. I have watched the videos about this and seen all the fancy things it can do BUT nobody ever talkx about how to change the instruments at any particular point in the song. Am I doing somethig wrong ?
You probably know this, but in the MIDI world, instruments are called Patches. The column on the right for Patch Change is where you make the changes.
However - if you would, please tell us what version of BIAB you have, and what build. Go to Help menu, About and you'll see that info. There have been some recent patches that might affect this.
What do you use for your MIDI sound? A hardware MIDI synth like Roland or Ketron? Or a software instrument? You could tell us what you have in Options Preferences MIDI Driver, the middle column. You would adjust the entry in Patch Changes for whatever the name of your Melody instrument is, six positions from the top, or three from the bottom.
And, is VST/DXi checked?
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Thank you for your reply. I have had BB before on my Mac mini, which I much prefer. I was using BB 2012 build 52 and had a similar problem there but did not progress very far, partly because I could not get the patches to behave, and also because I nursed my wife with motor neurone for 10 years. Now I decided to get the very latest version and put it in my PC laptop because it is a newer machine. Newly installed but in hindsight wonder if I should have stayed with the Mac. However I still haver the same problem. If I try to alter the patches. Tried it all. Is there some sort of logic or specific order for things to happen. I gather styles take precedene. If I change melody patch when I pres play it switched back to the one set in style.I have tried saving, tried regenerating. No sense. Also find adding melody harmony also changes the melody patch. At 86 my hair is not too bad but soon it will be in a pile on the floor. Is it possible to fix the melody patch and then add harmony without affectig the melody.
by any chance are you importing and playing back and/or adding to or changeing midis from a third party that you didnt create ? if so , they might have embedded commands in the midi data stream that are overriding your own commands/patch changes. a good way to check is in the biab midi EVENT EDITOR. if so you can in the event editor remove those commands and insert your own eg patch changes , whatever. its very difficult to advise further without more details of your set up//workflow.
best. muso
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
In BiaB on your PC, please go to Help > About Band-In-A-Box and on the second line from the top, next to the version number, there will be a number in brackets. Can you tell us what that number is on your system please?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
I can not understand. After our contact I went back to it with a fresh start and it was like magic. Everything worked - well almost everything. It was brilliant. Now this morning : fresh start again. it has a nice solo line but I can not change the patch again. It insists on playing piano. I have tried using F5. I have tried changing through the mixer. The mixer shows a new instrumentnbut it still plays the piano. Help.
bocaj. please post your biab song somewhere so others can get a look at it and see where the problem might be. just an idea.
best muso
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
Have also found if harmony has been added its quite hellish trying to get rid of it. Tried various things. Deleting melody - cant get rid of stuff left behind. Even tried a no style from utilities - still left stuff behind. Seems like I have to start from New, which means recording the melody and chords again.
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We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can process an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
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