It would be very handy to have a counter added to BIAB so that it is easier to see how long a song is, and at what point in the song certain sections are arrived at. I am often trying to keep my songs under a certain length, and I'm sure some users are using BIAB for 30 second commercial spots or creating other music for some specific minimum or maximum length of time.
Having a counter somewhere on the interface would be helpful, like here for example:
And if you don't want to add it to the interface, perhaps it could be a window similar to the "Big Lyrics" that shows chords and lyrics wherever you want to see them on your display. If there was a similar resizeable window for a counter, then users who want one could put it wherever they want on their display:
Personally, I would prefer the first example so that it is small but always available at a glance by simple looking at the GUI.
I'm sure that some kind of counter is already available for users of RealBand, but for those of us who could benefit from having it right in BIAB, this would be a nifty addition.
Yes, this has been requested and would be helpful. +1
Just checking, are you aware of the information at the very top of the screen after a song has been regenerated?
Also, while it's not what you asked, BIAB does have the ability to generate a song of specified length. You could do that to get a length and tempo, then modify it with your own composition.
BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors
Yes, as Matt mentioned, there is a song total time listed on the form caption (I believe that it includes count-in time) - see attachment.
There's also an idea for a progress bar on this post of a GUI concept. The intention is to see at a glance the overall progress of the song - important for live playing. Give it a +1 (or feel free to give it several) if you like it.
+1 for your ideas.
BIAB & RB2024 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
Just checking, are you aware of the information at the very top of the screen after a song has been regenerated?
I had not actually figured that out yet, thanks!
Until a possible counter is added, half of my wish has been granted now that I can see the song length at a glance. I know I'm going to be checking that out all the time from now on.
I just read through that thread and watched your concept video again. Nice work and lots of great ideas for sure. I will add a response to it a little later.
Until a possible counter is added, half of my wish has been granted now that I can see the song length at a glance.
Be aware that the song length you can see in the upper zone of the page is NOT the duration of the song because :
1 - it DOES include the two count-in bars 2 - if you have tempo changes in the song, they are taken in account to calculate the actual duration of the song.
These two items are in the BB wishlist since many years.
I would still like to see a counter added to the interface, perhaps at the right side of the Progress Bar.
I OFTEN find myself wishing I could find out exactly how far I am into the song in minutes and seconds, because section lengths and the position of the solo section are important for me to gauge in relation to the song length.
Host Timeline as bars/beats/ticks, hours/minutes/seconds/frames, or samples. Recording Time (only works if host informs plugins of recording state). Stopwatch, with automatable controls. Plugin Time - total time since the plugin was loaded. Actual Time - "Real Life" time of day.
Use it if your host's counter is the wrong color, or isn't big enough. Bigger is better. Sample-accurate up to one hundred billion hours at 44100 Hz.
Can also set up "cues" to display at selected times.
You got me excited, Pipeline, but unfortunately this Big Clock is for Windows only and there doesn't seem to be a Mac version... but something like this would be perfectly fine if PGMusic would bundle a version that is built-in to BIAB and can be opened in a separate window like this with the click of an icon or a menu selection. I have 2 displays so I would be quite happy to put the Clock on my second display.
PGMusic, please help to make this available for all users!
I just want to ask, is there a reason for not implementing a clock? For most of us, I assume being able to keep track of how long their songs are is a sure must. It's quite easy to get carried away with this awesome software. the first song I did, I was well impressed until I moved it to Cubase and noticed it was over 16 minutes long 😱, I managed to edit it down to 11 minutes in Cubase. Yep, Biab, needs a clock.
... I'm sure that some kind of counter is already available for users of RealBand, but for those of us who could benefit from having it right in BIAB, this would be a nifty addition.
Peter replied: "Thanks for suggestions". So I guess it's still being considered.
BIAB & RB2024 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
(I'm not sure why the images in my original post (or here) are not being displayed in this forum. For 8 years I have had the images available in the same location so that they wouldn't disappear from these forum posts, but apparently the forum now only shows images that have local addresses or are somehow added as attachments? Not sure what changed, but the link to my concept image is above.)
Originally Posted by AudioTrack
Peter replied: "Thanks for suggestions". So I guess it's still being considered.
Hopefully this topic being back at the top of the wish list might help to make it happen eventually.
I don't understand why this wasn't added years ago. It's such a simple thing and it is so useful while working on a song.
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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Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!
We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!
Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.
You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.
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