Instruction Manual

Chapter 9: Working With MIDI
246
Press [Play] to hear the MIDI file play on the Melody track.
Additional Options for Melody/Soloist Track
Choose Melody | Edit Melody Track | Time Shift Melody. This will move (slide) the melody a certain # ticks. There
are 120 ticks per quarter note. For example, to give the song a more laid-back feel, shift the melody about 10 ticks
ahead.
In the same submenu, choose Insert Beats or Melody | Delete Beats to insert or delete beats in the Melody. For
example, to insert 2 bars in the melody at bar 5, choose Melody | Insert Beats, select bar 5, and select 8 beats (2
bars) to insert.
Intelligent Humanize of Melody and Soloist Track
Quantize routines can leave the music sounding stiff and unmusical. Some routines attempt to humanize a part by
adding “randomization,“ which rarely has the desired effect since humans don't randomly change timing or volume.
Band-in-a-Box uses intelligent humanization routines to humanize a melody from one feel to another, from one
tempo to another, and vary the amount of swing to 8th notes. The results are very musical, with natural sounding
melodies.
Let's look at some of the parameters found under Humanize.
In this example, Melody | Edit Melody Track | Humanize Melody was selected. The window for Humanize Soloist is
the same.
As you can see, we have broken down
the Humanize effect into 5 main
categories: tempo, lateness, 8th note
spacing, legato, and feel.
The best way to learn how these
parameters combine is to try them (you
can always press the UNDO button if
you don't like the results.)
For example, try changing the tempo of
a song to see the changes that this will
make to the 8th note spacing and
lateness. Press the [Quantize NOW]
button to apply your changes to your
song.
Tip: Often, when musicians play at faster tempos they play the swing 8th notes closer together and a little later.
We feel that these categories are straightforward and you should have no trouble achieving the desired results.
Remember to apply such parameters as Legato and Lateness sparingly, then press the Quantize NOW button to
apply your changes to your song.
Editing the Melody Track
Event List Editor
You can edit events including all MIDI events and lyric events using the Event List Editor. It can be launched in
several ways.
- In the Melody menu, choose Edit Melody Track | Step Edit Melody.
- In the Soloist menu, choose Edit Soloist Track | Step Edit Soloist Part.
- In the Notation menu, choose Event List Editor…
or in the Notation window by pressing the event list button (#).