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I had originally posted the following in the "Band in a Box for Windows" forum under the "PG Music Products" heading but have decided to post it here as well per Lloyd's suggestion:

"Since becoming a proud and grateful BiaB user in December 2018, I have hit the dreaded "255 bar limit" with several of my songs. And even though I've always been able to work around this limit, the amount of extra time I have to spend going through my workaround process has been very frustrating and disappointing. As a result, I've come to the conclusion that the "255 bar limit" is BiaB's biggest and most unfortunate handicap.

Recently, however, an idea occurred to me that could be a way to put an end to this limit and the need to work around it for songs that exceed it. So, I decided to share my idea here to see what all of you think about it and to find out whether or not it's feasible. But first I want to say that I'm not sure if this particular forum is the right place for me to post my idea. If it isn't, please let know which forum I should post it in so that I can obtain the proper feedback I'm seeking.

Before I share my idea with you, I need to mention how I use BiaB because of the role my process has played in the formation of my idea. Instead of manually entering the chords to my songs one at a time into the chord entry section of BiaB (as most of you probably do), I use BiaB to open a .XML file that I created with MuseScore, which is an open source music notation program. My .XML file contains the complete melody, lyrics, and chords to a song that I previously had entered into MuseScore. For those of you who have never heard of MuseScore, please read the following article on Wikipedia's website:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuseScore

In the above article, MuseScore is compared to Finale and Sibelius, which are the two most well-known and most expensive music notation software programs available today. However, unlike Finale and Sibelius, MuseScore is free. In other words, until last year, the development of MuseScore since its infancy in 2002 has been made possible entirely by donations, and that's why it is 100% free. This brings me to my idea on how to put an end to the "255 bar limit" in BiaB, and this idea is based on the premise that the "255 bar limit" could be eliminated if BiaB's code was completely re-written with a 16-bit, 32-bit or even a 64-bit base. I'm sure there's a lot more to it than just re-writing BiaB's code, but I believe that this is the core issue. However, to accomplish this is going to cost a lot of money to pay for the necessary resources (software programmers) to get the job done. Here's my idea:

If PG Music is unwilling to set aside the money that is needed to pay the programmers to eliminate the "255 bar limit" (in spite of all the users that have asked them to do so) because of the possibility or even the probability that it will have to increase the price of BiaB to recoup that money, then perhaps the users of BiaB would be willing to donate the money if a fund was set up (KickStarter, perhaps) for this purpose. I don't know how much money it would take to accomplish this task, but if enough users expressed interest in participating in such an effort, I'm sure that PG Music would come up with a target amount that we would have to meet. So, that's my idea. What do all of you think of it? And what does PG Music think of it?

One final thought: If MuseScore can become such a powerful music notation program through the donations from its users so that it rivals both Finale and Sibelius, then surely BiaB's "255 bar limit" could be fixed through the donations from its users."


Tom Levan (pronounced La-VAN)
BiaB 2024 Win UltraPAK Build 1109, Xtra Style PAKs 1-11, RB 2024, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Intel Q9650 3 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 500 GB SSD & 2 TB HDD, Tracktion 6 & 7 (freebies), Cakewalk, Audacity, MuseScore 2.1 & 3.4, Synthesizer V
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Do we really want a second thread with a discussion on this? The original post was here: https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=539225#Post539225

While I support the fixing of the 255-bar limit, I am not willing to give advice to PG Music on how they should do it. I trust that they know their business better than I do, and I know they are already well aware of this limitation.

Of course, this is a Wishlist forum, and this is a wish, with a suggestion for a fix. So let's see where the discussion goes, but perhaps try not to duplicate that discussion in both threads.



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
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+1 on ANY idea to get the 255 bar limit bumped up!

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Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
Do we really want a second thread with a discussion on this? The original post was here: https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=539225#Post539225

While I support the fixing of the 255-bar limit, I am not willing to give advice to PG Music on how they should do it. I trust that they know their business better than I do, and I know they are already well aware of this limitation.

Of course, this is a Wishlist forum, and this is a wish, with a suggestion for a fix. So let's see where the discussion goes, but perhaps try not to duplicate that discussion in both threads.


I agree, Matt, especially considering how far the discussion over there has progressed. So, perhaps this discussion should merely consist of +1 bumps that support the idea and reinforce the need for this limitation to be fixed. My understanding is that fixing this limitation has been the most requested item of all time on the wish list for BiaB.


Tom Levan (pronounced La-VAN)
BiaB 2024 Win UltraPAK Build 1109, Xtra Style PAKs 1-11, RB 2024, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Intel Q9650 3 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 500 GB SSD & 2 TB HDD, Tracktion 6 & 7 (freebies), Cakewalk, Audacity, MuseScore 2.1 & 3.4, Synthesizer V
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I've been here a long time, well before the forum date of 2000 when the 'new' forum software started the post counts over. Yes, I agree, this has to be the #1 request.


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
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I agree (again) that the 255 bar limit has to be resolved.
+1


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
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+1 again.


Me, it's not about how many times you fail, it's about how many times you get back up.
Cop, that's not how field sobriety tests work.

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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-1 for the idea of crowd funding this! I "donate" every year to get the latest RealTracks and I wouldn't pay one dollar more for the 255 bar limit to be removed.

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RealBand will go way over 255 limit.
But the funny thing is it's Biab that generates up the tracks for it (bbw2.exe) it will also generate up tracks with decimal point tempo maps (as Biab will round the tempos down 110.573 > 110 then have the next bar at 111).
This was 384 bars with 5 tracks 600meg so as Biab generates the tracks direct to RAM this would not be an issue.
The Biab plugin has the same problem and should be fixed soon with a new save format rather than .SGU just like ReaBand has .SEQ it will save more than 255 bars and will save decimal point tempo map.


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If you're looking for a in-depth review of the newest Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows version, you'll definitely find it with Sound-Guy's latest review, Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows Review: Incredible new capabilities to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs.

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."

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Video: Volume Automation in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

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Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Volume Automation

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Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!

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See the Melodist in action with our video, Band-in-a-Box® 2024: The Melodist Window.

Learn even more about the enhancements to the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024upgrade/chapter3.htm#enhanced-melodist

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