I've been trying to import an audio file. I get it in but then when I play it , the tempo is way slower than the project. I've tried to sync it to start with the project but I can't seem to get that done either. When I set bar one..... It's still not playing right or.... This is mind blowing, it changes the project tempo from say 80bpm to something crazy like 340bpm.
I follow exactly what it says in the manual. No joy.
I have gotten the ACW to work a few times but nothing recently.
I'm probably going to contact support in the morning.
Another frustration is not being able to get a good, compatible, style, but that's a different story.
Right now I'm trying to get ACW to work and the audio to start with BB.
Thanks
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
This may be a bug as I get the same results importing a file.
Until it's resolved, use the Open command rather than import and then open the ACW. On my system, Open does not change the tempo nor does starting the ACW after the audio file is open.
Maybe I'm mistaken (I'm certainly no expert here) but are there still two different ACW's, and does the newer one (Views > ACW) give more reliable results?
Is it related to tempo mapping? (unfortunately I understand that after 20+ years BIAB still has zero support for non-integer tempos)
Last edited by AudioTrack; 07/01/2406:21 AM.
BIAB & RB2025 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
I've done some further testing this morning and the incorrect tempo only seems to happen using the import command.
' File|Open Special|Open audio with chords' and the normal 'Open' (F3) command both load an audio file at the correct tempo here in my program. Noel's suggestion of "Set audio master (base) tempo" didn't affect the file tempo in my testing.
I'm only aware of the newer version ACW in BIAB and don't believe the old version is still available in BIAB although the older version is still available in RealBand.
In regard to tempo mapping, opening or importing a file isn't affected by the tempo setting in BIAB as far as I'm aware.
I recently tried to import an audio file and sync it up to existing chord chart where all tracks were done in a DAW by my friend with Synth V for vocals, and I was using ACW to try to detect and sync up the downbeats of the chord changes. I gave up after about 1/2 an hour of trying to get the first beat on the audio file to line up with the first chord change.
Studio One (latest version), Win 11 23H2 , i9 -10940X 3.3 GHz, 32GB Mem, a 4K 40" monitor, PreSonus Studio Live III Console as interface/controller. secondarily test on Reaper, Cakewalk, and S1 on Surface Pro 3 Win 10 (latest versions).
I recently tried to import an audio file and sync it up to existing chord chart where all tracks were done in a DAW by my friend with Synth V for vocals, and I was using ACW to try to detect and sync up the downbeats of the chord changes. I gave up after about 1/2 an hour of trying to get the first beat on the audio file to line up with the first chord change.
I can confirm that the 2024 version has an issue with importing audio and sync with the midi/real tracks. But I still do the job fine by dragging audio files into BiaB audio window with BiaB 2023.
Also make sure that after you import (drag) audio file, right click on the Track and go to Track Settings>Conform to Playback tempo and uncheck it.
I can confirm that the 2024 version has an issue with importing audio and sync with the midi/real tracks. But I still do the job fine by dragging audio files into BiaB audio window with BiaB 2023.
Also make sure that after you import (drag) audio file, right click on the Track and go to Track Settings>Conform to Playback tempo and uncheck it.
Thanks I will try this method. To this point I have not found anything that works. Even had a chat with PG support and their suggestion was remove and reinstall, which I did. That didn't work. Super frustrating because it used to work perfectly in prior years.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
I can confirm that the 2024 version has an issue with importing audio and sync with the midi/real tracks. But I still do the job fine by dragging audio files into BiaB audio window with BiaB 2023.
Also make sure that after you import (drag) audio file, right click on the Track and go to Track Settings>Conform to Playback tempo and uncheck it.
Thanks I will try this method. To this point I have not found anything that works. Even had a chat with PG support and their suggestion was remove and reinstall, which I did. That didn't work. Super frustrating because it used to work perfectly in prior years.
So I used this method. I copied a file with 2 measures of silence before the music, and dropped it into the audio track. Set the audio to follow the project tempo and it worked almost perfectly. I say almost because there is a very small, barely noticable, difference in sync but not enough to cause problems.
Thanks. That works.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
I can get the audio play at the correct tempo, but I have to first set the audio master tempo to 0 (seems to have 120 by default) and then import the audio file. Alternatively, if I have already imported the audio file, I can either set Track Settings/Set Base Tempo to 0 or untick the Conform To Playback Tempo (on by default) and then reimport the file.
I think it would be nice if the base/master tempo values followed the current tempo of the song when there is no audio on the track.
An alternate way that still works to load audio into BIAB with the ACW activated is to use the File | Open Special | Open Audio with Chords
This will load the audio file with no audio stretching or incorrect tempo, open up the Audio Edit Window with the ACW activated, also have the Chord Sheet visible and mixer. (see the attached screen shot) and also set the correct number of bars in the Chord Sheet.
Good God, I wish someone would do a video on how this works. I gave up on it long ago, but the need is still there and folks here appear to sound like this is doable even. I simply can not follow the instructions as provided.
I need to 1) open an mp3 audio 2) ACW needs to assign the chords (btw, I know the chords already, but it appears this step is needed to be done in order to do the next step) 3) ACW needs to create a tempo map for the chord chart so that BIAB can add RTs which will match the song tempo map.
If this is possible I will be glad to provide the starting point of an mp3 file. As I said I have the chords and I know the tempo varies between ~114 - 119 bmp. In fact, I have the midi file with a tempo map but that does me no good when trying to add a RT, since BIAB does not let me directly input a tempo map.
<< I need to 1) open an mp3 audio 2) ACW needs to assign the chords (btw, I know the chords already, but it appears this step is needed to be done in order to do the next step) 3) ACW needs to create a tempo map for the chord chart so that BIAB can add RTs which will match the song tempo map. >>
Good morning Dan. It appears Noel may have taken of this song you need but for future reference if you attempt to create a tempo map for yourself, Step 2 is not necessary if you know the chords and input them. Steps one and three will get your tempo map.
Good morning Dan. It appears Noel may have taken of this song you need but for future reference if you attempt to create a tempo map for yourself, Step 2 is not necessary if you know the chords and input them. Steps one and three will get your tempo map.
That's exactly what I did, Charlie You're a mind-reader! I didn't add any chords until the very end (and I could have left them out if I wanted to). Just to clarify this comment for anyone who is is reading this and is perplexed, in ACW (Audio Chord Wizard), bars are not automatically added until "Auto marking" is activated, and chords are not added until the user hits the "Analyze" or "Auto analyze" options.
Noel was very helpful and processed my mp3 to a certain extent. So that made be take another attempt at this.
Immediatley started throwing errors ... the minute I open the mp3 then followed by Edit Audio. How do you guy have the patience to continue working in this program!! All musical creativity ends when I move back into BIAB. I have lost all confidence in BIAB. I had enough.... no mas!
lets have a bash at this. (please be patient as i'm watching uk soccer on nbc today if its on.)
what are you trying to do ?
takeing an old song with varying tempo and trying to generate new pg content in sync with it ? i'm trying to do this currently as i have loads of masters done in commercial studios. its not trivial stuff imho.
it looks to me that from your graphics that on mp3 import to bb your getting some sort of error and bb wants to generate a log file ? (note i'm vision impaired somewhat.)
if you post the mp3 somewhere the rest of us can import it into bb and our daws and see if we get any exception errors.
question...this mp3...forgetting bb for a moment does this mp3 play ok in vanilla win media player ?
i just imported a mp3 into bb here and it worked fine. as did wma. i did get a chord chart generated in acw but it wasnt accurate. i dont expect it to be...nature of the tech beast. i suspect its a very difficult coding job for any programmer to be fair. so of course had to fix up the chord chart. it DID however get some chords accurate.
to be fair show me any daw that can do exactly what you want ie chord interpretation/tempo mapping from audio (mot midi) cos imho to be fair as i said imho its darn difficult at the coding level. i would love to test such a daw...as ive tested many recently and i didnt find a way to do this....its a devil of a job matching new content to old masters from my experience.
you can slam me if you wish...but...imho this tech thats in bb and rb i feel will always not bring perfect results. frankly i'm amazed pg have brought it this far and kudos for that.
happiness.
om
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 08/25/2405:19 AM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb.)
om, I do appreciate your offers to help, but I am afraid I am beyound help. I have had it with BIAB as I prepare to exit this forum (...not with a bang, but with a wimper).
The mp3 in question is a Youtube download which I am trying to cover. Noel has already worked with the mp3 and it fully functional and he created an apparent nice tempo map. But I am not looking for a fish dinner. I need to know how to fish.
Quote
to be fair show me any daw that can do exactly what you want ie chord interpretation/tempo mapping from audio (mot midi) cos imho to be fair as i said imho its darn difficult at the coding level. i would love to test such a daw...as ive tested many recently and i didnt find a way to do this....its a devil of a job matching new content to old masters from my experience.
Yes, I agree. Reaper comes darn close and I am certain it will do better when I learn more how to do this in Reaper. So that is where my efforts are going to go moving forward.
Concider this my final message to you personnally on my farewell tour. Carry on my friend and keep making music. Dan
There is no software that can find accurately the chords from an audio file specially for Jazz, and BB is not an exception.' But if you want to much the tempo of the audio to the BB BPM that's easy to do in BB! If you have issues with audio files dragged into BB check also the name of the file for strange characters or if it's too big, just rename it to something simple.'
Immediatley started throwing errors ... the minute I open the mp3 then followed by Edit Audio. How do you guy have the patience to continue working in this program!! All musical creativity ends when I move back into BIAB. I have lost all confidence in BIAB. I had enough.... no mas!
Hi Dan,
I can repeat this error by doing the following...
1) Open mp3 (not Open Special). 2) Click on Audio Edit. 3) The exception error appears.
When I loaded the mp3 yesterday, I used the following steps.
1) Open Special | Open Audio (I've since discovered that it's okay to use Open here too.) 2) Select the Audio track 3) Click on ACW
This works for me without any errors. I have no idea why selecting ACW works fine whereas selecting Audio Edit does not. I'll report this anomaly to the development team.
If you can enter into ACW (rather than Audio Edit), I'm happy to explain how I did things so that you can try out my approach.
no matter which way i load up in bb a mp3 (taken at random).. drag to bb or open or open special ( i normally use special option) i cant replicate. maybe i'm missing something. or i'm a dunce lol. as i'm a reaps user also i would love to know if the same mp3 loads up fine in reaps. (note reaps will tell a user the source properties of an audio file. a good way to find out if there is something funky about a audio file.)
Django.
i would love to know what stem splitting software you are useing. (if your useing that tech.) because i have lots of songs here done in studios in the past which i would like to update with new pg content.
btw..kudos on what you have done re various artists. and your web site. great skills...impressive.
happiness.
om
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 08/25/2412:15 PM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb.)
no matter which way i load up in bb a mp3 (taken at random).. drag to bb or open or open special ( i normally use special option) i cant replicate. maybe i'm missing something. or i'm a dunce lol. as i'm a reaps user also i would love to know if the same mp3 loads up fine in reaps. (note reaps will tell a user the source properties of an audio file. a good way to find out if there is something funky about a audio file.)
I use the UVR (ultimate vocal remover) the name is deceptive it is actually doing the job for all the instruments and it’s free! I use the demucs method and the htdemucs_ft model which you have to download!
Typo in step 3. "To play the audio from any specific location, locate the red cursor at that location my clicking on the audio’s graphic display and pressing the space bar". I suspect the bold word should be by.
Page 4 Bar 12 comments "Bar 12 will turn purple after it has been moved to so that its timing is now set by the user. I suspect the bold word should be show.
This is an excellent pdf tutorial. While my brother Charlie uses the Audio Chord Wizard all the time, I seldom use the tool. Charlie has no trouble creating a tempo map from an audio file while I have trouble creating a tempo map. I followed your pdf tutorial and was impressed with the results I achieved.
Note I was not able to send you a private message.
I use the UVR (ultimate vocal remover) the name is deceptive it is actually doing the job for all the instruments and it’s free! I use the demucs method and the htdemucs_ft model which you have to download!
Wow, proof that some of these "spleeters" are better than others. This just blew SMP out of the water on an instrument stem. Thanks for the referral.
Typo in step 3. "To play the audio from any specific location, locate the red cursor at that location my clicking on the audio’s graphic display and pressing the space bar". I suspect the bold word should be by.
Page 4 Bar 12 comments "Bar 12 will turn purple after it has been moved to so that its timing is now set by the user. I suspect the bold word should be show.
This is an excellent pdf tutorial. While my brother Charlie uses the Audio Chord Wizard all the time, I seldom use the tool. Charlie has no trouble creating a tempo map from an audio file while I have trouble creating a tempo map. I followed your pdf tutorial and was impressed with the results I achieved.
Note I was not able to send you a private message.
Hi Jim.
Thanks for doing some proofreading for me. I greatly appreciate it. I've made the corrections. Even though I had been through the document a few times to try and catch all the errors, I knew that there would be some that I missed. It's always the way! I'm glad it made sense
Is there a way to change the color scheme for the purple bar lines? They are to dark for me I can't read the dark purple tempo numbers (so they are useless for me). I did not find anything in the preferences.
Is there a way to change the color scheme for the purple bar lines? They are to dark for me I can't read the dark purple tempo numbers (so they are useless for me). I did not find anything in the preferences.
So I wanted to close this tread with the final production.
I did this project "just for fun" with the intent of leaning more about how to integrate Audio and midi in Reaper. Along the way, I experimented with creating and using a midi map in BIAB to combine with an mp3 track from the web. As you see in this tread big help was given by Noel using the BIAB ACW. Thanks again Noel.
Have a listen if you care to. In the end, there is NO BIAB in this final production. Just didn't work for me. But I learned a lot and had fun with the entire arrangement. The alignment of the audio with my midi tracks is not perfect. It is damn hard to do this, even if you have a good midi map. That is the lesson learned. But it should not stop one from having fun.
Wow!!! I'm sincerely impressed. You've done a terrific job. I'm guessing that that is you singing vocals and BGVs. The genre suits you really well. I love the confidence that's evident in your presentation.
Congratulations on a great outcome. --Noel
P.S. If anyone is interested as to how I used Audio Chord Wizard in BIAB (2024) to create a tempo map for you, I have written it down at the link below in a tutorial format. I used a freely available version of Jingle Bells to as the mp3 to practice on. https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=821394#Post821394
I'm guessing that that is you singing vocals and BGVs. The genre suits you really well.
Yes, that is Dan and the Dannets doing vocal and backing. Regarding the genre, when I heard Dr. House's version, I said - heck, I can sing that song! It was a fun project.
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