PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows The Mysterious RealTrack RT1152:Silence

A recent posting of my song Modern Pop Demo used PG Music MultiStyles and to mute tracks that had RealTracks on Mixer Channels in some Styles but those were vacant of RealTracks in other Styles, BIAB muted the Mixer Channels in the Styles that were vacant of RealTracks so the RealTracks that were contained in some styles would not continue to play in the styles that had vacant channels.

In my song description I mentioned that PG Music developers preferred to mute these regions using RT1152:Silence rather than the Bar Settings dialog (F5). I explained that RT1152 is as far as I know, a RealTrack unique to only BIAB. While it can leave a blank area in RealBand, it is not recognized as a RealTrack in RealBand and if it's selected, it doesn't do anything. I believe the same to be true for the VST Plug-in although I've not tested the Plug-in with RT1152.

What is the value of RT1152 over F5 Bar Settings dialog to mute tracks. I've surmised that using RT1152 is related to BIAB's ability to read ahead in the Chord Chart when choosing RealTrack audio to place into the song instead of randomly selecting based on the chord alone.

A main feature in BIAB is when a track is edited or is a Medley Track, BIAB automatically selects audio specifically recorded for transitional bars that result into smooth, natural transitions. Smooth and natural transitions consist of cross fades, fade ins, fade outs, soloist intros, endings and instrument change outs in alternating solos.

I recall only a single instance where this RealTrack has been discussed by PG Music staff and the remarks substantiate that using RT1152 rather than F5 Bar Settings does make a difference in what RealTrack audio is selected when using RT1152 over F5 Bar Settings mute function.

The indication is there's specific audio recordings BIAB can be instructed to look for in specific circumstances on the Chord Chart. The Chords and phrases selected by BIAB from the user inputted chords are not random but come from built in instructions of the program. It's not a random selection from a group of chords recorded onto the RealTrack audio file. This indication is also substantiated when reviewing the UserTrack Development Window found in the Bar Settings Page. UserTracks are made in the image of RealTracks and I don't believe PG Music would provide these programmable instructions for UserTracks if these instructions and others didn't also exist in the BIAB program. I've attached screen shots of the UserTrack Development Page and also edited a screenshot from a post by Pipeline to demonstrate how I think these instructions affect chord selection on a Chord Sheet using known instructions from the UserTrack Development Page.

Another indication that chord selection, audio selection and transitions are programmed are the PG Music RealTrack demos completed as polished and finished high quality mixes done in BIAB.

Here are Andrew with PG Music Staff exact remarks posted in the forum about using RT1152:

"To summarize the two mentioned in this thread (1) using the Bar Settings dialog to mute certain regions of the song, or (2) creating a medley."

"I really like your idea of creating a medley to accomplish this, and it is extremely simple once you know how. Often people would be using different instruments in a medley, but that's certainly not a requirement; you can have a medley that alternates between "silence" and a RealTracks Soloist. The reason I prefer this method over bar settings, is because it will give you more natural transitions between a chorus that doesn't have a solo and one that does. (e.g. muting a chorus might cut off a solo mid-riff)."

"You can definitely use F5 bar settings, but it IS different with a MIDI melody since in that case you are just preventing a "static" MIDI part from playing/repeating during those choruses. With a generated RealTracks, it's possible you would mute a generated riff halfway through the riff which would sound less natural than if you generate the riff so that it has a natural end point prior to the start of the muted bars."

Oh, right.
Using RT1152 in a medley sounds like it may have dealt very nicely with the problems I had months ago trying to have soloists on only some choruses by using F5 mute/restore.

<< Using RT1152 in a medley sounds like it may have dealt very nicely with the problems I had months ago trying to have soloists on only some choruses by using F5 mute/restore. >>

You're right. Andrew's quotes were taken from issues you posted months ago.

Probably back then I didn't understand what he was telling me. Straight over the head.

Fascinating. I appreciate this discussion and the information provided. Silencing a track is not something I need today but I like to learn about the inner workings {Nerd alert?}. I feel that it enables more complete use of the BIAB Tools.

A while ago I investigated RealDrums and the mechanism for Users to make Realdrums. In that exercise I gained an insight to the cleverness underneath BIAB music creation. There is a tutorial in the help titled 'Making RealDrums'

I imagine that RealTracks for other instruments employ a mechanism that is similar although I do not know this.
There is no tutorial in the help for making RealTracks.

Charlie writes about User Tracks
https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=467389#Post467389

Jim has a post about UserTracks
https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=432337#Post432337

is it merely coincidence that Charlie and Jim are both Fogle?

In the User Showcase post of "Modern Pop Demo", Floyd Jane suggested I post an example that would be a good time to use RT1152 other than the example of its inclusion in mixing Styles in a song project. In another post, a user requested if it was possible to specify a range of measures to regenerate and not regenerate the entire mix. His questioned was answered and had the steps to copy/move his track onto a Utility Track or the Audio Track along with the Audio Editor to generate just a region of a track.

I decided to take both requests and blend them into a demonstration of RT1152 being used instead of F5 Bar Settings Mute during a specified region of audio being regenerated and where the smooth transition created by BIAB during a crossfade allowing two tracks to smoothly crossfade between each other as if it were a 'punch in/out' on a single track.

Here's a link to the thread and video demonstration:


Use RT1152 to specify regeneration region post