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#571558 12/20/19 11:19 AM
Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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I have a hard time believing, as long as BiaB has been around, that timed backups were never added to this program's features. What can possibly be the reason for not including them? A false belief that BiaB never crashes? Because it does. Just recently I've dealt with two -- well, they weren't crashes, they were lockups, but they amount to the same thing when you have to manually shut down the program using the Task Manager, and you LOSE YOUR WORK!

I know that sometimes BiaB can pull itself out of (not responding) lockups, but not always. I confirmed this today when it locked up. I left it alone for a half hour and it was still in a (not responding) state. I had to manually shut it down, losing about an hour's worth of work I'd put into a file I'd been working on.

If I may use Cakewalk as an example, it actually uses two backup features -- one is a timed backup where the user can set the interval, and the other is a utility that activates after Cakewalk unexpectedly crashes. This utility asks the user if they would like a backup made of the current file(s), and when the user indicates "yes," the file(s) are saved to the same directory they came from. I deal with Cakewalk crashes on an all-too-frequent basis and I've found this last minute file rescue to be very useful. Essential. Because it saves the file from the last second the program was running, whereas the timed backup feature saves the file from the last 'save' interval.

So, BiaB folks, please give this request some serious consideration. It is way past due for BiaB to have a timed backup feature. And having the post-crash file save feature, like what Cakewalk does, is also a very handy thing to have. It's saved me mountains of work.

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If PG don't get around to it you could make one of them with AutoHotKey, it will send Save As to Biab every so many min/s, when the dialog comes up it will append the file name with with the next number. This would happen very quick as it's scripted.

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Good idea!

+1


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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Thanks Pipeline, I've never heard of that utility. But I'll look into it.

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+1 for automated backups, either timed or by number of changes.


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 number of changes / timed autosave option in menu.

Pipeline's idea is a workaround, but might break ongoing process. Should be coded to "save" when "nothing is happening"... not sure if that is possible.

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Pipeline #571887 12/22/19 01:10 AM
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Try this AutoHotKey, if you don't have AutoHotKey install it https://www.autohotkey.com/
set it to Always On Top,
it will save every 2mins (120000)
Code:
#Persistent
SetTimer, BiabSaveAs, 120000
return

EDIT: corrected to 120000 is 2min
this is just a basic test model, a timer selector can be added to adjust
time between saves, but for now just edit the script in Notepad to change the milliseconds.
Close the GUI to stop saving.
If BB is playing it will pause and save then continue playing.
Try it on a test song that is a copy of your original.
You should get:

my song.SGU
my song[001].SGU
my song[002].SGU
my song[003].SGU
etc...

Remove the .mp4 and unzipp and run.

auto_save_as.zip.mp4

Last edited by Pipeline; 12/22/19 01:53 AM.
Pipeline #571889 12/22/19 01:23 AM
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You can download that again or change the 1200000 to 120000 is 2mins

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Definitely a valuable feature.

+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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Auto-backups are always a good idea. Especially with faulty VST plugins with may bring the host down.

Masi


Band-in-a-Box, BiaB-plugin, Reaper, Win10 64bit, i7-8565U, 24GB RAM (always latest versions)
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The newest RealBand 2024 Build 5 update is now available!

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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.

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"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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The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!

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