Originally Posted By: Appoggiatura
My brain hurts…

I have a 4/4 song I imported as a Music XML file with a two beat pick up measure. BiaB rendered it as a 4 beat bar (measure).

I want to change this 1st measure to a two beat 1st measure instead of 4 beats so I used the Bar Settings to make that 1st measure 2 beats and set measure 2 to 4 beats.

When I play it, the melody starts in the first measure on beat 1 however, it continues on beat 3 of the 2nd measure (set to 4/4), not beat 1 as expected or as the music reads. In other words, the melody is shifted forward by the number of beats I deleted from measure 1.

The chord symbol in measure 2 is also on beat 1 and it sounds on the proper beat so it is just the melody that is getting shifted. (I think)

I tried the “Nudge Chord/Melody” thing (plus & minus values) but no matter what I’ve tried so far, if the first measure is 4 beats, the 1st measure plays as if it was written as two quarter notes followed by a half rest with the melody resuming on the first beat of measure 2…

OR

If I set the first measure as a two beat measure, it plays as if it was 2 quarter notes in a 2 beat measure 1, followed by a half rest in measure 2 for the first two beats with the melody resuming on beat three.

I even tried using the Chord Settings to make the chord in measure 1 sound on beat 3, but nothing I've tried gets the melody on beat for measure 2 to the end of the song.

I think the problem is when I make a 4 beat measure a two beat measure, BiaB gets rid of beats 3 & 4 instead of 1 & 2 which makes the count for the first two measures 1-2-(3)-(4), 1-2-3-4 instead of (1)-(2)-3-4, 1-2-3-4, if you understand what I mean.

What am I doing wrong???

Thanks in advance for any insight or help you can offer!!


Your first post details your attempts properly place 'pick up notes' in a measure. Every posted reply indicates the solution to capturing and placing 'pick up notes' have assumed the notes either exist in their DAW project as audio or midi. Assume the same for BIAB and the solution is the same - Copy the desired phrase and paste it in the -1 bar as the 'pick up notes' for your song. It doesn't appear from your post that you've tried to edit and copy/paste the phrase in either BIAB or a DAW.

There's no need to change the first measure in your BIAB project from four beats to two beats. There's no need to nudge/chord melody of an entire track. Try the copy/paste phrase method using the BIAB Audio Editor or if it's MIDI, the Piano Roll or Notation Window. Assuming the phrase exists in the BIAB project, from the Audio Editor or either MIDI editor - to copy the phrase from any measure in the same track or if the phrase resides on another track, wherever it resides, use your curser to highlight the phrase, Copy it - you can use the Windows shortcut - Ctrl-C then move to the track and location you want to paste the phrase and use the Windows shortcut Ctrl-V to paste it.

The whole process shouldn't take longer than 10-15 seconds on your first try.





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