Bought BIAB years ago... enjoy it, even though it's often tough to wrap my head around.

In general, I have a good idea on how to use the Melodist to create random progressions in usable (simple) styles, for my students to practice soloing over (keyboards and guitar solos). Fairly straightforward. Main thing to always remember--- UNCHECK "Allow Style Change." And keep the tempo the RealStyle was made in, or go slightly faster than it, for the most realistic things for students.

My questions are, re: the Melodist styles/types:

1. Melodist 127-255-- there are no notes about any of these. I have no idea what genres they fit in... are all of these simply Jazz swing (Jazz)? They only show up in that sub-category.

2. Are there any Melodists that work best with pop styles? 1-5-6-4 chord progressions, with the V chord at the end of a part? Nothing crazy, no weird 2-5-1's... but standard pop? I have such trouble finding Melodist styles that are more simplified / poppy.. in a word, "cliche" or boring. It helps, with students learning basic pop structures, instead of 6th chords, dominant 9ths, etc.

3. Are there any RealStyles that have lead parts (whether "Soloists" or simply, "RealStyles Solos" (which to me, are two different things, are they not?) where it's not so much shredding or ultra-fast licks, but simple phrases? Nearly all of the Styles I have auditioned have solos that are just simply too busy, too insane, too shreddy. Doesn't matter if it's a slow jazz style or a chill pop style. The solos are always a bit much. Take for instance, the 60bpm Jazz Style with the Pat Martino solo. The solos are insane! It's a 60bpm, jazz brushes, pretty, coffeeshop vibe... why are the solos so fast and intense? It's like the soloing doesn't match at all, compared to the bass, drums, and piano under it.

4. Any way to constrain Soloists to stick with mostly chord notes (especially for MIDI soloists) and slower, more simple phrases? I teach a lot of intermediate students and no one is capable of soloing the way these pros PGMusic has brought on, can solo. I want them to stick with simple Pentatonics (minor and major) and just keeping things vibey, simple, normal. Any help/guidance is sincerely appreciated.

5. Is there any way to create Melodist "rules" that can create chord progressions in simple, cliche pop styles? Again, sticking with I, IV, vi, V, and occasionally, as needed, the ii and the iii?

6. Is there some sort of repository somewhere that has BIAB "BB Song" (*.MGU) files, of famous pop songs? It seems like there should be, as long as BIAB has been out there.

7. Soloist-- I honestly have no idea how to use this properly. I would think the MIDI Soloists over the most power/tweakability, because it's MIDI. But oftentimes, any Soloists I generate just do not match my chord progression. I could have the most basic Am-F-C-G thing... and the Soloist is throwing in non-chord tones throughout, making it sound ridiculous, and not necessarily a good guideline for a kid to listen to, if they don't know what to do at all. RealStyles offer a lot better phrasing, even though I tend to hear the same licks generated, over and over (it's different and fresh, but once you generate a lot of stuff, you hear the repeated licks a lot). Main thing is... I just want the Soloist to be more simple... "phrasing"... which is everything. It doesn't ever seem to think in phrases... just random notes being sprinkled everywhere. There's got to be a setting I have wrong. Can anyone help me with some better results?

I haven't used the program in some time, but I'm getting back into it and it just makes my head spin, sometimes. I mainly just want simple, simple styles, simple chord progressions in pop contexts (love the whole Nashville sus2 thing, too)...

I just want more simple, stripped-down things, to generate with Melodist. I don't want insane chords, unless I'm going for a jazz thing for a kid... mainly simple pop/rock stuff.

I've reached out to Henry Clarke, who makes great BIAB Youtube videos. But, his responses to my questions are often dismissive: "Don't know, try different things.... or, that's weird I never have that problem, or... your question seems a bit complicated. Experiment" I don't think any of these questions are unreasonable or weird in any way. Figured I'd hit up the forum... hopefully you pros can help out! smile

Thanks so much!



Last edited by major7th; 03/04/23 06:47 PM.