THE BELOW REFERS TO A SONG IN 4/4 TIME

Quote:
BACKGROUND

If required.... in preparation for changing a chordsheet from 1 x cell is equal to 1 x bar of music, select "Edit | Song form | Expand" and this will double the length of each chord from a chordsheet perspective.

NOTE
***To appreciate the below process, it's useful to think of a cell on BIAB's chordsheet as a holder of chords rather than one bar of music.


One cell on BIAB's chordsheet only holds a maximum of four chords. Thus if the song is laid out so that a single cell represents 4 beats, then this means that only chords on 1/4 note beats are possible unless pushes are used. (Pushes still have limitations and do not have the ability to create 8 x chords per bar.)

If however, the song is laid out so that 2 x BIAB chordsheet cells represent 4 beats, then it's possible to have 8 x chords per one bar of 4/4 music and so chords can be entered on 1/8th notes.

  • That is each cell can hold 4 x chords and it takes 2 x cells to cover the 4 x music beats.

To accomplish this, one needs to double the song's tempo.

In other words, if the song has a tempo of 80 bpm when a single cell is used to represent one bar, then it will need to have a tempo of 160 if two cells are used to represent one bar.

To get this to work with Realtracks and Realdrums means either

  • using those designed for use around 160 bpm
  • or using the same original Realtracks and Realdrums but setting their timebases to "half-time" to compensate for doubling the tempo.

Time-base settings for Realtracks are obtained by right-clicking on the track in the mixer and then selecting "Track Settings | Timebase".

Below are two simple songfiles that I've created so that it's possible to compare them and to see how to do it.

The first example one is one cell on the chordsheet represents one bar. (Standard BIAB use.)

The second example has the same Realtrack set to half-time so that two cells on the chordsheet represent one bar. Regarding the second example, notice that...

  • the tempo is doubled
  • the length of the song now appears twice as long since each one-bar chord is now covering two cells
  • the Realtrack has its timebase set to half-time.

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EXAMPLE FILES

1. one bar = one cell on chordsheet

2. one bar = two cells on chordsheet

Regards,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2024