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I am new to the BIAB thing as far as REALDRUMS and REALTRACKS are concerned. I used to just create a midi file and load it into my DAW. I really like the REALDRUMS in a song I created, but understand that this may not save as the same performance in MIDI land,because the track is actually audio. What can I expect?
1) I save it all as midi, and get a more generic performance( but easy to tweak)?
2)I get midi for everything except the drums which comes over as a stereo .mp3 or .wav file? (worst case, hard to peel apart and reassign midi drums ala Session Drummer or Addictive Drums)
3) the drums come over as audio,but are segregated by kit component (kinda like when you save a MDI file with the " save drums on separate tracks" option selected)?

I would like to process the drums with session drummer or addictive drums, because I can tweak them as I need to and record the soft synth performance in 24 bit. Not much sense in recording an mp3 file that way,or mixing mp3 drums with 24bit audio in the rest of the project.

Last edited by tconnelly; 08/11/14 10:18 AM.
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RealDrums as you have indicated are audio, not MIDI. You can't save them as MIDI, only as audio. So unfortunately, you can't control them with a virtual drum synth.


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Hi tconnelly and welcome. I will try to answer your questions:

1-You can save it all as MIDI. MIDI is the only way you can process the drums with session drummer or addictive drums.

2-You can not separate a drum wav file into individual parts, it's like baking a cake then asking for the eggs to be removed. If you have Melodyne Editor you can make a MIDI file from an audio drum track, however be prepared to do some MIDI editing of the parts. Many times going using an audio to MIDI converter does not yield exact parts, however Melodyne Editor is the best that I have ever used.

NOTE - I just checked and RealBand has an audio to MIDI converter under batch process. I have no experience with it but others here may.

3-Saving the drums with each drum on a separated track is not available in BiaB or RB.


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Thanks guys, it is as I expected. Well, here's what I'm going to do. I will load both the midi drums from the style and the REALDRUMS performance into the song.
We'll start by seeing how usable the midi stuff is.
I will then take the audio, splice it up into "patterns" and put transient markers on it. I should be able to figure out what parts are being hit when and I will take that and dump it into the step sequencer, generating "patterns" that make sense to session drummer.
Kinda 3 left turns to make a right, but hey, this way I can learn from his performance and add any tweaks as I go along. The best and the worst part of REAL DRUMS is being realized here.
On the plus side you get a truly organic groove going on.
The down side is a premixed audio file rendered as .mp3. Unless your entire audience is strictly Amazon download type stuff, there is no real benefit to rendering it as .mP3.The good news is I saved so much time putting this song together in BIAB as opposed to rehearsals and dozens of takes,that I feel I have the luxury to mess around with this. I will let you know how it went,and if I discover an efficient workflow.If it turns out well I'll post the song, probably as an mp3 file, HA!

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The underlying MIDI drums from a style and substituted/overlaid RealDrums are two completely different things and they do not line up. The MIDI version will not sound anything like the RealDrums version. That's just the way it is.


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Originally Posted By: MarioD

2-You can not separate a drum wav file into individual parts, it's like baking a cake then asking for the eggs to be removed.

Pretty good analogy, that. Not completely impossible anymore, but not practical yet


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Nope, they definitely are not the same.(which is kinda what I expected) I threw these into Sonar. The RealDrums style is definitely busier and well, more real! I didn't have to do a thing timing wise to the RealDrums, it lined up perfectly. My strategy going forward is A) "jazz up" the midi drums and use Session Drummer or Adddictive Drums for the engine(they both have features and sounds that put a GM module to shame) OR
B) use Audio Snap in Sonar to generate transient markers on the Real drums track and generate midi patterns from the markers (basic "drum replacement" strategy)OR
C) leave it and use some studio tricks to "improve" the quality of the existing Real Drums track. Obviously I can't "uncompress" a compressed data file like mp3, but I can take an eq with a steep Q and sweep the spectrum and set up bands on the "sweet spots" (like the "meat" of the bass drum or the "crack" of the snare) then put some subtle compression on it to keep it from getting "spikey". I'm having pretty good luck with option C so if I get satisfactor resuls from working the audio a little that would be ideal(and the easiest option)

Last edited by tconnelly; 08/13/14 02:01 PM.
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XPro Styles PAK 11 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box® version 2026 (and higher) is here with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 31 RealTracks/RealDrums!

Guess who’s back again? That’s right! It’s our XPro Styles PAK’s triumphant return with the 11th edition in this series! 100 new styles are coming your way spread across the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres. And this edition's wildcard genre explores the immense and far-reaching catalogue of electronic music! The included 31 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.

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XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2026 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.

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In this PAK you can find: dulcet folk ballads, funky gospel country, Brazilian jazz fusion, upbeat 1980s pop, classic Americana, a plethora of breezy bossa novas, indie singer-songwriter, scintillating synthwave, exuberant electronica, and many, many more!

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