The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anybody know how to turn BIAB song files into MP3s so they can be put into iTunes and then played on an iPod?

What version of BIAB do you have? The latest and at least the previous version have options to "render" to a wav file (and I think the latest to MP3). But if you get it to a wav file there are many wav to MP3 converters around.

I have "Version 12 Build 26" for Mac. I can't find "render" in any of the pull-down menus or the Manual.

Isaac, look at the options directly above the song title area. Click on ".wav". This opens a window which shows "render (save) using Roland vsc" . This option wll create a wav file in a matter of seconds, assuming you have installed "vsc".

I don't know about the MAC versions as many of them did not have all functions the Windows versions have.

I save the BIAB file as MIDI and then drop the MIDI file into GarageBand. GB has an "export to iTunes" function, plus you get those better-sounding GarageBand instruments and effects.

You really don't need to make an MP3 to get it into iTunes and your iPod.

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/

this is what you may want... it is terrific. It will 'listen' to your BIAB tune and automatically save it to mp3.. you can set bit depth and the whole 9 yards...

a cool little app and a great way to snag those wolfgang's vault concerts too.

Thanks guys - Bob, is there a trick to dropping the Midi file into Garageband? I saved a BIAB track as midi which gave a a file with the extention ".MID". I tried draging it over the Garageband icon and the "open with" option, but it won't let me open it with garageband.

Nevermind Bob. I figured it out. I just had to drag the file over the timeline once the program was open. This is great. It sounds much better than the BIAB instruments.

b0b-Does GarageBand work with Windows XP? Where can I get it ....al.:)

GarageBand is a Mac program. It ships on all new Macs. It doesn't run on Windows XP.

Here's an example of a song I wrote using BIAB on the Mac. I pulled the BIAB MIDI tracks into GarageBand for editing, then played it into the Roland VS-1880 recorder where I added John Reese's vocal track.
click here

It's still "demo quality", but GB's fake instruments sound considerably better than what BIAB outputs. Plus I was able to add some dynamics in GarageBand and edit some individual notes - something that's not really possible in BIAB.

I could have added the vocal right there in GarageBand, but I had bigger plans for the song. For the finished version on our upcoming CD, I've removed the computer tracks entirely and replaced them with real guitar and pedal steel. Much better!

Isaac Stanford wrote:Thanks guys - Bob, is there a trick to dropping the Midi file into Garageband? I saved a BIAB track as midi which gave a a file with the extention ".MID". I tried draging it over the Garageband icon and the "open with" option, but it won't let me open it with garageband.

The earlier versions didn't support MIDI - you had to use a third-party utility to convert the MIDI tracks.

In the version that I have now (2.0.2), you open GarageBand first, create a "New" song, then drag the MIDI file over the window and drop it.

Bob and others,

I'm just starting to learn to use BIAB on the Mac.

Does importing as MIDI into Garageband automatically sound better? Will all styles get better sounding in GB? I'm definitely trying that trick tonight.

Is there any quick, easy way to preview the jillion styles? Does someone have a compact collection of great styles for country: shuffle, swing, waltz, half time, train beat, etc.?

And is there a way to just get a beat going without any chords? I tried copy/pasting a measure without any chord into bar 1, but it always defaults to a C chord, hoping there's a way to defeat that.

Lastly, I asked this in another thread: when I export fm BIAB to MIDI, then import that into iTunes, the volume goes down by about a third. Is that normal? Even turning volume up to max in the iTunes song option tab doesn't bring it up to the full strength it was in the source MIDI file.

Thanks in advance, BIAB pro's!

Does anybody know how to turn BIAB song files into MP3s so they can be put into iTunes and then played on an iPod?

iTunes accepts WAV files. There is no need to use any other programs to convert the Wav files you made from BIAB. All you need is BIAB and iTunes.

Burn your WAV files in BIAB. Store them on your desktop or in any folder you choose. Open iTunes and add the WAV files to your iTunes library... and to your iPod. I have loaded over 200 BIAB tracks onto my iTunes and my iPod using that method.

Thanks, Doug, I'd do that except there is no convert to WAV function in the Mac version of BIAB, grrrr. Thus all these workarounds.