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Hi - If a tag exists and I change the number of choruses or add bars at the beginning it throws the melody all off and removes the melody notes in the tag. Anyone else notice this? Thanks

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Someone should have warned you about that.


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Originally Posted by crashkahuna
Hi - If a tag exists and I change the number of choruses or add bars at the beginning it throws the melody all off and removes the melody notes in the tag. Anyone else notice this? Thanks
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.

Oh, and I've been caught, too crazy


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Originally Posted by crashkahuna
Hi - If a tag exists and I change the number of choruses or add bars at the beginning it throws the melody all off and removes the melody notes in the tag. Anyone else notice this? Thanks
I'm afraid so, yes.

Mostly I've now changed to not swirxhing to a single chorus, which breaks things badly, and using the option in Edit->"Song Form"->"Settings for this song" to "Start the ending 2 bars early" to jump out of the otherwise constant chorus. Mostly that works out OK.

AFAICS it's a long-standing bug/quirk of BiaB's operation.


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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.


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Hi Noel, Thanks for the detailed (and quality) explanation.

I haven't experienced so much that the melody is deleted, but if I add some bars, or change other parts of the song, sometimes the melody doesn't wind up where I expected it to be. Note that I haven't ruled out operator error either wink


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Originally Posted by AudioTrack
Hi Noel, Thanks for the detailed (and quality) explanation.

I haven't experienced so much that the melody is deleted, but if I add some bars, or change other parts of the song, sometimes the melody doesn't wind up where I expected it to be. Note that I haven't ruled out operator error either wink

That's correct, Trev. I mustn't have written well enough. What I was meaning is that it's because the melody doesn't get modified when bars are added or deleted, it's a godsend for me. I've modified the previous post, now, so hopefully its easier for users to understand me.The adjusting and realignment of the melody happens after I settle on updated chordsheets. Sorry for the confusion.


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Originally Posted by AudioTrack
Hi Noel, Thanks for the detailed (and quality) explanation.

I haven't experienced so much that the melody is deleted, but if I add some bars, or change other parts of the song, sometimes the melody doesn't wind up where I expected it to be. Note that I haven't ruled out operator error either wink
When I'm doing this, I normally import a MusicXML file with chords and melody. Where it often goes wrong for me is when I try to expand up the choruses, worse if I try to reduce them again. It isn't that BiaB deletes the melody, it's that it jumbles bits together and makes a complete mess of it, particularly when there's a tag. That's not helped by BiaB refusing to accept that a single chorus song can have a tag.

One reason for using the MusicXML is that I can easily start over when needed.


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Quote
...That's not helped by BiaB refusing to accept that a single chorus song can have a tag.
I wonder about that also. I'm not sure why the restriction is imposed.


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I believe there are a couple of good suggestions for the wishlist forum. Things that have happened in this thread should not have happened.


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From the early days of BIAB, my first rule in song preparation has been to get the song's form set, before I add any melody.


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Originally Posted by Matt Finley
From the early days of BIAB, my first rule in song preparation has been to get the song's form set, before I add any melody.
This is, of course, one of the ways that people experienced with a particular software manage to avoid some of the issues that catch out new users ... they learn to do thing in ways that avoid the trip-wires. No criticism here, implied or actual.

Another method is the "one big chorus" approach, favoured by many, which avoids the quirks of repeats and endings.


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Thanks for all the ideas here. Another wishlist thing for me that could help this problem is to be able to import a midi file to melody and specify exactly what bars it goes to WITHOUT blanking out the bars ahead of the destination. It seems like RealBand could do this but I need to mess with it a bit more to be sure.

Last edited by crashkahuna; 03/18/25 10:45 AM.
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