Okay I used BIAB in early versions to write 2 school musicals. Worked for me. As a classicist I entered notation for the midi parts, assigned instruments and then mixed the results. I was able to add chords and dynamics.
Move on to the 2020 version - and I'm out to lunch here. I downloaded the manual [even made cheat sheets]
1. When I called up previous midi sequence files I found that sometimes they didn't include all the instruments, were without dynamics and even changed tempo. Worse still the instruments weren't on their own staves. No matter what instrument I called up the music was all clumped together.
2. Tried to write melody and lyrics. No way could I get the bar lines out of the lyrics. No info about how to do it.
3. Setting key signature does nothing. It reverts to C no matter how many times saved.
I think this program has advanced too far for me. I use Musescore for notation needs and perhaps should move to its mixer section [although I don't feel it's as good as PGM.
I'm spending way too long trying to relearn this program and not writing music.
Is there a comprehensible manual? The video tutorials don't do the trick for me.
Contacting PGM receives no reply.
BIAB has lots and lots of videos to learn how to use it, they are listed on the home page of BIAB, maybe under support. Also a very nice lady Joanne Cooper who lives in South Africa has an ebook on learning BIAB. I started off with Joanne and have just learned the basics enough to do some songs and will build on that as I go along. There are several musicians here that know the program well as far as midi and all that and if you post a question they should answer it. Noel, Herb Hartley, Matt Finley, etc. I wouldn't give up, it's really worth learning.
Welcome to the forum, aneighth.
I’m disappointed you are having this much trouble. I’ll start with your #1.
The single thing in BIAB that has changed the LEAST in decades is MIDI. Whatever your earlier version was, the MIDI files you created then should load and play correctly now. I would need some specific details to proceed further. Perhaps you could upload a file to Dropbox (get a free account) and post a link to it here, along with a description of what it is supposed to be.
About #3, the key signature makes a great difference when entering a melody, and it affects the program’s choices during playback. It should of course preserve any change you make. The only thing I can guess here is that you are working with an imported MIDI file and somehow the key signature is included. There is a way to edit that out.
Finally, it’s good you like MuseScore. This is still the only non-PG Music program that reads BIAB song files directly. In other words, you can open a BIAB MGU or SGU file.
Hi,
#1. If you are opening MIDI files (*.mid) into Band-in-a-Box, then the entire MIDI file will be imported to the Melody track, and so like you say all the instruments/channels will be clumped together onto the one track. There are two tracks in Band-in-a-Box that are user editable. These are the Melody and Soloist track, so technically you could import some channels to the Melody track and some to the Soloist track (e.g. Melody menu | Edit melody | Import melody from MIDI file). If you do want to have multiple channels on the Melody and/or Soloist track, make sure that the track types are set to Multi-channel, otherwise you'll be hearing everything played as a single instrument. The point is that Band-in-a-Box isn't intended to be a multitrack MIDI file editor. The remaining Band-in-a-Box tracks - Bass, Piano, etc. are used by Band-in-a-Box to generate parts based on the Style that you selected. This may be MIDI tracks, or RealTracks (audio) in the case of RealStyles.
My question would be, the previous MIDI files that you are opening into Band-in-a-Box - what are you wanting to accomplish with these files, and where did they come from? Typically if you had used Band-in-a-Box in the past you would have saved Band-in-a-Box song files - these have files extensions like .mgu and .sgu. Perhaps you exported your songs as MIDI files, but even so you should still have the .MGU's kicking around.
#2 I'm not sure what you mean when you say you couldn't get the barlines out. Use the Notation window and switch to the Melody track. Start by entering your melody using editable notation mode, assuming you are entering it manually rather than recording it. My favorite way to enter notation is to use the keyboard (no mouse), left and right cursor keys, then press N to enter the note, and cursor up/down to adjust the pitch. Once you've entering the melody, go back to the start, press the L button to toggle into Lyrics mode. This is how to enter "Note-based lyrics", since the words you type are positioned according to the currently highlighted note. You can press enter to advance to the next note, and you can use Tab and Shift-Tab to go back and forth.
#3 I don't know why setting the key signature wouldn't have any effect. Perhaps you are going to File | Save, and expecting this to affect your original MIDI file. It won't, it will be saving your song as a Band-in-a-Box song file. If you want to export your song as a MIDI file you can do that as well, but you won't be editing your original MIDI file directly.
Hi there!
Welcome to the forums!
Just a tip from an insider on getting a hold of support these days:
Support emails are taking us a lot longer than normal to respond to and our tech support phone line was down for a while because of measures in our office being taken for COVID-19. The tech support phone lines are back up now, so you can try calling again if you did before and got no answer. Emailing support@pgmusic.com will get you in touch with the most knowledgeable folks, but often if what you need help with is simple, chat will be quicker. The staff working the live chat can usually help sort out whatever issue you have, and right on the spot.
I hope this helps, don't give up!
from the way you describe how you worked originally are you sure you used BIAB for your original tracks? i first got BIAB on floppies and with it got PowerTracks (PT) free so i created a rough song in BIAB, exported to a midi file then did the editing of midi in PowerTracks - changing notes, time values etc.
these days you get RealBand (RB) free with BIAB which will open midi files on separate tracks, allow you to edit midi easily. it's the descendant of PowerTracks and is much easier to use working with midi.
you already have RB so why not open your old midi files in RB and see if you can do what you want.
the phenomenal power of BIAB comes at a cost - you have to work in a BIAB way. RB is so much easier although it still has some of the power of BIAB.