Hi, this is my first post and I'm somewhat of a beginner.
Not quite a year ago I managed to get both the audio and midi tracks into Reaper, as well as the chords showing up in the biab VSTi3, for a piece of music I liked.
I don't remember how I did that, and would like to do it again. Can anyone help me?
I have never been asked this question before and, to be honest, I'm not 100% sure of the answer.
I've used Windows Explorer to search for *.mid* in the \bb folder and there are certainly lots of MIDI files. When I look at the "Properties" of random files, these seem to be associated with BIAB add-ons and not the main program.
If one goes into Stylepicker, as you know, it's possible to play demo songs. If you want to get the tracks for these songs, select "Load Song Demo" and then OK. This will load PG Music's songfile into BIAB (chords, melody, everything). It can then be generated and the tracks can be saved. This works in Reaper as well and the tracks can be dragged into Reaper.
Noel, this is certainly a quick and easy way to get BIAB songs into Reaper. I don't have any experience with the BIAB VST3 plug-in. So I have a couple of questions:
1. Will this method also work for Cakewalk? 2. Do the tracks have to be dragged into the DAW individually or can they all be brought over together at once?
Jeff/noel/all. just be aware of something any user needs to address when useing the bb as a vst plug in. (i'm on 2020 so maybe its changed with 2021.) the ISSUE is when dragging into reaps or any daw from bb plug in where do the traks end up that are dragged into the daw ?. let me explain. say i am doing a song called "burmese cats rok out". "BCRO". i want all bb files/generations/saves as well as all daw traks to be saved in the song main folder ; in this case BCRO folder. INSTEAD OF BEING SPREAD OUT ON THE DRIVE AND SAVED WHERE BB DICTATES. i seem to remember the above issue is why i went back to the old way of saveing all bb exports/gens/saves etc etc to my song file (in this case BCRO folder where my reaps recorded traks go.) see what i mean ?? OTHERWISE one is left wondering where the dragged into daw files went. bb drag/drop perhaps ?
please tell me if the issue is addressed in bb 2021. ie on initiating drag into daw (eg reaps or cake etc) the bb plug in asks "which folder do you want the dragged audio /mids to be saved in ?" ie in the example above i want the saves to be to the "burmese cats rok out". "BCRO" folder.
do you see the issue ?. (one of my wishes in wishlist mentions the above issue.) jeff/noel. try some dragging into daw and tell me where the files end up ? in your designated song folder ? or somewhere in bb folder land ?.
see what i'm getting at ? if somewhere in bb folder dir that means i have to manually move them to my designated song folder (eg BCRO) out of bb folder dir. so i might as well do things the old way to save this move step.
best old muso. ps maybe pg //chantelle can comment further.
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 05/18/2103:52 AM.
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.)
Pretty much the same in current version, but this is not BIAB-VST issue, it is a DAW Issue. When files are dragged from the VST to Reaper they then need to be saved in the Reaper Project otherwise the audio tracks will indeed be over in the BIAB folder which is designated in Options. When you save them in Reaper it will ask, Move the Files? or Copy the Files? Once I commit to them in my DAW I Move all files into the DAW Project Folder.
I only have a basic knowledge of the plugin at this stage. It's certainly a convenient way to use BIAB.
I can drag all the tracks into Reaper by left-clicking on the purple "All" icon and just dragging them across. They're transferred very quickly.
The green "WAV" button can be used to drag individual tracks across.
Whether or not Cakewalk does the same, I don't know. It would be worth trying, though.
Regards, Noel
P.S. Ignore the N/A on my tracks. They work fine but for some reason, N/A is attached to them. I haven't sorted that out yet. [SOLVED: I just needed to rebuild my Realtracks list.]
MusicStudent. i think it IS a bb vst issue with respect. cos if as per one of my wishes if the bb vst on first start up asked "where do you want all genned files/saves/drags etc to go " AT THIS POINT I COULD DESIGNATE THE BCRO FOLDER. and i wouldnt be asked again AND the traks wouldnt end up EVER in the bb dir. it would cut out further steps. are you saying its reaps that asks move the files ?
best oldmuso
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.)
So here is BIAB-VST, EZKeys, EZBass, NI-Strummed Acoustic (only the shown VSTs) also Scaler2.
None of these will store the files in the Reaper Project Folder until I tell them to with the "Save As" commend when it will move or copy the content which has been moved into Reaper. Each has separate file storage location for app parameters since these all also have Standalone VSTs.
OK, that is how I understand it. And with that workflow I have never lost any music. So admittedly it may be a little more complex than I make it out. But that is how it works for me.
None of these will store the files in the Reaper Project Folder until I tell them to with the "Save As" commend when it will move or copy the content which has been moved into Reaper.
That's pretty standard practice for how DAW's work. Some of them (Cubase, Reaper) will offer to copy the files, some (Pro Tools) will automatically copy/move the files, and some will leave them alone. We're trying to support as many DAW's as possible (and has to work within the restrictions of Windows file permissions), therefore we have to take the safe approach with leaving the files in a common directory until another app removes them.
Simon. thanks for explaining the issue from a developers standpoint. its obviously a no win situation for the developer ie pg. i now see why you chose a common dir.
my concern was mainly for the new pg user who possibly wonders why a particular win dir is getting bigger over time ie the bb common dir; and might not be monitoring such. thus i would suggest it be made clear in the docs // help about this aspect/issue. best oldmuso
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.)
my concern was mainly for the new pg user who possibly wonders why a particular win dir is getting bigger over time ie the bb common dir; and might not be monitoring such. thus i would suggest it be made clear in the docs // help about this aspect/issue. best oldmuso
I believe they are working on addressing that. There was some talk of having a setting to "automatically clear render folder on startup", though this would cause issues with the DAWs that default to leaving audio files where they started, as the files could get deleted automatically and cause that DAW session to be missing files. Another potential no-win situation perhaps.
Really though, everyone should go out and buy multiple 100tb hard drives, that would solve the problem for a year or two
For me, I open the file in Realband, and then simply drag the tracks from there to Reaper. Once I 'Save' in Reaper (due to Reaper prefs) I have a Reaper ready project on another drive. And far as I can tell, the original BiaB/RB file is still untouched and in the original location. So I keep it as long as needed.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
. Once I 'Save' in Reaper (due to Reaper prefs) I have a Reaper ready project on another drive.
Double check that Rharv, You would have to "Save As" not "Save" and then select move or copy. Unless something has changed in Reaper! Oh, unless of course you had never saved the reaper project in the beginning and you were doing a first time save.
Bottom line - knowing where your files are saved on your disk is Lesson 1 on any DAW.
Okay, after reading these posts I checked one of my tracks in Reaper and found that this is where the files are:
C:\bb\BBPlugin\SavedTracks\2021-05-17, 15-17-42\Bass - N A 1433 Bass, Electric, JazzFunkGroovin Ev16 110.wav
So based on what's said here, I can do a "Save project as..", then check the "Move all media into project directory" box, and then all the BB files will be moved from the "C:\bb\BBPlugin\SavedTracks\ "directory" to my designated directory?
This is all good to know, I had no idea where the BB files were, I'm new to BB and hadn't thought about yet.
YEs and No. Reaper will only move the audio or midi content from the BIAB location (per the instructions you listed) if it has already been dragged to a Reaper track. Pretty easy to check out and confirm.
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