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."