PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Yet another BIAB Chord Track video / 2025

Hi Folks. I am a big fan of Chord Track and just want to share my workflow in BIAB with PGM community. This is aimed at beginner-intermediate user, so most of you will likely will find it boring. However some might pick up a thing or two, or even offer their own suggestions. Some will say "I do this stuff in a DAW", and that's great. I have a different workflow and need to hear how different elements sound as whole instead of doing part A then bolting on part B. Video is ~9 mins. If you have suggestions, please don't be shy. Most of the things in the video I picked up here

Good information Misha.
Thanx for sharing.

Thanks for the video. I was playing with this feature in the DAW plugin earlier and had spent quite a bit of time trying to figure things out. I did play with the integer tempo changes as well in Studio One and it does seem to work. It seems the tempo information is not imbedded in the BIAB files so I have to detect the tempo of each track and set it to either compress or follow the tempo changes. Maybe there is an easier way that I don't know about.
Appreciate the video.

Very helpful video, Misha.

Cool! Now I have no excuse not to try out all those UJam instruments I bought!

It seems to me that if you make any changes, and you want BiaB to update the chords, it's going to overwrite the keyswitches no matter which method you use.

This is a very nice video! You explain things well, speak clearly and move at a comfortable pace. I would say this is very helpful to anyone looking to use Ujam or other virtual instruments inside BIAB! Thank you for making and sharing this!

Nice video, Misha. Thanks!

Thanks, very good.

I also learned how to use the UJAM guitar (very useful).
I bought several of them earlier in this year but never really got the hang of setting them up properly.

Thanks Mr Rusty.

Mish, definitely "informative AND entertaining".

Not a type of plug in I've ever used but the flexibility you've demonstrated in creating a sound design capability that you can work in BiaB is pretty cool.

THANKS for sharing!

Misha, yes I found it entertaining, but most of all, extremely informative. A brilliant effort and one that we all appreciate. Certainly me. Thanks for your significant efforts.

Excellent video, Misha. Clear, concise and yes, entertaining. I hadn't realised the fundamental difference between the chord tracks ... that's very useful indeed to know.

Misha and a couple of others gave me an introduction to this and the video here is a great demonstration. I don’t do final productions, only composer’s demos, so I don’t need the enhancements from these plugins to the MIDI chord track. Still, I’m very impressed that BIAB supports this and more generally supports VST3 plugins now.

Thanks, everybody!

David, you are correct. Preserving keyswitches and updating chords is Chord's track's Achilles' heel. Dan and I requested for quite some time to fix this. Specifically, so C.Track writes and updates block chords on the note range specified in C.Track menu, while leaving note range outside of the specified range intact, to be reserved for keyswitches. Maybe PGM will listen and includes the fix in the patch? Who knows. In their place I would do it ASAP - as they finally released VST3 support and many newer VSTi's rely on keyswitches. Very likely an easy "filter" fix.

U-jam is just a tip of the iceberg. I've tried Strings, Bases and most of Session instruments from NI. EZkeys re-interpreted chord track to melodic phrases with it's MIDI out triggering completely different synth, etc. You can do pretty interesting and creative things, as these phrase and arpeggio based VSTi's add a very different flavor to PGM's content. You can experiment with different PGM tracks without leaving BIAB and without doing import<>export routine, until you get it the way you want it. When you done, export project files to DAW.

The iceberg part:
Advancements in AI in a home studio recording setting seems to translate in part to "smarter" plugins. And while PGM tries in some way to embrace the technology, I think a more efficient, long (longer) term solution would be to enhance connectivity, routing, tools and workflow to be accepting of this new wave of technology. Some examples would be: Intuitive VST to VST Midi routing, Chord Track has couple of serious but easy to fix issues, as one mentioned above. Piano Roll enhancement: Tool palette, better navigation, better selecting/drawing / deleting / moving notes. Easy MIDI drag in/out of tracks. And while final production will still likely to happen in DAW, this is so people can get most of the "bones" done in BIAB without crazy acrobatics - the easy way. These are relatively minor changes that would have long term impact.

Breathe out.

David, all.
Since my last post, there had been some developments.

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=832580#Post832580

That pretty much will solve known issues with Chord track, making it a whole and ready for any VSTi that uses chords as input + key switches.
I am very excited about these small, but very important enhancements.

The video is very good. Now BIAB has also updated the chord track, which can keep other notes. Your video played an important role.

Now I want to express some other points.
I have also used UJAM guitars. To be honest, I think the sound is not as good as the guitar Realtrack in BIAB.
But the interface design of UJAM guitar is more convenient to use and remember.

I think the guitar Realtrack in BIAB sounds much better than Ujam. Because UJAM is a fake sound. BIAB guitar is played by real people. However, because of the interface design of BIAB, we missed a lot of good things. Good things are in BIAB, but it is difficult to find.
Unless I invest a lot of time and record it on paper, I have done it. But the tedious search every time will make me lose patience.

If BIAB can classify instruments in Realtrack, then we don’t need to use these VSTs in BIAB at all!

At this time, some people say that instruments can be searched out. What I want to say is that search is a search function, and BIAB cannot stop classifying because of the search function.

Let me give you an example:

WINDOWS can search, so doesn't it need folder classification? All music, videos, games, pictures, and files are put together. What do you need to search every time? Is it reasonable?
Therefore, when someone says that musical instruments need to be classified, please stop saying that you can search and filter them out by yourself.

To be honest, I rarely use these VST functions, recording, and multi-track in BIAB. Because these functions are DAW functions. STUDIO ONE, CUBASE and other DAWs can complete them very well, why should I go to the trouble to complete them in BIAB?

Why doesn't BIAB classify a large number of its own functions RealTrack? This is BIAB's advantage, which other DAWs don't have! But BIAB doesn't optimize its own advantages, but imitates the advantages of other DAWs? Isn't this ridiculous?

It's like a boy with a head full of knowledge, but this boy has to compare height with basketball players. Does it make sense?

BIAB can add some DAW functions that others have already perfected. But before that, make your own things better!

Take the chord switch function for example. It is such a simple thing. Isn't it just drawing a line in MIDI? Is it very difficult in other DAWs? ? Obviously it is too simple. But in BIAB it becomes begging and thanking? Now that it is done, how many people will use it? ? ?
Are these guitar sounds in UJAM not available in BIAB? ? BIAB not only has them, but the sound is better!

I believe I have made it clear enough. I hope BIAB will get better and better. It can perfect itself in 2025. Don't develop any new functions.

"BIAB can classify instruments in Realtrack, then we don’t need to use these VSTs in BIAB at all!"
It's silly to assume that BIAB can do everything. It has a very decent library, but other Virtual Instruments bring other flavors to composition.

"Take the chord switch function for example. It is such a simple thing. Isn't it just drawing a line in MIDI? Is it very difficult in other DAWs? ? Obviously it is too simple. But in BIAB it becomes begging and thanking? Now that it is done, how many people will use it?"

No, it's not difficult, but you will not be able to audition Real Tracks together with other VST instruments, unless you export WAVs to DAW. With keyswitches you have a luxury of staying longer in BIAB and experiment with different BIAB+VST content, until you are ready to settle and export to DAW. I don't do tutorials, this was just a concept shown to group of forum members. I am sure, if a proper tutorial would be made, more people will use this feature. It is small, but definitely is very useful. By the way, far not all DAWs have a "Chord Track".

"Are these guitar sounds in UJAM not available in BIAB? ? BIAB not only has them, but the sound is better!"
So why even put these word bubbles, if you have no interest in these VSTs or Chord Track. Seems like the choice is very clear for you.

P.S. You do realize that there are many very different virtual instruments from different makers that use keyswitches acoustic, electric, synthesized, etc.? Do your homework and take care.

It's a good thing to make the chord track more complete!
You've pushed this forward!
I also hope to push Realtrack to be classified.

Two absolutely different by nature, non mutually exclusive items. I agree that more effort is needed to make sorting and searching for instruments and styles easier. But that is a very different discussion on a very different topic.