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OP
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If I have a midi song with a bad sounding midi instrument- say a guitar, how to I replace the midi with a real guitar? I can generate a real guitar, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the song- it doean't take the time that replacing an instrument in BIAB does.
Is what I want to do possible? I think you can replace a midi drum with real drums-correct?
Thank you!
Rusty
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Here is the scoop. RT's come in two flavors, Rhythm and Soloist. You can replace midi drums with real drums because they are both Rhythm tracks. Now a RT Guitar playing Rhythm will follow the chords and timing with various strumming and picking styles so it can be used to replace any other Rhythm track (for example the piano). The RT Guitar playing as a Soloist will improvise and play over the chords but they can not be used to replace a Rhythm instructment. Last thing, a midi guitar will play the midi notes, not so with a RT Guitar. These RT's are wav files and do not play the actual notes in the midi score. Is that clear? And is that what you were asking? 
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You can replace a MIDI track with a RealTrack, but you can't get the RealTrack to play the exact same notes as the MIDI track did.
To get the exact same notes as the MIDI track but a better sounding guitar requires use of a better sounding MIDI synth solution.
--Mac
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RealBand
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OP
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You have answered my question- Yes, I know the RT will not play the same notes- I just want it to play the same chords and be in time with the song.
As I said, I'm doing something wrong- when I try to replace a midi track with a RT, there is no "rendering" being done, as there is when I apply a different style to BIAB chords that I manually entered.
Can you tell me the steps involved?
Thank you!
Rusty
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Well you don't actually replace it per say. Right click on an empty track. Choose "select & generate a RT" choose the one you want. Beware of tempo & feel. That's it. Delete the midi track/s you don't want.
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--Or just simply MUTE the MIDI track you don't want to hear.
Might be better than deleting or killing a track in the long run, for you may have to revisit the MIDI track again as the project progresses.
--Mac
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RealBand
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OP
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OK, I understand what you are saying, but when I create a RealTrack for a song, it has NO relation to the song! It's not in rhythm- it starts at the very beginning of the track, even tho the midi tracks start together a couple seconds into the track.
I can't see that it's possible to immediately generate a RealTrack for a song! How can it, without having to go through the chords???
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RealBand
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I just tried adding Real Drums to a midi song- same results- the RealDrums start right at the beginning of their track and are in no way playing in time with the two midi tracks, so, I am going to assume that it is not possible to add Real Tracks to a midi file- it's either all midi or all RealTracks.
None of the recent responses are addressing my request of telling me the steps, which leads me to believe that it can't be done.
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I've noticed that if I am just previewing a track with real drums using the default MS synth, there is a timing problem with the synth and the real drums. If I change to a dxi/vst, the drums and synth are in sync in real time. There is a latency adjust in preferences/audio, and I believe there is a file included to help with setting this up.
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Rusty,
Was the midi file created in BIAB? It sounds like the tempo of the midi did not load with the file. Either that, or the tempo of the midi file varies. Just a thought for what it's worth. I load midi files from BIAB into RB, add Realtracks and Realdrums and they work fine for me.
Regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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RealBand
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Quote:
I just tried adding Real Drums to a midi song- same results- the RealDrums start right at the beginning of their track and are in no way playing in time with the two midi tracks, so, I am going to assume that it is not possible to add Real Tracks to a midi file- it's either all midi or all RealTracks.
None of the recent responses are addressing my request of telling me the steps, which leads me to believe that it can't be done.
It can be done.
But, of course there are caveats.
The MIDI file you chose, what is the Time Signature?
The RealDrums file chosen, does it fit within the BPM range to match the BPM of the MIDI file?
As for RealTracks, yes, you must have the right chords on the grid before you can invoke a RealTrack that would follow your MIDI file's chord changes. The program can "get chords from MIDi file" and that is one way to get them there.
--Mac
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If your using downloaded MIDI files all bets are off. Some can be made to sync others can't. If the midi file was created on the fly with midi controllers being played in real time by musicians there's likely to be fluctuation. Ther's nothing that would prevent them from recording a song with the sequencer set to 123 BPM and actually recording it at 125 BPM. Any RT or RD would generate at 123 & never line up.
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Or the most common problem with downloaded MIDI files -- the person who recorded the file did not stop to set the BPM or the Key signature to fit their playing, they just hit Record and waded in. So the default of 120 BPM and key of C is still in the file header, but it is at another Tempo in reality -- and another Key.
--Mac
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I suspect the team of responders have nailed this one as a problem with the Midi. Perhaps if you post the file this could be fully verified.  Good Luck
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Hi Rusty,
If you want to generate a RealDrum to suit your Midi Tracks, highlight the bars in the track you intend to use and then, from the Right Click Menu in the Main Tracks Window access the RealDrum Window. Select a RealDrum which approximates to the Tempo and Style. Check the Tempo Window for any variations during the song. Enter Part Markers in the Bars after you want a Drum Fill.
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Sorry for the delay in getting back here again- the "magic word" was DOWNLOAD- we were trying to add Realtracks to downloaded MIDI files, and I guess RT was saying, "Huh???" NO WONDER there was no "rendering time"- congrats on figuring this out.
Now, I'm thinking that DLing a MIDI file, letting RT determine the chords (which it should be able to do very acurately I would think), THEN applying a RB to the chords, is the best way to do this- do you agree?
Rusty
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The translation of MIDI to chords can be very accurate.
That is because all of the note-on data is right there, by the note, on the timeline, so there are not the same kind of problems faced when trying to extrapolate the chords from an audio file.
But -- there can be problems sometimes, simply because a MIDI file may contain notes from instruments that are not part of the "base" chord.
For example, the base chord might be a straight C Major. And that, of course if what the guitar player, likely the piano player, etc. would play there. Just the C Major notes of C, E and G, doubling some to suit.
But let's say there's a melody line also in that MIDI file where the melody is crossing *other* notes that are in the scale, in the key signature, but not in the straight C chord.
Well, the algorithm has no way of knowing those things. So it would look at the notes for the C chord and also see that one other note in the Melody, or maybe transition notes in the horn section, something like that -- and it would come up with something in the way of a chord that either has extensions on it that you wouldn't ordinarily put in the chord chart, such as "C6" or "C9" when in effect all you want is the C chord there.
The same problem may happen with slash chords, where you might have a situation where the C chord has an E in the bass: C/E
The chord interpreter might come up with "E+" -- Eaug -- simply because it is working off of the idea that the lowest note is the bass note for a chord.
But you should be able to manually fix the chords that do that and then get on with it. It is still quite the shortcut.
--Mac
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If you click in the Chord Window and select the Custom Chords Option, you can set the the Chord Wizard to use certain tracks and formats when interpreting the Chords. This sometimes helps.
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