Originally Posted By: SterlingHolobyte

First off, is it possible to use some parts of a style but not others at certain points in the song. I saw some boxes next to the attributes of the style that I could check, but when I did it didn't change anything. I know there must be something to that, but I don't know what, and I don't really know how to describe it in the search bar.


People have touched on some methods already above including F5. If you're not using Utility tracks (which are only available in the newer programs, and these Utility Tracks are not in the F5 or Bar Settings menu), and are just using the legacy tracks, then you can easily go into the bar settings by right clicking on the measure you want to apply your change to -- lets say you want to mute an instrument on bar 5 and it happens to be a guitar -- you can go to the "Volume Changes At This Bar" section which is on the left hand side of the Edit Settings of Current Bar window, roughly in the center of the left hand side. You can change it to mute for that specific instrument, or any instrument you like, then hit okay. If you want to come back in on measure 30 as another example, you'd repeat the process but instead select "back to normal" for the instrument. Make sure your tracks in the mixer are unfrozen and that you regenerate the song after making your changes so that they can be applied.

This video was demonstrated in Windows, but it applies to Mac too and gives a good overview of what you can do in Bar Settings.




If you don't know how to right click on a Mac and don't like using F5 keys, you can right click on a Mac following Apple's instructions here!


Originally Posted By: SterlingHolobyte
Secondly - and I have found a few posts and videos on this but I am still confused about it - if I am trying to modify things like I mentioned above with the styles, is it best to use Realband or can I stick with the main BIAB? Since I am on a Mac, CAN I use Realband as I thought I read somewhere that Macs can't have that, even though I thought I downloaded it when I installed BIAB?


RealBand is not available for Mac, but you can easily do what you're looking for in Band-in-a-Box. Volume Automation isn't available for Mac yet (which I believe someone else mentioned here earlier).


Originally Posted By: SterlingHolobyte
Thirdly, and this will be enough for now, how can I lengthen a chord? Like for instance when I want that elongated musical note just before going into the chorus. Thank you for any assistance. Some of the buttons and features on BIAB are still foreign to me as to what they do but I am sure as I go along it will get easier to decipher(I hope).


Others have already touched on what you can do to get the sustained/held chord, so I won't touch on that, but if you find some of the buttons a bit "foreign" and prefer to see everything on one screen like I do, you can press control and T together when on your main chord sheet to toggle your view to classic mode. The modern view is nice and sleek, but as a low vision user I personally like all my buttons out in the open and nice and big and colourful. You may find this view easier to navigate. You can always use control and T to toggle back any time.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Ember