Hello,

How do I enter 4-beat bars in a waltz in Band in a Box?

Take for example "The Accordionist" sung by Edith Piaf: the piece begins with 10 bars at 3 beats, then continues with 12 bars at 4 beats, before continuing for 35 bars at 3 beats.

If, at bar 11, I go to Bar Settings, #Beats this bar, and enter 4, the bar displayed by Band in a Box remains at 3 beats. And it remains in 3 beats even if, still at bar 11, I also choose to replace the waltz style with a 4 beat style.

Do you have an idea for a solution?

Here is a view of the beginning of the score:
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/fr-FR/se/ID_No/57577/Product.aspx

This is a little peculiarity of BIAB. You have half the solution: a 4-beat style. The other half is to begin the song with a measure of 4/4. This measure can be silent by using F5 and Muting all instruments (then Back to Normal in measure 2). Try that.

This is one of those secret tricks which comes up over the years

But only after a ton of frustration

Thanks Matt for the idea of using a 4-beat style.

I found a 4-beat style well suited for the 4-beat part of the song (_HOTJAVA.STY), then I selected 3-beat setting at bar 1, 4-beat setting at bar 11 and again 3-beat setting at bar 23.

It works well: BiaB changes the number of beats of the bars at the right moment, the style adapts rather well to 3-beat parts, and the arrangement is globally correct.

The only downside that I haven't been able to fix so far: the drum kick before the start of the song is still in 4 beats ... but that's a minor issue ;-) !

Bingo, wish I had a quarter for every time this one come up.

Very good. And that is a known annoyance about the 4/4 count-in that has been reported to the developers. You can search for threads on this, particularly by user VideoTrack (now named AudioTrack).

Thanks Matt : I found the "Count-In based on actual time-signature of first bar" topic in the Band-in-a-box wishlist.

I added "+1" but I have no illusions about the additional weight of my voice as I noticed that this wish had been made since... 2013!

Thanks for adding another vote of support! Every vote counts. Maybe one day we'll get there.