How do I put a melody down ?

[richard burton]

Is it easy, or beyond my comprehension ?

At the moment I'm absolutely clueless.

All I know is that I have heard other BIAB projects that had a melody, so I know it can be done, but how ?

[George Wixon]

Hi Richard,
http://gwixon.com/melody.html
This is a link to my web site and it will show you how to enter a melody step by step with screen shots and explinations. Keep in mind that I did this way back and have not updated the screen shots for the newer versions of BIAB, but it will get you going for entering in a melody by hand.
The newer versions of BIAB did away with the "N" key and replaced it with an icon that looks like a tic tac toe square. You still have to get into the editable notation window so once you click on the icon that looks like a single 1/8 note, you then click on the icon that looks like the tic tac toe pattern and that will put you in the editable notation window. The newer versions have a bit of a different screen layout but this will still give you the basics.
Another way get a melody in would be to record it using a midi keyboard.
Perhaps someone else could be of more help on recording the melody via a midi keyboard as I only enter the melody by hand.
George

[richard burton]

Hi George,
Thanks for directing me to your site.

I've just tried to follow your instructions, but have faltered very early on

It's way over my head, unfortunately

[jolynyk]

Richard don't quit.. I was as dumb as a bag of nails.. But with perseverance, & practice I ended up with some real nice tracks.. & made a CD with them.. George's site is awesome, & get Rick Campbells DVD to help you..

[Peter Lindsley]

This ones easier than you think Richard.

1) You could take a midi file, that has the melody track that you want, and Select Import Chords from MIDI file in BIAB. Making sure that you have selected the the melody channel to import from to the BIAB Melody track (bottom left of pop out screen).

2) Having entered your backing track. You could record from your midi keyboard or midi guitar, to the melody track. Not got a midi Guitar/keyboard? you could borrow mine... Sorry the keyboard too big to loan out (none portable full size Yamaha Piano):D
atb
Pete

[Doug Beaumier]

Richard, you can tap in the notes for any melody you want using your computer's mouse. Just click on the Note icon on the BIAB screen, and then click on the little icon that shows a grid, and you will be in the note edit mode. Place the cursor on the line or space and beat where you want the note to appear, and click! The note will pop into place. You can move the notes, change the time value, add rests, do triplets, etc. I've done over 200 BIAB tunes with melody. Here are 60 of them: Click

[Rick Schmidt]

Richard...you might want to look into one of these...

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/ ... =298217742

[Dave Yustin]

Richard/Doug
I just tried Doug's method, as I've been wrestling with how to edit my drum tracks. Many of the pre- programmed drums have too many cymbals and drum rolls.
It works. Click on the double note icon, them click the letter at the top of the grid to choose which instrument or section you're using. (Or click M for melody)
And Richard, thanks again for some advice you provided to me awhile back on tuning my pull release Marlen. I've got it figured out now, it was worth every minute.
Dave Yustin

[Doug Beaumier]

Dave, I have tried editing the bass parts in BIAB, but the program does not save the edits. Never tried editing drums. After editing the bass... I save the song, close it, and and when I reopen the song my edited parts are gone. The bass goes back to it's original defaults for that style. The only edited notes that my BIAB remembers are Melody notes. A couple of times I composed bass parts on the Melody track, transposed them down two octaves and chose a Bass voice to play that "low melody" which was actually a new bass part... and I muted the original bass part. It worked great. And because BIAB "remembers" edited melodies that part was saved.

[George Wixon]

Doug,
The reason you had a problem with your edited pattern going back to the way it was is because you need to save the pattern as a new style, not the song.
You can edit any instrument patterns of a midi style to the way you want them to be but you have to save the new edits to that style as a new style. Once you have saved them as a new style everything will work as you want it to.
http://gwixon.com/pat.html
This is a link on how to edit the bass part in a style in BIAB.
My site also has a section on how to edit drum patterns.
George

[Doug Beaumier]

That's excellent, George. Thanks for that info.

[Dave Yustin]

Maybe I learned something here. I'll try a drum track and save it as a style to see if it works. My backing tracks sound good except for the cymbals and rolls--And turning em off completely doesn't sound quite right. All I need are brushes or a light beat.