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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2
Newbie
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OP
Newbie
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2 |
OK, I've had my biab for about 24 hours now. I've managed to enter a few chords and the software creates songs ...whoop tee dooo. What I really want to do is create bass tracks and drums. I've went to the Notation mode and entered bass lines , I've saved them...but when I push the play button, the system plays a canned bass line not the one I entered. I tried opening the saved version and the notation still doesnt play...Huh? With the hours spent so far I probably couldl have recorded the bass lines i need.... can this really be this hard? I'm no computer whiz but have usesd Excel, auto cad etc etc for the last 25 years.... how do I create a simple bass line from scratch, save and use it?
Last edited by swivel; 05/11/10 10:49 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 484
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 484 |
Sounds like since you went ahead and edited the bass line you may want import the song into RealBand. RealBand will play your tracks as you have written/recorded them.
You may want to start like this: Save the bass line notation as a MIDI file and import that MIDI file into a track in the RB session. You can then drag and drop your other instruments that you created using BIAB from BIAB onto RealBand.
One thought since you are wanting to use just bass & drums. This is what I would do to speed up the results. I would create the song in BIAB. Mute the other instrument parts at the top of the window except the drums and bass. Once I found something close to what I liked, I would export it into RealBand. The MIDI will be easy to edit and make changes to both drums and bass to your exact liking.
Let me know if that works for you. And welcome aboard!
Cheers!
RickeG
Last edited by RickeG; 05/11/10 11:19 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021
Veteran
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Joined: May 2003
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Well swivel a few things first.
1. You didn't read any of the sales lit
2. You need to read the manuals
The whole idea of BIAB is to generate canned parts. If you edit parts that are MIDI and part of a style they will indeed revert back to the "canned" part when you hit play. If you want to make changes to these MIDI "canned" parts you must freeze the track first and then it won't change. I wouldn't get too hung up on this though because if you're like most of us you'll want to use Real Tracks & Real Drums and those can't be changed.
Read the book please
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10,199
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Swivel, Quote:
...how do I create a simple bass line from scratch, save and use it?
By using a program that was designed to do that. Band In A Box is not that program.
The concept behind Band In A Box is that you want the program to automatically create up to five parts of backing tracks, including the bass line.
You can use Real Band, or PowerTracks Pro Audio to create bass lines that will stay just how you created them. You can even use both Band In A Box and Real Band or PTPA together, i.e., to create a full backing sequence, and the move everything to either RB or PTPA, discard the bass track, and write your own.
But, you can not create a bass track in a Band In A Box song and expect to save it, it will auto regenerate each time. This is what the program is designed to do.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,486
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,486 |
Hi Swivel
The way I get over this problem is to mute the BIAB bass part and then write a bass Midi part in the Melody or Soloist sections and in Soloist edit transpose the newly written bass part down to suit and then save
The program does not regenerate the Melodty or Soloist sections
Brian
BIAB - RealBand - 2022
Windows 10 64
Zoo computer with 7i processor- SSD 1TB -2TB HDD
Roland keyboards
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
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Gary,
Although as I said it's not going to work with the Real Instruments one of the new features is indeed the ability to change what each instrument is playing via the notation window and then freeze it. It will not change when you hit play and the song can be saved that way. Again this only applies to MIDI.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 15,944
PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 15,944 |
Band-in-a-Box has 2 tracks that you can use for your own purposes (bass lines etc.). These are the Melody and Soloist tracks (note: MIDI only, not audio). In addition, you can use any track for your own purposes if you freeze it (right click on the the 'Bass" at the top of the screen and you can freeze the bass track. Then notes entered on the bass track will be yours. You can do that after BB has generated a track, in case you just want to tweak it. If you want to do a lot of your own tracks, I would recommend booting up RealBand, you can record 48 tracks (audio and MIDI) as well as generating BB tracks from that. It is included with Band-in-a-Box. There is a RealBand getting started video http://64.40.109.185/pgmusic/wmv/RealBand.wmv
Have Fun!
Peter Gannon
PG Music Inc.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,464
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Swivel, welcome to the forum.
I do it exactly as Brian (jazzman) and Dr. Gannon described, although it's really great that you can now freeze any track after editing it.
Sorry you got blasted with 'read the manual' message. Doing so is a good idea, as well as viewing the videos, but so is trying things on your own. From this thread, you have seen that, next time, you may not have to put in as much time struggling before getting the answer from one of us. And in no time, you can return the favor by answering questions of the new users to follow.
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; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333
Veteran
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333 |
Man for bass lines, in the jazz idiom, Realtracks bass is the real thing. Neil S doing his thing to Satin Doll, Oliver Gannon filling on guitar, and Terry Clarke on drums, all real tracks, make a .wav backing file and Bob's yer uncle and Peter is the man. The program is best used to back your instrument and or voice. And nothing does it better. You can find thousands of songs on-line, try: http://members.shaw.ca/glitch/bbfiles.htmlThousands just there. Load them up, change the style, make parts louder, mute the melody and play along, mute the bass and add that yourself, the sky's the limit.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 707
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 707 |
Without wishing to prolong this, perhaps the best analogy (drawing from the original post) is that he is trying to lay out the design for a new house in excel ...
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,333 |
Well it's a good starting point to work out the number of board feet of which lumber and which sheetings sq. footage of insulation, yards of wiring, etc. Add in the monthly fluctuations for the whims of women involved, the frustration levels of their decisiveness, and your tolerances without resorting to staying at the pub with friends consuming single malts at X * Y and you've a start to the decision to go on vacation and purchase something already built..
LOL.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021
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Matt,
I might have suggested to read the manual but I also pointed out how to do it as well long before Peter posted his message. I don't think I blasted.
You know sometimes my posts come off as blunt however I'm a 2 finger typist and so I need to say what I want to say in as few words as possible.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,464
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,464 |
Sorry John. You are correct, 'blasted' was too harsh. I was concerned that your blunt reply could potentially drive a new user off the forum, and he hasn't been back.
I have you beat by one finger. On good days, two!
Best wishes.
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; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021
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And I did tell him how to achieve what he wanted as well. He's probably off reading the book. 
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,695
Veteran
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Joined: Aug 2006
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You can use two fingers?!?!?! Dude!
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2
Newbie
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OP
Newbie
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2 |
Thanks for the help all. I did try to read what looked "most pertinent" in the 257 page manual. Frankly the quik start could be a LOT better. I guess maybe I bought the wrong product according to some... I thought I could create my own tracks as well as use canned tracks if I chose to. Maybe I can with the workarounds mentioned. thanks again
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,464
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,464 |
You certainly can, especially if you use Realband with BIAB. Good luck. We're here to help.
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; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 8,021 |
swivel,
Don't get discouraged. This program is very complex. It's going to take time.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 20
Enthusiast
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Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 20 |
I agree totally with Matt
As a long time user of Powertrax (since version 1.06 - pre windows), last year I decided to purchase & try BIAB for my live performances.
Had a problem regarding Midi "parts" that worked differently in BIAB so thought that I would ask the forum.
Got a bad response here, havent posted or used BIAB since
No whinging, just commenting on the point made by Matt. Quite happy with my PT12 thankyou, just will be more careful when asking for help.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,464
Veteran
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Veteran
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Thanks for the verification, tuggeranongcc.
Glad you're back.
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; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
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Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
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Happy New Year!
Thank you for being part of the Band-in-a-Box® community.
Wishing you and yours a very happy 2026—Happy New Year from all of us at PG Music!
Season's Greetings!
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy holiday season—thanks for being part of our community!
The office will be closed for Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) at 6:00am PST.
Team PG
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Learn more about the Bonus PAKs for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
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