This could have been two threads. It's two different topics.

About the add9 and sus2 chords, I think some definitions need to be understood for what BIAB supports versus what BIAB plays. You can type add2 or add9, or 2 or sus2, but what does BIAB actually enter, and what does BIAB actually play?

If you type Xadd2, you get Xadd2.
If you type Xadd9, it flips to Xadd2.
If you type X2, you get X2.
If you type Xsus2, it flips to X2.

So right there, you see that BIAB has made a decision to treat these as two chords, not four.

But it's actually worse than that. All four are the same chord to BIAB. Here's why:

This is an old file from 1999, still in effect to my knowledge, called /bb/Data/pgshortc.txt

; This file allows you to add new chord shortcuts
; The file pgshortc.txt should be used only by PG Music
; you can add your own shortcuts in a text file you can make called c:\bb\shortcut.txt
; If you find a chord that BB won't accept like Csus2, when it expects C2 instead
; you can enter this on a single line (without the quotes) "Csus2@C2"
; Then BB will enter the chord C2 if you type in Csus 2.
; these allow someone to type in Csus2 and the program will accept it.
; You can also use it for shortcuts, like if you entered j@maj7 , BB would let you
; type Cj for CMaj7
;Here's an example that would type m7b5 if you typed h
; Note these are already defined in BB, and you can't over-ride these shortcuts
;sus2@2 add2@2 m+@m#5 dim7@dim 7aug@7+ sus4@sus 11@9sus 9sus4@9sus
;13sus4@13sus add9@2 7sus4@7sus s@7sus h@m7b5 d@dim J@MAJ7
; f@7b9 m7+@m7#5 NC@C. no chord l@7Alt u@(Blues) 7u@7(Blues)
; Lyd@lydian Lyd@lyd Lyd@4#

;here's an example that types 7#9 if you type n after the chord name eg. Cn
n@7#9


Now we see some problems. It says sus2 requires a shortcut, and yet below it says sus2 = 2, and that's built-in and we cannot change it.

This file says sus2 = 2, add2 = 2, and add9 = 2. They are all the same chord to BIAB! Enter them one after another in BIAB and hear for yourself.

All these separate chords could easily be implemented in MIDI, and then these default shortcuts should be removed. Making these chords work in RealTracks requires the artists to record these chords and as Mario says, that takes effort and space, and would only work going forward with new RealTracks.


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; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.