Originally Posted By: Leovigild
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With a portable recorder like the Zoom (do they still make those, I'll have to look that up)or a smart phone, I'd have to transfer the vocal melodies to BIAB via an SD card, right?


I use a Tascam DR-05 :

https://www.amazon.com/TASCAM-DR-05-Portable-Digital-Recorder/dp/B07QZTRK7K/ref=dp_fod_3?pd_rd_i=B07QZTRK7K&psc=1

Sometimes BobH and I will just jam and record it via the DR-05. If we have a song or a section that we like I transfer it to my DAW. Then I search for a BiaB style that fits. You would transfer it straight into BiaB and line it up with the BiaB tracks.

Originally Posted By: Leovigild

But I'm wondering, if I can record a vocal audio performance into BIAB with a mic plugged into the mic jack on my desktop, how would I render that melody from my voice to a chosen instrument (so that a trumpet or sax or guitar etc. is playing it instead of my voice)? Is that a simple operation, or what?


That is possible with Melodyne and other audio to MIDI converters. I have found Melodyne to be the best at audio to MIDI and if you are only going to convert monophonic instruments like you voice then the least expensive Melodyne will work:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Melo5Ess--celemony-melodyne-5-essential

Note that RealBand has a monophonic audio to MIDI converter so if you are on a Windows machine you might want to try that. I have not used that one so I can't help. However in all of the audio to MIDI programs I have tried Melodyne is the best: that is there is a lot fewer mistakes and in fact many of the conversions I have done with Melodyne I had no mistakes.

Good luck

PS - I should add that Melodyne is 64 bit only and I have not tried it in BiaB. You may have to run it as a stand-a-lone program and bring in your vocal track, convert it in Melodyne, then transfer the MIDI track back into BiaB.

Whenever I get something stuck in the back of my throat, I dislodge it by drinking a beer.
It's called the Heineken Maneuver.

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware