BIAB issues with Ritard and Sustaining last chord

[Jim Cohen]

I'm using BIAB 2023 on a relatively new MacBook Pro and can't seem to get it to ritard the last 2 bars, nor to get it to sustain the last chord. When I enter D... for the last chord, it sustains the chord but the drums keep playing through. Also, I remember from previous versions that I had to put a different chord in the next bar (or whichever bar I wanted it to stop sustaining, with a dot after it, such as A. But now it's playing the "A" chord instead of stopping everything.

Would appreciate any help. I thought I remembered how to use this program though I haven't used it in a few years.

Thank you in advance,
Jim

[Norman Evans]

Put 3 dots after the chord you want to sustain. I usually just leave a couple of extra bars and forget the chord with 1 dot.

[Jim Cohen]

Put 3 dots after the chord you want to sustain. I usually just leave a couple of extra bars and forget the chord with 1 dot.

Yeah, that's what I've always done in the past but it doesn't seem to stop the drums from carrying on

[Norman Evans]

The 3 dots should stop everything. After I enter the chord and 3 dots I hit enter on the keyboard.

[Jim Cohen]

The 3 dots should stop everything. After I enter the chord and 3 dots I hit enter on the keyboard.

I agree. That’s what I have always done and that’s what I’m doing now but it’s not stopping the drums. Maybe I need to see if there’s a program update or maybe there’s some mismatch between my version of iOS and BIAB.

The other problem is that it is supposed to hold the chord until the next chord and if you put in a different chord with a single dot after it, that signals to the program to stop holding the previous chord with the three dots. That’s not working either. It’s actually playing that other chord.

[Rick Campbell]

You might have a defective style. Try it with a different style. If that doesn't work, try starting fresh and program it as a new song.

Check for updates.

If that doesn't clear it up, call PG Music.

RC

[Jim Cohen]

Thanks, Rick. That worked! First I tried changing to various different styles - no joy. Then I downloaded the latest update - still no joy. So I opened a new, blank file and copied and pasted the song into the new shell - and it worked! I was able to get the ending to sustain properly and the ritard to work as well. Thanks to everyone who chipped in to try to help me out here. It's all good now, thank you. Great to have the Forum community to call upon.

[Doug Beaumier]

I’ve had a similar problem in the past. I can’t remember the details, but the song would not play as it usually did, so I pasted the chords into a new, blank chart and it worked fine. There must have been something in the settings of the original chart that I clicked on (either intentionally or unintentionally) to either allow or not allow some action: rests, or a two bar ending, or pedal bass, etc. and that changed the way the instruments worked. A new chart works because the settings are at default.

I’m still using BIAB 2010, but I’ve noticed that if I “do not allow” rests, it screws up the ending of the song.

[Bruce Roger]

The other problem is that it is supposed to hold the chord until the next chord and if you put in a different chord with a single dot after it, that signals to the program to stop holding the previous chord with the three dots. That’s not working either. It’s actually playing that other chord.

My program is a year older and has the same problem. Rather than open a new file, my workaround:

If, for example, at the end of the coda you end with a couple of bars on an A chord, omit the final A chord in the last bar of the chord chart. That seems to force the penultimate bar to predominate, superseding any auto-generated pickup, etc. for the final bar. When I print the chord chart, I re-enter that final A chord just for appearance sake.

The program is glitchy. Another workaround I've found:

After I enter an A and E under a C to form a C6 chord for a quarter note duration, when I switch out of note editing mode back to viewing the notation without being able to edit, the chord breaks up: Often the C note will not be stacked on top of the A and E, but will be delayed by an eighth triplet. My solution is to delete only the existing C note. I immediately reenter the C note and the chord stack usually appears correctly in the non-editable mode.