PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh tips are unreadable

Has anyone else had this problem ? The tips in the flash messages in the bottom right corner are total jibberish and unreadable. All other flash messages are perfectly ok, it's only the tips.
I had this problem in version 2020 and contacted support about it, but never got it solved. Now I upgraded to 2023, hoping this would be a thing of the past, but unfortunately it is still there.
Any help would be appreciated. I have been looking for a way to switch the tips off completely, but could not find such a setting.
regards,
Martin

Hi Martin,

I don't recall seeing this issue before..

A) If you go to the Help menu | Utilities | Display flash messages, this will show you a log of recent messages. Do you see gibberish there?

B) What language is your OS?

C) Are you using the English, Italian, German, or French version of Band-in-a-Box?

D) Which specific build of Band-in-a-Box do you have?

hi Andrew,

Thanks for your reply. I will put my answers in between the quotes.

A) If you go to the Help menu | Utilities | Display flash messages, this will show you a log of recent messages. Do you see gibberish there?

Yes, all the lines with tips are gibberish: **** New Session started at : 3-3-24 16:32:33
- Tip: ˛{˝ÿ˛q˝∆˛`˝Ø˛M˝ê˛<˝v˛.˝i˛ ˝a˛˝X˛‚¸O˛—¸A˛Ã¸1˛ø¸&˛≠¸&˛£¸4˛•¸B˛¶¸B˛ö¸9˛ã¸-˛¸˛n¸˝˝^¸Ë˝Z¸‰˝Z¸Ú˝Y¸˛X¸ ˛Q¸ı˝P¸fi˝]¸‘˝b¸◊˝[¸·˝R¸Â˝J¸Ê˝B¸È˝H¸‚˝V¸—˝a¸√˝b¸∏˝W¸Ø˝F¸∑˝E¸ƒ˝W¸≈˝g¸º˝n¸™˝s¸ò˝n¸ô˝b¸•˝[¸™˝^¸≠˝g¸¨˝p¸ú˝u¸ã˝z¸Ü˝¸à˝Ç¸è˝Ö¸î˝ä¸é˝ê¸Ç˝ [3-3-24 16:25:49]

B) What language is your OS?

English

C) Are you using the English, Italian, German, or French version of Band-in-a-Box?

English

D) Which specific build of Band-in-a-Box do you have?

Band-in-a-Box® for Macintosh
Version 2023 (707)
64 bit application

As mentioned earlier, this gibberisch started in version 2021. I contacted support about it, but no solution was provided.

Hope you can help,
kind regards,
Martin

Is there a specific song file you could send that produces one of these tips when you play it?

Could you please try factory settings:
1. Close Band-in-a-Box.
2. Put a file called safemode.txt in the Band-in-a-Box "Preferences" folder.
3. Open Band-in-a-Box - splash screen should have red text "Safe mode" on it, and that confirms the name and location of the text file is correct.
4. See if the gibberish still appears in the flash messages.

Afterwards you can delete the file.

Is there any way to generate a situation in which a tip would be issued ? It takes a lot of time and guessing to produce a tip and be able to check if it is gibberish.

I already tried several times to return to factory default and/or removing all files from the preferences folder, does not change anything so far. But I will put the safemode.txt in and have a go again.

UPDATE
I ran BIAB in safe mode and the same gibberish came up, I will paste the session below.
I wanted to attach the song as well, but I am not allowed to attach anything else than images.

- Tip: ˇ|Xˇ•˝

˛

eÃπ˛
≈˝0
óˇ≈˛
(˛6

g_ˇ+
˛w7ˇ\ˇùˇÚï˛¥b˛éˇÒÌ˝•
h˛¥
õˇ
ˇ  ∞ô~˛o
Ù˛>÷ˇG
ˇfl˛Ñˇ ˛ûˇ9¡ï*˛í˝â
ïˇi

b
·ˇ\
”˛4
ß
„F
¨ˇ
»eˇ;
5ˇC
MuJˇå8ˇå
ÅÁ
Õˇh
.ˇ∫¸ˇr
⡶
jZ≈
ê¿
{0
Ú˛¶i˛ˇ«

“ˇu7ˇr
[6-3-24 16:36:56]
- Tip: ˇJˇ€˙‚˝–¸é˛¶Ç
W
5B¸ô˛•˚˚
òÚ–‰˛´˛fiı"˝:˚¯WÌÒ3
â˘1
r:ˇw *˛fiıƒ¸¡ÙŸŒÊ˝U˛«˛;¸|∂\q˜¯˚Åfl˙q
†µ˛[˝Ù˝fl˙≤ˇ$ §ˇ’Ùf˙˚ˆè¸õDˇ®
l¸\˘
'tÒûˇõ˝ ¸ò8
ù™mˇ5˛ä˚∑ˇ˚)˚ˇ¸5´˜Z˘I˛Å˚«˚›*¸±´ [6-3-24 16:28:09]
- Auditioning MIDI style (first MIDI Drums, then RealDrums): /Volumes/Macintosh HD2/Applications/Band-in-a-Box/RealTracks/Data/Style Demos Audio/=TEXMETL.m4a and then http://demos.pgmusic.com/audio/allstyledemos2/=TEXMETL_RD.m4a. Tip: Press > button to toggle between MIDI and RealDrums. [6-3-24 16:27:59]
- Auditioning style: /Volumes/Macintosh HD2/Applications/Band-in-a-Box/RealTracks/Data/Style Demos Audio/_12STACM.m4a [6-3-24 16:27:32]
- Auditioning MIDI style (first MIDI Drums, then RealDrums): http://demos.pgmusic.com/audio/allstyledemos2/ZZETHNIC.m4a and then http://demos.pgmusic.com/audio/allstyledemos2/ZZETHNIC_RD.m4a. Tip: Press > button to toggle between MIDI and RealDrums. [6-3-24 16:26:46]
- Auditioning MIDI style (first MIDI Drums, then RealDrums): http://demos.pgmusic.com/audio/allstyledemos2/ZZCHACHA.m4a and then http://demos.pgmusic.com/audio/allstyledemos2/ZZCHACHA_RD.m4a. Tip: Press > button to toggle between MIDI and RealDrums. [6-3-24 15:45:56]
- Time to scan unknown VST plugins = 0 ms [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- Time to scan known VST plugins = 1 ms [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- Time to scan AU plugins = 15 ms [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- Time to scan ALL plugins = 16 ms [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- Scanning for plugins... [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- TMacAudioInput.StartInputThread: success [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- TMacAudioInput.Init: input stream flags adjusted 9 [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- TMacAudioInput.Init: input stream sample rate 44100 [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- TMacAudioInput.Init: input stream bits 32 [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- TMacAudioInput.Init: input stream flags 9 [6-3-24 15:45:24]
- Bootup was slower this session only, because RealTracks and RealDrums lists needed to be rebuilt [6-3-24 15:45:23]
- Bootup time in millseconds =13,061 [6-3-24 15:45:23]
- Bootup is slower, this session only, due to running this: "Rebuilding list of RealTracks Parents" [6-3-24 15:45:20]
- Bootup is slower, this session only, due to running this: "Updating list of RealTracks" [6-3-24 15:45:18]
- macOS version 10.14.7 [6-3-24 15:45:17]
**** New Session started at : 6-3-24 15:45:17

One thing you can do is to open the StylePicker and load in the song demo for Z3BOSSA. When you press play it should issue a tip that there is a better style available.

You can send the file via support@pgmusic.com referencing this thread, if you find one that reliably produces the garbled tip. Maybe there is an encoding problem with one of the messages, but I haven't found it yet. I do see some bad characters in my flash message log, so that may be related. Will do further testing.

Loading Z3BOSSA demo song does not generate a TIP, it generates a green flash message, those are never garbled.

Trying this suggestion did regenerate another problem I mentioned earlier. I have a song with an overall real tracks style, I change the overall style to a midi style and I am left with only the drum track playing, the other tracks are set to silence and still show up green. I will attach the screenshots. This one is reliably reproducable, but maybe this one is also a known bug ?

best wishes,
Martin

This is the same thing we were talking about in the other thread - since you have a style change to a RealStyle, the tracks are RealTracks. If the first style has MIDI tracks they will just be silent, since a single track can't contain both a MIDI track and an audio track.

Maybe I did not make it clear: I open a new song, it opens with a realtracks style, I try to change the style to midi and it does not (always) work. This time I am not trying to change the style inside a track, I am changing the overall style of the song, it needs to change the tracks to accomodate the new overall style, but it doesn't. Wouldn't it be very strange if I had to create a new song to be able to pick another overall style.

In your screenshot, there is a style change at bar 9. That would be the cause of it. If you have a song with a single style in it, you would not see this behaviour, so I don't know what's going on in that case. Perhaps you could email a song example to support for us to test...

I see, thanks, my mistake. I can't change the overall style if somewhere in the bar settings I have a style change. Forgive me, but this behaviour is far from intuitive and again no warning of any kind gets issued (well, except that it does not work and looks weird of course). Seems to me that an awful lot is left to the user to figure out. I may have missed it, but I haven't been able to find any mention about not mixing up loops/mid/realtrack styles in the manual. Don't get me wrong, I love biab and have been using it for a long time now (maybe I am just getting too old), but I can't help getting the feeling I am kind of beta testing here...
And since I reported the garbled tips in version 2021 and now run into the same thing in version 2023, I am also starting to wonder if I will have to buy the next upgrade to get a fix...?

Is there any news about the garbled tips yet ?
thanks,
Martin

We need to find a way to duplicate that problem. For now, you can ignore the garbled messages. I think they are probably just spurious, and not important.

Since it seems that you see it quite frequently, it would be super helpful if you could send us a couple of files next time it happens:
- the Band-in-a-Box song file (e.g. .sgu) that you were loading or generating.
- the intrface.bbw file from the Band-in-a-Box/Preferences folder (or even the entire Preferences folder)
- the FlashMessageLog.txt file from the Band-in-a-Box/Data folder.
Zip those files up and email to support@pgmusic.com, referencing this forum thread.

That might get us closer to an answer.

They pop up now and then, of course I can ignore them, actually I would love a switch in preferences to turn the flash messages off alltogether. I will collect the files you need, but it would be much easier to do if I knew a way to force one to come up, any idea why and when they show ?
thanks,
Martin