Everything in this song file was written in BiaB 2017. I saved that file as a regular *.mgu and brought it over to RB. None of the synth settings were remembered, so I had to reconfigure them. I'd have to do that anyway I guess, since the tracks have to be converted from BiaB tracks to RB tracks, and then I have to assign each synth to a channel. So I did all that in RB, had it all set up and balanced where it was sounding just right. Then decided I'd give it a go and lay down a recording of it. First I saved it as a .SEQ file, though.

I know I can save a file as a WAV file, but I can't do that with this particular song because of a VSTi I'm using. It always resets to an instrument I can't use at the beginning of the song, so I have to manually reset it to the patch I want. I do this while the metronome is clicking down before the recording actually begins.

So because of this I'm hitting the Record button. It is configured to record all audio and midi tracks. I have one audio track -- Realdrums -- and the rest are MIDI tracks being played by the above mentioned VSTi plus the Coyote DXi. Everything sounds fine in my headphones, and at the end of the recording it asks me if I want to keep it (yes) and then if it's okay to lay down the recording on Track 10 (fine by me). A pair of tan stripes appear on Track 10, but there's nothing inside of them.

It's worth mentioning I guess that it took two attempts to get this far. The first time I did it, I answered the same questions, but nothing got laid down on Track 10 -- not even the tan stripes. So I tried again and at least got the stripes but that was it.

Anything obvious I might be doing wrong? Maybe third time's a charm?

Nope. Just tried it a third time and nothing.

When you re recording and monitoring at the same time you are likely hearing the playback (not the recording).

Sounds like you may want to enable 'What You Hear' or 'Stereo Mix' in the windows mixer.

Remember, RB uses the system sound device, so your windows mixer settings may be in play.

Then it is a matter of selecting the correct Driver in RB, under Options-Prefs-Audio tab-Drivers button.

You need to find the magical mix of routing options that achieves the desired result, and this varies a lot between devices.
What's your interface?

Honestly, I didn't bother to check and see what it was I was listening to, but I've gotten bitten by the recording out vs. monitor out before with other software, so I know what you're getting at.

I just went to Control Panel/Sound/Recording tab and had a look. I know what it's defaulting to and that's the one I always use. But yeah, there's also a monitor selection, which I don't use.

When I'm setting up audio software to be used for the first time with a sound card, the very first thing I do is make sure the audio drivers are showing up in the software where they're supposed to, cuz if they aren't -- well, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

My audio is handled by an old but very excellent M-Audio Delta 66 24/96 sound card with OMNI I/O box. I always have the Delta's channels 1 and 2 selected for the ins and outs. I'm using the ASIO drivers as well. Earlier, I saved a song file to a WAV file in RB and that worked great. It's just when I've been using the Red Record button that I'm not getting anything. And, yes, I did indicate with the Red button's little drop-down that I wanted to record both MIDI and audio.

It's probably something really lame that I'm forgetting to do, but whatever it is, it's preventing my system from recording using the red button. I need to get to the bottom of this though because I plan to make fairly heavy use of RB as recording software.

I'd say you should deal with this issue first, and then you don't have to worry about figuring out how to record your stereo mix (which is tricky in modern versions of Windows).

It sounds like there's a patch change embedded in that track, and it'll be easy to get rid of it. Select the track, click on Window - New - Event List, and you'll see every MIDI event the track contains. Patch changes will be labelled "Program". If you delete whatever Program event is there, the patch changes you assign to the track should then stick.

You should then be able to render your song to WAV normally.

The "Record Audio" command is more for recording a microphone or instrument through the audio inputs on your audio interface, it's not supposed to record the tracks that are already in RealBand. That would be done with Edit - Track - Merge, but you'll still need to take care of that Program change I mentioned earlier.


Thanks
Kent
PG Music

Hey Kent, thanks for your response. And thanks for the explanation. That was helpful. Unfortunately it isn't a patch change. Turns out this "free" VSTi I picked up is actually a demo version and I suspect is somewhat crippled in that fashion. I've kind of given up on using it and am muddling along with the patches I have at my disposal. They'll do for now.