PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Bug in BiaB 2025: bar settings of Audio track ignored

< I now have to revert to an older Band-in-a-Box version because some basic functionality no longer works in the (purchased) new version.>

< The mute feature is very important to me.>

I can't help with the audio mute issue in Bar Settings but it's been reported to the developers. However, it's not necessary for you to revert to an earlier version of BIAB to regain the ability to mute audio tracks in version 2025.

There have been significant upgrades and improvements to audio features in BIAB over the last few years. I've found the audio editing and arrangement options available to users today in the Audio Edit window enhance arranging over the more coarse settings in Bar Settings Dialog. These features and tools are included with the 2025 Windows version. Making volume and mute selections is more accurate and precise than using the volume boxes of Bar Settings.

Besides the accuracy and precision of volume automation, other advantages are:
Volume changes can be placed to apply to regions and beats of a measure whereas Bar Settings always apply to a whole measure.
Volume changes and mutes, fade-out and fade-in work with midi tracks too. There's no visible waveform but the action applies.

You and others may also be unaware of a better method to mute any audio track. There's a special RealTrack specifically to mute bars or regions of bars. RealTrack RT1152-Silence a more advanced way to mute in BIAB. It is a pre-generation instruction to the BIAB algorithm rather than a post-generated edit used by the other methods. Using RT1152 prompts BIAB to select more appropriate RealTrack data for outro's and intro audio material. This creates a smooth transition as opposed to a hard mute to RealTrack data that's already been selected by BIAB and the mute is applied to existing material that generated unaware of the arrangement decision to mute a region. The attached screenshot clearly shows the changes in the waveform to preceding and following the activation of RT1152. Viewing the waveform that a post-generation mute shows there is no effect on the waveform and can result in abrupt endings and beginnings of the muted region. The mute screenshots are of the same waveform with the different methods applied.

To apply RT1152 to mute a region of a track, select it to replace the current RealTrack and then revert back to the RealTrack instrument at the bar you want its sound to return. While RT1152 applies to a whole bar, BIAB may apply fade-in and fade-out to across that bar for a more natural and realistic transition.

RT1152 can also be set from Bar Settings Dialog by clicking the RealTrack Button.

I hope you and others get a benefit from this post.