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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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How do I record audio?
I have a Presonus AudioBox 22VSL interface and the accompanying software. It's the default device for playback and recording. I have a guitar plugged into it.
In BB when I hit Record Audio I get the VU meters and they work but nothing gets recorded. If something were being recorded, where would I find it? Where is the track, or file, or whatever you call it? Is that what I'm looking at when I hit Audio Edit? Is it possible to record more than one audio part, or track, or file, or whatever you call it? If so, is there any provision for mixing them?
Also, what does it mean to say "If you also want to record MIDI . . ." What MIDI, from where to where? Why would I be recording MIDI and audio at the same time? And where would the recording be found?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
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For multiple audio tracks and mixing of such you may want to look at Realband. This comes free with BiaB and is a more conventional DAW based software with 48 tracks that can be either MIDI or audio. It also supports the song generating features of BiaB.
Your audio track should be near the bottom of the BiaB mixer applet I believe.
Make your sound your own!
.. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 60
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OP
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For multiple audio tracks and mixing of such you may want to look at Realband. This comes free with BiaB and is a more conventional DAW based software with 48 tracks that can be either MIDI or audio. It also supports the song generating features of BiaB.
Your audio track should be near the bottom of the BiaB mixer applet I believe. Thanks for the quick response. What you say brings up a related question: why the two programs? But first I'd like to get straight with BIAB. I am deducing from your answer that there is only one track for recorded audio in BIAB. Correct? Moving on, I am thinking of two scenarios: 1. In BIAB, you record some audio like singing or an instrument part, then re-generate the BIAB song to see what the various re-generations sound like with that one audio track. When you get a combination you like you can export it (details on that later). For now, no other program required. 2. You could also do this with a more complex audio track -- any number of things mixed down to a single track -- made with another program (is that where Real Band comes in?) and importing that track into BIAB as "the" audio track; again, the idea being to try various re-generations with a fixed audio track. Is this the basic idea of "the" audio track in BIAB? If so, why not just start out in Real Band since as you say it also supports the song generating features of BiaB? Perhaps more simply: why does the record audio feature in BIAB exist?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Is this the basic idea of "the" audio track in BIAB?
Basically, yes. The one audio track inside BB is handy to have, but if you want a lot more flexibility in your audio recordings, the included RealBand allows for multiple tracks, more comprehensive editing facilities, etc. If so, why not just start out in Real Band since as you say it also supports the song generating features of BiaB? Band in a Box simply has more autoaccompaniment features available. Try working up the songfile in BiaB first, tweaking everything well, and then Export via Drag and Drop and open in RealBand for recording your work along with the autoaccompaniment. RealBand has one feature that BB does not. Since the entire song gets laid out on the timeline as tracks, rather than using the Choruses, Repeats, etc. that BB does, editing, splicing and dicing, and the ability to highlight just one area, a few bars, of a BB generated track and choose to REgenerate just that area to get something closer to what is desired is hot stuff. Perhaps more simply: why does the record audio feature in BIAB exist?
Everybody tends to view Band in a Box from the standpoint of what they intend to do with it. If, for example, your particular idea of main usage is to make great sounding accompaniments for you playing and/or singing with the end target being a produced Recording, the myopia of the thing sets in hard. I think we all have experienced that at times. Hard to picture why someone would need some of the many features of BB unless you view that feature from the standpoint of a user who is not all that interested in making recordings, perhaps they are into the Educational or Practicing aspects of the program. Also there are the Songwriters, who are more interested in just getting a reasonably good sounding DEMO recording of their song and feel that all the slicing and dicing available in a full-featured multitracking recording program are just too much to deal with, or perhaps get in the way of their creative workflow. Band in a Box = Autoaccompaniment program first and foremost. RealBand = Multitrack Recording Program first and foremost, the ability to load BB Styles, RealInstruments and such on the BB tracks provided, represents a very nice work situation and timesaver. Consider that if using any other DAW program out there, the process of adding another RealTrack, or part of one, or getting multiple performances of a single track in order to make a Compilation track out of them would involve multiple revisits to BB, export of the track, import to the DAW program, swometimes then having to line up the newly imported track to get it in the right spot on the timeline, rinse and repeat all that as necessary. Until the advent of RealBand a few years ago, that is what we had to do. RealBand can eliminate much of that process. Both programs are designed to work together for the person interested in producing their own home recordings. It takes time to learn each one, time well spent. --Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Thanks, Mac, I have no doubt you are correct and I will eventually see for myself, but right now, I'm trying to figure out how to work the program(s). I still can't record audio in BIAB. The VU meters bounce, and, end of story. I'm trying to figure out what I'm missing. If recording occurs, how do you know?
I try to figure out what the documentation means by trying to figure out what the intended use of the program is. I figure there has to be some sort of basic idea, toward which the design is aimed. I thought that if the idea was to record a single audio track, that track would have some sort of icon or something, like the rest of the items in the mixer. Because, if not, how do you mix the single audio track, with the rest of the mixer tracks, in BIAB? Is it the intention of the programmers that you leave BIAB for RealBand to work on the audio track, and then come back?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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make sure your audio device is selected for record & playback in preferences How do I record audio?
click the record audio button
Where is the track, or file, or whatever you call it?
ctrl+shift+a will display the audio edit window
if you save the file after recording audio you should see a .wav file with the same name as your biab file
double clicking that in windows should bring up your media player app and you should hear what you have recorded
Lenovo YOGA 900 Window s 10 Home 64bit 16GB RAM\2018 13” MacBook Air casio wk7500 presonus audiobox i2 usb interface
casio wk-7500
biab & realband 2023 everything pk both with Current builds
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Apr 2009
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Tom...welcome...
I use Band in a Box (BB) mostly as a writing tool. Instead of a pad and pencil, I use BB as that scratchpad. I can change keys, tempo and experiment with dozens of styles as well as slice and dice the parts as needed during the evolutionary process of writing.
I use Real Band to render the BB tracks into real tracks. While it is a worthy DAW, I use it mainly to create the tracks for my song.
I export them into a DAW which I know and use and love. Sonar. It's there that I mix the tracks, process them and also add my live tracks and do the final mixdown and polishing.
However, you can use it in whatever manner best suits you.
While it is possible to record audio into BB, I have not used it for that. Same thing with Real Band. It too will record audio but I don't use it for that either.
As such, I have never gone into it to set up the preferences which tell it where to get the audio from. In Sonar, I select the available input sources and click on the one I wish to use.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
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I thought that if the idea was to record a single audio track, that track would have some sort of icon or something, like the rest of the items in the mixer. Because, if not, how do you mix the single audio track, with the rest of the mixer tracks, in BIAB? Is it the intention of the programmers that you leave BIAB for RealBand to work on the audio track, and then come back?
The single Audio Track is accessible by clicking on the little button at the very bottom RH corner of the default mixer display. This will expand the mixer by adding the same sort of Fader and VU for the separate Audio Track that you see normally for the other tracks. When Recording, it is important to set the Record Properties for your sound device, whether internal or external, to the Input that your quitar is coming in on, likely the Line input. Otherwise the VU movement you see while playing is coming from the sound device's Playback Mixer and what you are thus seeing is the Monitoring of the Input, which is necessary so that you can also hear yourself play while Recording. Takes a bit of a learning curve, but Band in a Box, unlike most other programs designed for music making, practicing, etc. is very much like learning a musical instrument that is new to you. That may seem complicated at first, but think of it this way, if the program was easily mastered in one or two sessions, it would not be worth having or using. The level of complexity is indeed daunting for just about everyone at first, but most soon overcome. Others, like myself many years ago, let it languish for too long and then when returning to it at a later time, got into it with determination and found that everything that is in this program is there for a reason and is actually necessary for one use or another. This forum is here to help get through the necessary Learning Curve.
Also -- The Band in a Box "FAQs" page is there as well, bookmark it (a link is at the bottom of every one of my posts here) and read how to use ctrl-f on the page to rapidly find keywords at issue. There are also Tutorial links within the FAQs as well. Very handy and faster than waiting on replies to forum posts sometimes. The FAQs are derived from actual Forum Questions asked over the years.
Tis easier than 4-handed Dentistry...  Have Fun, --Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 60
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OP
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make sure your audio device is selected for record & playback in preferences How do I record audio?
click the record audio button
Where is the track, or file, or whatever you call it?
ctrl+shift+a will display the audio edit window
if you save the file after recording audio you should see a .wav file with the same name as your biab file
double clicking that in windows should bring up your media player app and you should hear what you have recorded
Thanks, this appears to be an example of your work method, which no doubt has its uses. But I'm to get the basic scenario working. If my understanding is correct, you can record an audio track which you can then see in the mixer, which in turns means you can do all the mixer things to it just like the other tracks. IOW it should show there whether I go into the audio edit window, and I shouldn't need to open windows media player to hear it, right? As far as preferences, yes, I have my AudioBox ASIO driver selected, as that is the only choice.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Posts: 60
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OP
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Thanks, Mac, for the tip on the little button at bottom right of the mixer, which is a toggle to display or not display the audio track. But I can't follow this: When Recording, it is important to set the Record Properties for your sound device, whether internal or external, to the Input that your quitar is coming in on, likely the Line input. Otherwise the VU movement you see while playing is coming from the sound device's Playback Mixer and what you are thus seeing is the Monitoring of the Input, which is necessary so that you can also hear yourself play while Recording.
I have: 1. An audio interface. It has knobs. There's nothing to set. 2. The interface software, which you can set to on, off, volume, mute. 3. A Computer with a sound card, which has software (Realtek HD Audio Manager) which I haven't touched in years, because it is so lame, and duplicative of windows. 4. Windows, i.e. the playback and recording devices dialog boxes. 5. BIAB. What are you talking about, setting what, where? I made the only possible settings in BIAB "Preferences/Audio Driver Type/ASIO" and "Audio Drivers". OK, here I go. I hit the red "Record Audio" icon in the transport menu. Up comes the Record Audio Dialog Box. At top left is "Set Recording Levels". That starts the Windows "sound" dialog box, where my interface is the default recording and playback device, as it has been for several years now. Line in and Stereo Mix are also enabled. Close out of that, back to the BIAB Record Audio dialog box. Now I choose "test recording level" and I get the Vu meters -- two sets,"input" and "Output". If I hit the guitar I get action on the input meter and not on the output meter. This means the guitar is being input to the audio track and the other tracks aren't, yes? What else could it possibly mean and why would I want to know? I got here from following the menus that are supposed to result in recording at some point, yes? So I hit "record" down at the bottom of the "Record" Dialog Box. The track starts, I play, both sets of meters move independently. The track stops. The Dialog Box asks if I want to keep the recording. I say yes. The box closes and there is nothing in the audio track slot in the mixer; No file in the song's directory; nothing in the audio edit window. If something was recorded, it's well hidden. Clearly I made a wrong choice somewhere but the obvious question is, why was it possible? The choices I made produced a configuration that does something, one must assume, because if it didn't, why would BIAB allow it? But as far as I can tell, it does nothing. It sure doesn't record anything.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Look in the same folder where the BB songfile that you attempted to record Audio to is stored, using Explorer.
See if there is a .wav file with the exact same name as the songfile, but with the .wav suffix instead of the .sgu,.mgu, etc. BB songfile suffix.
If there is, that is the .wav audio track that you recorded with the song. You can doubleclick the .wav to play just it in Windows Media Player to see if there is audio on it.
If so, try closing the songfile in BB and re-opening it, then hit Play and see if that .wav file of the same name is playing back with the autoaccompaniment.
--Mac
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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User Video: Next-Level AI Music Editing with ACE Studio and Band-in-a-Box®
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 German for Windows is Here!
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Update Your PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 Today!
The Newest RealBand 2024 Update is Here!
The newest RealBand 2024 Build 5 update is now available!
Download and install this to your RealBand 2024 for updated print options, streamlined loading and saving of .SGU & MGU (BB) files, and to add a number of program adjustments that address user-reported bugs and concerns.
This free update is available to all RealBand 2024 users. To learn more about this update and download it, head to www.pgmusic.com/support.realband.htm#20245
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Note: the Band-in-a-Box® keychain is only included with flash drive backup copies, and cannot be purchased separately.
Handy flash drive tip: Always try plugging in a USB device the wrong way first? If your flash drive (or other USB plug) doesn't have a symbol to indicate which way is up, look for the side with a seam on the metal connector (it only has a line across one side) - that's the side that either faces down or to the left, depending on your port placement.
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
With this update, there's more control when saving images from the Print Preview window, we've added defaults to the MultiPicker for sorting and font size, updated printing options, updated RealTracks and other content, and addressed user-reported issues with the StylePicker, MIDI Soloists, key signature changes, and more!
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A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."
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