Recent discussion of the "James Bond" chord EmMaj9 has me wondering how to handle it as a RealTrack guitar chord.
The only way at present to indicate this chord to BIAB is by calling it EmMaj7/F#, which hits the right pitch classes but puts what should be the high note in the bass (assuming it works, which it might not, but let's assume it does.)
So I had a thought.
Duplicate the guitar part an octave higher, and let that blend with the original. Same chords, same RealTrack. The octava performance will theoretically have slash notes that fill in the missing 9th in the lower part.
This may or may not work as desired, but my question is, can I do that?
Please note, I don't want an audio transposition, or an exact note-for-note transposition. I'm looking for what you would get by telling the guitarist "play an octave higher, or do the best you can, using whatever higher-position fingerings you would use to try to do that."
If the track is RealTRack then you probably will get artifacts that will make the track sound weird. Generally audio doesn't like to be moved by an octave.
If it is MIDI just go to the piano roll view and add the notes you want in the order you want.
If you have a polyphonic version of Melodyne then you can use it to and the notes you want in the order you want them. If you move an audio note only a step or two you generally don't get the artifacts. Note that this can take a bit of time as you must do this for every chord you want to change.
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64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
I’m not at a computer but try Preferences, Channels, +1 in the Guitar column for Octave. This works for MIDI; not sure about RealTracks.
Thanks, Matt. That setting is somewhere else on a Mac, but I did find it under Options / MIDI Settings, and it does indeed work for MIDI. But isn't that a global setting? I would need to do this on a per track basis to get my octava. Also, won't that just bump every note up an octave, as opposed to revoicing the guitar chords?
By the way... it is SO WEIRD going into these settings and seeing "piano", "guitar", etc. as hardcoded labels for specific tracks. I know the historical reason, but still.
If the track is RealTRack then you probably will get artifacts that will make the track sound weird. Generally audio doesn't like to be moved by an octave.
Thanks, Mario, but audio editing is what I'm not looking to do. I want the chords revoiced as they would be for a guitarist playing down HERE as opposed to playing up HERE on the neck.
I guess another way to put this is, can I specify a real instrument's register to be used in constructing a RealTrack*? I don't want a funny-sounding little mini-guitar, I want a funny-sounding normal guitar played up near the sound hole.
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* "RealTrack" as a term is annoyingly ambiguous. It can mean either the read-only things you install with BIAB, or it can mean the tracks you construct out of these.
If it is MIDI use the event editor to change the notes to whatever you want. Just don't regenerate it again or you'll be starting over.
As Mario mentioned piano roll view is probably your easiest route There you can drag things around and add/delete. I really don't think moving the voicing an octave would help, BiaB might just take that as meaning your synth is an octave lower than normal and generate the same stuff just an octave up.
Last edited by rharv; 01/18/2211:11 AM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
OK, check this out (15 seconds) – https://soundcloud.com/mark_hayes/junkola-render Two guitars using the same RealTrack. Progression: Em – Em6 – Em7 – Em6 ... Em Freeze Guitar #1, replace final chord with B Major, regenerate for Guitar #2. E minor + B Major = James Bond, and it sounds pretty good!
Mark in addition to calling the last chord a poly chord here are a few names of that last chord:
F#13sus(b9)/E... you gotta love it. I guess every chord can be interpreted multiple ways; a C Major could be G(sus4)6 and a whole lotta other things if you allow for missing notes.
Anyway, this is a happy situation, where the unplayable chord breaks down perfectly into two triads, and in this particular happy situation I think the double-RealTrack thing works pretty neatly.
Does anyone actually do this to render polychords in BIAB? That would be SO cool.
................ F#13sus(b9)/E... you gotta love it. I guess every chord can be interpreted multiple ways; a C Major could be G(sus4)6 and a whole lotta other things if you allow for missing notes.
I got a chuckle with this one. As a guitarist I can only play 3-4 notes of many mostly jazz chords. When I jam with JonD, a keyboardist, we have to compromise on exactly what chord I am playing as my idea of the chord is usually different from his as he can play up to 10 notes.
Originally Posted By: Mark Hayes
Anyway, this is a happy situation, where the unplayable chord breaks down perfectly into two triads, and in this particular happy situation I think the double-RealTrack thing works pretty neatly.
Does anyone actually do this to render polychords in BIAB? That would be SO cool.
I haven't but it is something worth trying. Freezing a track would be your friend here.
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64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
> Does anyone actually do this to render polychords in BIAB? That would be SO cool.
I haven't but it is something worth trying. Freezing a track would be your friend here.
I tried last night and it didn’t sound very good, but I was just using a random polychordal composition for which there was a MIDI online (and there aren’t many.) I will keep looking. If you know of anything, please, I am wide open to suggestions!
> Does anyone actually do this to render polychords in BIAB? That would be SO cool.
I haven't but it is something worth trying. Freezing a track would be your friend here.
I tried last night and it didn’t sound very good, but I was just using a random polychordal composition for which there was a MIDI online (and there aren’t many.) I will keep looking. If you know of anything, please, I am wide open to suggestions!
I haven't worked with polychords but if I get a chance later today I will try. I do know that you need to get chords that compliment each other, much like your Em and B major. Otherwise all you will get is a cluster and many times a bad sounding cluster!
I'm in a fitness protection program. I'm been hiding from exercise.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
I haven't worked with polychords but if I get a chance later today I will try. I do know that you need to get chords that compliment each other, much like your Em and B major. Otherwise all you will get is a cluster and many times a bad sounding cluster!
Indeed. Another thing I tried to get my originally sought octava was using a guitar for the low chord and a ukulele for the high chord. Kinda works.
OK, check this out (15 seconds) – https://soundcloud.com/mark_hayes/junkola-render Two guitars using the same RealTrack. Progression: Em – Em6 – Em7 – Em6 ... Em Freeze Guitar #1, replace final chord with B Major, regenerate for Guitar #2. E minor + B Major = James Bond, and it sounds pretty good!
I don't know what that last held chord was...aside from what you said you did, but to my ear, there's some wonky stuff in there that isn't copacetic.
Well, a minor-Major-9th is a pretty wonky chord to start. But here I imagine there's more than one minor 2nd, which make it even more dissonant. I like it, myself, but I get that this might not be what the composer was going for, so I can't just say, well, it's supposed to sound that way.
Possible remedies:
1) Use a ukulele for the second track and hope that avoids those clashes.
2) Can SpectraLayers pluck out individual notes and discard them? Like, edit out a D# that's clashing with an E? If not SpectraLayers, can something else do this? Hard to imagine being able to pluck a single note out of a recording of two guitars in a graphic editor, though.
3) I'm also thinking TrackSpacer can help, if it's as intelligent as it claims to be, and this would be way cool (and I just bought it yesterday.) Set a very narrow frequency band to include just a problem pair like that D#/E and sidechain the nice notes onto the naughty notes to force their naughty frequencies to be selectively ducked.
The last one sounds so cool I'm going to have to try it. Thanks for the feedback!
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We've just released XPro Styles PAK 10 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 28 RealTracks and RealDrums!
Few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and a brand spankin’ new XPro Styles PAK! In this, the 10th edition of our XPro Styles PAK series, we’ve got 100 styles coming your way! We have the classic 25 styles each from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, and rounding out this volume's wildcard slot is 25 styles in the Praise & Worship genre! A wide spanning genre, you can find everything from rock, folk, country, and more underneath its umbrella. The included 28 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Here’s just a small sampling of what you can look forward to in XPro Styles PAK 10: Soft indie folk worship songs, bumpin’ country boogies, gospel praise breaks, hard rockin’ pop, funky disco grooves, smooth Latin jazz pop, bossa nova fusion, western swing, alternative hip-hop, cool country funk, and much more!
Special offers until December 31st, 2025!
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XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
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Rejoice, one and all, for Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Band-in-a-Box® is here! We’re serving up 200 brand spankin’ new styles to delight your musical taste buds! The first three courses are the classics you’ve come to know and love, including offerings from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, but, not to be outdone, this year’s fourth course is bro country! A wide ranging genre, you can find everything from hip-hop, uptempo outlaw country, hard hitting rock, funk, and even electronica, all with that familiar bro country flair. The dinner bell has been rung, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 21 today!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Energetic folk rock, raucous train beats, fast country boogies, acid jazz grooves, laid-back funky jams, a bevy of breezy jazz waltzes, calm electro funk, indie synth pop, industrial synth metal, and more bro country than could possibly fit in the back of a pickup truck!
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Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 21 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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