Originally Posted by AudioTrack
Unfortunately, it is my understanding that the melody (and soloist) don't follow the same rules when changing length or positions of other parts of the song. I really am not sure why this is part of the design.

Hi Trev.

Many, many times I have been thankful that the Melody track (in particular) and the Soloist track (occasionally) don't delete melody when I've deleted a range of bars in BIAB. Having the chordsheet and melody working independently is very beneficial.

I'll explain... When I write my songs, I always use BIAB to create a lead-sheet with note-based lyrics. The melody and lyrics get added to my song as soon as I have something that fits my initial musical design. This is just an early draft of music, words and arrangement. As my musical arrangement grows, I often: (a) add or delete bars in the time signature (b) add bars to have have a bar or two with a different number beats; (c) or change the number the number of beats in each bar. My first port of call when doing this is to work on the chordsheet.

  • I adjust the chordsheet to test out different variations and combinations, and because of how BIAB works, the notes and lyrics of my melody remain intact.
  • When I am convinced that a new musical design works, I then re-align notes and music to fit the chordsheet.
  • If I don't like my new design, I simply go back to the famous 'square one' and my notes and music don't need changing.
  • Adding bars is much less of a problem than deleting bars when it comes to my songwriting.
  • If the chordsheet deletion also deleted melody and soloist bars, I could lose my content.
  • Mostly, I don't have my words/melody fully absorbed in my mind as my song develops because my writing is always in a state of flux, and I have so many changes as a song grows that I cannot remember them all.
  • This makes it very easy for me to lose material.
  • BIAB's present system is very easy to work with and has a built in safety factor (for me, at least) smile


Now I know I could devise a different workflow if BIAB changed. Honestly, though, I'm not convinced that change is needed.
--Noel

P.S. Given that Synth V now imports BIAB's MIDI melody with note-based lyrics, safeguarding the melody and lyrics by having this extra step would be a useful convenience for a number of Synth V users, I suspect.

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2026