PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Beginners Forum Piano Roll Problems [Resolved]

Could someone help me with the Piano Roll in BiaB 2022 Windows? The videos seem to jump into the process where the basic setup is already properly established. I'm not sure my basic setup is correct.

I want to add individual electric piano notes into a new song I'm creating so
1. I right-clicked Utility Track#1
2. Selected MIDI Super Track
3. Chose a piano from the list (did not see any electric pianos)
4. Selected the Piano Roll window, I think I know the basics of how to navigate in this window.

I immediately observed that there were MIDI notes thru-out the song. This surprised me as I thought I'd be starting fresh and entering my own notes. It must have picked up the notes from the chords I had entered in a few bars. When I tried to zoom out so I could select and delete these notes, BiaB crashed; some kind of "Exception Error".

Exception log with detailed tech info. Generated on 4/12/2022 4:21:57 PM.
You may send it to the application vendor, helping them to understand what had happened.
Application title: Band-in-a-Box® - NONAME.SGU
Application file: C:\bb\bbw64.exe
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exception class: EAccessViolation
Exception message: Access violation at address 00000000014B5F94 in module 'bbw64.exe'. Read of address 0000000000000004.
Exception address: 00000000014B5F94
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Main thread ID = 36716
Exception thread ID = 36716
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exception stack
Stack list, generated 4/12/2022 4:21:52 PM
[00000000014B5F94]{bbw64.exe } bbxBigEvent._ZN11Bbxbigevent9TBigEvent11IsPRTregionEv (Line 142, "bbxBigEvent.pas" + 2)
[00000000012E6E38]{bbw64.exe } JclDebug._ZN8Jcldebug18JclCreateStackListEbiPvbS0_
[00000000012E6D49]{bbw64.exe } JclDebug._ZN8Jcldebug21DoExceptionStackTraceEPN6System7TObjectEPvbS3_
[00000000012E8963]{bbw64.exe } JclDebug._ZN8Jcldebug14DoExceptNotifyEPN6System7TObjectEPvbS3_
[00000000012D6805]{bbw64.exe } JclHookExcept._ZN13Jclhookexcept13TNotifierItem8DoNotifyEPN6System7TObjectEPvbS4_
[00000000012D6A4C]{bbw64.exe } JclHookExcept._ZN13Jclhookexcept14DoExceptNotifyEPN6System7TObjectEPvbS3_
[00000000012D6BEF]{bbw64.exe } JclHookExcept._ZN13Jclhookexcept19HookedExceptObjProcEPN6System16TExceptionRecordE
[0000000000411C09]{bbw64.exe } System._ZN6System23_DelphiExceptionHandlerEPNS_16TExceptionRecordEyPvS2_
[00007FFD529286EF]{ntdll.dll } Unknown function at __chkstk . . .

Can someone point out what, if anything I am doing wrong?
And is there a video or document that explains the entire workflow of using the Piano Roll that doesn't assume that the setup and any required preferences have be specified properly?

Thanks for any help.

If you applied a a MIDI Super Track and generated the song, it would generate the MIDI notes that you probably are seeing/hearing.

However, this doesn't explain the crash.
Exactly how did you zoom out, e.g. with the horizontal zoom out or the vertical zoom out button, or by some other method?
I couldn't repeat the crash here (so far).

I zoomed out by clicking the "+" zoom control in the lower right hand corner.

This is the video I viewed and the Help doesn't seem to address the workflow; like the video, only details of the piano roll window itself seems to be addressed. My questions are at the track and channel level and why it crashed.

https://www.pgmusic.com/helpvideo.htm?vidid=V97VYOeotmk&autoplay=1&start=0&os=Win

When you go to Help | About Band-in-a-Box what's the 3 digit number in brackets? And has the crash been reproduceable, the same methods used resulting in a similar crash each time you replicate this course of action? Or does it only happen periodically? If you right click on BIAB and run as admin, does it still crash?

I hope I answered the question about why there are MIDI notes on the track. You could use the Melody or Soloist track if you want to add your own MIDI data, or simply don't use a MIDI SuperTrack (the MIDI SuperTracks are based on actual playing by studio musicians).

You could just select a General MIDI patch on a Utility track and add your notes in the Piano Roll.

The other question about the crash is to learn if it was a one-off or is it repeatable. If it is repeatable, can you list all of the steps you take to cause it to crash, including which tracks, how it's applied etc?

Thanks for the help but I'm still a tad confused.

You say "If you applied a a MIDI Super Track and generated the song, it would generate the MIDI notes that you probably are seeing/hearing." OK, I understand this.

So how can I prevent the MIDI notes that are getting generated as a result of generating the song?

Sooner or later I will need to generate/re-generate the song and if, as a result of this, MIDI notes get automatically generated, isn't that defeating the purpose?

Let's say I only want 10 descrete MIDI notes in the song (that I want and can place manually in the piano roll). But when I generate the song, I get 300, all of which are unwanted. I must be missing something here?

Just don't use a MIDI SuperTrack. The MIDI SuperTracks are based on actual playing by studio musicians, and notation will be generated. Use a user-created MIDI track instead as follows:

Just click on the blank Utility Track, and select an Electric Piano MIDI patch as shown in first image.

Then open the Piano Roll, select the same Utility Track you have added the MIDI patch to, and add your notes as required as shown in the second image.

Generating the song will then not change or add additional notes to your MIDI data on your own Utility Track. See third image.

Please let us know if this assists.

AudioTrack's answer looks like the right answer for what you're doing, but in case you weren't aware of it, the [*] on the mixer track will freeze that track and stop it being regenerated.

That's more usually used when you'd like to keep a previously generated track as it now is.

Good point Gordon, and thanks for that additional clarification. Yes, frozen [*] tracks won't be regenerated.

I also think that the use of separate MIDI tracks will be most beneficial for resolving your issues.

AudioTrack,
You solved my problem. I didn't know the difference between a MIDI SuperTrack and a MIDI Instrument(Patch); still a newbie.
Now I know enough to clear the log jam and proceed.

Many thanks.

Fantastic! We all start somewhere. If you're like me, you might trip up along the way, and that's OK. I do too. The great thing is that in this forum there is a team of dedicated users who can offer suggestions from their experiences to help others.

You could open your original post and mark is as [resolved] 'cause this can assist others who might encounter a similar problem in the future.

You will have observed that there is a constructive and cooperative team here, always trying to stay focused and help others.

I marked it as resolved; thanks again.
And thank you Gordon regarding the [*] tip.