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While BIAB can convert a mono audio file to MIDI, as far as I know it can't separate the various drum parts from the drum stem into separate MIDI files.
I used a site called fadr. I uploaded my BIAB drum audio and it gave me a GM drum file. I dragged that file into Addictive Drums 2, set up AD2 to receive General MIDI, and it worked perfectly. Everything was in the right place, it sounded like the BIAB file, but now I could change the drum sets and edit the patterns. I made hundreds of changes to tailor the drums to the specific needs of my song. It was so much easier to start with the BIAB drum patterns--which I liked--rather than try to make the whole thing up from scratch on Addictive Drums.
There are other companies that do this conversion, but I was happy with my experience on Fadr. They also separate audio stems, but for drums it's not as good on audio--just Kick, Snare, and Other Drums.
They have some free features, but I paid $10 for a month, as I wanted wav files and not mp3s for the audio stems.
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It was so much easier to start with the BIAB drum patterns … rather than try to make the whole thing up from scratch… No argument there. I do it a bit differently using Melodyne Studio but it’s a bit fiddly. I’ve a couple of AI tools that claim accurate stem separation for drums but I’ve not met one where reality lives up to marketing (yet?). This sounds promising. Fadr Are you using the $100yr Fadr Pro subscription? Is it all online or is some of the processing done in the box? How much time does it take to render, say, a 3 minute drum track?
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It was so much easier to start with the BIAB drum patterns … rather than try to make the whole thing up from scratch… No argument there. I do it a bit differently using Melodyne Studio but it’s a bit fiddly. I’ve a couple of AI tools that claim accurate stem separation for drums but I’ve not met one where reality lives up to marketing (yet?). This sounds promising. Fadr Are you using the $100yr Fadr Pro subscription? Is it all online or is some of the processing done in the box? How much time does it take to render, say, a 3 minute drum track? I also have used Melodyne studio for MIDI conversions, but I agree with you--it can be a bit fiddly. It doesn't always get the notes perfectly. That doesn't matter for me with tuning my vocals, but for a piano or drum conversion it does matter. What I liked about this was that it gave me a general MIDI drum file, which meant that it wasn't just notes--it was all set up to work with Addictive Drums, which allowed me to select from a list of things like GM, EZdrummer, etc. I'm not doing a drumbeat-by-drumbeat comparison, but it felt very well done. My song is over four minutes looong and I think it took around a minute or two to upload and then another minute or two to convert. I don't remember it as being an inordinately long wait. It does a conversion to audio stems first and then the MIDI. You choose what you want to download. The only thing that's weird is it produces a few MIDI files and you have to pick the right one. It was pretty easy--it was the biggest one. I'm thinking now that maybe the other ones were stems, like kick, snare, etc. I'm not sure what you get for free with fadr, so you might be able to experiment before paying. I'm using the $10 monthly subscription. If you want a year, you save a few dollars at $100. The monthly works better for me. I will go on and off. It's online and I think it has to be. It's probably hooked up to some kind of neural network. I did have an issue, where I signed up incorrectly and they charged me $100. But they got back to me right away, refunded the $100 and charged me $10. So take your time, and do it better than I did.
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I have a ton of VIs that I’ve accumulated over the last 20+ years and most are current. Programming from scratch is the headache when time=$. Enter BIAB.
Those are fast processing times indeed. Yeah, Fadr Pro is the only one I’m looking at. One can turn it on and off? I like that. Subscriptions don’t bother me as long as I’m getting something useful but I’d be much, much happier if I could not pay for months I don’t use.
Thanks!
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I uploaded my BIAB drum audio and it gave me a GM drum file. BIAB can export MIDI for any RealDrums - simply save your song as a MIDI file, or drag the Chart button from the BB plugin into your DAW. Most likely this will be more accurate than any audio-to-MIDI converter.
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BIAB can export MIDI for any RealDrums - simply save your song as a MIDI file, or drag the Chart button from the BB plugin into your DAW. Most likely this will be more accurate than any audio-to-MIDI converter. Question for Simon: Is the MIDI created from the RealDrums Audio, or is it extracted from the associated Transcription? If it is from the transcription, will it be more 'realistic' than the actual RealDrums performance?
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Question for Simon:
Is the MIDI created from the RealDrums Audio, or is it extracted from the associated Transcription?
If it is from the transcription, will it be more 'realistic' than the actual RealDrums performance? It's created from the transcription, which itself is created from the RealDrums recordings either from using MIDI drum triggers, human transcription, or audio-to-MIDI (or a combination). Making the MIDI sound "realistic" would require a good drum VST.
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Simon, I was told at one point that the transcriptions were for education purposes and did not contain dynamics. That makes them of less value for VSTi drums.
I was one of the ‘human transcribers’ you mention. In the early days of RealTracks I did a lot of the sax and guitar solos. My instructions were to make a MIDI file that accurately showed pitch and rhythm but ignored dynamics. The transcriptions were meant to be seen, not heard.
At that time or maybe a few years after, the piano parts were the exception because the parts were played on a digital piano that captured MIDI with velocity at the same time as the audio was recorded.
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Simon, I was told at one point that the transcriptions were for education purposes and did not contain dynamics. That makes them of less value for VSTi drums. For some older Realdrums that's probably the case. These days I believe we use MIDI drum triggers which capture velocity, and we don't strip that out. Take a look at the MIDI from one of the more recent Realdrums and you'll see - SmoothJazzCoolSw16 for example.
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I uploaded my BIAB drum audio and it gave me a GM drum file. BIAB can export MIDI for any RealDrums - simply save your song as a MIDI file, or drag the Chart button from the BB plugin into your DAW. Most likely this will be more accurate than any audio-to-MIDI converter. Thank you Simon. I'll try it next time. 
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Thank you Simon. I'll try it next time. Happy to help, and feel free to let us know how it goes!
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I uploaded my BIAB drum audio and it gave me a GM drum file. BIAB can export MIDI for any RealDrums - simply save your song as a MIDI file, or drag the Chart button from the BB plugin into your DAW. Most likely this will be more accurate than any audio-to-MIDI converter. Thanks Simon! This is cool to know. I am not a MIDI expert but I tried this and had issues immediately. So I hope you can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong. I have a song that uses _STRUT.STY which includes Metal8ths^ RealDrums. The drums sound great in BIAB. Very balanced and proper sounding. So I tried the following, - in BIAB I solo the drum track in the mixer - I went to the main menu and choose File / Save Special / Save Song as MIDI to save the drum track as MIDI - I opened EZ Drummer - I went to the EZD main menu Track / Import MIDI File and import the BIAB MIDI file - the drums play BUT the snare is quiet in most places compared to everything else and then too loud in some places - this imbalance does NOT occur inside BIAB Am I doing something wrong in this?
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Thanks Simon! This is cool to know. I am not a MIDI expert but I tried this and had issues immediately. So I hope you can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I have a song that uses _STRUT.STY which includes Metal8ths^ RealDrums. The drums sound great in BIAB. Very balanced and proper sounding. So I tried the following,
- in BIAB I solo the drum track in the mixer
- I went to the main menu and choose File / Save Special / Save Song as MIDI to save the drum track as MIDI
- I opened EZ Drummer
- I went to the EZD main menu Track / Import MIDI File and import the BIAB MIDI file
- the drums play BUT the snare is quiet in most places compared to everything else and then too loud in some places
- this imbalance does NOT occur inside BIAB
Am I doing something wrong in this? If you open the MIDI file in BIAB instead of EZ Drummer, is the imbalance there also?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Thanks Simon! This is cool to know. I am not a MIDI expert but I tried this and had issues immediately. So I hope you can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I have a song that uses _STRUT.STY which includes Metal8ths^ RealDrums. The drums sound great in BIAB. Very balanced and proper sounding. So I tried the following,
- in BIAB I solo the drum track in the mixer
- I went to the main menu and choose File / Save Special / Save Song as MIDI to save the drum track as MIDI
- I opened EZ Drummer
- I went to the EZD main menu Track / Import MIDI File and import the BIAB MIDI file
- the drums play BUT the snare is quiet in most places compared to everything else and then too loud in some places
- this imbalance does NOT occur inside BIAB
Am I doing something wrong in this? If you open the MIDI file in BIAB instead of EZ Drummer, is the imbalance there also? I have no idea how to open a MIDI file on a BIAB track and then assign drums to it.
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the drums play BUT the snare is quiet in most places compared to everything else and then too loud in some places
- this imbalance does NOT occur inside BIAB
Am I doing something wrong in this? No, you're doing things right. I also noticed the same issue with the MIDI - unfortunately this is the nature of MIDI drum triggers, and these recordings often require cleanup - not just for velocity, but for mistriggered notes. As we only use the MIDI for notation, we don't really look at the velocity values when editing, as it would take substantially more time to do so. Thankfully other RealDrums are more accurate in regard to velocity - it just happens that the one you chose is not.
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Peter Gannon Talks Band-in-a-Box with zplane
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Another exciting new addition is the amazing new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. View the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to transcribe an entire track or transcribe specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
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With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
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Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!
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The 2026 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2026 49-PAK!
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