PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums RealBand Navigating Tracking in RB

Hi all! I'm pretty noob. I'm finding it a bit tough to get around in the Tracks window. I asked Deryk in support if the RB PDF manual was available in spiral bound as the BiaB, but not. It's difficult sitting reading a 350 pg manual on a monitor. May have to have it printed!

Are there any other tricks/shortcuts to easily zoom in, highlight a section, zoom out, etc.? I see the tiny 'Zoom' -/+ section, per Selection or Whole. I also understand that I can zoom with the scroll wheel. This is a lot easier if you Maximize the Tracks window. Is there a command to set the zoom level back to 1:1 = whole song fits in window? Can you jump to the end of a song? Can you jump to the beginning? I did discover I can add more to a selection by holding down the Shift key while dragging.

And, are there no hot keys/keyboard shortcuts for play, etc., other than space bar to stop?

Manual says you can drag n drop the order of tracks, this doesn't seem to work?

I've just come out of BiaB with a successful first arrangement. BTW, Why didn't RB respect the arrangement with regard to when instruments mute/return to normal per BiaB? I'm sure I saved Special w/ everything. I had to delete several sections of unwanted instruments in RB, thus the above questions. I get how to do this, I also learned about volume nodes, but again, I find it a bit squirrely to navigate in the Tracks window.

Thanks very much all! I think that's all I need for now. I'll have a million more questions when I get into the Mixer!

I hit CTRL+F and searched for the question mark (?) .. it returned 15 instances.
Slow down!
You asked 15 questions in one post. <grin>

To zoom in/out I usually use the Audio Edit window .. allows more accurate view. Close it and you're back to the original track view..

To return to 1:1 in Windows, normally CTRL+0 returns the screen to native zoom ..

As far as RB respecting BiaB mute/return; normally I find it quicker to just edit the track(s) to suit in RB. I know the F5 key in BiaB has some pretty nifty features, but some simply do not work exactly the same in RB.

Understand that RB was not built as an extension to BiaB. It was originally a separate multi-track DAW/Sequencer that they added *some* BiaB features to (which makes it pretty amazing), but they are not the same. RB and PT are first/foremost a multi-track DAW with BiaB features thrown in later..

Hi Warren,

I'm new, too. Here are some things I've used that seem to help:

1. regarding zooming in/out - I found nothing new beyond what you've already discovered (e.g. clicking "+Selection" zooms into the current selection, but clicking "+Whole" according to the tooltip is supposed to zoom out fully, but doesn't do anything on my system, pressing shift+NumPadPlus also zooms into the current selection, but pressing shift+NumPadMinus according to the same tooltip above is also supposed to zoom out fully, but doesn't do anything on my system). For what it's worth, to get the effect of a full zoom out, I press "W" to rewind, then use mouse scroll until I see the entire set of measures that were recorded. Note that on a "very long song" (say 100 measures) there is no way to get it all into view on my system - RB seems to have a limit and wants to always be able to show you "readable" measure numbers in the timeline.

2. to jump to the end of the song, there is a button next to the Record button, that looks like a triangle and a line. I haven't discovered a computer keyboard shortcut for this, though.

3. to jump to the beginning of the song, I press "W" to rewind, or I press "ctrl+R" to rewind to the beginning and start recording

4. I press F6 which brings up the Now Time window, and type a measure number, or "ctrl+N" will bring up the Measure Number window to do the same. For what it's worth, the Markers window can be left open if you have room, and you can click a row for any marker you've set up, and the play cursor will jump to that point. In long songs, I've set up an "intro" and "end" marker for this kind of jumping around.

5. I press ctrl+Spacebar to play from the beginning of the current selection then begin looping (even if the play cursor is not currently in or near the selection)

6. Drag/drop of a track works but ONLY IF you are clicking on the actual track NUMBER (e.g. not the icon, not the text area, etc.). The mouse cursor changes to "giving you the finger" (a subtle way of the app telling you it doesn't like moving tracks around).

7. I can't comment as to why options you set up in BIAB don't migrate over as you need. I don't use BIAB much anymore. There were a few things in it I used, and miss a little, but I've written some Wishlist items and am hoping PG Music migrates them over to RB.

8. The volume nodes (I guess you are talking about automation?) are helpful, but I don't see a "master" automation track so that you could (for example) do a final fade out of a mix without putting them on individual tracks. They work "as is", though.

9. The mixer has some stuff that I miss, too. I wrote some Wishlist items for things I'd like to see changed. Your needs may be different...

Hope this helps...

Chris

Hi Warren.

Like rharv, I find the AUDIO EDIT window easier.

You might also find it easier to access the section you want from the BARS window - you can generally see more tracks and more of the song. You just highlight the required section and click AUDIO EDIT on the toolbar.

You might also find AUTO RETURN useful - select it from the OPTIONS menu. If you're recording, you can simply hit "R" to record, SPACE to stop and AUTO RETURN will take you back to the start of the recording the listen to it, or to re-record it.

For jumping around the song, investigate MARKERS. By inserting markers you can use the transport controls to skip to the next or previous marker.

Hope some of this is useful.

Cheers, ROG.

Thanks guys! ROG, I had availed myself of Auto Return- I like it. RHARV, Ctrl+0 doesn't work here. Chris, Ctrl+P and Ctrl+R are handy, I'd found those. Actually, Chris there is a master fadeout which works OK, but appears to be a destructive edit to the track, and I think using nodes are safer as they can be removed later. Having never worked with MIDI before, a MIDI track seems to have a bit different fade behavior via nodes. The Markers sound smart, I'll investigate them! I was aware of the Edit Window but still find actual navigation either there or in the main tracks window with the mouse somewhat squirrely. Learning RB quickly though, and really liking it! Thanks again.