PG Music Home Forums User-to-User Post your own Tips and Tricks here USEING RB WITH YOUR FAV DAW TO CREATE A MUSIC PRODUCTION POWERHOUSE.

A POWERFULL MUSIC PRODUCTION COMBO YOUR FAV DAW AND REALBAND (RB).
(mainly for new pg users.)

this post and ones that follow document why you might consider rb in your workflow with your favorite daw youve used for ages..and i hope to show its not your daw versus rb BUT how the use of both TOGETHER can be of great help to you in music production and be a music production powerhouse....
includeing very nice tricks and tips to help you.
this document is primarily aimed at new PG users who might not be aware of the production power useing both products TOGETHER....your daw your familiar with and rb.
for example ive used realband (rb) many times with reaper doing songs useing the plusses of each.
(and done over 90 songs with the reaper/bb/rb combo.)

what triggered these tips is helping a couple of pg users recently.
let me say music production is often all about tricks...ive learnt over the years.
talking of tricks have a read of my rb tips thread in this tips forum relating to doing drum tricks and modern songs in rb. this will save me lots of retyping....also if your haveing problems useing your pc for music production there are also tips on buying or useing a pc for music production.

before anyone jumps all over me...I GET IT...you have your daw youve used for years and love and you groan at the thought of learning another music app....i groaned years ago when i was useing reaper but then discovered the original pg powertracks (ptw) and its midi power so i ended up useing both reaps and ptw for developing song ideas i could then take into studios to develope further. this saved me a whack of money for studio time.
in summary i dived into powertracks and discovered all sorts of neat things and tricks i could do.
then later i upgraded to bb/rb/reaps combo....
(note i'm not knocking ptw...its a tremendous value imho....choc full of features....i did a ton of songs useing it.)

NOTE...to seasoned pg users...if i miss something...which is easy to do...tell me and i'll revise this topic and attribute it to you.

so lets get to it...

1..think of this concept for a minute. you keep your current daw for all things you like...
BUT augment it with rb as a super duper generator of session musicians for your daw includeing drums.
and there are other features in rb i'll get to in rb to augment your daw....in summary session musician audio and midi tracks to feed into your daw. there are lots of ways to use rb plus your fav daw...but one usefull way starting out is to think of this concept....
...you use rb to generate audio and midi tracks and testing ruff vocals and lyrics and seeing what tempos and keys are best for your song...then..
...you feed your daw with the generated what we used to call 'bed tracks' in studios...ie song skeleton tracks.
...then in your daw you develope your song further eg adding your own instrument tracks...then once happy with the way things are going ...and this has happened to me many times i go...
lets test out some spice to add eg a solo. thus i go back to rb and generate some solos to feed to reaps.
in summary you dont just feed from rb to your fav daw once.
its a constant interplay between your daw and rb...rb creating session musicians and your daw moving chunks of riffs around for example getting rid of the bad riffs and keeping the good.
in summary think of the above concept. this CONSTANT INTERPLAY ...useing the groovy features in your daw and groovy features in rb. ive done this more times than i can remember useing rb and reaps.
now heres a tip for you. to make things easy for you. once you have a basic mix in your fav daw during early stages of song development...one tip is to do a ruff stereo mix in your fav daw and then import into a rb track...and THUS this can be a nice guide as you audition session musicians in rb and generate audio and midi tracks. BUT BIG NOTE...MAKE SURE WHEN YOU DROP THE RUFF MIX FROM YOUR FAV DAW INTO RB THAT START TIME IN RB MATCHES START TIME IN YOUR FAV DAW.
also make sure settings for bpm etc match.

think of it this way...in the old days in big commercial studios they might decide which session musicians they would use on a particular song recording date. so now YOU have this decision making power.
and even in rb have templates with different combos of session musos depending on your music...ie flexibility.
(a tip i dont bother with rb template feature i just name the tracks in rb tracks view and save as seq GENRE+TEMPLATE....eg MOR+TEMPLATE or HARDROCK+TEMPLATE or BALLAD+TEMPLATE...whatever i can call up when creating a new song.
i save these in a special templates dir. these templates are tiny as they contain obviously no tracks at this point.)
for example one day i might be doing a song in the rock genre and another day a ballad or whatever.thus i am able to able to call up my favorite backing band for each different genre i might do....just like people used to do often in big studios.
the benefit is it saves going thru tons of pg content if one is doing just a fast demo so one can test ones vocals and a song idea to see if it works....and what i do often is sing along with the backing to test lyrics phraseing etc etc....before further song development.
(NOTE RB HAS A SCROLLING IN TIME LYRIC VIEW.... in rb tracks i have two small views...one being a small view of the big clock feature and small lyric view. both can be adjusted to size.)

2..heres another tip...once you recieve your pg pak as a first time pg user go thru ALL pg session musos and content to see what you might use as your favorites...make notes etc.
YES IT MIGHT TAKE A WEEK>>>BUT HIGHLY WORTH IT....for several reasons...when i first did that my mind went nuts with new song ideas as i went through all the styles and pg demoes and content.
easily i must have had over 100 new song ideas.
(to those that have songwriters block i suggest when this happens to you start going thru and demoing pg content. i'm never ever short of song ideas...in fact my problem is often lack of time due to my daily life.)
THEN once a year i go thru the new pg content to see any added session musos that i might use.

3..another tip is...just cos your main genre is say country or whatever dont exclude other genres because ive found cross pollinating between genres can elevate a song.
eg if im doing a rock song i just dont listen to rock session musos only but also session musos in other genres. ...NOTE...IF I DONT DO THIS IVE FOUND I MISS SOME SUPERB SOUNDS to elevate a song.
eg a gold nugget of sound from a country style to be used in a rock song.

4..i dont use the bb plugin vst (and users of such please dont jump all over me...) BECAUSE i have way more music production flexibility in rb imho. if the reader doubts me...and to save me typing pages and pages rtfm...lol and read/view support docs and vids for the plugin and rb.
in summary rb gives me huge range of fexiblity and features.

5..before you do anything...lets get organised.. make sure you have laid out your chords in either the bb or
or rb chord sheets....and saved. NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT.
lets take an example useing reaps (but this applies to any daw...)
to save spreading song tracks all over a pc...which ive seen people do many times includeing hunting for traks without finding them...MAKE SURE YOU SET UP A FOLDER IN WINDOWS.
this folder will hold EVERYTHING related to your song including production notes and special settings.
so lets take the case of a song called "i'm rocking to the moon"...IRTM...
my song folder name would consist of SONG NAME + DATE COMMENCED.
eg IRTM+JUNE8+2024. i do this cos i have so many songs done over the years.
AND VERY IMPORTANT MAKE SURE YOUR TEMPO SETTINGS ARE IDENTICAL IN YOUR DAW AND RB. (and also bb if you are useing bb too.)
so in reaps...all your settings would be saved in the IRTM song folder and reaper project settings.
lets take another daw say cubase...rb and cubase will share the same song folder which will contain all
project settings for each plus song tracks youve generated yourself and rb generated session musician tracks.
what i typically do as a song evolves and is saved is use song name plus version plus date.
eg IRTM+V05+JULY2024 in the daw ...V being the project version number..and in rb save the rb project seq with the same name in the SAME DIR as the daw.....ie...once again save to IRTM folder...i cant stress this enough...make sure your song save folder location is identified in your daw and rb.
this will make your life easier....lets continue.

6..you can set up rb many ways to feed session muso tracks and bands to your main daw. ive done this many many times with reaper. lets consider one simple way. once i have my final chord sheet done and saved in a rb seq. (similar to what some daws term a project file)...i then ...and also very importantly i start auditioning pg content.
(NOTE...there is a little trick in case you are importing into rb the bb chord sheet...in rb preferences there is a setting to not generate wavs on importing a bb song....thus for those short on disc space this setting might help. (also please read in rb manual about making bb tracks regular tracks.).

7..YIPPEE GENERATING SESSION MUSICIAN TRACKS TO FEED TO YOUR DAW...in my case lets say i'm useing reaps. when i find a pg session muso i like i drop it into reaps after genning it.
there are various ways...but for simplicity starting out with rb...drag the track no in rb into a reaps track or the daw you use and youll see reaps quickly show the waveform of the track....in rb you can gen both audio and midi tracks for your daw and other tricks to complement and feed your daw.
(think of rb in this case...your out for a nice family meal and a waiter is always at your beck and call...always ready to feed you.)
BUT AGAIN I CAUTION YOU...MAKE SURE THAT ANY TRACKS GENERATED ARE SAVED TO THE SAME SONG DIR AS YOUR MAIN DAW USES....so everything is neat and tidy.
in both reaps and rb i do saves about every half hour just in case to the same song dir.
ANOTHER TIP...make sure for ease of understanding your track layouts match in both rb and your main daw....
(what i do is my track organisation is laid out the same in rb and reaps before i commence recording or genning.).
so lets say in reaps...or your daw...track 19 is named tremelo gtr..then ALSO in rb call track 19 tremelo gtr. an added tip...in reaps...in the track 19 i would also add in the pg instrument id....so in the case of harp..the name would be HARP+2773 <<the pg id....so you dont forget.
in your daw use the same id system ie INSTRUMENT NAME PLUS PG ID.
otherwise its easy to mix up things....in conclusion track name and pg id would match in both reaps and rb.
see what i mean ? ie neat and tidy.

8..now let me address an 'elephant in the room'. wav audio tracks. some people complain about the number of them in a project and disc space used...there is a simple solution to this....
ie after laying out your rough chord arrangement UNTIL you have the final arrange nailed down...
and before starting to feed your daw with session musio tracks genned in rb...
sketch out the song useing midi tracks. this means the rb project file (called a SEQ) thus will be very small
and consume peanuts disc space. i do this often in rb to test out my song lyrics...as well as other neat things
like MATCHING SONG KEY WITH MY VOCS. for example my vocs might not be able to handle one key
so i test out various keys (and tempos) via tests to determine viz the lyrical phraseing what tempo might best
to use. (note you can enter lyrics in rb which will display and match as the song plays back.)

9..LEARNING RB..yes i know its a pain useing another app...but the old saying 'you reap what you sow'
applies. you dont even have to learn a lot starting out. like bb you can create a chord arrangement (or one youve imported from bb) fast and then select a style//session band and just like bb away you go.
its really easy just like pg say in their marketing material.
now there are TWO KEY THINGS TO UNDERSTAND STARTING OUT.
...the rb top menus including the edit menu especially...AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...
...THE RIGHT CLICK WITH MOUSE OVER A TRACK FEATURE. this is uber exciting.
when i first came to rb i was like a kid in a candy store. the session musician generating and other nice features and power excited the heck out of me. FINALLY I HAD CREATIVE POWER.
so IN SUMMARY I BEG YOU...AND PLEAD WITH YOU...lol...really understand the right click over a track rb feature and dont be intimidated by the various menu options.
IMHO THIS IS THE CORE OF WHAT MAKES RB GREAT to use in conjunction with your current daw.
it is extremely powerfull. and after a time working with the menu you will come to understand why i say your daw plus rb can be a music production powerhouse....ie the like ive never seen.
and after a time i hope you agree with me when i say its not one daw versus another...but useing the plusses of each like i do. in my case i use the plusses of rb and the plusses of reaper. ie they complement each other.
and used correctly can be a powerfull music production solution the likes ive never seen.

next time i'll highlight certain tips and tricks...as my wife is doing a fab lunch....
thus please be patient as i have my own songs i am doing.
lots more to come.
(note to anyone please dont derail this thread as the intent is sincerely to help new users...thanks....these are open forums...start your own thread.)


happiness.

om 🇨🇦🇨🇦 🇬🇧🇬🇧

10..now before i get into specifics and features that are nice in rb let me offer the following comments.
because i suspect some might think 'what is this fool OM going on about and why should i spend some
time learning another music app ??'...groan...so lets answer that.

in many respects rb is a dark horse.with tons of usefull deep features which...once ive gone thru things i like.....
i hope you agree with me...'under the hood' rb is rather amazeing for free. and remember its always getting better..
see the new features for details of rb 2024 on pg site. for me the new comp feature is very usefull as i'm a vocallist as well as the addition of certain editing features which enhance the product.

(btw...in my defence my background...and i dont mean in an egotist way... is not just in tech, building very advanced IT applications systems around the world but also for many years spending time in all manner of studios big and small creating lots of songs as well as singing in so many music groups and genres ive lost count of...from church and opera thru mor thru heavy rock and even punk rock,...lol...in summary music is in my blood. fyi my typical day for many years was working in tech during the day and then singing in various groups at night and weekends. ie a true jekyll and hyde existence.)

WHY SHOULD YOUR WORKFLOW INCLUDE RB ????...

...for people that like lots of fancy shmancy looking graphics in music apps rb might not be for you.eg i saw a gorgeous looking music app recently that costs big money...but as the old saying goes 'sometimes beauty is skin deep'....some of the most wonderfull people ive met in my travels thru' life looked a tad rough on the surface..but underneath had hearts of pure gold and kindness to myself and others.
yes rb looks a tad old skool ugly on the surface...but underneath it has many many usefull and in some cases unique music production features...imho its a highly underrated app. by contrast even tho' i loved the look of the aforementioned gorgeous music app...i quickly realised i would miss terribly many of rb's features...
even tho' the gorgeous app had some very cool features of its own.
...if your not a person willing to delve into something deeply...rb might not be for you...as it is choc full of deep audio and midi features that are highly usefull in doing songs...
(the fab powertracks and bb apps are the same...ie choc full of features...tbh even i after many years of rb use still slap myself when i find a new way of doing something.)
...if your not willing to go thru' the rb manual and tips and various rb vids done by pg then rb might not be for you.
let me say it has always been and always will be a struggle for developers to build apps that are both easily accessible and at the same time choc full of features. particularly in music production.
from my experience if a app is easily accessible it sometimes means it doesnt have a large feature set.

HOWEVER ..if your willing to put in some 'graft'..and development of your own work methods you might come to like rb like i do..for not only its session musician capabilities that are unique (like bb) but also the fact its choc full of neat features to help you create songs....let me say emphatically for the reader who thinks i might be biased re rb...i always keep an open mind re recording gear.

11...THE SPECIFICS...

let me get into specifics and more details of features i really really like...and you might also. ie...in each menu that make rb so usefull...and hopefully youll conclude that your current daw plus rb form a great usefull powerfull music production team.
i will comment briefly on each feature and why its usefull.
(the rb manual and various pg tips and vids on you tube should also be studied for more details...to save me typing loads of pages.
also youll notice that a user dialog has a help feature. also notice HELP>>>tip of the day.its kinda nifty and its a good idea to go thru every now and then because...if your like me sometimes a reminder is a good thing.)

lets start with some basic things i like.

..an.mp3 creator is included .in rb for free. i really like it. but dont ask me why. i really wish i could scientifically explain but i cant.
i used it in all the songs in my sig....its my go to mp3 creator.
it can be accessed via the rb render dialogue at top of rb.
watch your stereo mix meters. i would suggest a setting of about -3db....

... FILE >>> IMPORT will allow you to import all manner of formats into rb....check it out.
...below FILE/EXIT you will see latest projects you can access...convenient.
...EDIT at top of rb has a load of features includeing usual cut/paste etc.
...EDIT>>>TRACK will bring up around 19 features....all very usefull.
notice IN PARTICULAR...DUPLICATE feature. there are nifty effects tricks you can do useing this.
ie...sometimes i keep an original audio track dry and use this feature to create 2 more instances of the same track and on one i might put pg echo chorus and other track pg verb.then i experiment with settings of each to create interesting fx on say a vocal ..
the objective being to create a synergistic pleasant sound fx picture. also experiment with the volume of
the 3 tracks....and do things like keeping the volumes of the 2 duplicate tracks under the original dry one.
why am i gung ho re the pg fx ?? simple... low cpu useage. they have saved my 'A' more than a few times as well as money buying commercial plugins that sometimes consume lots of pc resources.
now start experimenting on your own re FILE>>>TRACK menu. youll notice depending on menu option chosen there will be a help feature. please also read up on the fix tuning menu option etc etc.i rarely need it...but you might find it very usefull.

...EDIT>>>MIDI. let me say one of the great strengths with pg products imho is the midi functionality.
(if your not up on midi there are lots of courses online and books etc etc.).
thus one of the great strengths of rb is its midi feature set. and it might be usefull to you in many many ways.
note...same as audio tracks you can easily drag a midi track from rb into your fav daw.
WHICH BRINGS UP A VERY IMPORTANT POINT....AND A HUGE PLUS FOR RB.
IE YOU CAN USE RB TO GENERATE AND FEED YOUR FAV DAW WITH ALL MANNER OF MIDI TRACKS.
SKYS THE LIMIT ONLY LIMITED BY YOUR IMAGINATION...
PLEASE...!! I WANT TO FIRMLY PLANT THIS IN YOUR MIND AND ITS LOTS OF FUN...you can in rb generate not just normal midi tracks whatever but also do things like generate drum solos like a drummer might do live. this is a hoot.
there are about 26 menu entries in the edit midi feature display....dont let this put you off.
these features give you oodles of midi control and power in your hands.
starting out look into quantise and other features like 'fill track with drum pattern'...
i use the latter not only for quickie tests of song ideas but also other fancy things...
(see my tips in tips forum re rb and modern songs.)
NOTE...in rb is a feature that might be usefull for some..ie setting various ppq's.
includeing high ones....ALSO NOTE THE FRACTIONAL TEMPO FEATURE.

more next time as i need a break. much much more to come.

happiness

om


.

12...RENDER MENU.

...mixing to stereo.

as you can see there are various options...pretty self explanatory.
note menu options items 5 thru 7 give you options re mixdown your tracks to stereo...
and creating a stereo master....and your next gold record.
its like we used to do in studios years ago....youve recorded say 24 tracks on a studer mtr..
that you then input to a audio mixing console...set up the best mix and create a stereo master.
personal preference...you can get your mix the way you want it either useing tracks view or the rb included
mixer....i use the former cos i can see all the waveforms and do fancy things like comp a few vocal tracks to a final vocal track after editing etc if comping is your thing.
sometimes i comp sometimes not.
note...for old pc's comping might be usefull...as track counts mount.
eg lets say your old clunky pc starts to stutter after youve recorded a bunch of tracks and resource heavy plugins you can comp. or as an option render to stereo and import back into rb.
in the 1960's era when only a few tracks were available they would bounce tracks to a second tape machine.
its amazeing so many gold hits were done...my opinion is one reason was they were forced to make tough decisions. by contrast we are spoilt today. in rb now a user has 256 tracks.
NOTE...REMEMBER TO BACK YOUR WORK AT HALF HOUR INTERVALS...
ALSO KEY IS JUST DONT ACCEPT THAT A SONGS TRACKS OR MIX ARE BACKED UP...
ENSURE YOU TEST ANY BACKUP JUST IN CASE....ive seen more than a few people make this mistake.
...cd burner.

i dont use it..but see if it suits you. you need a burner of course.

13...ACTION MENU.

...i dont tend to use this menu much...i use the transport all the time.
but note a couple of items.
...play speed.
heres one use of this. you love lets say a generated lead gtr or sax pg session musician track.
and you want to learn a lick etc etc...there are various speed options that will help you by slowing
things down....so you can learn the licks.
...test audio performance.
its just a rough guide...but...this will help you determine how many tracks your pc will handle.
in my case over 200. if you get a reported low number then i would think you might be useing an old pc for music production or your pc needs the attention of a qualified tech or your pc might need optimising for music production.
(just some info...here i can boot into windows from cold and biab and rb in just a few seconds.
if your experiencing loooong boot times...your pc might need attention.
see in tips forum my tips re optimising a pc for music production....in the interim you can bounce a few tracks
to lighten the load on your pc.))

more to come

happiness

om

14...TRANSFERRING SECTIONS OF GENNED TRACKS TO YOUR
FAV DAW.

its easyi in rb.

this came up in a forum post..and no disrespect to the posters in the
thread...but..before i forget and move on to other rb features...
heres the solution i posted to save me retyping...

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=814880#Post814880


happiness

Om. 🇨🇦🇨🇦. 🇬🇧🇬🇧

15...BLOCK MENU.
frankly i dont use this often...but see if you find a use for it.
i tend to do all my editing in tracks or bars view <<< more tips later.

16...OPTIONS MENU.

here are some things you might want to delve into.

..RESOLUTION. i dont know if this is of interest but for the longest time rb has supported...
higher midi ppq's. you might find a midi use for it re ppq.
..SMPTE option..if you want to sync rb to another device smpte might be usefull.
eg in the past people might have smpte striped a 2 inch 24 track pro multitrack to a computer based sequencer for example. if you need to use smpte in rb with another device i would suggest you run tests.
because the lock can vary sometimes. i dont use this option.
there are various smpte options under smpte tab in preferences.
also note this pg link...and the rb help/manual.

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=490370

..RECORD FILTER.
this is to filter midi data. that might be usefull.
one thing i like to stress is that rb is very strong in its midi features.
..PREFERENCES.
i cant stress this enough...this is a very important user dialog and one you need to fully understand.
because there are some neat features..
there are many user options you should make sure are set up properly....ie..
.drivers.
.song gen tab 7...make sure paths reflect your pg installed content.
also note if you dont want tracks genned when you load say a bb song...untick this.
there is a trick you can use. in bb create a stereo mix you can drop into rb...
and then haveing imported the bb song if you want to cut down the number of rb wavs genned
you can go all midi tracks with instrument plugins.
a good application for this is when your in early phases in song development and want to test various
track ideas and say vocal ideas and song lyrics out etc etc. ie you want a song test bed.
the advantage being rb has a ton more tracks than bb to experiment with pg's extensive session musician
library and content. i often use rb for testing ideas cos, and you may think differently, i find i have more flexibilty remember you can also just drop tracks into rb from bb.
(JUST REMEMBER TO USE A COMMON SONG DIR FOR BOTH BB AND RB).
.metronome settings can be found in preferences...tab 9.
in summary take time to fully understand the various preferences settings to save me writing oodles.
A POINT OF NOTE ABOUT PREFS IN RB...note carefully.
when i installed my new usb audio interface i was very happy to find i could start doing a song immediately.
VERY IMPORTANT...i suspect that rb is coded to get info on your sound device from the win os.
SO...when you install your new sound device or use an existing one please note your devices manual about installing in windows. because ive seen too many times people arent aware about this.
this isnt a rb problem as you must ensure your device is installed properly.
if you get probs its best to post 4 pics on the pg forums so pg and users can help you.
....a pic of your windows recording and playback settings INCLUDEING ADVANCED TAB.
....a pic of your rb audio settings and a pic of your midi settings..both found in rb preferences
....a pic of your sound device settings (these days often a desktop app on your pc.)


happiness.

om

ps i;m going thru some medical stuff so might be sloswer posting info etc

17..RE : Realband (RB) adavantages when it comes to odd time sigs.
(OTS.)


so i think ive stumbled by happenstance and experimentation
a very big advantage of rb when it comes to odd time sigs (OTS).

and let me say upfront...no i'm not biased re rb...but ive stumbled on something
...and maybe its a hidden feature..that is blowing my blinkin' mind.
let me explain...and particularly for some who might call for pg to
drop rb. maybe people are just not aware...but...what i found out is
very groovy.

here are the salient points.

1..even tho ive done a ton of songs in my life...never have i done 5/4.

2..in the process of helping in a thread re OTS i discovered
a 5/4 style that twigged a new song idea....ie mission1 style.
particularly with the pg demo...it stirred a song idea....sooo..

3..i went to town in rb to manipulate the chord arrangement to
what i heard in my head as well as started writing lyrics.
and mucked about particularly with various arrangement
alternatives until i got an arrange that matched what i heard
in my head.

4..developing the song idea the way i heard in my head i used
ONLY midi plus coyote plugin because i can work fast this way
moving midi segments around and testing various arrangements fast.
to knockers of coyote << its only being used for demoing/roughing
out ideas. BUT...heres the rub...i found a nice little piccolo
sound in coyote...sooo..lesson learnt is never discount anything.

5..at the same time i was doing the above and getting the song arranged
the way i heard in my head i was testing lots of daws free and paid.
i was doing this not only to keep more current in the daw world
but also to see how they handled OTS and other aspects viz rb.

i came up with only one conclusion putting in the intense song development
work. ie rb offered adavantages over anything ive tested.
reasons being the way it handled 5/4 IN CONJUNCTION WITH the
powerfull track generation features as well as the fact i could do test
generations on so many tracks.
quite literally in rb after 1 1/2 hrs i had my rough arrange
(bed guide tracks) done plus vocal lyric rough guide.
this was very intense very difficult down and dirty work i
couldnt have done in any daw i tested. one aspect of many
being it saved me useing my midi kbd. plus being midi everything is fast.
AND THE BONUS WAS to get me started rb selected a suitable
jazz real drum and generated it on a track.
its also interesting testing out midi supertrack and other session muso
options to render more ideas for the song.

to say this is a 'XXXXX' of an effort is an understatement...lol.
even with rb. but let me comment further and mention that the way
rb handles OTS (in this case 5/4) versus bb...is a big plus
and makeing my life easier. there is a ton of work yet to do,
as the song is just guide tracks right now and frankly i dont
know if i can pull it off....we shall see.

so to people who think pg should 'drop' rb i say this would
be a shame as it does things ive not seen other music apps do..
(includeing reaps that ive enjoyed for years..).
certainly doing this extremely challenging 5/4 song rb has been of
great benefit and ive learnt a lot...
BECAUSE of all the midi features IN CONJUNCTION
with the unique track generation features.
so why some knock rb baffles me. maybe its lack of familiarity..
dunno. along the way of course i had the occasional rb 'quirk'
but ive encountered such with other apps.

now...its not rb's fault but one big problem ive had with this
mission1 song is the time i'm haveing to spend going through
rt's/rd's/supertracks/loops etc etc auditioning to hear which
i can shape into a 5/4 time sig. which is why i started the wishlist re needing
pg content geared specifically to OTS like 5/4.
this would save me oodles of time auditioning pg content.
so...if anyone knows any current pg session muso content that would
work in a 5/4 140 bpm song...i'm all ears.


happiness.

om

18..TIPS OF THE DAY.

for someone starting out...i urge you...
go through the tips of the day.
to quote the old miner 'thars gold in them thar hills'.
cos even tho ive used rb on lots of songs...i often
forget things. this is a very deep feature packed daw.
and haveing tested a lot of daws recently it really
reinforced for me the many features that rb has.

i also urge you to occasionally go through the tips of
the day to refresh yourself. its also a great resource
to get methods you might find usefull in creating songs.

19..VST's and VSTI's.

this thread lists lots of fx and instrument plugins that ive tested
in rb....(and more to come as i get time.)
the focus of the thread is low resource useage plugins as not everyone can afford
very powerfull pc's costing lots.

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=813558#Post813558

already ive provided enough plugins i feel that would enable someone
to do a great song.
lots of production engineers from days of yore that did classic gold
hits i'm sure would say we are spoilt for choice today.

note a few points.

..always test a new plugin thoroughly.
..really understand the dialog that comes up when you
click a tracks fx button and the various features including how to
tell rb to detect a new plugin....or plugins.
..be organised with your plugins...sometimes i get sloppy..lol...
..note that rb doesnt currently support vst3...but there are
innumerable requests for such.
(be aware there is a new plugin paradigm some daw vendors
eg reaper and others are getting behind called CLAP.
time will tell whether there will be wide adoption of this
for daws. for more info google 'clap plugin'...
to read about what the creators are saying are its advantages.)

OVERALL its imperitive you understand how to tell rb about a new plugin
PLUS where is located in order for things to be copacetic.
NOTE ALSO in the right click over track menu...
VERY IMPORTANT...the menu item loading a SPECIFIC plugin.

let me mention one more thing. DONT underestimate the pg dx plugins.
used individually or instantiating a combo on a track can realise
some very interesting sound pictures etc.
i did the songs in my sig for example to prove one only needs
pg dx plugins if one doesnt have a big plugin budget or
couldnt be bothered hunting for free plugins.
so far ive had no complaints about the songs.
try chaining tricks where each effect in the chain has a different
setting.

finally if your loaded and tempted to buy any new plugin
make sure it doesnt hog your pc resources so you dont
get 'stutters'...particularly on old clunky pc's.
(above also applies to free plugins.)
if you MUST use a plugin that consumes lots of resources
on a slow pc i suggest once your happy with the track you
'print' the track to a new track and then delete the plugin.
thus freeing up pc resources for your other tracks you might
want to use it on.

let me also suggest to 'cull the plugin herd' occasionally.


more to come as time allows.

happiness.

om

A TIP FOR BB USERS.

today i was reminded of an advantage of rb over bb doing a complex song.
much as i like bb new tracks view i cant do fancy midi editing in it yet.
by comparison rb has all sorts of nice midi editing facilities.

eg lets say you want to move bars of midi around...there are various ways.
eg in rb i can do this in bars view.
think 'drums' midi track for example.

eg lets say i like a tracks drums midi bar 19 and want the same at bar 49 i can do this simply useing rb bars view.
there are lots of tricks in rb bars view that i dont know if people are aware of.
try rb tracks view and bars view out sometime for fancy midi editing and see what floats your boat.

just a tip until bb gets fancier midi editing in new tracks view.

happiness.

om

20..A NOTE ABOUT DRAG AND DROP.
(this might be of interest to new users.)

working this week with bb and rb and reaper i remembered how usefull D n D is.

to summarise.

..i can DD tracks from rb to reaps (or i assume another daw that has DD feature.)
..ditto bb to rb.
..ditto bb to reaps.

please note so things dont go 'pear shaped'.

ENSURE BB AND RB AND YOUR DAW USE THE SAME SONG DIRECTORY.
otherwise for example the tracks could end up in eg bb's DD dir.
eg if song is called 'the poodle song' ...lol...and lets say dir is called
POODLE+OCT24 all the music apps should save to that dir.

its just a minor thing i might have forgotten.


happiness.

om