UNIQUE DRUM AND OTHER TRICKS WITH REALBAND (RB).

On the forums one sees at times various negative comments re rb.
which is sad as it has lots of things going for it.
the purpose of the following is to show many unique aspects of rb viz other music apps in the hope people will delve more into rb rather than possibly just having a cursory look.
Does rb have 'QUIRKS' ?? …yep but rb rewards the user willing to 'dig deep' into its massive number of features.
ive used it and powertracks (ptpro) before it to do lots of songs over many years and STILL i slap myself for not realising it can do a certain xyz.
as i'm human i can't cover all the many many rb tricks in one post..as rb is so deep…so it will prolly take a month or so as i'm doing my own projects.
if ive missed something, as rb is so extensive and in order to keep logical flow please pm me and i'll post the tip in this thread and attribute it to you.
The tricks will start simple and gradually get more complex….all done in rb…which remember is free with bb.
So let's get going.

1..you want a quickie simple drum beat for a quickie song demo…ie what is called guide drums in some studios.

ive seen on the forums comments that pg products can't do 'modern songs aimed at the young generation'....
or "i can't do rap/edm and other modern styles'…etc etc.
I hope to prove this to be incorrect….and how usefull and unique rb can be for users willing to delve.
here's an example in rb….the steps.

..create a new folder and give it a name. <<<this is where youll save your rb song. (SEQ).
(rember to save often).
..now open rb and in track view right click for the looong menu and set a track to midi then.. edit>>midi>>FILL TRACK WITH DRIUM PATTERN.
..you will notice in the dialog box loads of drum pattern (dp) files for loads of styles.
lets select dance dp just as a pattern to demo.
(note if you get an error navigate to drive letter (eg C or D or whatever) that pg pack is on and select.... Realband/mididrums….and select the pattern you want from the looong list displayed.).
..now youll see visually the midi drums for the number of bars you want.
..now depending how your pc is set up you might hear 'cheesy sounds'....and thus go 'this is junk'.
this is because the track isnt set up properly…not rb's fault ...SOOO…let's fix that.
..right click over track and the loooong menu will pop up.
THEN…>>select specific vsti and youll see a list of synths that come with rb/bb by default.
..lets select the new fab SYNTHMASTER !!
and you'll now see the synthmaster name appear on the track.
..now on the synthmaster track click the fx button…up comes the synthmaster display with oodles of settings and about 2000 presets if i remember.
select type drums…and youll see a ton of drum presets displayed including lots of modern drum styles.
the midi on the track will now trigger any preset you want.
even crazy fx like spaceships or special fx for usage in films etc etc….as well as modern drum sounds useful in many modern song styles.
..now press the play button in rb and youll hear your selected midi drum pattern trigger the selected drum preset in SM synth.
..NOW THIS IS KEY…experiment with tempo and presets. for example some presets might sound better at slower tempos…some examples of thousands and thousands…
.set tempo at 30, select preset 12 zero cool or
.set tempo at 35 and preset # 13 futuristic beats or # 60 edm kick or # 61 hip hop.
IN SUMMARY EXPERIMENT WITH SYNTHMASTER SOUNDS VIZ THE BEST TEMPO FOR THEM FOR YOUR SONG.
youll notice all sorts of modern sounds exposed by experimenting with the presets…
(see preset names as a guide.)....now go and discover the modern sounds you can use in your next modern hit song.
(note there are loads of free and paid drum plugins on the net….and sample players etc etc...i encourage also anyone to buy one issue of the inexpensive computer music uk magazine in order to get the 80 plugins…fx and synths and loads of other unique plugins.
see you tube for cm mag demos and be amazed..
and NO i have no links with cmmag in case your wondering...i just feel its one heck of a deal for the cost of a burger or two.)
………………………………………………………………..

for anyone else reading the above the techniques can be used for any music style using the rb drum pattern generator…generating a pattern track and then inserting a plugin.
eg whether your interest is the latin music genre or rock or ballads or jazz... rb's pattern generator can be your friend for guide drums....
(not just drums but for generating thousands and thousands of sounds/fx one can use on many diverse creative projects...eg films....ive had the wackiest fx out of it too....lol.)
ive kept this simple but i encourage you to bone up on various midi tips in the rb manual…rb is very very deep re midi and lots of unique tricks to discover.

(more tips to come as i get time because i'm also doing my own song projects.)

happiness.

om

Last edited by justanoldmuso; 05/03/24 04:00 AM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..)
https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs
(90 songs created useing bb/rb)
(lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)