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jonel Offline OP
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I have been playing around with a number of my MIDI synths in BIAB. I was particularly impressed with Battery 4 when used on the drum track of a style that was MIDI. However, when I used a style that was a RealDrum I did not get a choice of synth to put on the track because this was basically an audio track. It was easy to get around this by forcing the track back to being MIDI and then adding my drum kit.

When I tried the same process for the Guitar track that was a Realtrack I wasn't able to switch this back to MIDI.

Any help would be gratefully received.

John Lundrigan

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John,

Right-click on the drum track in the mixer and select "Force Drums track to MIDI"



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Noel


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Originally Posted By: jonel
.....When I tried the same process for the Guitar track that was a Realtrack I wasn't able to switch this back to MIDI...

Hi John - My understanding is that some Realtracks have notation (midi notes)built in which can be exported as midi for use with a synth in Realband or another DAW (These are identified in the Realtracks Picker).
However, I don't believe you can play these notes via a synth in BIAB. You need to load a midi track via a style which contains say a midi guitar track or you can choose a custom midi track in the track menu and then direct that (midi track) via an individual or the default synth.
At least that's my understanding.
Col


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Beachboy,

It might be that there was never a midi track to switch back to on the track you tired.

To double check, load a midi only style. Realtracks will probably substitute automatically. Once it's loaded, disable "Allow style aliases" in Song Settings. There's another option regarding Realtrack substitutions that can also be disabled.

Regards,
Noel


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Hi Noel,
I may have misunderstood but I thought John was trying to play the Realtrack via a synth just like you can set Realdrums as play midi. I thought he might have thought he could send the "midi" from the loaded "Realtrack" to his synth. I think he said he was trynig to do with the Guitar track what he did with Drums.
Col

Last edited by Beachboy; 12/03/16 01:42 AM.

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Thanks Col,

It's probably more likely that I misunderstood! I seem to be making an art form out of that these days. I'll wait and see if either your or my suggestions help him. I'm sure he'll let us know smile

Thanks again,
Noel


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Cheers! smile


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Jonel should be able to move his song to RealBand and have access to both the RealTrack and the Midi track to add a synth to if I'm understanding what he's attempting correctly.


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jonel Offline OP
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Thanks Noel, Yes, I was OK with the RealDrums as I explained. Because I found a way to change the RealDrums to MIDI I thought I could do the same for the RealTracks. That is, I thought I'd get the same menu choice for RealTrack but not so.

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John

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jonel Offline OP
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Yes Charlie, that is the case. RealBand is now becoming a real saviour now.

Thanks

John Lundrigan

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jonel Offline OP
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Sounds good to me Beachboy. I had been under the impression that RealTracks songs were initially developed from those with tracks that were initially midi and BIAB in an attempt to make them sound better, replaced the midi tracks with an actual artist playing the part.

I can understand why it may not be possible to go back to midi since there may not be any midi information to allow that to happen.

I have a range of songs I created in BIAB, some use RealTracks and some don't. Those that don't use RealTracks I have connected to my NI library and RealGuittar and the result is very good (to me that is) and I just wanted to extend this to the remaining songs.

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John

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Jonel,

This thread is in the BIAB forum, but since you've recently discovered RealBand, I'm going to submit a RB solution to your question. In RB, from the main menu: GENERATE > ALSO GENERATE REAL CHART

REAL CHARTS are a MIDI version of the RealTrack. Not all Real Tracks have a Real Chart, but many do. Once this setting is checked, any time you generate a RT you'll get a second track of the same notes, except the 2nd track is MIDI (...IF and only if...that RT has a real Chart available. As previously stated, not all RT have an accompanying RC (Real Chart)

Real Charts are like any other MIDI.. you can drag the notes around and send them to a synth, change patches etc. I frequently use them to combine a MIDI pad with a guitar part I've generated.

Keep us posted... sounds like you're having fun! (we are too!)

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jonel Offline OP
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Yes Pat, I definitely will keep you posted. I'm recently retired and so I'm finding the time to use software that I have always been promising myself to use. When you don't have much time you seem to flit from one area to the other without learning anything much. With the help of the members of this forum I have gone a great distance in this last week.

My biggest breakthrough was understanding the way in which synths and patches and defaults worked together so that I could predict exactly which instrument or patch would be playing!

It wasn't easy to do this from the manual, but when I was able to exchange thoughts on this forum I was well on my way.

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John

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hey John, we're kindred spirits! I'm retired too, and I could have said exactly what you just said! Most of what I know about MIDI has been learned from others on this forum! There are a bunch of REALLY knowledgeable MIDI enthusiasts here, and they are all willing to share their hard-earned knowledge!

Welcome to the forum and to the family of friends who congregate here to share their passion for music!

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jonel Offline OP
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Thanks Pat, I feel at home already.

I spent most of my working life in computing and software as a lecturer and practioner. I remember in the dim distant past there used to be forums for software development. What I didn't know was that most of the community of these forums were experts and they never took to kindly to what they perceived as a stupid question. Oh how I remember the times I was quoted RTFM.

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Originally Posted By: jonel
Thanks Pat, I feel at home already.

I spent most of my working life in computing and software as a lecturer and practioner. I remember in the dim distant past there used to be forums for software development. What I didn't know was that most of the community of these forums were experts and they never took to kindly to what they perceived as a stupid question. Oh how I remember the times I was quoted RTFM.

Regards

John


In the early days of this forum, I saw that acronym a few times... but that was a long time ago. The people in this forum have made a conscious effort to build this as not only an information place, but also as a community of friends. We have the occasional flame skirmish but nothing I'd call a flame war. Most topics are approachable as long as people on both sides of the discussion maintain the dignity of others (the phrase "RTFM" is intended to shame the other person, which is inconsistent with this forum's style, and therefore why you won't see that here from the regular forum crowd. )

Of all the forums I've ever joined, this is by far the most civil and accepting. I hope your experience here is as good as mine has been.

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Originally Posted By: Pat Marr
Jonel,


Real Charts are like any other MIDI.. you can drag the notes around and send them to a synth, change patches etc. I frequently use them to combine a MIDI pad with a guitar part I've generated.


Not quite that simple. While these RT's do have midi associated with them, it is generally a transcription and not completely accurate. But more important - this midi cannot be used to feed a midi synth since it is missing the cc's that make it musical. That is why we ask for the Midi Super tracks (I see these have been coined MST's).

But of course Pat, you know this.

BIAB is very complex - hence all this forum activity. grin


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Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
Originally Posted By: Pat Marr
Jonel,


Real Charts are like any other MIDI.. you can drag the notes around and send them to a synth, change patches etc. I frequently use them to combine a MIDI pad with a guitar part I've generated.


Not quite that simple. While these RT's do have midi associated with them, it is generally a transcription and not completely accurate. But more important - this midi cannot be used to feed a midi synth since it is missing the cc's that make it musical. That is why we ask for the Midi Super tracks (I see these have been coined MST's).

But of course Pat, you know this.

BIAB is very complex - hence all this forum activity. grin

well.. I'll respectfully partially agree. As transcriptions, the MIDI doesn't contain the nuances you'd get if it was captured from a performance. Compared to the quality of a super MIDI track (which DOES have all of the nuances in the MIDI) the real charts fall short. But they CAN definitely be sent to a synth. And you can also use PIANO ROLL to edit CCs. Not all patches are as affected by lack of CCs as others. It has been my experience when downloading GM files from the web that it isn't uncommon for DL MIDI to be totally lacking in CC nuance... yet they play

And given John's intended use for the MIDI (to experiment and understand how all this works) it was an appropriate response.

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Originally Posted By: Pat Marr


Compared to the quality of a super MIDI track (which DOES have all of the nuances in the MIDI) the real charts fall short.


This was my only point. A big disappointment for me back in the day whey I realized the impact of this to my workflow and what I was hoping to get from the Midi. But this drove me to find the beauty in the MST's. So when one door closes one opens...

So we are in complete agreement my friend grin


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