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A new user, I am trying to import a 6-part MuseScore file (trumpet, alto, tenor, trombone, clarinet, bass), a version of Duke Pierson's "Big Bertha". Transcribed various horn and base lines into MuseScore from the Sher "Real Easy Book." Used the Open Special drop down, had to change the "musicxml" file ending to ".xml" and it opened. So far, so good. But when I look at it in notation or lead-sheet format, it's all in the treble clef line of a piano staff format. All parts are imported for each note as part of a six-note chord. And it sounds worse than the MuseScore 3 player when I play it. What I'm trying to do is generate a mirror version of the notation in BiaB that will play each transcribed part in a RealTrack instrument, maybe with a drum and piano part added to the song by a supplied or current RealTrack style. After looking through the forum, have messed with various choices, including trying to "assign" instruments with the Select Tracks option in Load XML File dialog, trying the SEQ button, etc., etc. Then drop a track and add myself in on alto or tenor horn, etc. Clearly I'm past my own headlights, but have I also gone completely off the road of what BiaB is designed for or capable of? Great forum comments from users, so I'm hopeful that this long posting will generate some help. Thanks in advance!
Band-in-a-Box will play midi transcriptions note for note. You would achieve the best sound by installing a high quality soft synth sound module on each track. The audio would sound as good as the midi patches (instruments) you select. Kontakt, SampleTank and Halion are three well known proprietary soft synth systems but you can get sounds just as good from free soft synths like Sforzando and Synthfont.

However, RealTracks do not work that way since RealTracks are audio phrases, or riffs if you prefer that term, 1 to 8 bars in length. Prerecorded audio phrases will not play the note-by-note you desire.
Jim - I was afraid of that. Thank you for clearing up my confusion and for putting me on the track to a better solution. I’ll start with the Sforzando and Synth programs. Will need to figure out how to use them and do that. If I may, I’d like to leave a couple more questions. Does BiaB import the transcription from MuseScore note for note and part for part in the BiaB transcription, instead of leaving it as a 5 or 6-note chord on a single treble clef note stem? If so, is there a step by step set of import instructions that I can follow?

By the way, even without the full transcription, BiaB has been GREAT for transcribing/creating chord accompaniments by which to practice the Sher Real Easy tunes, and to set up repeats, solos and shout segments to solo against.

Jim, thanks again, for this and all the useful contributions I’ve seen throughout the forum.

Best, Jon (jonnyhubcap)
Hi Jonny.

Welcome to the forums.

What you are aiming to do is much easier to accomplish in Realband. Since Realband does not load XML, though, it would be necessary to save your 6-part MuseScore score as MIDI.

Once that is done, start up Realband (it comes with BIAB for Windows) and then open the MuseScore-saved MIDI file. It should load each track of the score onto individual tracks in Realband.

By default, these tracks should use the general midi software synthesiser that ships with BIAB. This might be adequate for you use. If not, more sophisticated soft synths can be used but these will need to be set up for each track. First off, though, try the default soft synth and see if it does the job.

Regards,
Noel


Noel - Thank you for this help. I will try this and will get back to you. I'm not sure how you guys juggle time to figure this stuff out, help other people, write music, and play an instrument, but I surely do appreciate the help. Fun stuff. Best, Jon
I have a similar question. Mine involves a single instrument piano leadsheet with lyrics and chord symbols, and the first 8 bars are a piano intro with both treble and bass clef, the rest of the bars are treble clef only. This was created in Finale 25. I exported it to MusicXML and opened it in BIAB 2019. I tried numerous mappings of the two tracks that appeared (both to melody, then one at a time to melody.) Never could I get a melody or lyrics to show up in BIAB, only the chord symbols.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here, but any advice would be appreciated.

UPDATE: contacted support, here is there fix:

there were some issues with MusicXML files in Band-in-a-Box 2019 in early builds. If you go to Help > About Band-in-a-Box what is the 3 digit number in brackets next to the year version?
608
Close out of Band-in-a-Box and then please download and install the latest 628 update at this link https://www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm#628
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