So, here's how this started:

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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