PG Music Home Forums PG Music Wishlists Band-in-a-Box Wishlist Bar Settings (F5) - please show current status of instruments (muted, etc.)!

New/learning BiaB user. One thing about Bar Settings is, at least to me, confusing/non-intuitive.

If I make a change to a bar, I'd expect that change to show in subsequent bars as well, but it does not.

Example:
In bar 1 I mute the guitar.
In bar 2, if I open the bar settings (F5), I'd expect the guitar to show "Mute" (although maybe "Muted" would be more accurate?).

I realize the dialog says "Instrument Changes at This Bar", so, technically, the guitar has not "changed" at bar 2. But it is in a different state than the dialog visually presents (at least to me).

I could see it really become confusing if there were many changes in bar 1 (guitar muted, vocals come in, piano fades, etc.) - and bar 2 settings showed nothing?!

I know you can use "Print Summary" to see all changes, but it would be much easier/quicker if I could see the state of each instrument on any particular bar.

Great point. Any bar I have selected should indicate status of all tracks even if that status was not changed on the current bar. This should not be difficult to implement and does not negatively impact any functionality; it just provides more info!

I would go one step further and, in addition to status, show what bar that status was set on.

I like your addition JohnJohnJohn! Showing the bar when status was set would be great too!

I do see the point, but please see my reply in your original thread. There are two ways to see where the status was changed.

Maybe something like this where you just have an indicator that shows current status and at what bar that status was set?

A "Current Setting" column, as JohnJohnJohn suggests would be good as well.

<< Am I missing a setting? >>

Yes. The six dots indicate No Change in that instruments setting on this bar (the selected bar that's opened).

So, when you say: "I realize the dialog says "Instrument Changes at This Bar", so, technically, the guitar has not "changed" at bar 2. But it is in a different state than the dialog visually presents (at least to me)."
It's not technically correct, it's just correct.

The guitar is unchanged at this bar. It's also not "changed" from whatever setting made prior to this bar and BIAB indicates the change made at Bar 5 with an underline and an underline again when another change is made at at a later Bar.

Adding a status for each instrument and each bar is a much larger and complicated issue than what it appears at first glance. It would require programming changes of thousands of entries. Here's why:

In Bar Settings (F5)dialog window, any change made on every possible entry box results in a red line placed on that bar on the main Chord Sheet. There are thousands of possible entries per Bar Setting Dialog Window being opened because up to 40 choruses each with 255 bars can be activated from the dozens of possible entry selections residing on a single bar.

This applies not only to the 9 instrument volume changes but also to beats, tempo, % change in tempo, key signature change, style change, RealDrums, RealTracks, Notation, drum fills, Patch changes, Harmony changes and every other possible selection that can activated from the Bar Settings Dialog Window.

Accordingly, returning it to normal at bar 9 results in the Chord Sheet displaying a red line on bars 5,6,7,8,and 9.

So, if you mute the guitar at bar 5, what's the benefit of a status other than not changed if there's no change being made to the muted guitar on bar 6?

As things currently are, there's a red line at bar 5 on the main Chord Sheet indicating a Bar Settings change occurred on bar 5, no red line indicating no changes have been made on bars 6,7, and 8 with a red line on bar 9 indicating another bar settings change has been made. The information of Bar Settings Changes is available without the necessity of opening Bar Settings (F5) to see the status of the guitar on Bar 6 that was muted on Bar 5.

Charlie's explanation is similar to what I was saying in the other thread. Plus, he correctly realizes the implications of showing every status every bar, which I would expect to slow down song regeneration.

It may take a step, but the information is already available, and I think this suggested change could introduce a new concern.

Old Muso's Bar View
goes into it all and gives an instant view of all bars and F5 mutes, instrument changes etc.. with one glance.

Charlie,
I see two conflicting realities here.

You're absolutely correct that the enormity of the task of coding for marking each item for each status at each bar is a gargantuan dealbreaker.

However, the original need for a Chords window view to see what/where your changes have been made remains. I run into this often & yes, absolutely, it's a bear, necessitating a bar by bar exploration trying to find what you put where, if you decide to make arrangement changes up to months or yrs later. Few, & certainly not I, have that type of memory. So a visual clue -- on the Chords window (sorry, Old Muso) would be a godsend. Exactly WHAT that clue would be would be up to the PG coders.

Charlie, I would also point out that the key Red Line visual you mention (which I use & rely on often!) has severe limitations -- whenever you make a systemic change to the entire song (time change, etc.), every bar gets a red underline! This makes it impossible to spot any bar you've made changes on. That would be one possible move for PG's coders to make -- pick an alternate color for a systemic song change that differs from a bar change. That'd be the easiest fix, methinks, & would clear up that snafu...

But, while it might well be labor-intensive on PG's part, yes, there is an absolute usr need to have a visual cue as to what those changes were you made long ago -- in some way, shape or form, as the coders see fit. We can adapt to what they come up with. But a head start would be a great boon for god & country...

E.J.

BIAB would look like this, and everything would be perfect.
This is the real DAW.
From top to bottom, every track, the left side can MUTE and SOLO.
Enter the chord at the top and generate. You can AUDIO EDIT, you can PIANO ROLL.
After you can choose the style, you can put in LOOP, you can insert VSTI
If it turns into this.
BIAB must be a hit.