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Is There a Way in BIAB to take a Realstyle and convert the Guitar Part or all of it to MIDI so that I could replace the guitar part with various virtual sampled guitars. I recently bought Acoustic Legends HD. I was hoping to improve guitar sounds with this 19GB sample library of high end acoustic guitars.

I believe in a MIDI style there would be no problem to apply a VSTi to the guitar track to change the sound and try different sounds. (Acoustic Legends HD has 11 acoustic guitars.)

Originally I heard a very beautiful guitar picking pattern in a realstyle but the guitar had a bit of western twang to it. Therefore I wanted to modify and take off the twang on this realstyle.

Any help or suggestions on these issues?

Could you make a wave file in BIAB and then have BIAB analyse it and create a midi file and then all the parts could be attached to VSTi instruments?

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Most, if not all, of the guitar RealTracks have RealCharts. RealCharts is a midi transcription of the guitar audio performance so midi is likely available.

However all of the midi transcription likely has a velocity value of 0, no volume, to prevent a midi patch from sounding while the RealTrack audio is playing. So all the midi will need to be edited to add velocity values.

Band-in-a-Box does have a monophonic audio to midi capability. That means it can convert single note audio, for example the sound of a whistle, trumpet or saxophone, to midi. So it may be able to convert a picking pattern as long as multiple notes are not picked at the same time. Guitar strums and multi-note picking patterns are polyphonic and composed of multiple sounds. Band-in-a-Box is not capable of converting polyphonic audio to midi.

An online program separates a song audio file into its component parts is +++ EZ Stems +++.


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Thanks Jim.
Does this mean that at the very least I can use my Acoustic Legends HD as a sound engine for MIDI styles that have a guitar. So ultimately, within a MIDI style I can audition the guitar track with differing sounds of acoustic guitars.

Will the polyphonic limitation in BIAB also apply to MIDI styles or is that not the case?

Is the procedure you referred to for Realstyles conversion to MIDI documented anywhere?

Last edited by Peter K. Hewer; 12/30/20 10:18 AM.
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Originally Posted By: Peter K. Hewer
Thanks Jim.
Does this mean that at the very least I can use my Acoustic Legends HD as a sound engine for MIDI styles that have a guitar. So ultimately, within a MIDI style I can audition the guitar track with differing sounds of acoustic guitars.


I do this all of the time in my DAW, Studio One Pro 5. If any BiaB track name is underlined then it has a MIDI part. There are a couple of ways to get those parts into a DAW. I do not do a lot of my work in BiaB so I don't know how to change a RT to a MIDI sound there.

#1 - Use the VST and move the tracks to a DAW. For the RT you want as MIDI move the RT chart to the DAW, this will be the MIDI version of the RT and once in your DAW you can use any sound source you would like. You can also edit the MIDI track to get whatever you want.

#2 - drag to underlined RT to the mid box, go into DAW mode and with your DAW open drag and drop said mid to DAW.


Originally Posted By: Peter K. Hewer
Will the polyphonic limitation in BIAB also apply to MIDI styles or is that not the case?

Is the procedure you referred to for Realstyles conversion to MIDI documented anywhere?


I can't answer your last two questions.


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Let's answer your question by looking at the possibilities. Strum an open G major chord. The G root is string 6, string 5 is B, four is D, three is G, two is B and one is G with six the top string and one the bottom string.

Band-in-a-Box was midi long before RealTracks and audio were a thing so the midi guitar strum patterns typically are really very good.

What will the open G major sound like when all six notes are strummed on the same string? Not right is the best answer. The default guitar midi channel is midi channel 7.

Most guitar VSTi can accept a midi channel to represent each string.

If you use Ctrl + E to open Preferences, then select the MIDI File button, there is a checkbox to Include Guitar Position Controller and another to Write guitar part on 6 channels.

Include Guitar Position Controller uses midi CC 84 to report the fret position. This can mess up some synths that use CC 84 for something else. When it works though it can mean the difference between strumming an open G major and a barre G chord.

Write guitar part on 6 channels enables some midi styles to write the guitar to midi channels 11 to 16. Not all styles support this option.


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Originally Posted By: Jim Fogle

Band-in-a-Box does have a monophonic audio to midi capability. That means it can convert single note audio, for example the sound of a whistle, trumpet or saxophone, to midi. So it may be able to convert a picking pattern as long as multiple notes are not picked at the same time. Guitar strums and multi-note picking patterns are polyphonic and composed of multiple sounds. Band-in-a-Box is not capable of converting polyphonic audio to midi.


Hey Jim,
I used to know where to find this feature, but for some reason I can't seem to find it in the 2021 menu structure anywhere. Can you point me in the right direction?

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Pat,

I can't find it either. I also can't find it in the manual. Strange.


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RealBand has that audio to midi.
Don't forget you now have Direct Input guitar option that someone requested years n years ago to have smile
You can then add any FX you like.
There is also Peavey ReValver in free and full, it can change an electric to an acoustic tone.

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Pat and Jim;

In the 2021 menu structure, it's located in the Audio Menu at the top of the Chord Sheet Main Page.


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Pat,

Try Audio > Audio Transcribe (Monophonic) ...

Thanks to both Charlie and Noel96 for their help answering this question.

I can honestly say my mind was on audio and midi and never in my dreams imagined "transcribe monophonic" pertained to monophonic audio to midi conversion. Having said that, in hindsight the terminology applies even if it's not intuitive.


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thanks! Part of my confusion is that I was looking in RealBand while the thread is about BIAB!

In RB the menu path is EDIT > MIDI > PITCH TO MIDI CONVERSION

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i know this question is only about BIAB, but if you use Melodyne (not all versions), you can get audio to MIDI conversion of many notes at the same time.


Check out my YouTube video on BIAB at https://youtu.be/_vel48tBLKY
and please subscribe to my channel.

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Originally Posted By: Tiger The Frog
i know this question is only about BIAB, but if you use Melodyne (not all versions), you can get audio to MIDI conversion of many notes at the same time.


Yes, the polyphonic versions will do this. In fact I have found Melodyne to be the best audio to MIDI converter I have ever used. I have to do very little, if any, MIDI editing after the conversion. Note that you will loose the audio nuances (vibrato, slurs, etc) but that will happen with any audio to MIDI converter.

The polyphonic versions have a lot going for them other then audio to MIDI. You can change chords, change chord inversions, de-essing, etc, as well as pitch correction. This works well with RT wav files. IMHO Melodyne is a great tool to have in your toolbox.


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The guitar realTracks already have MIDI, and these are called RealCharts. This is actual transcriptions from a MIDI Gutar pickup recorded when they artists played it, so the timing and velocity are as recorded by the MIDI Guitar pickup.

In addition, we have spent many hours cleaning it up, removing “glitches” or artifacts that occur with MIDI guitar pickups.

You don’t hear the MIDI during play, that’s just because we mute it. But the velocities are all there. You can get at the MIDI several ways. The easiest is to drag from the radio button of the track, at the top of the screen, and drag to the “MID” button in the drop station at the top left of the screen. Then you have a MIDI file that you can drag drop to explorer or to your DAW and play it.

You can also do this inside BiaB by menu edit copy tracks and just copy the MIDI to another track. The. You can play it, choose different instruments etc.

The RealChart is much better than you’d get from an audio to MIDI, especially for a guitar part. The string and fret numbers are present in the RealCharts, whereas their would be no string/fret info in an audio to MIDI. The string and fret numbers are present in the midi by channels 11 to 16 corresponding to strings 126 from high to low. That’s how band in the box knows how to display these midi tracks properly on the guitar fretboard and tab


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