I need some help understanding how to accomplish getting just the right backup file. I put in the chords according to the sheet music, load the Celtic reel band / 110 is the speed it recommends. This is a polka I'm working on and should go A lot faster; if you speed up the band it doesn't sound right. I've had this problem with waltzes, slipjigs etc.

Is this just something I can't fix? The polka needs to be about 130... I don't want to use a bluegrass band .. sounds all wrong.

I think I'm going to go play some Irish music at session and have a Baileys ... later, V

You need to search for Celtic styles that are closer to the tempo you want. The recommended tempo for a style is there because certain styles do not sound good at faster or slower tempos as you have pointed out. The program has to try to make things fir the tempo you selected and sometimes that causes issues and artifacts. I've had this happen in other styles that I use and there's sometimes when you just have to think outside of the box on how you can accomplish the task at hand. And there have been a few times I just had to go to plan B.

You can define some search parameters such as "Celtic" and "130" to narrow the list of possibilities a bit.

Another thing you can do easily is to listen to that style at the faster tempo and determine if there's just one thing in it that doesn't fit. If that's the case, mute that track and replace it with a different one. AT times this is a viable solution. Many of the issues I've had dealt with the drums. So... using a midi drum synth can often solve the issue.

They just don't make the Celtic ones at faster speeds. They list reels at 110 ... no one plays them at 110. I think we are closer to 150 at session... guess I'll have to make my own if I can figure that out LOL V

Might be worth poking around at individual realtracks instead of a style.

May find the instruments you need at a given tempo, and you'd be surprised how well some realtracks work with other (seemingly) unrelated realtracks.

Rock bass track playing half notes may fit a country tune, or whatever.
Might even be able to mix your desired instruments from a mixture of bluegrass and Motown realtracks <grin>.

This is exactly what I meant when I said you sometimes have to think out of the box to accomplish your goals.

Once you find tracks that work, at the very least, write down what tracks you used. I'm pretty sure you can save that configuration in the program.

Stylemaker has a submenu with option to "Save Current Song (except muted instruments) as a Style.

So once you have all the pieces working together, then just ave it as a style and the next time, you just have to select that style.

Thanks all .. I will do some experimenting.