BIAB question

[Stevebol]

I can't get a clear picture of what makes BIAB different from other programs. I know you input chords manually, easy enough, but how do you address melodies? My only interest is to learn tunes from the 20's-50's. I spend far too much time on technique and chord melody and reading regular notation and tab is leaving me in the dust.
I used to use Sibelius quite a lot, before they dumped the sounddfont format and went with some terrible sounding synth(Thanks for nothing Kontakt?).
The add-ons are gimicky obviously and lack of a good midi-module is bad but I'm big on having a good paper manual so that's a plus. I'm OK with midi too.
What exactly can and can't be done with BIAB as opposed to other software? Where do the melodies come from?
What am I missing in regards to BIAB?

Edit;

I see a video now so BIAB does come with standard notation. Ah, OK. How do you input songs besides type in chords? Can you download midi-files?

[newsense]

I believe you can do everything you have asked about within BIAB.

Typically, you can build up a whole song by (i) entering the chords (ii) selecting a style and tempo - which will give you an accompaniment on a default set of instruments and then (iii) add the melody using a notation editor. You can also change the default instrumentation in the backing track.

You can export to midi file and also import midi files and them manipulate them by changing chords, styles and even melody. You can also record an acoustic track on top of the digital ones.

BIAB will also automatically add 2 or 4 bar intros and endings and if you really want it to, it can improvise its own melodies or solos according to the chords you have selected.

Unfortunately what it cannot yet do is read notation from a pdf file and convert it to midi - that would save a lot of work !!,

[Stevebol]

Originally Posted by newsense

I believe you can do everything you have asked about within BIAB.

Typically, you can build up a whole song by (i) entering the chords (ii) selecting a style and tempo - which will give you an accompaniment on a default set of instruments and then (iii) add the melody using a notation editor. You can also change the default instrumentation in the backing track.

You can export to midi file and also import midi files and them manipulate them by changing chords, styles and even melody. You can also record an acoustic track on top of the digital ones.

BIAB will also automatically add 2 or 4 bar intros and endings and if you really want it to, it can improvise its own melodies or solos according to the chords you have selected.

Unfortunately what it cannot yet do is read notation from a pdf file and convert it to midi - that would save a lot of work !!,

Thanks newsense. Lack of not reading pdfs is OK and I'm assuming BIAB does accept midi notation and has editing features. It might be what I'm looking for.

[FatJeff]

For the record, I find the notation editor in BiAB very cumbersome. I use Sibelius for that; far superior and way easier to use.

There is a way to take the MIDI out from Sibelius and import it into BiAB for playing, but I've never quite gotten it to work right.

For me, BiAB fills the niche of providing a very easy-to-use background generator for songs I'm trying to learn. Kind of like its name - a band in a box! However I never use it for creating full songs. For that, I just play along with the original records.

[Stevebol]

I ordered BIAB today. It seems like it will be useful and fun.

[EddieLastra]

Originally Posted by Stevebol

I ordered BIAB today. It seems like it will be useful and fun.

Coming from the days of self recording long practice loops on cassette tapes, BIAB is a real Godsend. It can't do everything, but I think it's pretty impressive at what it can do.

I like using some of the "Practice" features. You can set up a song to "trade fours" so BIAB plugs in a "soloist" that plays for 4 bars and then you get the next four bars and vice versa, good practice for a common jam session skill. There's also a "wood shed" feature where you can increase the tempo by certain increments at each loop or chorus repeat.

Still trying to figure out how to import a melody line in from a notation program. I read somewhere that after you input song chords into BIAB, you can write up the melody line with some notation program like Sibelius or Finale and import it into BIAB as a midi file to play on top of the chords. I too found the BIAB notation editor a pain to use.

[FatJeff]

Originally Posted by EddieLastra

Still trying to figure out how to import a melody line in from a notation program. I read somewhere that after you input song chords into BIAB, you can write up the melody line with some notation program like Sibelius or Finale and import it into BIAB as a midi file to play on top of the chords. I too found the BIAB notation editor a pain to use.

What you do is to export the melody from Bibelius as MIDI to a .mid file, then import that MIDI (.mid) file into BiAB. The problem I had was that somehow the imported file always seemed to be off by 1/16th note from the rest of the song. I think it has something to do with the intro that BiAB always puts into a song when it generates it. YMMV.

[EddieLastra]

Originally Posted by FatJeff

What you do is to export the melody from Bibelius as MIDI to a .mid file, then import that MIDI (.mid) file into BiAB. The problem I had was that somehow the imported file always seemed to be off by 1/16th note from the rest of the song. I think it has something to do with the intro that BiAB always puts into a song when it generates it. YMMV.

Thanks for that info FatJeff, I did read something about a setting that's supposed to factor in the automatic 2 bar intro, and then there was something about some 'latency' settings that compensate for the processing time of the music, which was dependant on the type of midi drivers being used by the computer system. Have to play around with it more tonight......

[Stevebol]

I got the program today and fired it up. Love it!! It will help me learn songs much faster.

[flugel]

BIAB is really great!