I have a tune that I'm arranging with Stems. I've done the Stem Splitter, ACW to clean up what the chords are, but I have a problem with a pickup chord on beat 4 of the pickup measure. I've defined the measures in ACW, with measure 1 after the pickup chord, as the tune should be. However, in Chord Sheet View, I can't see the pickup measure, so I can't enter a chord on beat 4 of that measure.
How can I enter the one-beat chord pickup before measure 1?
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I’m not at a computer, and this will mess up the measure numbering and the count-in, but as a workaround you could put the pickup note(s) and chord at the end of measure 1. In other words, enter rests on measure 1, Beats 1 2 & 3. Song starts on bar 2.
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Can I enter a chord name and have BB generate the chord?
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Can I enter a chord name and have BB generate the chord?
I don't currently have access to BIAB, but did you try what you asked, and did it work?
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I can't see a way to enter a chord in bar in Bar -1, or Bar 0 ("Lead in") and have BIAB play it, but you could try the Support people with the "Let's Chat" button here and see what they say. Or perhaps a more knowledgeable Forum member will chime in.
If you have to do it "manually", you would need to enter what you needed in Notation or Piano for EACH instrument in your "Band". Good luck! LLOYD
Well, I don't know how to enter a chord into the Notation window and have it generate the chord. That's the question.
It seems like this is a huge oversight. In order to have the band play a pickup, the instruments would need to be muted until the pickup chord, and the mute cancelled at the correct time placement.
If this is supposed to act like a band, and there is a default two-bar pickup, why would one not be able to, in my case, define a shot or chord on beat 4 of the 2nd pickup measure?
Last edited by Funkifized; 07/22/2511:27 AM.
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I’m curious, who said anything about a default 2-bar pickup? Unless you mean the count-in? What might give that impression is that a few instruments sometimes play a bit ahead of bar 1, beat 1 (especially the guitar) but I’ve never heard more than that, except drums.
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Yeah, I mean the count-in. I haven't gotten to your workaround yet. I'll let you all know...
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When I hear you say "pickup notes or measure" I think of Autumn Leaves. Is this what you are trying to do?
Here is annotation Sheet
Here is Chord Sheet
In this case you will see that "Pickup Bar" is NOT indicated on the BIAB Chord Sheet. In stead, the notes entered on the notation sheet play in the hidden countin bar prior to Bar 1 ( Am7). So you can not enter any Chord Name on this pickup bar.
If this is news to you, well that is just the away BIAB does it.
That’s a fair question Dan. I was making the assumption it was not pickup notes that was requested, but a chord to be entered during or in place of pickup notes. Since I don’t think BIAB can do that, I gave a workaround.
If I’m correct, this could make a good item for the Wishlist.
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Great example DrDan! And yes Funkifized, as Matt pointed out, your need to put a chord on beat 4 of the pickup bar (in this case Bar 0) could work as shown. That bar would have a dotted half note to take up 3 beats, then your chord on beat 4.
However, as I mentioned before, you can see from DrDan's screenshot, that this is only the PIANO track. If you want other instruments (bass, guitar, drums etc.) you would have to do the same for those tracks.
If indeed you're going to take this over to the Wishlist (which I think is a great idea), my preference would be to allow the user to start the bar numbering at any "cell" on the ChordSheet, and have all preceding bars show as "minus" bars, with option of how many to display on the ChordSheet.
Looking at Dan's chordsheet, if you want a chord populating the minus bars prior to Bar 1 or if you want to use the method Matt and Lloyd outlined in these measures, you can use any measure to create the data you want to occupy those bars and copy/paste or move/paste from the Audio Edit Window and that data will sound out and play the same as the Grace Notes in Dan's example.
I would consider the bars prior to any measure containing the Am7 in Dan's example for the Chords to use --- Bar 8, 10,19/20, and 23/24 or you can create any chord or progression for those slots and place them in the minus bars at the beginning of the song.
These chords or grace notes will not show up in Notation, the Piano Roll or Chord Sheet but the track or tracks edited will play correctly.
To enter exactly what you want, you can enter the notation or piano roll to transcribe it and use the Playable RealTracks feature or likely a midi or SuperMidi instrument.
I imported the stems from the song that I'm looking to arrange. The band, drums/piano/bass/guitar/horns, play a chromatic leading chord on beat 4, and then all hit on the I chord for measure 1, beat 1. They all did come in 1 beat before the downbeat.
When I used ACW to define the measure and flesh out the chords, I waited for the chromatic leading chord, and then defined measure 1 as being the downbeat after, or measure 1, beat 1. Now I have stems that are coming on on measure 0, beat 4, with the next measure being measure 1. In ACW, I can see the Audio notes of the stems on the 4th beat of measure 0.
As you all know, even with the stem starting on measure 0, there is no way to enter a chord to be generated in this measure 0. That's the issue. Support gave me a similar answer for a workaround that I've received here, with a few extra steps to have the count-in on a Utility track, etc. Here's their answer:
BIAB has a two-measure lead-in by default. This makes it easy to add MIDI notes that are a pickup, using either the piano roll Mode or the Editable Notation Mode, at the end of bar 2.
This cannot be done with chord inputs without it pushing the rest of the song. You can adjust all of your stems by using the Audio Edit for each track if you are looking to use an additional measure to to add the pickup.
Here's how to make a pick up riff start before Bar 1 in BIAB:
* Generate the song normally. * Select a track and instrument. * Open the Audio Editor. The editor should open on the correct BIAB Mixer Channel you previously selected, if not, select that channel from the drop down menu and the WAV file should be visible. This is for RealTracks. If the instrument is MIDI, then it must be converted to a WAV file. * Select the Riff you want to use for the early pick up notes. Tip: Check the Snap Box if necessary to ensure the very first of a measure is captured if this is necessary. Otherwise, just be sure to highlight all of the riff. * From the Edit Menu or use Alt-C or Command-C, Copy the highlighted riff. * Select the target Track to copy the audio to. (Audio Channel or a Utility Track) * Place the cursor where you want the riff to begin and Paste. For instance, if you want the riff to begin at beat 4 of Bar zero, place the cursor there.
To silence the fourth beat of the Count-in:
*Select the Drums Track, highlight and copy the full Drum Track. *Paste the count-in on a Utility Track. *Highlight the fourth beat and from the Edit Menu, select silence. Optionally, if you also want to increase the volume of the count-in, highlight the full count-in and Normalize to -3db.
The reason the full drum track needs to be copied is so the original drum track can be silenced and only one drum count-in will play. Otherwise, both tracks will count-in and the fourth beat on the original track will sound and the two tracks may also not be synced correctly. Mute the original Drums Track and place the volume level to -0- (Zero) otherwise it can still be heard.
One may have to vary the audio selected to come in early in order to maintain the cohesion and continuity of the track but that will be obvious. All of the other tracks will begin at Bar 1 normally. Of course, any audio from the channel can be selected to use for the Pickup riff. For example a guitar RT solo beginning at Bar 24 can be selected and copied and pasted at Beat 4, Bar 0 and be the pickup riff.
I don't have a riff that I want to start the tune with. All I want is for the entire band to play on beat 4 before the downbeat. It seems way too complicated to have to copy and paste an audio piece for each instrument to make this happen. BTW, if I choose to go that route, I then can't change the instrumentation, add an instrument, etc., without going through these steps for the changed/added instrument. Copying all of this audio to paste it is a little beyond what BIAB is supposed to do, no? I don't think it's asking a lot to count a band in("One, Two, One, Two, Three, {Chord}") with the band starting before the downbeat of the song. We can do that with melody notes, such as Autumn Leaves. Why not with the rest of the band also playing on that pickup?
Seems like a fairly surprising oversight.
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Your workaround could work, but it defeats the purpose of having a count-in. I'd also have to silence all of the instruments before the band hits on the pickup.
Last edited by Funkifized; 07/22/2511:31 AM.
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Your workaround could work, but it defeats the purpose of having a count-in. I'd also have to silence all of the instruments before the band hits on the pickup.
That is all correct.
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How can I enter the one-beat chord pickup before measure 1?
It is not possible to enter any chords before bar 1. As Matt and others have mentioned, you would need to enter your pickup chord in bar 1, then start your song in bar 2. As BIAB will automatically require a chord at the start of bar 1, you should mute it by entering C followed by a period.
How can I enter the one-beat chord pickup before measure 1?
It is not possible to enter any chords before bar 1. As Matt and others have mentioned, you would need to enter your pickup chord in bar 1, then start your song in bar 2. As BIAB will automatically require a chord at the start of bar 1, you should mute it by entering C followed by a period.
How would a count-in work, then?
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The count-in happens before bar 1. If you want some count-in clicks in bar 1 before your pickup chord, you could add the sidestick drum notes to a Utility Track set to MIDI channel 10.
The count-in happens before bar 1. If you want some count-in clicks in bar 1 before your pickup chord, you could add the sidestick drum notes to a Utility Track set to MIDI channel 10.
But if I use chord with a dot after it, doesn't that silence the Utility tracks, as well?
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