PG Music Home Forums PG Music Wishlists Band-in-a-Box Wishlist Bar to Bar Regeneration

I'm one to work out lots of different ways of doing things as some like the new Biab 2020 MutiRiffs and some would prefer bar to bar regeneration as some prefer ReWire to the BB Plugin and some would prefer RealBand or the Biab Lite® (C:\bb\BBPlugin\Files\Band-in-a-Box DAW Plugin Standalone.exe).

+1

I just wanna tag onto Pipeline's suggestion with my understanding of how this should work. I was really hopeful that Multiriffs implemented in BIAB would be more like Realband.

1) I freeze my track and then select only the bar(s) I wish to regenerate
2) I click the regenerate button and BIAB gives me one or more different RealTrack riffs to replace the bars I chose
3) If I like the replacement I click OK and it is immediately integrated into my track inside BIAB with no external files for me to deal with
4) At this point I am back in BIAB and my track has had the selected bars replaced with the chosen riffs and I can save it like any normal BIAB file

This approach would be efficient and effective. It would not require the use of a DAW or any extra WAV files. There would be NO comping required by me of any type since BIAB would be doing the integration. It is a super clean result with a track just like BIAB always generates but with me having selected the riffs for certain bars.

Oh what the heck. +1

Edited
On second thought I want want to withdraw my +1. Can I do that?

What John3x is proposing is no different than "selective bar freeze". This item has been on the wish list for ages. We don't need a new wish item when you can find this request over and over again here in the forum.

+1

A BIG +1 for John3's idea.

Another big +1 for JJJ's idea.

That's how I think the fundamental multi-riff feature should operate. Exporting/track bouncing/DAW operation would be additional features.

OK! Dan's idea is even better. And should be MUCH easier to implement. And would solve the MultiRiff problem 100%. Just to be sure I understand, here is what I think Dan means!

1) I select the track I wish to work on
2) I freeze that track and then select the bar(s) I wish to unfreeze
3) I click the (new) Regenerate Riff(s) button and BIAB regenerates whatever is unfrozen leaving what is frozen alone (on the track I selected only; all other tracks are unaffected)
4) at this point BIAB freezes my entire track but leaves the changed bars selected
5) If I like the replacement I simply save my song
6) if I don't like the new section I just keep clicking regenerate until I do

OMG, this is exactly how this should be implemented! I don't need MultiRiffs or extra WAV files or a DAW or anything! I just need to unfreeze some bars and click regen until I like the result. And it should be super fast since it is only regenerating a portion of the song and likely on a single track.

PGM, please redo this as described! There is literally NO benefit to the more complicated current MultiRiff solution.

Same thing, bar to bar you suggested does that, you select the bar/s and track then re-gen without having to select freeze.

That's exactly what I want in BIAB.

Folks, I am confused about "bar to bar" regeneration.
I understand the concept BUT,
When I started using BIAB, a forum member mentioned this. I do not remember exact wording but it went something like this:
With any change in chords, shots, number of bars, music line can change in unexpected places. Meaning you change something in a bar 50, bar 3 can play totally different stuff than it was playing before that change. That is true.

Sometimes I feel that BIAB arrangement is like a live slippery snake, that I have to hold tight Does this idea of Bar-to bar regeneration preserves the rest of the bars Before/After regenerated region?

Thank you.

The BIAB generation concept is that an entire track regenerates, so yes, you can lose music you really like and want to keep. That is why you hear the discussion of Freezing tracks and only generating selected bars and not affecting other portions of a track.

Charlie,
ohh I do get freeze selected bars part
Ok, How about this workflow? :

As a default all track are "semi-frozen" / have initial generation. When you change something at particular bar, it regenerates only that part automatically, leaving everything else in place.

If you want a larger section re-generated, you just select bars you want to re-generate, right click and it would have a menu: regenerate selected.

The change in bar 3 from a change in bar 50 is not causation. It’s somewhat correlated but somewhat random.

Matt,
That is exactly why I feel the randomness has to be allowed by choice and not enforced.

Meaning, if changes do not work well, you will still be able to grab the block as you wanted initially without making 100 copies of every change.

Then, of course there should be a mechanism to de-frost everything and turn arrangement back to Jello state.

When I read all these different ways to do this I think you guys are missing a very important point. A fundamental, primary reason Biab is better than prerecorded midi files is it gives you a slightly different performance every time you regenerate the song. Of course the whole track is generated, not just a few bars. It's advertised as the closest you can get to having real musicians in your living room because real players will slightly change things up every time they play a song. Peter has written about this many times. This point is always someone's answer to the question why do you bring a laptop running Biab to the gig and not convert your Biab arrangements to MP3's? They want that variety so the song is not a static karaoke file.

This is the original and foundational reason for the creation of Biab in the first place. To NOT have a program that creates static tracks. Again, I point you to Real Band. It was designed to do all these often repeated requests for things that Biab can't do.

This is like planning for a boy baby, you get one and years later deciding you really wanted a girl. Oh, wait...

Bob

Regenerating part of a track is the only reason I might use RealBand. IF BIAB had this feature, I could finish a song while staying in BIAB. Since the technology already exists, I would appreciate having it in BIAB.

Yes! I agree!

I agree also.

You incorrectly assume that all BIAB users perform with it as a karaoke machine. Nope. I would never use it that way. I'm using it to produce recorded tracks.

And anyway, your description of BIAB always playing something different isn't a benefit, rather, it is one of the main problems in an actual crummy band...the guys can't remember their parts and always play things different when you (and the listeners) want them to play it the same!

Okay then that's settled, so what are we talking about a January implementation ??
I don't think we want to wait another year !
So what would be the best way ?
Select/Highlight the bar/s then a right click menu
"Regenerate Selected Bars All Tracks "
"Regenerate Selected Bars >
> Bass RT684 Bass, Electric....
> Drums RealDrums RockHardEven8..
> Guitar 1 RT 522 Guitar, Acoustic....
> UserTrack 1 Guitar, Nylon, Fingerpicking....

Or would it be from the Top track menus and Mixer menus ?

Or All of the above ?

Would you have
"Return to Original Generation"
"Return to Previous Generation"
"Return to Next Generation"

1) enter my chords and generate for the first time
2) select track and bars I want to regenerate
3) push the new regenerate button which changes ONLY THE SELECTED BARS ON THE SELECTED TRACK
4) implement full undo so I can return if I want

That's it! Simple to use. Not hard to program.

Or, just as simple,

1) enter my chords and generate for the first time
2) select bars I want to regenerate
3) right-click those bars and select regenerate for the track I want to change which changes ONLY THE SELECTED BARS ON THE SELECTED TRACK
4) implement full undo so I can return if I want

With RealBand I can regenerate just 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 beats in a bar, in Biab it selects 1 bar at a time, would you leave it as one bar or would there be a way to select beat to beat without it affecting other functions that use the selection like copy, loop etc.. maybe Alt+drag to highlight beat to beat ??

At beat level would certainly be superior to bar level.
I would prefer the functionality delivered by RealBand to be utilized.

John! Wrong! Don't be so literal! You haven't read what Peter has written about that! Argue with him about it! Gee, writing with all these exclamation points is tedious doncha think!

Bob! Sorry this is becoming a habit..

Bob

I've already experienced this and it is NOT desirable to me. Not in the least!!! If I hear the guitar player OR BIAB play a riff I like for the song I don't wanna hear something different next time!!!

Here, have a few more you can use in your response!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn’t this recent sub-discussion irrelevant? If you like having BIAB play the same way each time, freeze the tracks. If you don’t, enjoy the new changes the program provides each regeneration. But let’s not muddy the request, which is bar-by-bar regeneration in BIAB for whatever reason you want it.

Amen.
Now let's get back to the implementation of it.

Amen...+1...I agree!

JJJ,
This:
"3) right-click those bars and select regenerate for the track I want to change which changes ONLY THE SELECTED BARS ON THE SELECTED TRACK"

Having hard time imagining this. I get how you would select a "bar(s)" but how would you select a specific track to regenerate? I assume you click the actual single track tab after you make your bar selection?

I guess, your request by default assumes all tracks will remain the same (Frozen!) after first generation, only allowing for selective regeneration.

Another thought why "partial bar freeze" might work better. Imagine a song with 3 choruses / 3 verses. If you want to regenerate all 3 choruses at once, you simply would select stuff you want to change,freezing the rest. A bar selection in MULTIPLE places would be needed. A tool that was available in many graphics programs for many years "Inverse Selection" also might be a very useful.

*And with partial freeze, you can have the option to "unfreeze" all to have the effect of randomness for the whole track, as we have now.

*There also should be an option to regenerate all tracks within selected bars.

To me and I am sure to many average users, just logic is not enough. It has to be done nicely, with design in mind, not just a function.
Ease of use! The "feature" that was currently implemented, "multiriffs for BIAB"., Idea is good, implementation, well...to put it gently, desires maturity. What I am trying to say, just to "have the feature" is not enough, it has to be thought out well. To me, this (bar by bar or partial freeze) is a HUGE feature, and if it ever gets implemented, I want it implemented the right way.

My goal is to try and define the simplest possible pseudo-code outline that just cannot be misinterpreted! I thought previous discussions we have had on this forum were pretty clear as to what was desirable for bar-by-bar regeneration so, frankly, I was surprised and disappointed with the complicated "solution" they came up with.

To clarify, I am talking about a new feature for Regen that does not change ANYTHING with the current Generate & Play feature. In fact, it does not change ANYTHING else in the program to ensure no side effects we don't want or need!

You select your bars and then right-click and the popup has the following choices,
------------------------
CLICK TRACK BELOW TO REGENERATE SELECTED BARS
------------------------
0 Bass
0 Piano
0 Drums
0 Guitar
0 Strings
0 Melody
0 Soloist
------------------------

You select one and BAM it regenerates ONLY the selected bars on ONLY the selected track. No button to click after selecting. Just select bars and then select track and BAM...it regenerates ONLY what you chose and returns you to the program. Now you are sitting right where you were before with NOTHING changed except what you chose to change. You can listen to the changed section and if you like it freeze that track and save your file. If you don't like it select the bars and repeat.

To me this seems so simple from a user's perspective and not difficult to program.

My thought is you probably keep it bar-by-bar instead of beat-by-beat with an eye toward later enhancing it to that level. Keep it simple to actually get it done.

But with that said, I don't know enough about how RealTrack riffs are stored and optimized. Are they mostly stored in even bar increments? In other words, one riff is one bar long while another is two bars long, etc. Or, are they random lengths? This would be a major factor in getting them to line up correctly.

If we knew more about how the RealTracks are sliced and stored we could apply that to our proposed solution but lacking that info I think bar-by-bar may be the much simpler direction.

My understanding is they are from one to eight bars long.

JJJ,

Ok, a "Pop Up".. I see it better now


However! If you change anything anywhere,shot, hold, chord etc. before or after "bar-to bar" section, you brand new regeneration section would probably melt away, surrendering to randomness. That is where I believe selected bar freeze would be very handy.


JJJ, the idea of bar-to-bar deserves +10, but I am worried that if it is not fully thought out, it might be more complicated to change things later in the game....that might be MUCH easier to add right from the start

Just saying.

You will have to elaborate a bit more on that or post some pics.
Do you mean after you generated the new bars you may want to change something else ???
Would you not freeze the track after the new bars are generated that you like, then if you find another section that needs new bars generated you would just un-freeze change the chord and re-generate those bars then freeze the track.
Not sure how you would keep track of selective bar freezing for every track ?

Pipeline,
You have to forgive my drawing. The point I am trying to make is that a user should be able to retain re-generated sections and still be able to change other places in the project without fear that generated part(s) will "go away". That is why you need PG Bottox-selected bar freeze.

If you freeze all, then = game over for this project. You can not change anything.

If you unfreeze and change a chord anywhere, I believe whole thing (whole project) will re-generate once you hit play button., Most likely losing your previous by bar generation.

I hope this makes sense.

Like that ?

So this would be no freeze:

Yes, I can see that there is going to be a requirement to have a protection mechanism so that your previously selected favorite bars are not affected by a chord change somewhere else in the song, which then causes the entire track to be regenerated.

Pipelines idea is good. A display shows specifically what segments have been generated (historically) and allows those bars to be frozen (the orange could change to blue for the frozen track segments).

Pipeline, that looks like an interesting creature.

I was actually thinking in simpler terms. Follow the idea that JJJ described as "Bam bam..."(bar-to-bar)
Then just selecting these bars, once happy with generation, right click---> "apply glue" so the whole bar block(s) including generation stays in place, regardless of any other changes to arrangement.

Videotrack, yes! Thank you!
"protection mechanism"

Selected bar freeze, in theory is a more universal tool than just protection mechanism for generated bar-by-bar parts.

It can protect these "favorite" bars or any other bars. Or even holding 95% of composition solid and leaving 5% liquid.

Please forgive me, I am not trying to hijack this thread, I just strongly believe those two things Bar-by-bar generation and selected bar freeze should go together.

Isn't that what i said here

I suppose you could just freeze the whole track/s then when you select the Regenerate Selected Bar/s button it will pop a window up with:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This will un-freeze the selected section of selected track/s and re-generate with a new section.
Enter start bar[13 ] end bar[16] (will get automatically if selected)
Select Track/s
[  ] All Tracks Selected Bars
[  ] RealBass 684: Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesSync Ev 120
[  ] RealDrums-RockHardEven8^1-HiHat,Ride
[●] RealPiano 522: Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 120
[  ] RealGuitar 1119: Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Strumming Ev
[●] RealStrings 408: Guitar, Resonator, Background Allis Ev 1

OK Cancel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If they are going to have issues generating up 7 new track sections maybe they can call on bbw4 and get the data from that then overwrite the bar/s with the new data ?

Even though I'm a programmer, I tend not to get entangled in recommending how someone might program something. The good folks at PG Music have often produced something better than what we envisioned. And I think the concept, of giving BIAB the ability (as in RealBand) to regenerate less than the whole track(s), is clear enough.

Matt, I more or less agree, but the operation of the new multi-riff feature in 2020 has not been well received by many users, and I think much of the discussion here consists of genuine thoughts on how it could be improved to operate satisfactorily. But yes, I also concede that the thread has been sidetracked a few times along the way.

No doubt, the developers will identify the level of detail required.

Yes, that's what I could have said better. I just don't want to limit the developers - they may figure out something way superior!

Pipeline,
makes sense now, Thank you for visual representation! (looks way better than my finger art )

Matt,
The problem with PG is that they might have the best ideas ever, and they might be good programmers, but they are poor designers. This is pretty obvious to new user as well as good number of seasoned users (I do not even want to go into the specifics, these are well known issues) Even if you discard 80% of requests of this forum section, there are still plenty of fantastic ideas, that people are handing out to developers in a very altruistic way. And that is a good thing... which is sadly not acknowledged by them

Back to the topic. Was thinking about this for some time. This would be my preferred workflow:

1)Click on the track mixer: Bass or Guitar or Piano etc., or the "dot/track" selection on the top. That action will select specific track to be regenerated. Also to have option (shift/control?) to select 2 or more tracks at once.

2)Select bars that you want to regenerate

3)Right Click->regenerate selected + preview result (one click operation).

Want different re-generation, repeat #3.
---------
I preffer "bar freeze" as a separate function, because it should be available at any time in any place, for any reason (not specifically crafted for to bar-to-bar) of the composition.
When you perform your re-generation (above), bars would still remain selected. Right click again --> Apply Glue. Bars affected by this "freeze" would be colored different hue or pattern to show that they were altered by freeze. To "UnGlue" you would select these "Glued" bars again, right click --> UnGlue.


This is a "wishlist", just sharing my thoughts on preferred workflow.

Definitely agree.

They will know better than anyone here where the 'gotchas' are, and how to correctly handle them.

"they will know better than anyone here where the 'gotchas'"

"they may figure out something way superior!"

I do not agree with these statements.

So far: ergonomics, workflow, GUI design, scattered functions, deep menus... I would say between 8-12 years behind what they should be by now. DO THEY REALLY KNOW BETTER?

I think this is exactly what is keeping progress in slow gear at PG. Where is a dose of healthy critique? Seems like PG is tight knit company and this is wonderful (really!), however they badly need someone who understands design and workflow ideas of 20 years deep into 21st century. Maybe even for a short gig to coach people at the wheel. There is so much art in the RT's/RD's + logical concepts of arranging, it would truly be a shame if company trips on design and half working features.

To me, this bar-to-bar regeneration / bar freeze / section freeze and associated workflow are HUGE items in BIAB. That is what emotion is all about

P.S. Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying all this to reflect negativity. I am saying this because I care about the future of BIAB.

If I had the source code, I could possibly identify why something needed to be done a particular way to avoid creating other issues. I don't have the source code. They do. Therefore they will know better than anyone here how to implement to avoid other problems, AKA 'gotchas'.

We can request certain functionality, and make recommendations on presentation and delivery mechanisms. That's fine. But surely we can't tell them how to actually implement them internally. That is my understanding of the meaning of the two points above.

We all want improvements to the product. We can only tell them what we want them to develop, not how they must develop them.

I also do NOT agree with these statements based on everything I have seen in every new version since 2012!


I would say they are much further behind than 8-12 years. They almost certainly have legacy code that is 20+ years old. The GUI feels quite dated and every time I have to dive deep into convoluted dialog windows I am reminded of Windows 3.1.


Their work on RealTracks and the overall ability of BIAB to generate backing tracks is nothing short of amazing! Brilliant! Like nothing ever done! But the dated GUI and the introduction of features that are not stable (like VST) or unpopular (like VideoTracks) or never fully finished (like UserTracks) are glaring deficiencies in this awesome product.


I agree wholeheartedly! Those of us who criticize BIAB do not do it to be negative. We do it because we ABSOLUTELY LOVE this product and want it to be as great as RealTracks are!

And on a side note, recently PGM has been deleting some of my posts. I assume this is because they are deemed to be too negative toward BIAB and PGM. So I expect my response here may be deleted as well. Oh well, tis a shame they cannot/will not see that we love BIAB and would love to see it going in a positive direction that would benefit PGM as well as us users!

+1
that's why I'm here, we go off from time to time because we care about it.

<<< The good folks at PG Music have often produced something better than what we envisioned. And I think the concept, of giving BIAB the ability (as in RealBand) to regenerate less than the whole track(s), is clear enough. >>>

I suggest they have produced something better and it's something that overcomes self-imposed limitations in the suggestions made here that have not been acknowledged or addressed. It was implemented several years ago and enhanced over the last two version releases.

It's not mentioned in this thread. I've not seen the method described or discussed as being used in a User Showcase BIAB song release. It's use may be so common one doesn't even think to mention it. However, there is no indication who may or may not be aware.

There is a finite limit to the possible different regeneration's with bar-to-bar regeneration / bar freeze / section freeze over specified chord changes of a single RealTrack. I think this limitation is recognized by BIAB/RB staff in the number of multi riffs when the technique is used and is set at 7 in both programs. Because the recorded audio of a single RealTrack is limited to that single instrument RealTrack and is a finite recording, at some point over any specific chord progression, the audio clips will begin to repeat. Seven may be a number that assures no repeats.

With RealTracks, there will always be a finite limit of usable audio clips for any bar-to-bar regeneration / bar freeze / section freeze over specified chord changes. But BIAB programmers provided a tool years ago to greatly expand the quantity of audio to select regeneration material from.

Most should agree that more material to choose from will produce more variety and uniqueness to your custom tracks thus a better quality selection.

There are many instances of RealTrack session musicians recording multiple RealTracks using the same instrument and many times, even the same tone. A situation where a RealTrack is recorded at different bpm's can result in more usable material to select for a bar to bar regeneration. Assuming 80% of 125 bpm RT is not usable in a song set to a 65 bpm tempo due to artifacts, that's still a 20% increase in usable material for your track. Session artists may use the same instrument but play a different rhythm pattern or a different style. The session artist may use a slightly different tone but the same instrument, or play a different instrument that will work with similar instruments. Different session artists using different instruments may also be interchangeable between individual RT's in short audio clips that's regenerated.

But real life results are most times much better than the above example. The recorded audio of most RealTrack instruments are usable across many different styles. With over 3,100 hours and more than 2,900 instruments, the StylePicker and RealTrack Picker becomes a Google type search engine of pristine, studio quality audio to use in one's project.

Here's a recent example of this feature I used on a recent project. I auditioned a RT I liked but wanted regenerations to improve the track.

I used the StylePicker filtered to the session artist and the StylePicker listed 67 styles for that artist using 8 different RealTracks. 67 Styles tells me this particular artist and guitar instrument should be quite usable in many different song types and variations.

These eight RealTracks all use the same guitar and the bpm's ranged from 65 - 100. So I'm working with 8 RealTracks by the Same artist using the same guitar at tempo's that should work well without too many artifacts....

The eight RealTracks were a mixture of soloist's and rhythm patterns.
The eight RealTracks were both even feel and swing feel.

Over my particular chord progression, I obtained usable rhythm patterns in swing and even feel and also usable audio clips mixing the two feels together.
Over my particular chord progression, I obtained usable solos in swing and even feel and also usable audio clips mixing the two feels together.

Using the Medley Feature in the RealTrack Picker that allows up to 10 instrument changes per Mixer Channel, I obtained dozens of variations of all eight instruments being used in my specific song's chord progression yielding dozens of combinations between the eight instruments to copy/paste and combine together different clips and have the greatest possible variations of 'multi riffs' from a single render of the song. Each track from the Mixer is available to export to audio and imported a DAW or RB and one has more variety in a single render of a BIAB chord chart than hours of single RT Multi Riffs from each individual RT would have produced.

Over the last two version releases, PGMusic has added a button selection to provide easy access to an artist search. They've enhanced the Medley Feature adding panning and volume automation between the different instruments occupying the same track to level out volume differences in the recorded audio tracks and allow obvious panning variations. They've added Medley RealTracks to the existing number previously released.

They created 'thickening' to display some of the power these features have contained all along.

My Wishlist item is I'd like to see some of you experiment with these tools and features and let the forum know the results and your thoughts.

We always strive to be responsive to user requests. For example, the biggest request we got was to make a 64 bit version, which was a big project and is done now. (Windows and Mac). Second biggest was to make lots of great RealTracks which we’ve also done. We redid much of the interface in 2015, and brought the Mac version up to par with the Windows one. FYI, much of the code is cross platform now (e.g. identical toolbars, chords window, notation, leadhseet, guitar, audio window, all content etc,)

Many of the requested “bar to bar regeneration” features above exist in RealBand, with features that meet and exceed the specs above. It is significant that some of the people asking for that feature haven’t even tried RealBand. It doesn’t need to become your main DAW, it could just be used to create a ”bar to bar regeneration” RealTracks track which you could drag to your DAW”. For example, in RealBand, you can select a precise region of audio and regenerate a realtracks for that. Now this is precise and much better than just bar to bar. And you can customize the results to combine different riffs etc. using Multiriffs.
Lots of our users make great songs start to finish in RealBand and post their final results in the User Showcase.

That’s not to say that we won’t add bar to bar regeneration for all tracks to BIAB. It’s a good idea and on the todo list.

Once the Drag from Plugin to Audio track and sync play is fixed in the current Biab, it can be done with the Plugin until you get to the bar to bar in the ToDoList, it will preview all the riffs in place by deleting those bars out the audio track, when you found the one you like Drag it in:

Here's a video demo, the sync works if you play from the very start, but the Drag n Drop is not working yet.

Watch Video Demo

Peter,
thank you for entering discussion!

It is all about the workflow I believe at least half of us (users) do not use RB for various reasons. There are a handful of avid supporters of RB, but seems most use BIAB. (A 2-3 month pole as a sticky on the forum can shine some light on this)

I hope BIAB will become the future / centerpiece of PG software. Like Kontakt, Halion and several other big products. A stand alone and VST. Beautiful and simple combination. I doubt new kids will need anything else for the purpose of working with RTs as DAWs are at their peak now.

As some members noted, RB should be supported as legacy product and resources should be shifted in areas that need to be addressed ASAP. I agree with this approach.

Thank you Peter!

Many thanks from one who can appreciate all the work that must have been put into these tasks.

Masi

Here's a tutorial using 2 instances of Biab
Tutorial How to Bar to Bar Regeneration

I'm really glad this is being discussed... this is exactly what I have wanted from the start!!!



Yes, yes, yes!! This is precisely what we need to fine-tune the performances to our liking.



But Peter... RealBand is not available for Mac users and if I am not mistaken, it was said that RealBand was not going to be made available to Mac users.

If you can't make a RealBand version for Mac users (which would be more useful to me than the DAW plugin), then it would be EVEN BETTER to have these bar to bar regeneration features available in the main BIAB application. This would be a major product improvement, imo.

Am I correct that if you take a BIAB song into RealBand, you can’t take it back into BIAB to continue working on it?

Not quite. The native format in RealBand is a .SEQ file, however, you can also save a RealBand file as a .SGU/.MGU and open it again in BiaB.
(Conversely, you can also load a BiaB file into RealBand and save it as a .SEQ file)

Thanks. I'll have to reevaluate RealBand.

As I recall RealBand does not honor many BIAB settings such as bar settings. Also, if memory serves me, I don't think it respects frozen tracks but I might be wrong about that.

I know this feature is available in RealBand, but, try as I might, I've just never gotten along with RealBand and this is the only feature that encourages me to load it up sometimes, but it's a little time consuming so it'd be great for me personally if this feature could be added to BiaB.

(also, if it's true that RealBand isn't available for Mac users then all the more reason!)