I need to convert this to BIAB chord format text. (described on page 104/408 in the manual).
I can only admit I have some level of cognative decline with age. I can not do this conversion manually and chatGPT has been a total failure in achieving this.
Here is the ChordMark formatted text. Can some one convert for me and then if possible show me an automated way to do this in the future. I will be forever grateful.
key Cm 4/4
#C NC.Cm. NC.. Ab.. Bbsus4. [Bdim Cm] Cm Cm Cm Cm Cm Cm
#A Cm Cm. Fm... Fm... Cm. Cm Cm. Gsus4... Gsus4.. Bb. Cm. Cm Cm. Fm... Fm.. Ab. Gsus4. Gsus4. Gm... Gm. G... Gm... Cm. Cm Cm. Fm... Fm... Cm. Cm Eb. Gm... Gm.. Fm. Cm. Cm Cm. Fm... Fm... Ab. Ab.. G.. G. Cm... G.. Cm.. Cm.. G.. Cm Cm... Fm. Fm Fm. Cm... Cm... Gsus4. Gsus4. Fm. Gm.. F. Cm... Cm... Fm. Fm Fm. G... Gm.. G.. G... Cm. Cm Cm... Fm. Fm Fm. Cm... Cm... Gm. Gm G/F. Cm... Cm... Fm. Fm Fm. Ab... G... Cm. Cm.. Gm.. Cm/G. Fm... Fm... Cm. Cm Eb. Fm... Fm... G.
#C G G Cm Cm Cm... F. Gbm. G.. Cm. Cm Cm. Fm... Fm... Cm. Cm Cm. G... G... Cm.
#B Cm Cm. Fm... Fm... G. G G G... Cm.
#A Cm Cm. Fm... Fm... Cm. Cm Cm. G... G... Cm. Cm Eb. Fm... Fm... Ab. Ab.. Ab/C.. Ab/C. Cm... Cm Cm Cm. Fm... Fm... Cm. Cm Cm. G... G... Cm.
#D Cm Cm. Fm... Fm... Ab. Ab Ab.. G..
#C G... NC. NC. Eb. Ab. Cm. Cm Fm.. Ab. Cm. Cm Gm. Fm. Eb.. Bb/D. Cm... Cm... NC.
I'd imagine it wouldn't be difficult to write a VB macro or use regex, something like that. I don't use either of these so I'm not sure what the formatting requirements are. Even chatGPT should work ok if you tell it what needs changing. e.g, "change all # into ... (whatever)". I've done some very quick conversions like that in chat.
Even chatGPT should work ok if you tell it what needs changing. e.g, "change all # into ... (whatever)". I've done some very quick conversions like that in chat.
Only one time out of a dozen trys was Chatgpt able to do the conversion. Even though it admits to knowing, it does not know what to do to match BIAB format requirements. So I have to explicitly tell it each time. It is totally unreliable since I apparentlly can't give it the magic details it wants to know (before we timeout together). Someone must do this routinely and have an answer?
I had a look through the chormark page but got tired having to read an entire essay for what could be broken down into a simple key/legend. Same with the BIAB manual. If nobody else already knows of another way, I'll take another look later, I would think I could come up with a quicker way.
Ya, BIAB does a good job at EXPORTING text files - even provides optional formats. But not so much with IMPORTING them. Now that I have taken some time and will have a thorough chord chart example of both the ChordMark and BIAB Formating, I will stare at them to ID what is going on. However, as I mentioned, I am aging and these fine detail tends to get lost in translation. I need a push button workflow these days. I don't listen to tapes and records any longer in order to transcrible and learn solos. Actually, bringing in chord charts into BIAB from other music apps should be Drag and Drop! But that may just be me!
I also note that you example shows chords on beats 1 and 3 only. Guess that is jazz!
By the way, I am always dissappointed in the accuracy of bring in chords via Midi, XMP or even ACW. I need help assigning the chords to the beats. Now in this current example, this is a true 6/8 compostion, which I am working with in 4/4 only due to BIAB limiations. That may be why you see the chords jumping aroung on lots of the beats and why I need them to be accurate. But my initial listening to this in BIAB tells me it may be worth the extra effort.
Here is the manual effort currently. I hope this will work for me. Yes, tedious indeed. But I will keep looking for a push button solution (ChtGpt script? )) since I love how SMP does this and am hoping BIAB can add its magic.
SUCCESS!! Without going into to much detail this effort worked out perfectly. There are a few errors (my typing) which I needed to correct in the BIAB track shown above. I was able to "hear" these errors once I generated the BIAB soloist and brought them into my DAW to play in sync with the backing tracks from SMP. Yes, very nicely in 6/8 sync over the entire backing. It was well worth the effort.
I've been experimenting a bit more and managed to create a macro in Notepad++ which works mostly, although I don't think it's necessary. The XML export seems to import fine into BIAB but needs some tinkering because SMP itself is creating the problem. Within SMP I found two main problems. The bar doesn't always start in the correct place. You can correct this by dragging the bar start line. The other problem is NC. This isn't recognised in BIAB so it causes the beats / bars to offset. A minute of tweaking from within SMP should create a musicxml file that imports well into BIAB.
I had made both those corrections in the SMP. And still found inaccuracies in specified chords, bars and beats. But certainly worth looking at again. Thanks for your help with this. Here is what I worked up. My eyes tell me that there a problems even after making the corrections you mentioned. Fact is I am in the very middle of this project and I continue to make "minor corrections' each day. I will likely try again on some future project. thanks again. << interesting to find someone else as anal as me when working with this stuff! >>
The left side was generated and printed by SMP from a youtube video. I consider this the most accurate compilation.
The right side is the SMP XML from the youtube video directly input into BIAB and then printed as a text file from BIAB.
I attribute the differences between left and right to XML issues.
I have subsequently manually input the chords and beats from the original SMP into BIAB and (correcting a bit as I go along) I have been able to generate some RT Solo blues guitar licks which I have brought over to my DAW. There are 111 bars and they now all line up in SMP, BIAB and Reaper. Work continues
I'm definitely curious I can get it to work ok with some tweaking in SMP, but yours is showing some chord differences, like in the top line SMP shows Bsus4, the one on the right is Ebsus. Is SMP set 3/4 or 4/4?
<< interesting to find someone else as anal as me when working with this stuff! >>
Unfortunately, once I get stuck in I need answers
I'm trying to recreate some of your chord chart in SMP. Seems BIAB does not like 8th notes with xml import, it's causing strange stuff to happen with offsets and skiping some chords.
Thanks, I'll check it out. I've done a bit more messing around with it. BiaB definitely is having problems with 8th note chords on XML import. I got it working with a workaround. Double the tempo in SMP before exporting XML and then import into BIAB, I used an offset of 1 Bar from the import dialogue. Then in Biab, Edit\Song Form\ reduce duration by half. That seem to take care of the 8th note chord problem. Any shorter then I'd give up
I'm done with this now. Pretty much figured out the problem ... BIAB can't handle any chord length smaller than one beat with musicxml and causes placement issues which push other chords into the next bar, or misses chords out etc. You cannot even export from Biab and then load it back again where "microchords" are concerned. Open the same exported XML in Notion and it's still problematic. Stick with chords no shorter than single beat 1/4 notes and all is fine.
XML export from SMP works as it should, including 1/8th note chord durations, opens and displays the chords in the correct bar locations in Notion.
SMP chords to text, on the other hand, don't. 8th length chords export in an inconsistent way to a text file, which makes regex or even coded conversion impossible in some cases, so not worth the effort.
Best bet here is to do what I said earlier, double the tempo in SMP and then half it in BIAB. The other option is go through the chords in SMP and remove the short duration chords before exporting to XML and then manually re-enter them in BIAB. They are generally quite few so this shouldn't be too difficult either.
That's a cool sounding song in that video, amazing if it is AI. I did load it into SMP and got similar to your chords but not exactly the same which was interesting. I also assume you changed the pitch / key to Cm from Am.
Lots to think about with this project. I sent much of this information to BIAB support but have not gotten any response. SMP support is following this to see if they can help.
I can tell you my manual entry of the chords from SMP text file to BIAB Chord Chart is progressing. I am just wrapping up my vocals (Ya, Key of Cm for me) on this song project. I am integrating sections of BIAB RT guitar as I rearrange the song. Results are tedious but so far appear to be feasible. I will share my final effort with this project in a week or so. Perhaps next time this may go a bit smoother if the powers to be can get in step.
Clarify one point for me. When you say, " double the tempo in SMP and then half it in BIAB" do you mean using the Midi File to move the chords between apps?
Oh, and regarding, "I did load it into SMP and got similar to your chords but not exactly the same which was interesting.." I trimed the beginning of this tune in Audacity where I did the transpose to Cm. I have a very complicated process...
Clarify one point for me. When you say, " double the tempo in SMP and then half it in BIAB" do you mean using the Midi File to move the chords between apps?
Oh, and regarding, "I did load it into SMP and got similar to your chords but not exactly the same which was interesting.." I trimed the beginning of this tune in Audacity where I did the transpose to Cm. I have a very complicated process...
Ok that's interesting and might be why we are getting different results. My guess is if you edited in Audacity and then imported back to SMP then it may have changed things with the tempo?
I have just loaded the video into SMP and it shows the tempo as 161bpm, which mostly imports fine into BIAB with the SMP XML exported file.
I'll take a guess and say that your SMP version is showing around 80bpm? I'll assume that is the case so I'll set mine there and this is what that looks like.
Notice the Bdim is taking up half a beat. Now just for clarity, I'll add a few more 8th length chords, Am, Bm, Cm, Dm and export the XML.
Here is the result imported to BIAB.
These short duration chords are causing the problem. Now I'll double the tempo in SMP by clicking on the bar line or right clicking the in the timeline. This hast has doubled the length of the chords as you can see now lined up with the beats in the time line
Now in BIAB go to Edit\Song form\reduce duration by half and we get this
Everything is correct now except for the start time pushing things along into incorrect bars. This can be fixed by changing the offset in the import XML window.
It's a bit of a nuisance that you end up with all of those unnecessary chord entries but if they cause a problem then I guess still quicker to delete them inside BIAB than manual entry for each chord.
A very good effort here Lee. Thanks for doing some of the heavy lifting on this. We would all benefit greatly having a smooth transfer path between SMB and BIAB. Image being able to bring over the accurate chords and beats (even if only 1/4 note chord resolution - we really can't expect more at this time from BIAB), along with the wonderful SMP tempo map!!
I have now had some more conversations with PGM support asking them to provide a text file conversion to put ChordMark (chords with beat placement) into BIAB. I have not given up on that. I will send the BIAB file for this song when I upload the final product. I continue to tweek and fix as I go along.
Btw, I can do the text conversion with a macro in Notepad++ , that's quite easy now I've figured out the format. All but the short duration, <1/4 note chords which I just remove them via the macro and they can be filled back manually after import.
Because the txt output from SMP is not consistent with short chords, I doubt PG could implement the conversion. XML output from SMP, on the other hand, seems all fine. So the easy fix here is for BIAB to fix the XML import and export for what they call microchords.
I can give a lot more detail with my findings if it helps any but I won't bother posting that unless you ask because it will be a long boring reply
For those following - here is the first full cut - these performances are never done, we just stop working on them at some point ! This was a serious effort to synchronize the chords and beats between two very popular music making applications (SMP and BIAB). Matching tempo and groove between varied apps including live and recorded music, has been very difficult for me in the past. Fact is, I have not used BIAB in any of my music for a long time due specifically to the issue of matching tempo and beat and groove. I consider this effort a bit of a hightlight for me .
I've been messing about with this using Notepad++ and creating a macro to automate it. Think I'm getting there .
Lee, you are a genius. I hope you get paid a lot of money for the coding skills you have honed, you deserve it. Your NotePad script run perfect first try. Cut and Paste from SMB ChordMark text formated song sheet directly into BIAB. You the man!
How very genrous and kind of you to help me with this.
I know that are some of you who think this idea of using a text file as a backdoor into BIAB to move chords and beats seems a bit bizarre , but in my experience all other avenues (short of manual entry) have failed me. SMP creates the charts from recorded music as good as anything I have see. Putting these directly into BIAB worked for me in A Long Road Home. I look forward to working on my next project with it.
Thanks Dan, no problem. I took a listen to your version. Sounding good. Is that a mix of the original with the BIAB guitar solo or the whole thing done in BiaB?
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Actually, bringing in chord charts into BIAB from other music apps should be Drag and Drop! But that may just be me! 
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