® Version 2010.5 for Windows ® Copyright © PG Music Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.
PG Music Inc. License Agreement CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE COMPLETING THE INSTALLATION OF THIS SOFTWARE. USAGE OF THE SOFTWARE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. LICENSE A. The program may only be used on a single machine. B. You may transfer the program and license to another party if the other party agrees to accept the terms of this Agreement.
Table of Contents PG Music Inc. License Agreement .................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1: Welcome ..................................................................................................................... 7 About RealBand .......................................................................................
Recording Your Own MIDI Tracks.........................................................................................................................76 Editing BB Tracks and MIDI tracks ........................................................................................................................79 Split MIDI drums.....................................................................................................................................................
Chapter 12: Wizards, Tools, and Plug-Ins ............................................................................. 147 Audio Chord Wizard .............................................................................................................................................147 Conductor Window................................................................................................................................................154 TranzPort Support - Wireless Remote Control..................
PG Vinyl Tool .......................................................................................................................................................274 PG Vocal Remover................................................................................................................................................279 Appendix B: Keystroke Commands........................................................................................ 282 Appendix C: MIDI Controller Numbers ...................
Chapter 1: Welcome Congratulations, and thank you for your purchase of RealBand, your all-in-one audio workstation and accompaniment program! RealBand is a program that combines the most popular features from PG Music’s PowerTracks Pro Audio and Band-in-a-Box programs into an all-in-one sequencing program with automatic accompaniment. RealBand offers powerful features for musicians, students, and songwriters.
Installation Minimum System Requirements - Windows® 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7. - Windows XP or higher is required for some features. - 128 MB RAM. - Digital audio features require a fast Pentium processor. May run on slower computers (untested). MIDI features require a 486 (or better). - 75MB hard drive space (much more if recording digital audio). - MIDI system (MIDI interface/MIDI synthesizer) or PC sound card. - Digital audio system (16-bit Windows compatible sound card).
A MIDI setup using the sound card for MIDI Input with MIDI Output re-routed to a DXi synth. The MIDI Input Driver is the port that your MIDI controller, for example a MIDI keyboard or MIDI guitar controller, is attached to. The MIDI Output Driver selection is the port that your MIDI synthesizer (e.g. Sound Canvas) or an internal sound card, DXi, or VSTi synth is connected to. Note: This is a straightforward procedure and you should encounter no difficulties selecting a MIDI driver.
The “Re-Route MIDI playback to default DXi Synth” setting will cause RealBand to re-route all MIDI playback to the default DXi or VSTi synth. This is the easiest way to use a DXi softsynth for playback. If this option is checked, then all MIDI tracks’ playback output will be routed to the default DXi/VST synth regardless of the individual track’s port number.
Now your VSTi synthesizer will be available along with the DXi Synth selections in the MIDI Driver Setup dialog. Latency Adjustment Pressing the [Latency Adjust] button in MIDI Driver Setup or the [Soft Synth Latency Adjust] in Options | Preferences | Audio opens the Soft Synth Latency Adjust dialog. This lets you adjust for fine tuning latency settings for MIDI (non-DXi, and non-VSTi) soft synths. This works by playing a song called LatencyAdjust.
Pressing the [Default (MME only)] button instructs the program to analyze your sound card and apply the optimal values for your system if you are using the standard MME audio drivers. These settings normally don’t need to be changed. Project Recording Options The options you may need to manually adjust in this dialog are: 1.) The “Audio File Type” shown at the top of this dialog. Select the 96 kHz, 48 kHz, 44.1 kHz or 22.
Right channel to record. If your recording source is stereo, such as a guitar preamp or a synthesizer with stereo outputs, you should select L+R (2 Tracks) from the “Input Channel for MONO Tracks” list box. Note: If you are using multiple sound cards this setting must be set to L+R (2 Tracks). Also, if performance is sluggish with multiple sound cards selected you should disable some of the sound cards to free up system resources. 5.
2.) Choose the input and output digital audio devices that you want to use. Note: The Microsoft Sound Mapper driver option refers to the default Windows sound card setup as configured in the Windows Control Panel. 3.) In the Tracks window you can choose which sound card to output each track of audio on by clicking on the track type icon and selecting one of the ports that you activated in the Audio Drivers dialog.
Audio Drivers Tutorial MME Audio Drivers The [Drivers…] button in the Options | Preferences Audio dialog brings the Audio Drivers dialog, which lets you select Audio Input and Audio Output drivers. This dialog is for MME drivers, and not ASIO. By default, the Microsoft Sound Mapper is selected for both input and output. If you have multiple sound cards, or a multiple I/O card, you can select more than one input or output.
example, if the preferred output device in the Audio Tab of the Multimedia settings in Control Panel is set to “AWE 64 Wave Out” you should NOT select both the “Microsoft Sound Mapper” and the “AWE 64 Wave Out” as two output ports in RealBand. You would just select one or the other, but not both. If you selected both you would get an error message saying you couldn’t open one of the devices. Recording Tracks in Stereo or Mono Each Input and Output port is a Stereo pair, with a left and right channel.
Once you have selected an ASIO driver, you will see the Input Port(s) and Output Port(s) list boxes filled with your driver’s input and output ports. By default, the first of each will be selected. You are allowed to select multiple ports with a Ctrl+click on the ports you choose in the list, and all the ports you select will be available for output within RealBand. If you do not hear input or output, then you may need to try different ports than the defaults.
The Resampler Quality combo lets you choose Fast, Good, Better, or Best. Fast is the quickest but is the lowest of the four levels of quality. Best is the slowest (uses more CPU time) but the most transparent and accurate quality. See the following Understanding Latency section. ASIO always on is normally selected, but it can be disabled if a driver has trouble running ASIO constantly.
Chapter 2: New Features in RealBand 2010.5 Over 30 New Features! RealBand 2010 added over 30 cool new features to RealBand 2009, and now the update to version 2010.5 adds many more! Here are the major new features added in RealBand 2010.5: Conductor - Live Looping/Playback Control As the song is playing, many "single key" hot keys are now available to control the playback and looping of the song. This is ideal for live performance or "jam sessions" where you want full control of playback.
Automatic Tempo swapping of similar RealTracks. If you have similar RealTracks available at different tempos, BB will automatically choose the best one to use. For example, if you have a ballad loaded, with an Acoustic Bass RealTracks at tempo of 60, and you speed up the tempo to 140, and press play, BB will automatically choose an Acoustic Bass RealTracks closer to tempo of 140, if it is the same genre and feel.
Chapter 3: Tutorial – Guided Tour of RealBand What is RealBand? RealBand is your all-in-one audio workstation and accompaniment program! You may be familiar with PG Music’s award-winning Band-in-a-Box program for intelligent automatic music accompaniment in a great variety of styles, and also with our PowerTracks Pro Audio DAW program for solid sequencing of both MIDI and digital audio at an incredible price.
Select [Yes] to open the ASIO Audio Drivers dialog and configure your audio setup, or [No] to use the default MME drivers. Click on [OK] when you have made your selections, and RealBand will then prompt you to select your MIDI drivers in the MIDI Driver Setup dialog. If you have DXi or VSTi software synthesizers installed you can choose to send your MIDI output to the software synth of your choice.
RealBand then prompts you to select the folders for Band-in-a-Box, RealTracks, and RealDrums. These are important settings, as they enable you to use all of Band-in-a-Box styles, RealDrums, and RealTracks that you have installed on your system. So if you have the latest Band-in-a-Box SuperPAK, then you also have access to every style, RealDrums set, and RealTracks instrument there is for use in RealBand too. Now that RealBand has guided you through the initial setup you can start to have fun.
The default track type is MIDI, as indicated by the MIDI plug icon. A right mouse click on the track type button opens a whole menu of track options, and we will reset the track to be a stereo audio track. The track icon changes to show a pair of audio wave forms. (A mono audio track would show a single audio waveform.) The track settings are described in detail in the Tracks Window help topic.
Entering chords Enter the chords for your song by typing them in using standard chord symbols such as C, or Fm7, or Bb7, or Bb13#9/E. For example type c6 to get the C6 chord. Note that you should never have to use the Shift key, as RealBand will sort this out for you. - Use b for a flat, e.g. Bb7. - Use # or 3 for a sharp, e.g. F#7. (# is the uppercase symbol of 3, so you can actually type F37 to get F#7 RealBand will sort out the case, saving you the effort of using 3 to type the # symbol.
Arranger settings For our short tutorial song we’ll start at bar 1 and end at bar 8. The Start of Song Chorus button is set at one by default, so it will stay the same. The End of Song Chorus button defaults to 32, so we’ll click on the button and type in the number of the new end-of-chorus bar in the Enter Measure Number box. We’d like RealBand to add a 2-bar ending to our song, so we’ll check the 2 Bar Ending box.
The time signature defaults to 4/4, but a new time signature can be set by clicking in this box to open the Meter dialog. Compound time signatures are supported; in fact the numerator can be any number from 1 to 99. The denominator is selected from the drop down combo box. Our song is in C minor, so we could select the relative major key signature of Eb for fewer accidentals in the notation display. Click in the key box to open the Key Signature dialog.
button it will always generate the complete song. When either button is pressed we’ll see our new tracks in the Tracks window. The track overview shows us that we have five MIDI tracks playing the parts generated by the J!Lush style, and because RealDrums are allowed in the Preferences | Song Generation settings the BB Drums track is empty and we have a RealDrums audio track. Notice that the BB track names are in blue, whereas user track names are in black.
In this notation window notes can be inserted or deleted, and dragged and dropped. By right-clicking on any note head all parameters of the note can be edited and symbols and text can be added. These features are covered in detail in the Notation Window topic. Now that you have a RealBand accompaniment, your next step might be to record some audio tracks along with the BB tracks.
The VU Meters window can be left open for monitoring during recording. The input levels should normally be active in the mid-range of green segments with transient peaks in the yellow range. Red indicates levels that are too high and in danger of clipping, which adds a cracking sound to your track. When that happens, the top red segment marked “Clip” will light up. You’ll need to adjust the input level.
When you’ve finished recording, press the stop button on the toolbar. RealBand will prompt you to either keep or discard the take. You can keep recording as many audio tracks as you want up to the limit of the 48 available tracks in RealBand. Here’s the Tracks window showing an overview of our first recording on track 10 and a second audio recording on track 11.
We’ve selected Tenor Sax for our RealTrack. Click on the [Close] button and the RealTrack will be generated. Your RealTracks players never complain about do-overs, so if you don’t get what you want the first time a RealTrack is generated just generate another one. Or generate several more on different tracks and use the one you like best, or use the choice sections of different tracks, or layer multiple versions.
This group of buttons will take you directly to the selected BB track in the Tracks, Mixer, or Notation windows. The letters stand for the track name, B = bass, D = drums, the second [D] below indicates that RealDrums are present, P = piano, G = guitar, S = strings, M = melody, S = solo. The name of the BB track is displayed along with the instrument patch assigned to that track. There is a volume slider that will affect only the selected track.
PowerTracks Pro Audio Songs The PowerTracks Pro Audio .SEQ file is also the native format for RealBand files, so PowerTracks files load and play exactly as they would in that program. Band-in-a-Box Songs When importing a Band-in-a-Box file you have the choice of playing it “as-is” with the arrangement as created by Band-in-a-Box, or of generating a new arrangement in RealBand. In this illustration, we see a Band-in-a-Box file that has been opened directly in RealBand.
If your Band-in-a-Box song has RealTracks they will be generated in RealBand when you open the file. Here is a Band-in-a-Box song with an “all RealTracks” style that has been opened in RealBand. The BB tracks, except for the MIDI Melody track, are empty and there are additional blue-labeled BB RealTracks starting at track 9. The track buttons now show a row of RealTracks buttons below the BB tracks buttons for the Bass, Drums, Piano, Guitar, and Strings parts.
If there are any RealTracks that you want to preserve when regenerating the arrangement you can use the Track | Duplicate feature to make a copy on a blank track. This copy will be a user track (as indicated by the name in black type) and will not be affected by generating a new arrangement. This is a useful way to generate multiple versions of a Real instrument part and then choose the one you like best, or edit together your favorite parts from different tracks, or even layer multiple tracks.
With its own real time effects and support for all other DirectX and VST plug-ins, the RealBand mixer is a powerful production tool. It offers great flexibility in applying these effects to individual tracks, to sub-mixes, and to the final audio output. This is an integrated mixer that controls both MIDI and audio tracks. There are sliders for all 48 tracks, 8 auxiliary effects (Aux) busses, and a combined total of 16 audio output ports or audio subgroups.
Chapter 4: The Main Screen There are five parts to the RealBand main screen. 1. The Status Bar shows information about the current project. 2. The Menu Bar is where menus and commands are accessed. 3. The Toolbars give information and access to program functions. 4. The Piano Keyboard displays, and can input, MIDI notes. 5. The Windows area, the main workspace for all program windows. 1– 2– 3– 4– 5– The Status Bar The status bar is the colored header across the top of the screen.
Toolbars provide control of the program and access to many of its features. Toolbars have a choice of 24x24 or 16x16 icon sizes. 24x24 16x16 To select the icon size, go to Options | Preferences and in the General dialog check “Toolbars use large icons” for 24x24 icons or clear the checkbox for 16x16 icons. Main Toolbar This group of buttons will take you directly to the selected BB track in the Tracks, Mixer, or Notation windows.
The next group of controls is for song settings such as title, style, time signature, key, and tempo. The title is typed in to the title window as regular text. Click on the style name box to open the StylePicker, where you can choose from any of your installed Band-in-aBox styles. Use this button to load a style (.STY file) from disk. Double click the mouse in this box to open the Meter dialog. Odd time signatures such as 5/4, 7/4, 9/16, 11/4, etc. are supported.
The tempo can also be adjusted with these buttons. Hold down the up or down arrows to scroll the tempo up or down, or click on the arrow to increase or decrease the tempo in single increments. Tap tempos with the minus [-] and equals [=] buttons. Tapping on the minus sign four times will set the tempo just as if you had counted it in. Tapping on the equals sign four times will set the tempo at the average speed you tapped and then automatically begin song playback at that tempo.
The track name being displayed in green or blue means that the track can be regenerated using this command. This feature is useful to regenerate, if you had changed the song’s tempo, or just to generate fresh material. Generate All This command will regenerate all Blue and Green tracks automatically, including RealDrums. The [+] button always generates all of the song. If the “2 Bar Ending” checkbox is selected RealBand will automatically generate a 2-bar ending for the song.
Buttons with a check mark in the check box will be displayed on the toolbar. Clear the checkbox to remove a button from the toolbar. Click on “Reset Toolbar” to restore the default toolbar settings. “Now” is the current location in MIDI format - bars:beats:ticks. The “From” and “Thru” values indicate the range of bars currently selected for editing operations. You can double click in these fields to type in new locations.
The piano can be “played” by clicking with the mouse, either while a song is playing or when it is stopped, and clicking on a note while in Editable Notation mode enters that note in the selected track at the current time location. There is a 1-peg hot key in the Notation window to move current time forward or backward by 1 peg (normally a 16th note). Alt+left arrow moves the current time backward by 1 peg. Alt+right arrow moves it forward by 1 peg.
Tracks Window The Tracks window shows the track names, track type (MIDI or audio), instrument settings, and an overview section showing either MIDI or audio data. This window is described in full detail in the The Track Number field shows the track number. If the track is the current track it will be highlighted in red. When multiple tracks are selected, the track numbers will be highlighted in yellow for tracks other than the current track. If the track is not selected it will be gray.
Drag and Drop Editing RealBand supports drag-and-drop editing in the Tracks and Audio Edit windows. In the Tracks window you can easily move tracks up or down in relation to each other by drag ‘n’ drop using the mouse, e.g., drag track 1 below track 2 to change the order of the tracks. You can move a highlighted region by holding down the Ctrl key with the left mouse button pressed, and drag the region to a new location in the song. After releasing the mouse button, you have four options: 1.
The [Snap] button causes the time indicator to snap to the nearest beat when changing the time location or when highlighting a region for editing. Note: If you have selected non-consecutive multiple tracks (e.g., 2, 3, and 5) for editing, you should not click on the track overview section area directly, since it will cause your track selections to be lost.
Samples If you resize the window, then the size of the font will adjust to the new window size. Other Program Windows These program windows can be launched by selection in the Windows menu or by clicking on their buttons in the Toolbar. 48 Bars The Bars window shows the bars (or measures) of the song. Bars with MIDI data will be shaded, while bars with audio will show the audio waveform in miniature. Chords The Chords window displays the chord symbols of a song.
SysEx The SysEx window is a built-in system exclusive (SysEx) librarian to transmit or receive SysEx data. Guitar The Guitar window displays notes played in the current track or MIDI Thru on a guitar fretboard. Meter Map The Meter Map is a list of all the meter changes that occur during the course of the song. Event List The Event List window is an event editor that lets you insert, delete, or change MIDI events. Audio Edit The Audio Edit window shows audio data as a waveform.
Other Plug-Ins and Utilities RealBand includes many more powerful and helpful utilities that are launched by their own toolbar buttons. In Plugin Mode audio or MIDI content can be dragged and dropped to other DAWs. The Plugins button opens the Direct/VST window where DX and VST plug-ins are assigned. Open the control panel for your current DXi of VSTi softsynth with the Synths button. The Metronome button opens the programmable metronome for playback and/or recording.
Chapter 5: Using MIDI Features Overview RealBand is a full-featured MIDI sequencer for Windows with the added ability to create automatic accompaniments in its BB Tracks. If you want to know how to create MIDI tracks and BB Tracks please see the BB Tracks and MIDI tracks chapter. This chapter has instructions for using the many powerful MIDI features in RealBand. Record and edit music for playback through your sound card or MIDI synthesizer as configured in the MIDI Driver Setup (see MIDI Setup, Ch. 1).
The Re-Route MIDI Playback to Default DXi Synth setting will cause RealBand to re-route all MIDI playback to the Default DXi synth. This is the easiest way to use a DXi or VSTi softsynth for playback. If this option is checked, then all MIDI playback output will be routed to the default DXi synth regardless of the MIDI track’s port number.
The DXi/VSTi softsynth will convert the MIDI information to audio, which RealBand will play back through your sound card to audio speakers. Note: If using MME drivers, only the MIDI playback output can use softsynths. MIDI Thru, MIDI metronome, scrub mode, and chord advance/backup will default to a regular MIDI port. With ASIO drivers, MIDI Thru will play through softsynths.
This dialog lets you choose a font, and it will remember the dialog’s window size and placement along with the currently selected font. It also has a tree button that lets you view the directory structure, and a button that lets you chose between details mode and list mode. RealBand will remember these settings the next time you load or save a file using the custom file dialog. The font selection button lets you use any font on your system for the file dialog, in your choice of font size and style.
Chord Wizard The Chord Wizard is located in the Chords window, which opens with the [C7] toolbar button. Right click anywhere in the window to open the MIDI Chord Wizard menu. If you choose MIDI Chord Wizard, RealBand will attempt to automatically detect the chords in the song. You can use the Undo command if you want to undo this.
The Options menu item launches the Chords Window Options dialog. The “Bars Per Line” setting determines how many measures will be drawn per line in the Chords window. The “Visible Lines Per Screen:” setting determines how many lines (rows) of chords are will be visible per screen. Each screen will always have 125 lines per screen in the Chords window, but the Visible Lines Per Screen setting controls how many lines will be visible without scrolling.
The Audio Chord Wizard imports chord symbols it finds into the Chords window. Use this feature to instantly play along to your favorite songs, by reading and printing the chord symbols. Playing a Song Use the familiar “tape deck” control buttons to Record, Play, Rewind to the start, Fast Forward to the end, and Stop song playback. Playback can be stopped and started anywhere in the song. The fast-forward and rewind buttons jump to either the end or the beginning of the song.
The Now: readout gives the current location in the song file. The Now: location is in bars, beats, and MIDI clock ticks according to the current resolution setting, which could range from 48 to 3840 system clock ticks per quarter note (ppq). The From: and Thru: locations define the range of bars and beats that will be affected by the various Edit menu operations.
If you want to control the Conductor using the MIDI keyboard, you need to enable this by selecting the checkbox “Enable control by MIDI keyboard.” in the MIDI keyboard control box. When this setting is enabled, any MIDI input will be interpreted as a hot key for the Conductor, and you won’t hear MIDI thru. If you’d like the ability to switch your MIDI keyboard between Conductor mode and regular playing mode, you can do this using the lowest “A-natural” MIDI note on your keyboard.
The section numbers are saved with the song. Once you have defined the sections, you can jump to a certain section of the song as the song is playing, simply by: 1. Pressing the 1-9 or 0 key on the QWERTY keyboard or, 2. Opening the Conductor window (~ hot key) and clicking on the section button or, 3. Pressing MIDI keys 77-86 (F6 to D7) corresponding to sections 1-10. Mode (when to do the action). By pressing a QWERTY hot key prior to an action, you can control when the action will take place.
- Loop the middle chorus (press S, which is Loop Section). - Jump to the end of the song (press 6 ). - Go back 1 chorus (Ctrl+A). - Go ahead 1 chorus (Shift+A). At the end of the current chorus, go back 1 section, press Y then Ctrl+S. Note: Pressing the Y sets the mode to do the action at the end of the current chorus These actions can also be done with the MIDI keyboard. See the section on Conductor Functions with MIDI and QWERTY Hot Keys in the Wizards, Tools, and Plug-Ins chapter.
When you right-click your mouse on a MIDI icon you’ll see a pop-up menu that lets you set the MIDI Output Port, Program (Patch) setting, and Bank (MSB) and Bank LSB settings. Immediately below the Port: menu item is a menu command that lets you Set All Midi Tracks to the same port used by the track you are adjusting. There is also a menu item Patch Select Dialog that launches a patch selection dialog, which lets you select patches and variations as well as allowing you to change the track’s patch list.
There are 32 MIDI Output ports. You can think of each of port as route that the track takes to output sound, whether through an onboard sound card, software synthesizer, or an external MIDI keyboard or sound module. The first 16 ports are for either onboard synthesizers or external MIDI I/O connections. Ports 17 through 32 are for DirectX (DXi) or Virtual Studio Technology (VSTi) instruments. Mouse over the Port menu item to see a list of all available ports.
Open DXi/VSTi Synth Panel Configuration opens the DirectX/VST Window. This allows you complete control over assigning DXi or VSTi synths to ports, processing the synth output with DX or VST audio effects, and working inside your synth’s control panel. The help topic Tutorial: Using DXi and VSTi synths with RealBand provides detailed instructions for installing and selecting these high quality music synthesizers.
If necessary, the program will insert a controller at the very beginning of the song to preserve the original volume if you insert a volume change beyond the start of the track. This will normally be done the first time you insert a volume change into a track beyond the tracks’ beginning. Audio Effects opens the selection list of built-in PG Music audio effects. Right-Click Menu for Audio Tracks If a track is an Audio track and you right-click on the track, this pop-up menu opens.
in green. For example, if you had generated a track by right clicking on it and selecting “Generate RealTrack” then the track name of that track will be displayed in green. Generate RealTrack (Favorites) shows a list of recently used RealTracks. Select and Generate RealDrums opens the RealDrums Picker to choose a RealDrums set and create a RealDrums track. Track names for generated non-BB tracks are displayed in green. Generate RealDrums (Favorites) shows a list of recently used RealDrums.
The [-] and [+] buttons (upper far left corner of the Tracks window) let you zoom in or zoom out the overview section. The [Snap] button causes the time indicator to snap to the nearest beat when changing the time location or when highlighting a region for editing. The [L] button locks the From: and Thru: settings from being changed by the mouse. This prevents accidental changes to a selected area. Drag and Drop Features RealBand supports drag-and-drop editing in the Tracks and Audio Edit windows.
Classic Tracks View Settings Click your mouse anywhere on a row to select that track. The number of the currently selected track (Tr) is highlighted in blue. The type field determines the track type: MIDI, Mono Audio, and Stereo Audio. You can’t change the track type if a track already has data in it. Ty = Type. MIDI Audio Stereo P = Play Status. The Play Status field shows the status of the track as Play (P), Muted (m). Name = Track Name. This is any name you want to give to the track.
You can select any patch by number by typing the number in the “Patch” edit control. You can press the send button to send the patch change you just typed without having to exit the dialog. The disabled checkbox simply means no patch change is selected for the current track, and a value of “---” will show in the Prg column of the Classic Tracks View window. The [Recently Selected Patches…] button brings up a dialog with a list of the 20 most recently selected patches, if any recently selected patches exist.
Chapter 6: BB Tracks and MIDI tracks Overview As discussed elsewhere, any one of RealBand’s 48 tracks can be either a MIDI or audio track. And for either type you have the option of recording and creating your own parts or using the musical intelligence of RealBand to create professional tracks for you. When working with MIDI tracks, RealBand uses its Band-in-a-Box components to generate tracks in any of the Band-in-a-Box styles that you have installed on your computer.
Rests/Shot/Held Chord/Pushes Rests, Shot, Held Chord, and Pushes are supported by the RealBand generation routines: A chord can be specified as a Rest by adding a period after the chord. e.g. “C.” indicates a C chord that is a Rest. A chord can be specified as a Shot by adding two periods after the chord. e.g. “C..” indicates a C chord that is a Shot. A chord can be specified as a Held Chord by adding three periods after the chord. e.g. “C…” indicates a C chord that is a Held Chord.
Generating the BB Tracks Now we’ll move on to the arranger toolbar to generate our RealBand song arrangement. The next thing to do is reset the default song length of 32 bars to 8 bars. We’ll leave the start-of-song chorus set at bar 1 and click on the end-of-chorus button to type in the number of the new end-of-chorus bar. For our short tutorial song we’ll start at bar 1 and end at bar 8. We’d like RealBand to add a 2-bar ending to our song, so we’ll check the 2 Bar Ending box.
The time signature defaults to 4/4, but a new time signature can be set by clicking in this box to open the Meter dialog. Compound time signatures are supported. In fact, the numerator can be any number from 1 to 99. The denominator is selected from the drop down combo box. Our song is in C minor, so we could select the relative major key signature of Eb for fewer accidentals in the notation display. Click in the key box to open the Key Signature dialog.
program calculates the third variable for you. So, for example, if you need a piece of music lasting 60.00 seconds, and it is 45 bars, you can use the calculator to find the tempo that will achieve that. So we’ve entered our chords in the Chords window, set the length of our song and added a 2-bar ending, chosen a Band-in-a-Box style, and set the tempo.
Use the [STY] button to open the StylePicker and make your selection, and use the [Clear] button to remove the selection. When the song is generated your new style will be heard playing at that bar. This feature can be used any number of times in a song. Volume Changes Volume changes can be applied at any bar to all BB tracks together, or just to selected instruments. The options are: Mute, to silence the track. Back to Normal, to undo a previous change and restore the normal track volume.
The repeats display on the Chords window, and both audio/MIDI play with the repeats. When the number in “Repeat _ Bars” is greater than zero, a repeat will be enabled, and repeat signs shown in the Chords window. Now that you have generated BB Tracks for the chords you entered in the Chords window, your next step might be to record some additional MIDI tracks along with the BB tracks. Recording Your Own MIDI Tracks In addition to BB Tracks, MIDI data can be recorded on any track in RealBand.
In addition to the on-screen countdown, there is an option for a MIDI drum count-in on any drum kit instrument. The default note is F#3, hi-hat. There is a setting in the Metronome Settings dialog, “Keep these settings permanent (ignore settings stored in .SEQ files),” that will cause RealBand to remember the current metronome settings and ignore any settings stored in .SEQ files. Recording is stopped by hitting the spacebar or pressing the Stop button.
Then you can delete, edit, or re-record each separate overdub without affecting the original track. Use Track | Merge to combine all of the overdubs onto a single track. To clear any previously recorded material from a track go to Track | Erase Data Only. This will erase the recorded MIDI data on the track, but will preserve all of the other track settings such as volume, patch, and channel. Punch-In The Punch-In button allows you to enable or disable Punch-In.
Editing BB Tracks and MIDI tracks Edit Menu The Edit menu lists all of the regular editing commands like Cut, Copy, and Paste plus many features that are unique to RealBand. All editing commands are fully described in the Reference chapter. Piano Roll Editing Let’s examine the BB Piano track in the Piano Roll window. We can select the BB Piano track while still in the Tracks window, or we can open the Piano Roll window with the piano roll button and then select BB Piano from the track list.
Editable Notation window in 16th note (even) resolution. Moving Notes (Drag and Drop) To move a note, move the mouse cursor over an existing note and then click and hold the left mouse button. The mouse cursor will change to a different shape. While keeping the mouse button pressed, move the mouse cursor over to the location you wish to drop the note and then let go of the mouse button. The note will be moved to the place you dropped it. Certain areas of the screen are not valid locations to drop a note.
Editing Notes Notes can be edited with a right click directly on the note with to launch a menu of Editable Notation commands. In addition to editing or deleting note events, this menu has commands for adding section text and notation symbols. There is also a cleanup tool for controller events and 1 peg advance/backup to pinpoint the location of inserted notes. The Notation chapter has full descriptions of these commands. Click on Edit Note to open the NOTE editing dialog.
Highlighting a section of the Notation window. When the Notation window is in Editable Notation Mode, you can highlight a section of the Notation window, so that you can cut or copy the section. To highlight a section of the Notation window: 1) Click and hold the left mouse button at the upper right corner of the rectangular section you want to highlight. Make sure you don’t click on any existing notes, and make sure you don’t release the left mouse button until you are finished highlighting.
can use either the period (.) or colon (:) key to separate the Measures:Beats:Ticks (or the Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames when the SMPTE display mode is enabled). Notes can be made into “invisible notes” using the radio button in the edit entry box. Invisible notes will be invisible in the Notation window when in non-editable notation mode. You can play events one at a time by pressing the Transmit button.
Chapter 7: Digital Audio Features Overview Audio tracks are great for recording live performances; they work much like tracks on a tape recorder. They are also used for RealTracks and RealDrums since these parts are created from live audio recordings of studio musicians. You can edit audio data by cutting and pasting in the Bars window or the Audio Edit window, you can import .WAV, .MP3, .WMA, .WMV, and .
Press the Play button. You should now be hearing the demo song playing through your computer’s sound system. What you’re hearing are four discrete tracks of digital audio. To mute any track, click on the green check mark to the right of the track name. When you see a red “X” the track is muted. Note: If you wanted to add MIDI data to this project you would select one of the empty tracks and press the record button.
Creating Audio Subgroups in the Mixer Unassigned Outputs Work As Subgroups When this checkbox is enabled in the Audio preferences dialog, any audio output ports that do not currently have a driver port assigned to them will function as subgroups. A subgroup is a bus or signal path that gives you the ability to control several tracks as a group. The Mixer Window chapter has full instructions for creating audio subgroups.
Remove VST/VSTi Plug-In You can remove a VSTi or VST plug-in that you have installed. This only removes the VST/VSTi plug-in from RealBand' list of remembered VST plug-ins. The feature does not uninstall a plug-in or delete any plug-in files. After you remove a plug-in from view in RealBand, that plug-in still remains usable to any other VST program where you prefer to have it available.
- The [>] button moves a plug-in from the Include to the Exclude list. - The [<] button moves a plug-in from the Exclude to the Include list. The [Scan for New Plug-Ins…] button will cause RealBand to scan for newly installed plug-ins. The [Register a New Plug-In…] button can be used to register a plug-in with DirectX, so that audio applications such as RealBand can use the plug-in if you have a plug-in that doesn’t automatically register itself.
Aux Bus FX insert window Choosing and Editing DirectX/VST Effects The Track field of the DirectX/VST window lets you choose a track in which to select or edit effects. A “track” can be a Track Insert, an Aux bus, or an Output Insert. The “Edit” radio buttons let you choose which of the four effects to edit in the group of effects available in each track. The “Bypass” checkboxes lets you bypass any of the four effects in a group.
VST/VSTi Additional Panel Controls VST is necessarily different from DirectX/DXi, and some extra controls are available for VST plug-ins. DirectX/DXi plug-ins save their presets to the Windows Registry and only one setting is “alive” at a time. VST/VSTi plug-ins save their presets to disk files. VST/VSTi plug-ins contain a bank of presets in memory. You can switch between presets while editing, and each edited preset is remembered in the current bank.
Chapter 8: Audio Production Overview The audio production options available in RealBand include RealTracks, RealDrums, and audio tracks plus powerful audio effects and editing features. RealTracks are audio tracks generated automatically following the chord changes you enter in the Chords window. They use the exciting Real Instruments, live recordings of top session musicians. This is the same feature found in Band-in-a-Box.
Select and Generate RealTracks This command opens the RB Assign RealTracks to Track dialog. It shows a list of all available RealTracks, including the RealTracks you have installed in Band-in-a-Box if you have specified your bb\RealTracks folder as the path for RealTracks in the Song Generation preferences. When you click on a RealTrack in the list a Memo appears with information about the selected instrument. The RealTracks have been recorded by top studio musicians.
The [None] button sets the current instrument to have no override of RealTracks for the song. The style may still have a RealTrack in it for the instrument. The [Clear All] button sets all RealTracks for the song to “None.” It will also optionally disable RealTracks present in the style for the song. Since RealTracks can be stored in a style you need to set this checkbox to “Disable” to ensure that the current part will have its RealTracks disabled. This plays a .
Generate RealTracks (Favorites) This command opens a short list of the most recently used RealTracks for a quick and convenient selection. Click on your choice in the list to begin generating the RealTrack. You can press the Escape key to cancel generation of the track. Regenerate Track This will regenerate an existing track.
The RealDrums Picker has many features to help you choose your RealDrum style. Enter a filter string like Salsa, Jazz, or congas and the displayed list of styles will be limited to styles/genres including that name. The [Update] button applies the current filter in the edit field. [Show All] clears the filter and shows all styles in the list. This will show styles that wouldn’t work well at the current song tempo. The acceptable range is shown in the Lo | Hi columns for the list of styles.
Press Escape to cancel generation of the track. Regenerate Track This will regenerate an existing track. If a track is a non-BB track, but it was generated individually from one of the generation options in Tracks window popup menu, or from one of the generation options on the [Generate] button popup menu, then the track name will be displayed in green. The track name being displayed in green or blue means that the track can be regenerated using this command.
The “Backup Most Recent Audio Take” setting in the Audio Options dialog, when enabled, will always backup the most recent audio take. This can be helpful if you accidentally recorded audio onto the WRONG audio track, or you accidentally punched-in instead of recording a regular take. If this happens you can undo the keeping of the most recent take and then use the Audio | Import Wave File command to insert the recorded audio onto a different track, by importing the RBBAKx.
Start recording by pressing the Record button. You can press the record audio button instead of record; it will automatically change a MIDI track type to Audio if the track is blank. Stop recording by pressing the Stop button or the bar. When recording is stopped a “Keep Take?” dialog appears that gives you the option to keep or reject the take. If you choose [Yes] the audio wave file will be saved and you will see an added event in the Events column for the track (Classic view).
Loop Record If you record while in Loop mode (which is activated using the loop button) the music will loop when recording is started with the Record button. The music that is recording during each loop can be put onto individual tracks after recording is finished, or the entire take can be put onto a single track like an ordinary recorded take. A dialog will pop up giving you a choice of whether the recorded audio will go on separate tracks or on the same track.
Rendering MIDI to audio is virtually automatic when using the DXi/VSTi synthesizer support in RealBand. Just go to the Audio menu and choose Merge Audio and DXi Tracks to Stereo Wave File, or to a WMA file, or to any compressed format (such as .MP3) that is supported by your computer. Note: If no audio tracks are present the MIDI tracks will still be rendered to audio using the DXi synthesizer. This feature requires that you have a DXi software synth assigned to the MIDI track(s) you are rendering.
3. In Options | MIDI Devices verify that the external MIDI driver is selected. It could be named MPU-401, MIDI Out Port or another name with the word “out” such as SB Live MIDI Out, or MIDI IO (input/output). 4. Click on the VU Meters button on the Tool Bar. 5. In the VU Meters window click on the Windows mixer button to open the Volume Control. To see the Recording Control select Options | Properties in the Volume Control window. 6.
The Audio Edit window shows graphical representations of the waveforms on the selected track. It scrolls as the song plays, with a thin red vertical stripe to mark the current song position. The number-ruler at the top of the window denotes the bar numbers of the current song. Small vertical lines are displayed at 8th and 16th note boundaries. This makes it easier to align audio to correct timing issues.
The Audio Edit window lets you edit only the left or right channels of a Stereo track instead of editing both channels. This lets you cut/paste or apply a non-real time effect (Edit | Audio Effects) to just the left or right channel. RealBand supports drag-and-drop editing in the Audio Edit windows. Select the highlighted region by holding down the Ctrl key with the left mouse button pressed, and then drag the region to a new location in the song.
Audio Edit Commands Audio editing uses the Edit menu commands. You can Cut, Copy, and Paste audio data just as if it were text. Each action brings up its own dialog, which can be launched with the standard Windows keystroke commands Ctrl+X for Cut, Ctrl+C for Copy, and Ctrl+V for Paste. The cross fade option when pasting audio smoothes out a paste, so that no audible “clicks” are heard at splice points of pastes.
Audio Effects This is a submenu that contains all of the permanent audio effects for RealBand. The audio effects in this submenu are actually external plug-ins that are transparently integrated with RealBand, but actually aren’t built-in to the program itself. You’ll be able to use them just as if they were built-in to RealBand.
These features are also useful for learning your favorite up-tempo song. Load the file and play it back at half speed. If the song is in the key of F but you would rather learn it in Eb, transpose it down 2 semitones and continue playing at half-speed. As you master the song, you can gradually increase the tempo until you can play along at full speed. The Time Stretch and Pitch Shift dialog lets you stretch (or reduce) the length of the highlighted section of audio tracks.
setting is the inverse of the New Length Percentage. For example, a New Speed Percentage of 50% (half speed) will result in a New Length Percentage of 200% (double length). Old Tempo and New Tempo: If you specify old and new tempos, this is another way of adjusting the speed, but this method lets you think in terms of a change in tempo rather than a change in speed as a percentage. Quality: There are 8 different choices here. The “best” choice depends on the source material.
3-BAND_AUTOCORR: Even slower. It may sound much better than the above on simple tracks, but it may not sound better than 8BAND_SUM on mixes. 4-BAND_AUTOCORR: This method is slow, about the same speed as 8-BANDSUM_HYBRID. It may sound better than 8-BANDSUM_HYBRID on simple tracks. 8-BANDSUM_HYBRID: This method is about the same speed as 4-BAND_AUTOCORR. If processing speed is not an issue, 8-BANDSUM_HYBRID is likely to be the best choice for full mixes.
Merge Audio and DXi Tracks to Compressed File... This command works the same as the Merge Audio and DXi Tracks to Stereo Wave File... command, except that this will compress the file. When you execute this command, RealBand generates a temporary stereo PCM file, and then a dialog will pop up which will prompt you to select an audio output format. After you select a format and press OK, the program will compress the file. If you select an MPEG layer-3 format, RealBand will save the file with an .
Chapter 9: Notation and Printing Notation Overview The Notation window displays the notes of a MIDI track on a staff and lets you print music on your printer. Open the Notation window with the “eighth-note” button, with the Window | New | Notation menu option, or with the keystrokes Alt+F2. Notation Window Tool Bar Opens the Notation Window Options dialog where user settings and preferences are made. Launches the Print Options dialog to print music. Opens the Standard notation mode window.
The Zoom Out button reduces the size of the Notation Window’s font. The Zoom In button increases the size of the Notation Window’s font. The Section Text button lets you place a text event at any location on the staff window. When you press this button, you’ll see a dialog box with a list of any existing text events. The Scrub Mode button plays the notes in the song as you drag the mouse horizontally over the notation.
This is a courtesy which helps to remind you that the note is now played as expected within the current key. Entering Chord Symbols Chords symbols can be entered in the notation for each beat of a song. A beat is equal to the numerator of the current time signature. For example, if the song is 2/4, you could enter up to 2 chord symbols per bar. If a song is 6/8, you could enter up to 6 chords per bar (although you likely won’t want to enter that many).
Note: When creating .KAR files you enter lyrics in RealBand as usual, and if you save as a .KAR file the lyrics will be converted to the KAR format. Unlike the .KAR format RealBand lyrics should not be preceded by spaces. Syllables are indicated with dashes, and paragraphs and lines are indicated with backslashes and forward slashes at the end of a line or paragraph. Multi-Syllable Words: If a word has two or more syllables, you should follow the syllable with a dash.
Editable Notation window in 16th note (even) resolution. Moving Notes Notes can be moved via drag and drop. To move a note, move the mouse cursor over an existing note and then click and hold the left mouse button. The mouse cursor will change to a different shape. While keeping the mouse button pressed, move the mouse cursor over to the location you wish to drop the note and then let go of the mouse button. The note will be moved to the place you dropped it.
This dialog allows editing of: − The MIDI channel for the note. − The exact time location. − Note name. − Velocity of the note. − Duration of the note in beats and ppq. Forced Accidental - If a note is being displayed as a sharp, but you want it to appear as a flat (or vice versa), you can force that here. Note Type - You can choose for the note to be Normal, Invisible (note will sound but will not appear in regular notation), or Guitar Bend (a B will appear above the note).
1. 2. 3. Click and hold the left mouse button at the upper right corner of the rectangular section you want to highlight. Make sure you don’t click on any existing notes, and make sure you don’t release the left mouse button until you are finished highlighting. Move the mouse down and to the right to form a rectangle. You will see a rectangular section of the Notation window become highlighted in reverse. When you’ve finished highlighting release the left mouse button.
Insert Section Text – Launches a dialog that lets you insert a Section Text event. Section Letters – A submenu will let you select a section letter from A – Z, or Remove, which removes the nearest section letter to where you right-clicked. Cleanup Orphaned Notation Controller Events – This will automatically remove stray notation controller events, such as any that no longer have notes associated with them.
The symbols supported are: Slurs And other accents: Crescendo − Regular Decrescendo − Legato Staccato − Staccatissimo − Marcato Choose the event type (slur, decrescendo, etc.) in the Notation Event list box. The Length of Event field determines the length of a slur, crescendo, or decrescendo. The length is specified in beats and ticks.
Chord Height Adjustment The Notation Event dialog also lets you make an adjustment to the chord symbol height for a beat, by choosing the Chord Height Adjustment event type. This setting allows for adjustment of the vertical position of individual chord symbols. This is useful when chord symbols overlap other aspects of the notation. Staff Roll Notation Mode Staff Roll mode is similar to a piano roll, except the notes are shown on a grand staff.
You can also use this setting to make the resolution equal to between 1 and 4 beats rather than complete bars. This is mainly for editing purposes. If you use beats with this setting, the program will ignore any “Bars Per Line -| From This Screen On” markers in order to display the partial bars. The “Bars Per Line - From This Screen On” setting lets you change the horizontal resolution from this screen on.
Hint: This setting is also useful for displaying music for non-concert instruments such as trumpet or saxophone. Trumpet players (and other Bb instruments) should set transpose to +2; Alto Saxophone (and other Eb instruments) should set the transpose to -3. The music is then displayed in the correct key for the instrument, but plays in the concert key to the MIDI card.
The Bar # Font setting lets you choose either the Notation Font, or a different font of your choice. The percentage setting lets you adjust the percentage relative to the default size. The following group of settings is for Standard Notation mode only, and don't have any effect in Staff roll mode: The “Tick Offset” lets you display the music ahead or behind the beat.
If this setting is enabled, but there is no forced MIDI channel, i.e., the Ch field in the Tracks window is set to zero, RealBand will search the track for the nearest MIDI event in the track that is located before the time of the note you are currently attempting to insert. If a MIDI event was found in the track, then RealBand will set the channel of the note you're currently attempting to insert so that its' MIDI channel matches the MIDI channel of the event which was found.
- Glitch Duration in MS is a setting used by the clean routine to determine which notes are glitches and which notes are valid. Increasing this setting increases the likelihood that notes will be detected as glitches when clean mode is checked and the notation is in non-editable Notation mode. - Glitch Velocity is a setting used by the clean routine to determine which notes are glitches and which notes are valid.
The Lead Sheet window can display notation for up to seven tracks at the same time. In order to display multiple tracks, you should first select the tracks in the Tracks window or Bars window and then open up a new Lead Sheet window. Another way to select multiple tracks is in the Lead Sheet Options window.
Lead Sheet window that is currently displaying multiple tracks. If you attempt to display multiple tracks and the lead sheet appears overcrowded, you should reduce the Font Size setting in the Lead Sheet Options dialog. This will solve the problem of staves bumping into each other. Note: When printing, the Font Size in the print options dialog controls the font size for printing.
The “Clef Sign Every Line” and “Key Signature Every Line” checkboxes let you decide if the lead sheet should show the clef sign and key signature on every line. These two settings are the same settings as found in the Print Options dialog of the Notation window. The “Bars Per Line” setting determines how many measures are drawn on each line of the lead sheet in 4/4. If the Bars Per Line is set to 4, you will get 8 measures per line if the time signature is 2/4.
Copy/Paste Song Lyrics to Lead Sheet Easily copy and paste lyrics from other applications, to be appended to your lead sheet for display and printout, with selectable font. Pressing the Memo button on the Lead Sheet window will launch the Lead Sheet Memo Dialog. In this dialog you can type in a memo, such as extra lyrics, etc. The memo will show up after the last line of notation in Lead Sheet or notation printout. The Choose Font... button lets you choose which font is used to display the memo.
Printing The [Print] button lets you print out music. When you press the print button, the Print Options dialog will pop up. Print Options Dialog This dialog lets you change various settings that affect the printout. These settings will remain in effect until you exit the program. Almost all of these settings are saved to RealBand .SEQ files. The “Include Bass Clef” and “Include Treble Clef” checkboxes let you decide whether the printout should contain the Bass Clef, Treble Clef, or both.
The “Number of Copies” setting allows you to easily print out multiple copies of notation. You can print any number of copies from 1 to 1000. Select the “Bar Numbers” checkbox to print only the range of bars defined by the Print Options’ “From” and “Thru” boxes. The “Setup Printer” button lets you configure your printer. The changes to the printer configuration will be in effect for printing music until you exit the program. The “OK – Print Preview” button launches the Print Preview.
The [Opt] button will access the Preview Options, such as the bitmap dimensions and the type of file used if you wish to save a page to a graphics file. The [Screen Width] button will make the size of the pages in the preview equal to the width of the screen. The [Full Page] button will make the size of the pages just big enough to see the entire image in proportion without having to do any scrolling. The [Print…] button returns to the Print Options dialog.
Chapter 10: Piano Roll Window Overview The Piano Roll window enables precise graphic editing of note timing and duration. You can also graphically edit Note Velocity, Controllers, Program Changes, Channel Aftertouch, or Pitch Bend. There are 2 panes in the window – one for notes and the other for controllers, velocity, and other data.
Note Duration Set the default duration of new inserted notes. It is easy to mouse-edit a note's duration after a note is inserted, so it is usually sufficient to select a typical note duration that makes sense for your purposes and then mouseedit the duration of “exception” notes after they are inserted. View/Edit Graphic Data Determine what graphic data to view or edit in the bottom Graphic Data panel. Choose Velocity, Controller, Program Change, Channel Aftertouch, and Pitch Bend.
For instance, you could drag to select all notes in bars 2 thru 7. Then you could Ctrl+drag to toggle off note selections in bar 4. By using the Shift and Ctrl keys, very flexible time selections can be made. Keyboard Pitch Panel 1. Click on a single note of the keyboard to select all notes of the clicked pitch. 2. Click+drag on the keyboard to select all notes in a pitch range. 3. Shift+click+drag to add another set of notes to the selection. 4. Ctrl+click+drag to invert a pitch selection.
If multiple events are selected, and you want to change duration of all selected events, use Shift+click+drag. Otherwise a click on a note will deselect the previous selection, and it will only select/edit the clicked note. Insert a Note: Hold the Shift+Ctrl keys. The cursor becomes a pencil. Click where you want the note and it is inserted with a duration from the Dur drop-down menu, and on the channel selected by the Chan drop-down menu.
Edit Events Edit Event Value: Move the cursor over the top half of an event. An up-down cursor appears. Click+drag vertically to scale event values. To scale a selected group of events, Shift+click+drag vertically on one of the events in the selection. Edit Event Time: Move the cursor over the bottom half of an event. A left-right cursor appears. Click+drag horizontally to slide the event in time. To slide a group of events, Click+drag on one of the events in the selection.
Select All Graphic Events (Of Current Channel): right-click the Graphic Event Panel or Graphic Event Ruler. If the Chan combo box is set to “All,” this item will select all graphic events of the current view/edit type on all channels. Otherwise, all graphic events of the current view/edit type that match the current MIDI channel are selected. For instance, you could select all channel 4 modulation events, then Delete, to easily remove all of those events from the Track.
Vertical Scroll Bar, [+] and [-] Buttons Scroll to see different note ranges (does not scroll the Graphic Event Panel) and zoom the vertical display. Zoom to Selection Button Make a selection of notes, and then click the Zoom To Selection button. The vertical pitch range and horizontal time range adjusts to fill the note panel with the selected notes.
Chapter 11: Mixer Window Overview The Mixer window provides real time control of volume and effects. You can launch it with the toolbar button or by typing ALT+WÆ8. This is an integrated mixer that controls both MIDI and Audio tracks. There are sliders for all 48 tracks, 8 auxiliary effects (Aux) busses, and a combined total of 16 audio output ports or audio subgroups. The Mixer track strips conveniently show the track name vertically to the left of the volume sliders.
To use the slider controls, simply click, hold and drag the control knob using the mouse or click on the control strip above or below the knob to move the slider in small increments. Holding the mouse button down on the control strip causes continuous movement of the control in small increments until the mouse button is released.
Audio Track Strip This is the Mixer strip for an Audio track. - - the [FX] button opens the DirectX/VST Window where up to four real time effects can be inserted into the track. each track has four auxiliary effects sends that can be assigned to any four of the eight available Aux busses. Each Aux bus can have up to four chained effects. the rotary knobs set the send level to each Aux bus. Right-click on a knob to enter an exact level for the send.
Master Controls and Mixer Utilities The two knobs in the All column serve as master reverb and chorus settings. These controls will affect the overall level of Reverb and Chorus without changing the settings on individual tracks. ◄ Reverb ◄ Chorus The volume slider control in the All column is the master volume control. The [Pan] control in the All column will change the settings for all 48 tracks at the same time. When a .
All .DLLs or .EXEs that begin with the “$” character, e.g., $GS.DLL, will show up in the dialog (without the “$” character). This run button (to the left of the [.EXE] [.DLL] button) changes to show the name of the currently running .DLL or .EXE plug-in, such as the GS Settings dialog or the RealBand built-in Tuner. Click on this button to open the window displaying the currently running application. These .DLLs and .
Note that this panel is scrollable, so if you can’t see all of the faders just use the ◄ ► scroll arrows to get to the one you want. If you were to then set the output ports of tracks 2, 3, and 4 to G2 (i.e., port 2, which is now called Subgroup 2), and you were to adjust the volume of Subgroup 2 in the mixer the same way you do for output ports, this will affect the volume of all 3 tracks as a whole. You could also add effects to the subgroup in the mixer the same way you do for output ports.
Options The [Options] button brings up the DX/VST Options dialog: These options are for managing the real time DirectX and VST effects plug-ins on your system. The chapter on Digital Audio Features has complete details. Mono Tracks Can use effects in Stereo Mode This setting in the Audio Options dialog allows mono audio tracks to use the real time effects track inserts in stereo mode for better sounding mixes.
Note: This feature only applies to track effects inserts. Aux busses have always worked in stereo mode (if the effects were stereo). This feature, when enabled, will also cause RealBand to use up more CPU processing power. Aux Busses Each track's mixer channel strip also has four assignable AUX knobs that let you individually control the send levels for up to four auxiliary effects on each track. There are eight Aux (auxiliary) effects busses in the Mixer window. Each allows a chain of up to four effects.
Chapter 12: Wizards, Tools, and Plug-Ins Audio Chord Wizard Overview The Audio Chord Wizard is an extremely powerful feature that automatically finds chord symbols (C, Fm7 etc.) by analyzing the audio content of a song (MP3/WAV/WMA or CD-audio file). The song can be in a digital file format (MP3/WMA/WAV), one that you created in RealBand, or directly loaded from a CD. In addition to the chords, the Audio Chord Wizard also automatically determines the bar lines and a Tempo map.
Average tempo, right-click for options. Song time signature, 2/4 to 12/8 supported. Song key signature (set by user). Use to correct pitch of song if necessary. Chord Detection accuracy depends on the accuracy of the bar lines. If bar lines are not well-aligned then the Chord Detection can be expected to be rather poor. It is quick and easy to align the bar lines on most songs, once you get the hang of it. The first task is to locate the beginning of Bar One.
The shortcut keys and mouse playback controls make it easy to find Bar One. Tap the space bar to begin play, watch the Location Cursor, and listen for the downbeat. If the Location Cursor passes the downbeat and you were not completely certain of the location, you can tap the W key to rewind to the song beginning and replay the first part of the song, to audition the downbeat as many times as necessary to make sure of its location. You can also single-click in the Chords panel to jump the playback position.
When satisfied with the Bar lines and Chords, click the [OK] button to return the Chords and Tempo Map to BandIn-a-Box or RealBand. Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts make it easier to navigate the song and tap in bar lines without having to work the mouse with start/stop/scroll actions. Play/Pause- SPACE BAR, or Multimedia keyboard PLAY/PAUSE key or (certain keyboards) PLAY key.
Slightly Wrong: Sometimes syncopated songs can have musical anticipations which make ACW guess a tempo slightly too fast or slightly too slow. Completely, Horribly Wrong: Some songs have rhythms difficult for a computer to understand. Sometimes a song's rhythmic beats are spaced in such a way that a song with a perfect Tempo of 120, might mathematically BETTER fit the audio beats at some simple (but wrong) related ratio such as 80, 100, 160, or 180 BPM.
but if you set Fine Tune to +100 Cents, ACW would display chords in the key of B. Similarly, if you set Fine Tune to -100 Cents, it would display that song's chords in the key of C#. That simple use of the Fine Tune control is just a backwards way to transpose the Chords. But if you set Fine-Tune somewhere in the middle, ACW looks for notes that are somewhere “in the cracks” between the piano keys.
Odd-Length Bars and Drastic Tempo Changes: If a 4/4 song contains occasional bars of 3/4, 5/4, or whatever, or if there are sections where the music has an extreme ritard or accelerando, sometimes you can just Tap Bar Lines to adjust it. But it is sometimes more convenient to manually add or delete bar lines. The following example song has an overall Time Signature of 4/4, but Bar 9 should have a time signature of 2/4.
Change Bar 10 to its desired duration. Hover the mouse over the red triangle marker at Bar 11, and the mouse cursor becomes a drag cursor. Click and drag the bar line to the location marked 11:3 Now we have edited bar 9 to have its proper 2/4 Time Signature and preserved the song tempo on both sides of the 2/4 bar. Precise “Floating Point” Tempos RealBand supports precise floating-point tempos, such as 120.514 BPM.
You must enable the QWERTY keys to be active for the Conductor during playback. This is done by selecting the “Enable Control by QWERTY keys” checkbox on the Conductor Window. If you want to control the Conductor using the MIDI keyboard, you need to enable this by selecting the checkbox “Enable control by MIDI keyboard.” in the MIDI keyboard control box. When this setting is enabled, any MIDI input will be interpreted as a hot key for the Conductor, and you won’t hear MIDI thru.
- Loop 1 bar/4 bars/# of bars/screen/part/chorus/section, - Pause/stop the song. In addition, using the MIDI keyboard, you can also use the Conductor to: A1 (note#21) Turn MIDI Conductor OFF Bb1 Turn MIDI Conductor ON B1 Turn MIDI Conductor ON only as note is held down The various functions of the Conductor are also available with MIDI keys and QWERTY hot keys. Customizing the Sections Sections: This allows you to define up to 10 points in the song that are sections.
section begins at the end of the bar). But you can change the default for the action to take place at the end of the current bar or current part marker etc. Play Control Buttons This plays the song. Hot key = F4, MIDI note = F4. This stops playback. Hot key = Esc, MIDI note = F#4. Example uses of the Conductor: In this example, we don’t have custom sections set, so the default sections apply (middle chorus = section 4 etc.). - Jump to the start of middle choruses during playback (press “4”).
F4 Play F4 F#4 Stop Escape A4 MIDI panic F12 Bb4 Previous Jukebox song Ctrl+Shift+F8 B4 Next Jukebox song Shift+F8 Db5 Open Notation window Ctrl+W D5 Lead Sheet window Alt+W F6 to D7 Jump to sections 1-10 of the song 1-9 and 0 Eb7 Loop current chorus A E7 Loop current section S F7 Loop current bar Z F#7 Loop current 4 bars X G7 Loop current part C Ab7 Looping ON, previous setting V A7 Looping OFF B Bb7 Go Back 1 Chorus Ctrl+A B7 Go Back 1 Section Ctrl+S C8
TranzPort Support - Wireless Remote Control support for RealBand! The Frontier Design TranzPort® is a wireless remote control hardware unit (Electronic Musician Editors’ Choice 2006) that now allows you to control RealBand from 30 feet away! The backlit LCD provides a two line readout. Buttons and a wheel allow control of many RealBand features. Select songs and control Play, Stop, Pause, and Loop. Select, Mute, and Solo tracks as well as Volume and Tempo changes are all supported.
- Next+Wheel - Increase or Decrease MIDI Patch number for current track. Shift+Prev - jump to previous marker in RealBand. Shift+ Next - jump to previous marker in RealBand. Add - add a new marker at current song location. Rewind button – rewind. Fast fwd button - fast forward. Stop button – stop. Play button – play. Record button – record.
Pitch to MIDI plug-in will analyze a monophonic audio track and create an equivalent MIDI track. Min Dur - Minimum note duration (in milliseconds). This setting helps to ignore very short glitch notes, short tracking errors within notes, and fixes tracking wobble on note decay. As notes decay and become very quiet the note is not very loud compared to the noise in the track which means the converter will have more difficulty measuring the pitch. If you get too many glitches increase the Min Dur setting.
depending on the MIDI latency and audio latency of your sound card. The playback timing will be much better once the MIDI track has been exported back into RealBand. Note: The audio audition uses the Windows default audio device, and the MIDI audition uses the Windows default MIDI device. MIDI Channel - The audition MIDI channel. MIDI Octave - The audition octave. This only affects the octave of audition playback. It does not affect the pitch of file output.
To access this feature select Audio | Merge Audio and DXi Tracks to WMA file. In the example we chose 160Kbps, since we want the file to sound as clear as possible. You can set this quality/resolution parameter from a low of 6Kbps up to this 160Kbps rate. You might want to choose a setting of around 32Kbps (modem speed) if you want to make a file that can “stream” on your web site. Source – This field displays the source WAV file. It is for informational purposes only. This field cannot be edited.
MiniBurn details The Burn List Burn list files are displayed in MiniBurn’s central file list region. Trk - Track Number File Name - Path and name of Wave files Time - Play time of each track, formatted in minutes:seconds:frames. Burn Time indicates the sum of all the burn list track times. Avail Time indicates the time available on the blank CDR, if a writeable CDR or CDRW has been inserted in the CD Burner.
miniburn.exe - Main program executable. This program can be run as a plug-in from within RealBand, or it can be run stand-alone. Double-click this file (located in the main RealBand folder) to run Miniburn in stand-alone mode. done.wav - This wave file (if present) will play when the burning operation is complete. You can use any standard wave file – just save it as done.wav and the program will play that file when done. burn.txt - The program automatically looks for and loads files specified in the burn.
behavior in response to the different notes. For instance, the Hi-Hat responds differently to Close Hat, Pedal Hat, and Open Hat MIDI notes. The on-screen instruments may be played by mouse clicking or by pressing the appropriate computer keys. When playing by mouse click or computer keys, the Shift key can be used to switch the velocity between two userspecified levels (i.e. loud=100 and soft=50).
Computer Keys Press computer keys to play drums. Drums are grouped on the computer keyboard by category. The kick, snare, and hihat sounds are on the lowest keyboard row. The lower-middle row contains toms and cymbals. The upper-middle row contains Latin drums, and the top row contains Latin hand percussion. The Numpad keys contain the rest of the Latin hand percussion plus the electronic tones. Multi - Note Instruments Kick Drum - Ac.
Note Velocity When playing drums with a mouse or computer keys, the Shift key toggles between two levels of note velocity. The default velocity is 90, with a default shift key velocity of 127. The two velocity levels can be set any way desired. For instance, if you want the Shift key to send quieter notes you can program the shift velocity lower than the nonshift velocity. - The “Randomize” checkbox enables the program to send random velocity levels when playing the drums.
- “Ctrl Key” - Sometimes it is distracting to play the drums with the computer keys, because if you accidentally play the spacebar or Enter key, it halts playback. With this option enabled, playback is controlled by Ctrl+space and Ctrl+Enter, so it is more difficult to accidentally stop playback. - “Off” - Playback is not controlled by the computer keyboard. Guitar Tuner The Guitar Tuner is launched with the “tuning fork” button, which is found on the toolbar.
Fine Adjust: Modify the tuner’s calibration. For instance, if Fine Adjust is set to 10 cents an instrument must be tuned 10 cents higher than usual to measure in tune. If you have access to a Strobotuner or other expensive tuner you could calibrate this Guitar Tuner program to agree with the other tuner you use. The accuracy of this Guitar Tuner program should be within a few cents of standard on most computers.
Chromatic Pitch - Select this radio button to select any desired note and octave. “Note” - Pick the desired note. “Octave” - Pick the desired octave. “Restrict Range” - The reference tone can become painful and possibly dangerous to speakers in the very high range, if the playback system is set too loud. Similarly, very low reference tones could damage woofers.
This can help the Tuner work smoother on slow computers, or free up the sound input driver for other programs which are running. “Shut down audio input when generating Tones” - When the Generate Tones window is active, it will close the sound input channel. This can help the Tuner work smoother on slow computers. If the Audio Input continues to be processed while the computer is generating tones, it makes more work for the program. This extra work might stall slow computers.
Sequencer Control: Standard transport controls: Play, Rewind, and Stop. Timer: A millisecond timer useful for viewing timing relationships between MIDI messages. If the computer is under a “light load,” this timer is fairly accurate. However, if the computer is under a “heavy load” the values can be expected to be less than perfectly accurate. You can record MIDI data in RealBand and examine the timing in the RealBand Event List window.
“MIDI Monitor is Always On Top” - Check this item to keep the MIDI Monitor window on top of other programs or windows. When Display is Full: The display buffer can record a maximum of 32000 events. There are three options when the display gets full: - “Stop” - Stop capturing events and turn off the timer. - “Wrap Around” - When the display is full, begin over-writing it from the start.
Channels: Select which channels are received. Events: Select which Event types are received. Controllers: Select which Controller types are received. Save Text Window Capture the MIDI Monitor display contents to a text file for further analysis or printout. When the [Save Text] button is pressed in the MIDI Monitor program’s main window, and the “Display recent events in Text window” option has been enabled in the Settings dialog, the Save Text window will open, containing the most recent MIDI events.
Copy: Copies the selected text to the Windows clipboard. Save: Saves all window text to a .TXT file. You can also use the common Ctrl+X (cut), Ctrl+C (copy), Ctrl+V (paste), and Delete keys to edit the text. Note: If column alignment of the text appears ragged adjust the font and tab spacing in your word processor, or the column width in your spreadsheet program. We suggest 10 or 12 point System or Courier fonts.
Chapter 13: Reference This chapter describes the pull-down menu commands in RealBand. The information discussed in this chapter is divided into separate sections based on each menu. The File Menu The File Menu contains commands that are related to loading and saving files. New This command clears the current song from memory so that you can start a new song.
You can selectively restrict the type of file you’re looking for. The “File of type” masks are as follows: RealBand native files (.SEQ), MIDI files (.MID), Band-in-a-Box songs (.?G?) Drum Pattern files (.DP), Karaoke file (.KAR), or Wave audio files (.WAV) as well as, MP3 audio files (.MP3) provided the MP3 codec is present in your system. WMA: Windows Media Audio, a compressed audio format developed by Microsoft. WMV: Windows Media Video is a compressed video format developed by Microsoft.
Custom File Dialog We’ve made a custom Open dialog for you with more features than the standard dialog. To see the custom Open dialog, go to Options | Preferences (Ctrl+F5) and select the checkbox for “Long File Names use custom open/save dialog.” Custom file dialog is available to Open and Save files. Save This command will offer to save your work along with a name of your choosing.
Save As Template File templates make it easier for you to begin new projects by selecting from a list of available templates (instead of from a completely blank slate). The templates can contain preferred track layouts, preferred song settings, and, since templates are stored in .SEQ format, they can even contain MIDI or audio backing tracks. You can create your own custom templates simply by using the File | Save As Template command. Since templates are stored in .
example, if you need a piece of music lasting 60.00 seconds, and it is 45 bars, you can use the calculator to find the tempo that will achieve that. Load Scrap The Load Scrap command works in the same way as the Open command except that a selected .MID or .SEQ file is loaded into the scrap buffer instead of directly into a project. You can then paste the contents of this scrap buffer anywhere within the song. This is useful for importing another file into your current project.
on track 8 you would type an 8 for track 3, etc. If the lyrics and melody are both on the same track, for example track 6, you would type a 6 for both the lyrics and melody track. If there are any tracks such as non-lyrics text, bass, etc. that are not included in a given song you should type a 0 in the edit controls for these. Note: KAR files use a slightly different format than RealBand’s native files to store lyrics. When loading a .
save a .WS file, the Event List window would be restored when the .WS file is loaded. However, it will display all the tracks –regardless of how many were displayed before. Window Setup - Normalize Window Setup This command resets all windows to the “factory defaults.” When selected, RealBand will restore the window locations and sizes that were in effect when the program was first installed. Print This feature will send notation to your printer to be printed.
previous state. If you are working in the Comments window, this will also undo the last text edit command. RealBand supports up to 100 levels of Undo, the number is set in Options | Preferences | General. Note: The Undo command itself can be undone. If you’ve just executed the Undo command it will appear in the menu as “Redo.” The REDO command simply re-executes the command that was just undone.
the events that RealBand will allowed to pass through. There is also a row within the filter that lets you specify which MIDI channels will pass through the filter. The Use column determines whether or not an event type will pass through the filter. If the Use column is checked, the event type will be used, but if it isn't checked the event won't pass through the filter. For example, if the use column in the Note row is not checked then note events will not pass through the filter.
Copy This command works in different ways –depending upon which window is active. If you are working in the Comments window, this command will copy the selected text to the clipboard. Otherwise, this command copies the marked area of selected tracks, as specified by the From: and Thru: settings, and places the copied events in a scrap buffer.
The Options field gives you 4 choices: 1) Merge the Paste with existing data. 2) Overwrite Existing Data. 3) Create a Gap on the currently Selected Tracks. 4) Create a Gap on All Tracks. Events Checkbox: When this checkbox is enabled this command will offer the ability to paste any Events that are currently in the scrap buffer. Tempo Changes Checkbox: When this checkbox is enabled the Paste command will paste any tempo changes that were copied or Cut into the tempo scrap buffer.
1-Track Paste This feature performs a similar function as the Paste command except that it pastes all the data onto one single track. Therefore, you should select only one track as the destination track or this command can’t be performed. This command will only paste MIDI data to a MIDI track and WAV data to an audio track. For example, if you 1Track Paste to an audio track, and there is also MIDI data in the scrap buffer, the MIDI data will be ignored.
You can delete chord symbols individually for a specific beat of a song by pressing Ctrl+Delete or the comma (,) key while in the Notation window (only if the Ch checkbox in the Notation window is checked). Edit - Audio Effects This submenu contains all of the installed audio (DSP) effects that can be used with Wave Digital Audio Tracks (or “rendered” MIDI tracks). The audio effects in this submenu are actually external “plug-ins” that are transparently integrated with RealBand.
When you select this command you will be prompted for the type of event to search for, followed by the search ranges. Next, you will be prompted for: 1) the type of event with which to replace the found events, and 2) the replacement ranges.
Pressing the Esc key at any time will take you back to the previous step. The events that match the search criteria will be changed to the kind of event you specified as the replacement event type (assuming you didn’t select the same replacement type as the search type). In addition, the program will re-map the values of these events from the search ranges in order to fall within the replacement ranges.
Length of MIDI Music This command alters the length of the marked area of all selected tracks by the specified percentage. For example, a setting of 50% will shorten the length by half. You can also use the Data Filter to determine which events this feature affects. The Edit | Length of MIDI Music command supports floating point percentages. You can specify a length percentage as a floating-point number, such as 110.
channels). In this case you would select an Old Channel range of 3 through 8, and a New Channel range of 11 through 16. This would result in all the events in the guitar part being remapped to MIDI Channels 11 through 16. Tip: You can also use the Data Filter to refine which events are affected by this feature. Eliminate Note Overlap This feature is a convenient way of eliminating overlapping notes without having to spend a lot of time manually identifying and editing each one.
If the Use Channel Table checkbox is enabled a dialog box will pop up before this command is issued. This gives you the opportunity to choose which tracks the various MIDI Channel events are extracted to. For example, as you’ll notice when the Channel Table dialog box pops up, the default is for Channel 3 to be extracted to Track 3. Using this table you could, for example, enable this feature to extract certain events on Channel 3 to Track 19.
The Percentage setting will cause the velocity values to be moved either closer or farther away from the average velocity. A percentage setting of 100 results in no change. A percentage setting of 50 would compress the velocity values so that they are 50% closer to the average velocity. For example, if the average velocity is 64 and a note has a velocity of 84, the note’s velocity will be moved midway between these values (64 and 84) to become 74.
For example, if the Min Start Time Offset is “-5” and the Max Start Time Offset is 2, and a note begins at 2:01:100 the program will randomly move it anywhere between 2:01:095 and 2:01:102. If both the Min and the Max Start Time Offsets are set to 0 the notes won’t be moved. When MS is selected instead of Ticks, the min/max start time offset in the Randomize command is specified in milliseconds rather than ticks.
Insert Blank Bars Command The new Edit | Insert Blank Bars into song command makes it easy to insert blank bars into the song, with an option to intelligently adjust MIDI notes that are close to the boundary of the section you are inserting (useful if inserting bars in the middle of a song). This will insert blank bars at any location of the song, and push the music forward in time to create the blank bars. In the Insert at field, enter the bar at which you would like RealBand to place the blank bars.
Split MIDI drums This command will split a MIDI drum track to separate tracks. Custom settings allow you to control which notes go to which track. It acts upon the current track. If the “Auto-Fill Tracks for each MIDI note used setting” is enabled, then RealBand will automatically move each MIDI note over to a new blank track. If the “Custom” setting is enabled, you can specify which MIDI notes go to which track.
example, if the minimum note value is 50 and the maximum is 100, then only notes with a velocity of 50 up to a velocity of 100 will pass through the filter. Duration allows you to specify that only notes with durations within a specified range will be affected by your edit. If you check the “Use Secondary Filter” option at the bottom of the filter, then a second filter will pop up after you're done editing the regular filter.
- MP3: compressed audio files, popular on the Internet. Requires codec to be present on system. - WMA: Windows Media Audio, a compressed audio format developed by Microsoft. - WMV: Windows Media Video is a compressed video format developed by Microsoft. RealBand will load the audio from a WMV. - CDA: CD Audio is the file extension used by Windows to make CD audio tracks available for loading into programs like RealBand. Just put an audio CD into your CD-ROM, and then open a .
execute this command the program first generates a temporary stereo PCM file (Raw Wave). A dialog will then pop-up that will let you save the resulting stereo PCM wave file to a .WMA file (Windows Media Audio). Test Wave File or Compressed File This command launches your default media player so you can test your file for compatibility and playability with a standard Windows media player. Launch CD Burner This command launches the “Miniburn” CD Burner program.
The Track Menu This menu contains the following features: Duplicate This makes an exact copy of a track. You must select only one track as this feature is intended to duplicate one track at a time. You will be prompted to select a destination track. The destination track must be empty. Erase This command permanently erases all selected tracks and resets their track setup values to “0.” You will be prompted as to whether or not you wish to erase all selected tracks. This command can’t be undone later.
fretboard to display the notes. It consists of Controller Number 84 MIDI Events that have been inserted into the track in the Guitar window by pressing the insert position button. If you have created a single channel guitar track using your keyboard and you used the Guitar Window to insert position information then this command will help you convert the track into a multi-channel “MIDI Guitar” track. Six MIDI channels are used in this conversion, one for each guitar string.
created between the rubato section and the next clicked in section (since clicked in sections may be aligned to the next bar as explained later in this section). This sliding forward may cause a gap between the rubato section and the prior clicked in section or at the beginning of the song. There can be several rubato and clicked-in sections throughout a song. Each paired rubato/clicked in section can have its own tempo based on the tempo of the click track for the clicked in section.
Save Track to File This command lets you save the Current Track as a file. If the track is an audio track this will export it to a .WAV file. If the track is a MIDI track you can save it either to a .SEQ, .MID, or Type 0 .MID file. Drum/Patch Map This feature provides the ability to load a Drum/Patch Map file that is customized to your MIDI sound source. A Drum/Patch Map file has the .DK extension.
The Action Menu This menu contains commands dealing with recording or playback. Play You can start playback by using this command or pressing or by pressing the or by pressing the Play button. You can stop playback by using the stop command or by pressing the or the Stop button. Play From Start This command will play back the song from the beginning. Record You can start recording either by using the Record menu item or by pressing the Record button.
When recording WAV audio tracks the recording always overwrites any existing data even if you’re not punching in. In other words, audio recording works like a tape recorder. If you want to ADD to a track without overwriting the old/existing track simply select and use a new/blank track before recording additional material. Recording onto a MIDI track won’t overwrite any existing data unless Punch In mode is enabled.
Auto Advance: When the “Auto Advance” setting is checked the time will automatically advance to the next step after you play each note or a chord. You will see the Now: and Time: fields on the tool bar change accordingly as the time is advanced. Dotted Step: When Dotted Step is enabled the step size will be 1and 1/2 times the regular step size. (Example: a dotted eighth note is equal to 3 sixteenth notes.) Go to: Use the [Go to…] key to conveniently move to a new location.
Jukebox The Jukebox feature lets you automatically play a list of songs. When selected, a dialog box will pop up that offers you choices as to which songs will be played in a Jukebox session, etc. The “Play List String” field contains a list of songs to be played. “Wild Cards” are allowed, as shown in the illustration above. For example, if the “Play List String” is *.* then all .MID and .SEQ files in a specified directory will be played. Note: Only files with a .MID or .
The [OK] button will exit the Jukebox. Even if the Jukebox is playing you can still exit the Jukebox. You can always return to the Jukebox later. Note: Use the [Start] and [Stop] buttons within the Jukebox if you wish to stop and resume playing the Jukebox. Changing the Play List If you are playing a list of individual songs in a non-random order you can change the play list after you’ve already started. To do this, follow these steps: 1. First, enable the Stop Between Songs checkbox. 2.
The Resolution button toggles the resolution between 16 and 12 divisions per measure. When the resolution is 16 the patterns will have a straight feel. When the resolution is 12 the pattern will have a triplet (swung) feel. The Play button will play a pattern repeatedly –up to 100 times, or until the Stop button is pressed. The pattern is actually temporarily copied to track number 48 before playing the pattern and then is erased when playback is finished.
The Random button launches a dialog that ties the previous settings together and lets you specify whether the program will randomly alter the start times and velocities of notes when the “Fill Track with Drum Pattern” command is used. This feature does not randomly alter any notes in real-time. It will only randomly alter velocities when the Fill Track with Drum Pattern command is issued. If you re-select a fill the track will very likely be different each time.
Then a file Save As dialog will pop up, with a default .INI file name based on the name of the source patch file. When you press the [Save] button, RealBand will prompt you to add the new patches to your existing PATCHES.INI file.
Choose [Yes] to add your new patch list to the existing PATCHES.INI file. Choose [No] if you want to create a new .INI file with just the new patches. The original PATCHES.INI file will not be modified. To use your new .INI file by itself you will need to name it PATCHES.INI and copy it over the default PATCHES.INI file in your RealBand folder. Be sure to save a backup copy of the default PATCHES.INI file first. The next time you run RealBand it will recognize the new patch list.
From = Value This command lets you directly specify the From Time value. A dialog box will appear in which you can enter the new time. Thru = Value This command lets you directly specify the Thru Time value. A dialog box will appear in which you can enter the new time. Now = From This command sets the current time to the beginning of the marked area. Now = Thru This command sets the current time to the end of the marked area.
The Options menu contains access to various settings that affect basic program operation. Some of these options can be stored within a song if it is saved as a .SEQ file. Similarly, several of these options can also be saved into a .MID file. Tempo This command allows you change the current tempo of the song. You may choose a tempo value of 8 to 500. RealBand will automatically change the current tempo entry in the Tempo Map to the tempo that you select.
Punch In When the Punch In feature is enabled recording takes place between the From and Thru settings and will overwrite existing events in the specified section. When Punch In is disabled recording may occur at any time within the song and the data will be merged with any existing MIDI events. Press the Ctrl key while clicking on the Punch button to enable or disable punch-in mode without going into the Punch In dialog.
Sync Source This option determines which “clock source” will handle all the timing of the MIDI music. Internal: When the sync source is set to “internal” the program will handle all timing. The following two settings are also used when syncing to external devices: MIDI Sync: When the sync source is set to MIDI the program will use song position pointer (SPP) and MIDI clocks as the clock source.
4. The Highlighted Area setting will loop the song based on the highlighted area. This is the same highlighted area (From/Thru) that you use for editing. Auto Rewind When enabled, RealBand will automatically rewind to the location that playback or recording was started. The choices are “Recording Only,”“Playback Only,”“Both Recording and Playback,” or “Disabled.
The SysEx Input Buffers setting offers the ability to change the amount of SysEx input buffers allocated before receiving a SysEx dump. This setting can range between 2 and 512. The SysEx Input Buffer Size settings let you change the size of each input buffer allocated by RealBand before receiving a SysEx dump. The default size is 128. You can decrease this to as low as 64K to as high as 1024K.
The Audio File Type combo box gives you a choice of sampling rates from 22.05K to 96K at bit depths of either 16-bits or 24-bits. 16-Bit, 44.1 is the file type to use for files that you want to burn to audio CDs. Sample Rate Change This setting can be changed even if the song already has audio tracks. If you change the sample rate with a project that already has audio saved at a different sample rate the program will offer to automatically convert the song.
When this checkbox is enabled in the Audio dialog (and ASIO is selected in the Driver Type combo) then RealBand will take the ASIO input signal from input port number 1 and send it to output 1 so that you will hear the input through the speakers. You can apply real time effects to the monitored input by selecting “Input” in the top combo box of the DirectX/VST Real Time Effects dialog. You can then select up to four DirectX or VST effects.
If RealBand inserted a new track when recording using L+R, Undo won't remove the inserted track, but you could use the Remove Track command if you decided to remove the newly inserted track. Note: When multiple input ports are selected in the audio drivers dialog, this setting MUST be set to “L+R” in order to record multiple channels onto MONO tracks. (RealBand will set this to “L+R” automatically if you choose multiple input ports in the drivers dialog.
- 4BAND_SUM - Fast with better quality than 2BAND_SUM. Good for simple tracks or mixes. - 8BAND_SUM - This is the best-sounding fast method, likely to sound good on either simple tracks or mixes. - 2BAND_AUTOCORR - Noticeably slower than the above methods. It may sound much better than 8BAND_SUM on simple tracks, but it probably will not sound better than 8BAND_SUM on mixes. - 3BAND_AUTOCORR - Even slower, may sound much better on simple tracks, but it may not sound better than 8BAND_SUM on mixes.
The Convert PPQ of Loaded Files to PPQ checkbox, when checked, will automatically convert files to the selected PPQ resolution. For example, if the selected PPQ resolution is 480 PPQ (Pulses Per Quarter note), and this checkbox is checked, RealBand will automatically convert any files you load to 480 PPQ. RealBand supports PPQ as high as 3840, which allows for more precise audio editing, since at higher resolutions each tick spans a finer section of audio.
Backup Settings When the Create backup file when overwriting SEQ files settings is enabled, RealBand will always create a backup file (BKS file) when a .SEQ file is overwritten. For songs saved into the same hard drive that RealBand is installed, the backups are placed into RBBACKUP subfolder of the RealBand folder. For songs that are saved to a different hard drive, the backups are placed in a RBBACKUP folder which is off of the root (e.g. D:\RBBACKUP).
MIDI Out Use the MIDI Out dialog to choose the messages that will be sent to your MIDI sound source. Send MIDI SPP: Determines whether MIDI Song Position Pointer data is sent. SPP Locate Delay: Adjusts the delay time (in milliseconds) before playback is started after sending Song Position Pointer (SPP) information. This gives external MIDI devices the time required to find the proper location when syncing to the program.
sound source before starting playback. This ensures that you hear the proper sounds when playing from a new location within a song. Cache Patches when playback is started: If you are using an output driver that requires patch caching RealBand will update the patch cache when a .MID or .SEQ file is loaded. SysEx Delay: When multiple packets of system exclusive data are sent, many synthesizers require a slight delay between packets. A SysEx packet is a message that begins with (Hex) F0 and ends with F7.
Let’s say that you highlight the 4th port (Driver D) and move it to the top, and then you highlight the last port in the list (which is now Driver C, since Driver D was moved to the top). You now have 2 ports selected, Driver D at the top and Driver C at the bottom. Driver D and Driver C will be ports 1 and 2 within RealBand. The next time you launch the MIDI Driver Setup dialog, you’ll see Driver D and Driver C at the top, followed by the other two un-highlighted ports.
[Master Tuning…] allows you to master tune your sound card or sound module, useful if you're playing along with an instrument or recording that can't easily be re-tuned, like an acoustic piano. A setting of 0 is the default A = 440. This setting is saved between RealBand sessions. Enable TranzPort (if present) allow remote control from a TranzPort wireless DAW controller. Song Generation These are global settings that apply to all RealBand songs.
The [Select] button opens a browser where you can locate folders. The other settings enable or disable RealTracks, RealDrums, and patch changes embedded in styles. Metronome Access to the Metronome dialog. The metronome can be active during recording, playback, or both. Recording: If this checkbox option is enabled the metronome will be on/heard during recording. Playback: If this option is enabled the metronome will be on during playback. RealBand will send a specific note out via MIDI on each beat.
Metronome shuts off after count in: Shuts the metronome off after the count-in so it is silent during playback. Silent Count In: Ensures that the count-in will be silent (visual count-in only). This is useful if you are playing live and you don't want an audible count-in. Keep these settings permanent (ignore settings stored in .SEQ files) will cause RealBand to remember the current metronome settings and ignore any settings stored in .SEQ files. The Counting Down dialog visibly shows the numbers (e.g.
Piano Access to the Piano Settings dialog with settings applicable to the virtual piano display mode. There are two display modes for the piano: 1.) When the display mode is set to Current Track the piano will display notes as they are being played from the current (highlighted) track. 2.) When the display mode is set to All notes except for drum channel the piano will display the notes of all tracks except for notes that are on the drum channel.
The Window Menu The Window menu contains commands that aid in creating, selecting, and arranging windows. In RealBand you can open more than one instance of some types of windows. The New command offers the creation of such “multiple instance” windows. The Event List, Notation, Big Lyrics window, Audio Edit window, and Lead Sheet window are all windows that fall into this category.
You can also open an Event List while multiple tracks are selected. In this case the Event List will display all events encountered in the tracks that are selected. For example, if Tracks 1 through 3 were selected/highlighted when you created an Event List window, the Event List will display all the events occurring in those 3 tracks –regardless of what tracks you select later. Events are inserted by pressing the [Ins] key or button.
The Standard Notation mode displays the notes as regular music. Editable Notation mode will display standard notation but allow you to edit the notation. You will see standard notation with vertical gray lines that represent possible note locations. Staff Roll mode displays the notes as note heads (no stems) with optional duration and velocity lines. Also, the Staff roll mode will contain gray vertical lines across the staff. See the chapter on Notation and Printing for full details.
Audio Edit Window The Audio Edit window offers precision control of digital audio waveform editing. This window displays wave audio data as a large, editable waveform. The dB scale on the left side of the Audio Edit window gives you a better idea of the level of an audio track. The thin red vertical line that is visible within the Audio Edit window indicates the current time location in the song. It is seen in reverse video (i.e.
For stereo tracks, there is the option to apply edits to both channels or to either the left or right channel only. Percentage tempo buttons give you a choice of playing the song at 25% speed (one quarter the regular speed), 50% regular speed, 75% regular speed, and 100%, which is regular speed. This feature is also available with the Action | Play at Speed menu command.
Up to 7 tracks at a time can be displayed per Lead Sheet window. In order to display multiple tracks, you should first select the tracks in the Tracks window or Bars window and then open up a new Lead Sheet window. Another way to select tracks is in the Lead Sheet Options dialog. RealBand can also print notation with multiple tracks when you press the [Print] button at the top of a Lead Sheet window that is currently displaying multiple tracks.
The VU meters have an automatic peak-hold feature with gradual peak fallback, so it will be easy to see the transient peak levels if you’ve got your eye on the meters. For the Output, you may have to adjust your mixer settings within RealBand to keep the levels within a reasonable range. For the Input, you may have to press the speaker button to launch the Windows Record Control dialog, and you could then lower the input level.
Markers can be as close together in time or as far apart as you wish. Markers that are too close together will run into each other when displayed in the Bars window. In most situations such as marking verses and choruses of a song this isn’t a problem, but it is something to keep in mind when working with markers. Show Karaoke Window Use this command to display karaoke files. Tile The Tile command will arrange the various project windows so that an equal portion of each window is visible on the screen.
and then click on the number field for Track 4, this will make tracks 2 through 4 selected. Track 2 will still be the Current Track and tracks 3 and 4 will be highlighted in yellow. You can select/deselect individual tracks by clicking on a Track’s number field while holding down the Ctrl key. The Disclosure Triangle will reveal more information about a track by making the track row height taller.
If you right-click an audio track icon, the pop-up menu will have a Track Category item that lets you associate icons (small pictures) with the track’s audio content. So if an audio track is a guitar part, choose Guitar as the track category to display a guitar icon. You can use factory icons or your own custom user icons. User pictures are located in RB_Pictures\Audio_Pictures\User_Pictures in the RealBand folder.
Click on [Play Selected Area] to hear the highlighted section being edited. The [-] and [+] buttons (upper far left corner of the Tracks window) let you zoom in or zoom out the overview section. The [Snap] button causes the time indicator to snap to the nearest beat when changing the time location or when highlighting a region for editing. Note: If you have selected non-consecutive multiple tracks (e.g.
Chords Window The Chords window displays the chord symbols of a song. You’ll see the bars of the song displayed in rows. If a bar contains chord symbols they will be displayed to the right of the bar number. An optional setting inserts a line between each section of the song, as determined by the “a” and “b” part markers. There is another setting for the thickness of the line. When the song isn’t playing you can enter chord symbols by typing them.
The “Bars Per Line” setting determines how many measures will be drawn per line in the Chords window. The “Visible Lines Per Screen:” setting determines how many lines (rows) of chords are will be visible per screen. Each screen will always have 125 lines per screen in the Chords window, but the Visible Lines Per Screen setting controls how many lines will be visible without scrolling. The [Choose Font…] button lets you select a font for the Chords window.
Chord Wizard Right click in the Chords window to open this menu with Chord Wizard options. If you select MIDI Chord Wizard the program will automatically detect the chords in the song. If you’ve highlighted a range of bars, RealBand will only attempt to detect the chords for the highlighted range. If no bars are highlighted, RealBand will attempt to detect the chords for the entire song. You can use the Undo command if you want to undo this.
(Sustained 4 chords) Csus, C7sus, C9sus, C13sus, C7susb13, C7sus#11, C13sus #11, C7sus#11b13,C9susb13, C9sus#11, C13sus #11, C9sus#11b13, C7susb9, C13susb9, C7susb9b13, C7susb9#11, C13susb9#11, C7susb9#11b13, C7sus#9, C13sus#9, C7sus#9b13, C9sus#11, C13sus#9#11, C7sus#9#11b13, C7susb5, C13susb5, C7susb5b13, C9susb5, C9susb5b13, C7susb5b9, C13susb5b9, C7susb5b9b13, C7susb5#9, C13susb5#9, C7susb5#9b13, C7sus#5, C13sus#5, C7sus#5#11, C13sus#5#11, C9sus#5, C9sus#5#11, C7sus#5b9, C13sus#5b9, C7sus#5b9#11, C13sus
Comments Window The Comments window provides a space for you to keep notes of your project. The following is a list of the editing commands: Go to beginning of line. Home Go to end of line. End Go to beginning of text. ^Home Go to end of text. ^End Cursor Up. Up Cursor Down. Down Up one page. Page Up Down one page. Page Down Cursor Right. Right Cursor Left. Left Cursor Right one word. ^Right Cursor Left one word. ^Left Toggle Insert Mode. Ins Delete text. Del Cut text to clipboard.
SysEx MIDI Events - you can insert System Exclusive data directly into a MIDI track as MIDI events in the Event List window. You can record SysEx data in real time and when you keep a take, the SysEx data will be added to a MIDI track as SysEx events. You could also load SysEx data into a SysEx MIDI event by receiving SysEx data from your synth, or by loading the SysEx data from a file. SysEx MIDI events can also be edited.
Up Cursor Up. Down Cursor Down. Page Up Up one page. Page Down Down one page. Right Cursor Right. Left Cursor Left. ^Right Cursor Right one word. ^Left Cursor Left one word. Ins Toggle Insert Mode. Del Delete text. Ctrl+X Cut text to clipboard. Ctrl+Ins Copy text to clipboard. Shift+Ins Paste text from clipboard. If you save a song to a .SEQ file the SysEx data will be saved within the file.
Pitch bends are displayed in real time as blue lines extending in the direction of the bend. If the direction is up, then line extends higher on the neck than the original note. If the direction is down (such as if a pull-off were executed), then the bend extends lower on the neck. The pitch bends, shown as horizontal blue lines, will move horizontally along the string in real time illustrating the extent of the pitch bend.
Of course, the best way to record guitar music is with an actual MIDI Guitar Controller set to transmit over 6 separate MIDI channels (e.g., 11-16). The Note Indicator is a white square located to the right of the [Insert Position] button. When you pass the mouse cursor over the guitar fretboard the name of the note that the cursor comes into contact with is shown in this white box. This can be used for getting to know the note locations found on the guitar.
The Octave determines the range of notes that are displayed on the guitar fretboard. When set to 0, the fretboard will display notes normally. When set to “-1” for example, the guitar window can be used to correctly display bass lines instead. The Guitar window can display fretboards for guitar, bass, ukulele, mandolin, and banjo. Select the instrument fretboard from the Fretboard combo box. Alternate tuning presets, such as Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, etc.
Mixer Window The Mixer window provides real time control of effects and track volumes. You can launch it by typing ALT+WÆ8. Note that there are sliders for all 48 tracks, 8 auxiliary effects (Aux) busses, and a total of 16 audio output ports or audio subgroups. The Mixer window has stereo VU meters for each track, smoothly responsive sliders and knobs, individual track mute buttons, and a scrollable track strip. MIDI Track Strip This is the Mixer strip for a MIDI track.
- - \the [FX] button opens the DirectX/VST Window where up to four real time effects can be inserted into the track. each track has four auxiliary effects sends that can be assigned to any four of the eight available Aux busses. Each Aux bus can have up to four chained effects. the rotary knobs set the send level to each Aux bus. Right-click on a knob to enter an exact level for the send. use the green checkmark or red “x” above the fader to turn the track on and off, i.e.
Audio Subgroups Unassigned Outputs Work As Subgroups When this checkbox is enabled in the Audio dialog, any audio output ports that do not currently have a driver port assigned to them will function as subgroups. A subgroup is a bus or signal path that gives you the ability to control several tracks as a group. Suppose you only have one audio Output Driver port installed in RealBand and you’ve enabled the “Unassigned Outputs Work As Subgroups” checkbox.
Output Port FX Inserts Audio subgroups can be assigned to audio output ports that do not currently have a driver port assigned to them. These audio subgroups are used to apply real time effects to a specific group of tracks, with a chain of up to four effects on each subgroup. The final audio output also has an FX insert bus that allows up to four effects to be applied to the final mix. Audio Subgroup Audio Output Classic Tracks View Window This is the original tracks window from PowerTracks Pro.
Port: MIDI Port. This setting determines which MIDI port the data in a track is sent out. If the port selected is greater than the number of available output ports the events in the track will be sent out the highest available port. For example, if only one port is available and you select port number 2, the events will be sent out of port number 1. Prg: Program Change. When this setting is enabled a MIDI patch change will be sent at the start of a song.
Contents This tab will access the help file and display an index of the topics available in the RealBand help file system. Click on the Index tab to type in the name of a feature or topic you wish to find.
Click on the Find tab to search for a specific word. Tip of the Day… This item accesses a dialog box that will provide you with numerous tips applicable to this program. By default, a tip is displayed when you first run the program. You can disable the tip feature by unchecking the “Show Tips at Start-Up” checkbox offered in the Tip of the Day dialog. Select the [Next Tip] Button to cycle through all the tips available.
Appendix A: PG Music DirectX Plug-Ins PG Reverb Reverb is the spacious sound of multiple reflections in a room. In most rooms, reverb has three distinct phases: 1. The listener first hears the direct sound from the instrument. 2. Then a group of distinct echoes arrives, first reflections from the walls and ceiling. 3. After the first reflections, more closely spaced echoes build up from secondary reflections bouncing between room surfaces.
- A Delay longer than about 40 milliseconds is perceived as echo or slapback. A Delay in the range of 20 to 40 milliseconds is perceived as doubling or chorus. A Delay shorter than 20 milliseconds is perceived as a comb-filter effect rather than delay. Very short delay is called Flanging. Short delay flanging is better accomplished with the PG Flanger plug-in. These delay ranges for Echo, Chorus, and Flange are approximate, and depend on the nature of the audio source.
PG Peak Limit is a look-ahead peak limiter—it can “see peaks coming” and begin to reduce the output gain before over-level peaks can happen. PG Peak Limit uses multi-stage Release Envelopes to smooth out the gain. This allows Peak Limit to recover very quickly after brief loud peaks, but recover more slowly after sustained over-level passages. You get quick recovery from the occasional brief loud peak.
Limit offers a pure output clipping protection function, and never changes your music unless an over-level peak happens somewhere in the song. If your tracks are well performed and do not obviously require drastic fix-up, it is probably best to use just a single instance of PG Peak Limit, inserted on the Master Output. The RealBand mixer uses floating-point math, which means that the mixer cannot clip internally.
can distort on loud peaks. Compression can level the peaks, making a sound system can seem louder without distortion. The PG Dynamics compressor is a downward compressor with make-up gain. A downward compressor works by making loud signals softer. After loud passages have been made quieter by the compressor, you can apply make-up gain to raise the final audio level. Compressor checkbox enables PG Dynamics’ compressor module. Threshold sets the level where compression begins.
Expander/Gate An Expander increases the difference between soft and loud sounds. The PG Dynamics Expander is a downward expander, which means it does not affect loud signals, but reduces the level of quiet signals. A Gate (sometimes called a noise gate) is simply a drastic, high-ratio Expander setting. Expander/Gate checkbox enables PG Dynamics’ expander module. Signals below Threshold are attenuated, but signals above threshold are not affected. Ratio adjusts how drastically to attenuate below threshold.
Enable Band Though the processor load of an individual frequency band is very light, this plug-in can be made even more efficient by un-checking frequency bands that are not needed. For instance, if a track only needs adjustment in the 250 and 500 Hz frequency bands, you could disable the other bands on that track. Reducing the processor load can make it possible to run more simultaneous real-time plug-ins within RealBand. When a band is disabled, the band is bypassed and receives no boost or cut.
Note: It usually makes no sense to use PG Five Band EQ by itself in an Aux Return, though EQ can be useful to tailor some other effect that is chained on the Aux Return, such as Delay or Reverb. PG Flanger Flange is a hollow, whooshing effect, created by mixing the original signal with a very short delay (usually less than 20 milliseconds). Interference between the original and delayed signals, makes a comb filter —many peaks and dips in the frequency response.
Invert Delay Invert the delay against the original signal. Inverted and non-Inverted have distinctly different sounds. The Invert setting makes a bright “classic” whooshing sound. Invert is even more dramatic at high Resonance settings. With Invert enabled, low frequencies are attenuated, and the first filter Peak is at the Base Frequency. With Invert disabled, low frequencies are not attenuated and the first filter Notch is at the Base Frequency.
High Gain settings are more similar to the sound of a smoking guitar amp. Use high gain for Marshall-like electric guitar crunch. In Rap, Techno, Industrial, or Grunge styles, it is common to use high distortion to fry drum, synth, bass, or vocal tracks. Record a tame drum machine groove, and then distort the heck out of it for a nasty, rap street sound. If the maximum gain doesn’t fry the signal adequately, make multiple passes on the same audio selection.
Mix adjusts the mix between original signal and ring-modulated signal. PG Tremolo Tremolo applies amplitude modulation, causing the signal to repetitively rise and fall in level. Tremolo is a classic guitar effect, as used on innumerable surf and rock songs of the 50’s and 60’s. The vocal chorus of the 60’s song, “Crimson and Clover” prominently featured tremolo. Tremolo is often heard today on Techno recordings, applied to instruments and vocal tracks.
frequencies), you should rest your ears and then re-evaluate the mix. If the mix has a positive slope, it is almost certainly brighter than any musical genre. Rhythm 'n' Blues tends to be bass-heavy. Most R&B tunes have an overall negative slope, with the high-frequency bands quieter than the low-frequency bands. If you mix an R&B tune with a straight-horizontal-line frequency distribution, it is probably too bright for the R&B genre.
If PG RTA is not enabled or it is not visible, it does not add to the computer load during playback. It does no harm to leave several instances of the plug-in assigned to various Tracks, Aux Returns, or Masters. When you don’t have the plug-in visible on-screen, it will not load down the computer. Frequency Resolution The Octave button displays ten bands, representing the level of each octave in the audio.
If you do not have any gear with good phono inputs, you can connect the turntable to the inputs of an ordinary music recording mixer. The mixer will not have phono RIAA EQ, but at least most modern inexpensive mixers have lownoise preamps. If you must use a mixer, check if your mixer has a couple of channels with high impedance guitar inputs. Guitar preamps often have a high input impedance, a characteristic which is also desirable in a turntable preamp.
RIAA EQ Checkbox If you recorded from a stereo tuner or other gadget with a phono input jack, DO NOT enable the RIAA EQ section. The RIAA EQ option is for folks who do not have a turntable preamp, having recorded with an ordinary mixer. RIAA EQ was designed to overcome the shortcomings of vinyl. RIAA pre-emphasis is applied when vinyl discs are mastered. High frequencies get boosted, and low frequencies get cut.
the control high enough to remove ticks and crackles. If longer clicks remain, enable the DeClick section for additional cleaning. DeCrackle Activity This displays the percentage of audio which is muted. Except for very worn records, adjust the DeCrackle Amount so that the DeCrackle Activity reads no higher than a few percent. On very good discs, one might get “perfect” results with less than one percent of DeCrackle Activity. Strive to mute only the minimum necessary to clean your record.
When a click is detected, it is smoothly “snipped out” of the midrange spectrum, without affecting the lowerfrequencies at that point. A typical click might last 0.5 to 2 milliseconds. Each muted section is very short. If Fill Gaps is set to zero, this small muted region is replaced by nothing. It behaves like a very brief mid-frequency dropout. On a clean record, occasional muted clicks are never noticed.
Carefully adjust the Denoise Amount so that desirable high frequencies in the music are minimally affected, but hiss in the quiet sections of the music is removed. Even a 1 dB difference can be easy to hear when tweaking the Denoise Amount. Many high fidelity vinyl records didn't have much information higher than 10 KHz (another common mastering decision in the good old days). On many records, frequencies above 10 KHz can be squelched most of the time without noticeably affecting the sound.
drum is centered. However, most accompaniment instrumental tracks and backup harmony vocals are side-panned (louder on one side than the other). On typical recordings, we can subtract one stereo channel from the other, which removes “common mode” lead vocal, but leaves side-panned accompaniment tracks relatively unaffected. Simple subtraction will also cancel center-panned bass, kick drum, and snare (or other center-panned instruments). Therefore, we only subtract the midband where the vocal resides.
Works like a compressor Attack control. Move the slider to the left for faster response to sudden increase in loudness (when the vocalist starts a phrase). Move to the right for a slower response to sudden increase in loudness. Reduce Reverb Release Slider Works like a compressor Release control. Move to the left for faster recovery after the loudness diminishes (when the vocalist ends a phrase). Move right for slower recovery. Adjusting Reverb Reduction Experiment to get a feel for what works.
Appendix B: Keystroke Commands F1 Opens help file Ctrl+G Generate/regenerate track Spacebar Play/Stop P play Ctrl+P Play from start R Record Ctrl+R Record from start S Stop W Rewind to beginning Ctrl+M Mutes current track Ctrl+U Unmutes current track [ and ] Decrease/increase tempo by 5 Ctrl+minus sign changes playback speed to half speed Ctrl+equal sign changes playback speed from half speed to full speed F5 Tempo F6 Go to time F9 Panic F11 GS Settings Shift+F11 Select
Ctrl+1 Tracks window Ctrl+2 Bars window Ctrl+3 Chords window Ctrl+4 Tempo Map window Ctrl+5 Comments window Ctrl+6 SysEx window Ctrl+7 Guitar window Ctrl+8 Mixer window Ctrl+9 Classic Tracks view Alt+F2 New Notation window Shift+F2 New Big Lyrics window. Ctrl+F2 New Audio Edit window.
Appendix C: MIDI Controller Numbers Number Controller Name 0 Bank Select MSB 1 Modulation Wheel 2 Breath Controller 3 Undefined 4 Foot Controller 5 Portamento Time 6 Data Entry MSB 7 Main Volume 8 Balance 9 Undefined 10 Pan 11 Expression 12 Effect Control 1 13 Effect Control 2 14-15 Undefined 16-19 General Purpose Controllers (Nos.
95 Effects 5 Depth (previously Phaser Depth) 96 Data Increment 97 Data Decrement 98 Non-Registered Parameter Number LSB 99 Non-Registered Parameter Number LSB 100 Registered Parameter Number LSB 101 Registered Parameter Number MSB 102-120 Undefined 121 Reset All Controllers 122 Local Control 123 All Notes Off 124 Omni Off 125 Omni On 126 Mono On (Poly Off) 127 Poly On (Mono Off) More MIDI Controller Information Additional descriptions of MIDI controllers are available in the MI
PG Music Inc. RealBand ® is protected by copyright and is the property of PG Music Inc. Copyright © 2010 PG Music Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. RealBand was written by Jeff Yankauer. PG MUSIC INC. 29 Cadillac Avenue Victoria, BC V8Z 1T3 Canada Contacts: E-mail: info@pgmusic.
Index accelerando ............................................................247 Alt+click ............................................................101 Action Menu..........................................................205 right-click menu.................................................102 Aeolian ..................................................................253 Audio Menu.............................................................98 Align Music to Click Track .............................
patch selection .....................................................68 PG Five Band EQ ..............................................267 Click Track ............................................................202 PG Flanger.........................................................268 Clipboard ....................... 179, 183, 185, 186, 202, 250 PG PeakLimit ....................................................262 Comments window ................................................248 PG Reverb ..........
cut ......................................................................183 program change .................................................234 floating point percentages..................................191 Exit ........................................................................182 insert blank bars.................................................196 Extract Channels to Tracks....................................192 paste...................................................................
How to register ......................................................295 Menu bar..................................................................38 Icon row...................................................................50 Merge audio and DXi ..............................................99 insert bars...............................................................196 Merging Tracks .....................................................201 Insert Blank Track .......................................
insert button .................................................85, 142 other options ......................................................121 MIDI track .................................................139, 254 popup menu .......................................................115 mute track ............................................................85 printing ..............................................................128 record moves .......................................................
mixing/mastering ...............................................271 PG Reverb .............................................................261 Playing songs...........................................................57 Port PG RingMod..........................................................270 MIDI Output......................................................258 PG Ten Band EQ ...................................................266 Preferences ............................................................
part markers .........................................................95 safe boot-up .............................................................14 select and generate...............................................94 Sampling rates .........................................................12 variations .............................................................95 Save file .................................................................178 RealDrums Picker..........................................
Toolbars audio recording ....................................................29 add or remove buttons .........................................42 BB songs with RealTracks...................................35 dockable...............................................................42 entering chords ....................................................25 hide ....................................................................232 file types ..............................................................
Registration Form Please register your program. Registering your PG Music software entitles you to free, unlimited technical support, advance notice of product upgrades, and news about new product releases. If you haven't registered your PG Music software yet, please take a few moments and do so now. How to Register Mail to PG Music Inc., 29 Cadillac Avenue, Victoria, BC V8Z 1T3, Canada Fax to 1-250-475-2937 or toll-free to 1-877-475-1444. On-line at www.pgmusic.